Tonight I am going to learn a lot about the ancient Maori culture and traditions with Mitai.
Our guide introduce us to the Maori traditional welcome. We first have to elect a chief for our international group. Our chief of the day is from England and he is a good chief: tall and strong. Then, it's time to have a look at the Maori way of cooking meat and vegetables. The idea is to dig a hole in the ground and to lay down very hot stones and then to put the food and to cover with humid leafs and wet towels.
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Then we move to the serious stuff: we have to convince the Maori warriors that we come in peace.
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Then the tattooed Maoris perfom dances and songs with weaponry.
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We can then participate as they teach us the Huka war dance: 'Huka! Huka! huhukaaaaaa!'. It's very fun because you use your feet, your arms, your teeth, your eyes and your tongues to look as scary as possible!
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Then we move to our dinner: yummy ;-) There is lamb, chicken, potatoes, kumara (NZ sweet potato), stuffing, desserts, drinks, etc.
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We then follow our Maori guide for a bush walk in a native forest. We learn it all about the silver fern and other NZ native trees.
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After seeing a few glowworms in the forest, we go to visit the Sacred fresh water springs and marvel at the huge eels (NZ fish snake).
I had a great time!