March 12--HOT!!!

Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish. 
--Anne Morrow Lindbergh

    I actually had a napping opportunity, much needed with my head cold. 

    This morning we started out at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village, an indigenous village built on top to thermal hot springs. What an interesting tour! The residents have thermal boxes that serve as very fast ovens and a pool in which they cook things that need to be boiled, again, speedy quick. There are geysers in the area, and they use the hot water cooled to feed a community bath. You can hear the water boiling in the pools.

Our guide, this box had food cooking in it.

The food boiling pool

The community bathing pools,
everyone gets naked together

The geysers, and a not-too-hot swimming hole below

    Next we went to the AgroDome where we had a lesson on the many different kinds of sheep and saw one being sheared. The best part of the presentation was the herding dogs. If you look closely, you'll see two dogs standing on top of sheep--that's what the dogs do when they are working a really big herd of sheep. 

    The kingpin of sheep, top center, is Merino. My husband will attest to how wonderful it is. And they are considerably larger than most of the other varieties. I certainly didn't know there are so many different kinds of sheep, and the wool has different uses. For example, one is best in clothing and one is best in carpet. Some wool won't burn. All very interesting. 

    Next we went to a presentation about NZ jade. Of course there was the opportunity to buy assorted jewelry, but there was nothing that really struck my fancy. 

    Three of my travel buds and I enjoyed spicy soup, bread and beer at the Pig & Whistle Pub, then walked back to our hotel for some rest time. 

    The evening was a delightful dinner and presentation by the Maori (pronounced mow-ree, rhymes with how-ree) tribe. We saw the warriors float down the stream in their war canoe chanting:

Then we had probably our best dinner so far, a huge buffet with so many great items. Our host spent a lot of time telling us about the Maori customs. After the super dinner, we went to the auditorium where Maori men and women performed assorted dances for us. They also explained their weapons, which were used for hand-to-hand combat (no guns in the very early days). It was a very high-energy show. Then our host led us back into the woodland path to see the spring that serves the village and the glow worms in the woods, quite enchanting. In anticipation of the glow worm viewing, our guide Wayne taught us this childhood rhyme:

I'd like to be a glow worm.
A glow worm is never glum.
How could you be unhappy
When light shines out your bum?

    Tomorrow we head to Wellington. 

        Leta