Rotoura, NZ - Te Puia

We kicked off the day with breakfast at Fat Dog Cafe. It was delicious, and I highly recommend their dairy free smoothie. The pancakes were good, too.

For today’s main event, we headed over to Te Puia to learn more about the Maori culture. We had been looking forward to visiting one of the Maori villages and learning more history of the island. Te Puia was recommended to us by the people we’re renting the house from; we figured they probably have a good idea of the area’s attractions. They were spot on. Oh, I almost forgot! By chance, Fat Dog offers a 10% discount coupon to Te Puia, so that was awesome luck.

Te Puia is The New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. It opened in 1963 in Rotorua, New Zealand due to the impending threat of the loss of traditional Māori arts. We were able to walk through the institute and see students working on new carving and weaving. And, outside on the grounds, were able to see some traditional-style buildings and canoes. The details in the carvings were incredible, even in their biggest buildings, like the meeting hall, every piece that held it up was intricate. 

This building was for storage, especially food. 

We had a couple hours to explore the nature paths before the ceremony, which seemed like a lot until we started walking. The trails lead through an area of high geothermal activity, so we were able to see an abundance of hot springs and mud pools. 

Rotoura is famous for all the geothermal activity. We were able to view the pools closer here than we had yet and the nature around the trails was beautiful, but it wasn’t anything new. Well, that was until we arrived at the geyser. In one area, there are geysers that erupt a couple times an hour. We rounded a corner in the path, had enough time to realize people were sitting around waiting for the eruption, and right on cue, it erupted! 

Pohutu is the largest active geyser in the souther hemisphere. It erupts once or twice every hour and shoots as high as 30 meters. It has a Maori name, translated it means “big splash”. Because of its size and regularity, it’s the best know geyser in Te Puia. We were also able to see Te Tuhu, also know as Prince of Whales Feathers, because it’s the same shape as the feathers of the coat of arms. Te Tuhu often erupts before and after Pohuto.