The caves were everything you would think they would be…. Dark, damp, and gross. It was awesome! We walked through the caves until we came to the river within it, and then we climbed onto a boat for a ride through the remaining section. In this cave the ceiling was covered with worms that glowed. It was like looking up in our old bedrooms covered with the stickers that glowed in the dark, except millions more. While really neat, it was also a bit gross to think about. Also, if you ate one, would you glow? The sixth graders were really curious and Andy thought about it but our guide warned against it.
This picture is fake, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the cave.
After our tour we got back in the campervan to head to Hobbiton. Kendra was really excited to visit her people and we listened to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack as we got closer. We had sandwiches and hung out in our nice chairs outside of our van before taking the tour.
Kendra was giddy as we took pictures near hobbit doors, heard insider secrets about the set, and enjoyed a drink at The Green Dragon. Brit is now actually thinking about maybe even reading one of the books or watching one of the films.
We watched a ceremonial meeting presentation to officially welcome our group to their home, we then went in and learned about different aspects of the Maori culture. We first learned the Haka Dance, they asked for all the able-bodied men to come down to learn it. Andy and Anthony didn't want to be the only men not to go, so they walked down. Kendra and Brit got a good laugh watching them learn the dance. After the dance, we watched Kendra learn the Poi, and had brief introductions to warrior training, tattoos and weaving. After, we watched them pull our dinner out of holes in the ground where they had cooked our meal over hot rocks. We then were given a show of sorts where they danced and sang traditional Maori songs. Once the show was over we moved to the dining room where we were fed a great meal of potatoes, carrots, stuffing, chicken, lamb and bread.
Once the show was over we loaded onto Wallace’s bus for our ride back to our van. We had no idea what we were in for….almost immediately our bus driver told us that we were going to have a sing along and that each country had to sing a song. The four of us immediately got nervous, hoping it was some sort of joke but knowing that we probably weren't going to be so lucky. We immediately started trying to brainstorm, what was an American song!? “This Land is Your Land”, “Born in the USA”, the national anthem, “Party in the USA”!? We laughed at the thought of us singing Miley Cyrus as our USA song. Germany got called first, and once they sang their song we knew this sing along was for real and we couldn't get out...we got called next, thankfully there was one other American on the bus and she suggested “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, totally up our alley! We were in and even added a “root root root for the Red Sox” in there for good measure. After being entertained by songs from Australia, Poland, England, Canada and New Zealand, Wallace started us in a full group sing along. Songs like “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and “Wheels on the Bus” are apparently universal as the group sing along was loud. Wallace even threw out “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain”, where he entertained us all by adding his own touch and going a full circle around the rotary.
Needless to say we were energized when we got back to our van. Worked out well for us as we had a 2 hour ride south to our campground, Whakapapa Holiday Park. We didn't see many cars on the road as we winded our way around lakes and through national parks to get there. We pulled into the park around 10:30pm and were able to find our site, we parked the van and plugged in and attempted to make the beds. We quickly discovered that sleeping four in this van was going to be pretty tight and Andy happily volunteered to sleep in the tent that we brought.
We were in bed by 11:30 or so, a long, but great day. We used every second that we could to see a lot of the North Island! Tomorrow we are hiking the Tongariro Alpine Track which is called the most beautiful day hike in the world.
We got back on the road immediately after the hobbit tour in order to get to our Maori dinner and tour an hour away. We stopped to get gas along the way, we were told to gas up whenever we can because stations are few and far between. We arrived at the office where we would be picked up for our show right on time. No sooner had we logged into their internet, we were told to get on Wallace’s bus. The ride up was uneventful, our bus chose a chief and we were given instructions on how to behave respectfully during the official introduction. Andy and Anthony refused to volunteer for the role.
We watched a ceremonial meeting presentation to officially welcome our group to their home, we then went in and learned about different aspects of the Maori culture. We first learned the Haka Dance, they asked for all the able-bodied men to come down to learn it. Andy and Anthony didn't want to be the only men not to go, so they walked down. Kendra and Brit got a good laugh watching them learn the dance. After the dance, we watched Kendra learn the Poi, and had brief introductions to warrior training, tattoos and weaving. After, we watched them pull our dinner out of holes in the ground where they had cooked our meal over hot rocks. We then were given a show of sorts where they danced and sang traditional Maori songs. Once the show was over we moved to the dining room where we were fed a great meal of potatoes, carrots, stuffing, chicken, lamb and bread.
Once the show was over we loaded onto Wallace’s bus for our ride back to our van. We had no idea what we were in for….almost immediately our bus driver told us that we were going to have a sing along and that each country had to sing a song. The four of us immediately got nervous, hoping it was some sort of joke but knowing that we probably weren't going to be so lucky. We immediately started trying to brainstorm, what was an American song!? “This Land is Your Land”, “Born in the USA”, the national anthem, “Party in the USA”!? We laughed at the thought of us singing Miley Cyrus as our USA song. Germany got called first, and once they sang their song we knew this sing along was for real and we couldn't get out...we got called next, thankfully there was one other American on the bus and she suggested “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, totally up our alley! We were in and even added a “root root root for the Red Sox” in there for good measure. After being entertained by songs from Australia, Poland, England, Canada and New Zealand, Wallace started us in a full group sing along. Songs like “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and “Wheels on the Bus” are apparently universal as the group sing along was loud. Wallace even threw out “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain”, where he entertained us all by adding his own touch and going a full circle around the rotary.
Needless to say we were energized when we got back to our van. Worked out well for us as we had a 2 hour ride south to our campground, Whakapapa Holiday Park. We didn't see many cars on the road as we winded our way around lakes and through national parks to get there. We pulled into the park around 10:30pm and were able to find our site, we parked the van and plugged in and attempted to make the beds. We quickly discovered that sleeping four in this van was going to be pretty tight and Andy happily volunteered to sleep in the tent that we brought.
We were in bed by 11:30 or so, a long, but great day. We used every second that we could to see a lot of the North Island! Tomorrow we are hiking the Tongariro Alpine Track which is called the most beautiful day hike in the world.
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