Seema at Freeman’s Lodge ordered a rental car company to pick us up at 8am, arrived at around 830. Meh. The first thing that bothered me was that the driver didn’t offer to load our luggage. Went off to pick up another client, 4 passengers… And then headed to the rental car lot, Quality Car Rental, recommended by Seema.
As the only person working that day, this guy was very… Preoccupied? He went in and out of phone calls without even a gesture, just started talking. We went through the process and finally came to the drop-off times. They’re open 8-430ish so between that time, good. I say that we were planning to drop it off at the airport, he says, No. Blunt. Mentioned that we talked with Seema about it and she said it would be okay to park at the airport and pay for the parking… He makes a call, and ok! He writes up the stuff, charges my card, doesn’t ask of any ‘features’ I wanted such as gps or mp3, just… Writes it up. Goes out and drives the car around and then mentions, “Oh, you will have to park the car in the international lot, and put the key and stub under the front carpet. What time? Midnight?! No, no, no… The ticket would be huge, international parking! The 35 only covers like 3 hours. With our flight being at 7, checkin at 5ish, and they would come get it at 8… You gotta park it at 5. Figure out somewhere else to park it until then.” … we were told itd be 35. Not so much more as well. He makes a call while I’m trying to talk to him… A couple drives up to drop off their car and they need to be at the airport by 10, 10am comes and passes, “just 5 more minutes!” We go and think about the rental… And decide to get a car from the airport instead, better than dealing with this jerk, so sketchy. “Then why did you waste all of my time?” He makes a call, “how about you drop the car off at 430 and we’ll waive the 35$” … “AM?” “No, pm.” “No, we have things planned” expected us to stay at the airport for more than 12 hours? No thanks, drop us off please.
Finally got to the airport and checked out thrifty, europcar, avis, budget, hertz… Looking for midnight dropoff and gps. The prices were a lot higher than ‘quality cars’ but the service and ‘quality’ so much better. Apparently the car the couple had has shotty brakes – -; Anyways, we shopped around and because we are under 25, there is an extra charge each day… Sigh. But we went with Europcar and got a Hyundai Getz.
By this time it was 1130 and our plan to go to Waitomo Caves, ruined. Headed to Rotorua, our hostel, Crash Palace, instead. Driving in the right seat and left side of the street was very odd this time around but easier to adjust after Japan. 3 hours later, we’re in Rotorua, which has a distinctive smell of sulphur everywhere because of all of the thermal pools and geysers much like Beppu in Japan, but the smell wasn’t as… Widespread throughout the whole city. Rooms are decent. Meh. So what to do tonight?…
With only a couple of hours to spare we booked a visit to the Mitai Cultural Village with Kiwi Experience upgrade! After shopping a bit for souvenirs we got on the shuttle and left.
Run by the Mikar family for generations and including other families now, the host introduced himself and taught us some words in the aboriginal language, which I can’t seem to remember. They also called themselves the Maori. Aoeteroa – land of the long white cloud? Or something. Later as we drove along the distanced sky was in fact a large white cloud spread over the horizon, created by the thermal pools. Anyways, he chose a ‘chief’ for the guests and that chief spoke on behalf of us to the mitai… We were then led out into a cooking pit where the Hanni, traditional dinner, was being prepared – lamb chicken potatoes and sweet potatoes were cooking, smelled great. At this point the host gave thanks to all of the countries that were present, 21 in total and said a prayer in his language.
Then around a small creek, a group of them arrived in a canoe with torches and such, giving a good show. Then leading us to seats and a stage where the cultural experience took place. Showing us their weapons, instruments, fighting techniques, training, music and games, it was a great show. He also explained the tattoos that the aboriginal people would get in the past. The women possessed the Owl tattoo under their lips showing the eyes beak and body in abstract lines, to show wisdom and their duty as protectors of the children. The men eventually possessed four tattoos on their face. The bat, parrot, owl, and kiwi. The bat represented wisdom and leadership positioned on the forehead and over the eyes. The parrot was for speaking and stuff, the beak on both sides of the nose. The owl for protectors more abstract under the eyes. And finally the kiwi representing something else that I can’t remember, placed around the mouth. There would be two kiwis, either side representing a parent. And finally, time for food. Delicious and oh so filling.
We then continued on to Rainbow Springs for the Kiwi Experience. The guides first showed us the trout in the pools with the small fresh water springs underneath. Turning off all of the torches, we were then shown the glow-worms that were around the same area. They also showed us some new zealand trees and animals. The alpine parrots, Kea. The dinosaur reptile, Tarutaru or something weird like that 😀 that actually lived in the time of the dinosaurs and was able to survive because of its extraordinary metabolism and abilities to slowdown heartrates and minimal nutrition. The silver fern, cabbage tree, a pool of rainbow trout, and finally the kiwi. This nocturnal flightless bird is endangered and its main predator, the slout. The park had 4 kiwi birds running around in their pens, we were only able to catch glimpses and backsides of the bird as it is very sensitive to light and sounds. Although I sorta saw the bird, it still seems very… Mystical? Heh…
Tomorrow, what… Tongariro National Park!
Driving to Rotorua
Mitai Performance
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