NZ Day 22-Rotorua Redwoods and Tamaki Maori Experience

Another win for Grandpa! The rain has cleared up so this morning we went for a Bushwalk, hike tramp through the redwoods.

They were beautiful! At one of the lookouts we stopped to look at the local geothermal activity. This place is stunning.

 We set off for a 7.5km hike. Strava says that we went much much further. I don't think Strava is quite on the mark, but it was a great hike nonetheless.

 The boys didn't complain at all while we walked. It was a reasonably flat trail and I think that helped.

 My arm is still covered at this point. Mostly I am protecting it from the sun and from people seeing it. It's still lacking in the "aesthetically pleasing" department. It is healing well.

We boarded our bus to head out to our authentic Maori experience at 4:15. We loved the greetings ceremony as well as learning about Maori culture.

 There was A LOT of audience participation requested and we seemed to get selected quite a bit.

Here I am learning how to keep rythm and make music with an instrument played by the women.

Here are all of our men doing the haka:

Here a few of our men play traditional stick games. The games that were played were all designed to keep the men fit for battle. They learned to be swift and coordinated.

This video shows how the kids were trained.  Installing 5 of these in the house when we get home (which is in less than 2 weeks for those of you who are counting).