Overnight we travelled to Tuaranga in the Rotorua region. This is an ‘elderly’ hotspot where the magma is close to the surface but volcanic eruptions are infrequent, though earthquakes are more common. Here hot springs and hydrogen sulphide-loaded steam, geysers and mud pools are common.
The area has been the home of Māori people for centuries and is known as Te Ao Māori (‘the Māori world’). Today we participated in an excursion to Whakarewarewa, a ‘Living Māori Village’. Here are the houses of everyday Māori people who are the descendants of the Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao. These locals share their heritage and culture and help visitors tour their village, see their houses and public buildings, but most of all the skills of washing and cooking with thermal steam and heat. The cars for a trip to the supermarket were on the drive, so these are real people living in the present but celebrating and maintaining the past. A steam cooked lunch of pork, chicken, corn, cabbage and sweet potato and ordinary potato was taken and was tasty.
