Rotorua – Culture Capitalism

Letting off some steam at Hell's Gate!

Rotorua was our first inland stop in New Zealand – the place is situated in a volcanic crater and is a hotbed for geothermal activity. Being only an hour away from our previous beach stop of Tauranga, Rotorua is unique in so many ways, it may as well be an entirely different world.

A short walk from the city centre and you can see pools of boiling mud bubbling from the heat generated by the geothermal activity. Along with the phenomenon of bubbling mud pools comes the overwhelming scent of sulpher. The only way that you can describe the scent in words is to compare it to a wastewater treatment plant, if you have never been to one personally it should not be to hard to envision what we are getting at!

MAORI/HISTORY

Rotorua is full of thermal pools that are considered sacred by the Maori population for their healing powers. In ancient Maori times, tribes would bath in the thermal pools to heal war wounds, treat other conditions such as arthritis and even cook meals in the hotter pools.

Savvy English settlers took to the idea of ‘Healing Waters’ and developed Rotorua into a resort town in the late 1800′s, advertising for people from around the world to experience the healing waters of magical Rotorua. The government of New Zealand invested significant capital into the town in the early 1900′s and Rotorua’s healing waters and associated spas became the place to be for the rich and famous of the early 20th century.

NOWADAYS

The thermal pools and hot mud spas are still prevalent in Rotorua – despite the fact that the town has a VERY strong odour associated to it (part of the charm I suppose!). We decided to check out the most infamous geothermal park “Hell’s Gate”, coined by playwright George Bernard Shaw who thought it looked like the gates to Hell. With a name like that, the place was setting the bar quite high. Although some of the pools are not as active as they once were, the park is a very interesting place to see, with some of the water reaching over 100 degrees celsius. The park itself is owned by the Maori and is still considered sacred to their community. Walking around the park is a really cool experience, you literally feel like you are on a desolate planet, the landscape is barren and every body of water is filled with a boiling mud/water mixture.

MAORI CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

A Maori Warrior engaged in a traditional performance

Rotorua is a a major culture centre for the Maori people and we decided we needed to take in a portion of New Zealand’s history, so we signed up for a trip to a Maori village complete with a hangi – a traditional feast with all the food cooked on hot rocks under the ground. The village of Tamaki is an authentic re-creation of a traditional Maori village, in order to obtain entrance into the village each group of people was assigned a chief. After arriving at the gates the Maori chief appeared with his soldiers to challenge the visitors to determine if they were coming in peace. After gaining entrance, all visitors pass through entrance gates to the village which is situated under a canopy of tropical trees. We then walked through the re-creation of a tradition village which showed homes of the people, games played to assist with hunting training, food storage and preservation techniques, along with the general livelihood of the Maori people. After passing through the village it was time to witness the hang feast being pulled from the earth where chicken, lamb, muscles, and an array of vegetables were cooked for our meal.  We were then taken to a guesthouse where the Ngati Tama tribe performed traditional dancing and singing for the group followed by our delicious hangi dinner.

We left the Maori cultural experience with mixed feelings. Although it was great to glimpse into the traditional life of the Maori, we were disappointed by the commercial aspect of the evening. The experience was the definition of tourist trap with hundreds of people in attendance, tourist buses dropping them all off, and everyone being herded like cattle throughout the evening. We described the crowd to be similar to that of a “cruise ship” a la grey hairs and an average age of 65.

The town of Rotorua offers a few different Maori experience packages and we suspect they are all similar, if not identical to the one we went to. Although overly commercialized, we are not sure how else one would experience the age old traditions of such a fascinating people. The Maori culture has definitely adapted to the new world of tourist capitalism and showcase their culture in an educational and profitable manner for people to enjoy, just expect to pay for it, Kia Ora nonetheless!