Hobbiton and Māori Culture

Sunday, April 7, 2019  Rotorua

We had a colorful visit to a movie set for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, what they called Hobbiton (where Hobbits lived). They were little guys, so everything was scaled down. It was quite picturesque, so I have TOO MANY photos below. Later in the day was far more educational, as we got up-close-and-personal with Māori people, their culture, and their traditions.

 We began the morning by walking a short distance into town where the Hobbiton tours depart. I got this photo of Gandalf, the Wizard, in the waiting area, as the many buses loaded up.

The movie set was about an hour drive west, in the hills west of Matamata. Peter Jackson "found" it in 1998 while flying over the area in a helicopter. He negotiated with the Alexander family, who had owned the ranch land since 1978, and they agreed to let him build the movie set. The Alexanders still own the 1200-acre property, and continue to ranch 13,000 sheep and 300 cattle.

That big oak tree at the top of the hill (also seen in the photo above this one), is FAKE (sort of). It's a  29-ton tree that had been growing near Matamata, but was cut down and recreated on site, complete with artificial leaves. Work included building the facades for 37 hobbit holes and associated gardens and hedges, a mill, a double-arch bridge, and a pub. 

One of 37 hobbit holes. After they finished filming Lord of the Rings, they tore down the temporary village in 2005. But then when they had to rebuild the whole thing in 2011 due to The Hobbit sequels, they decided to build it as a permanent village for future tours.

There's our young guide in the foreground, and another of many tour groups in the background.

As you can see, the little houses were scattered over the hillsides, each with different-colored doors.

Janet is touching one of the little Hobbit planters.

Looking down to the pub and bridge.

Oh so many of them.

The keg of ale for the pub, and there's the lakeside back of the pub.

The pub's front.

Our tour tickets included a pub drink, so we did indeed partake. We were glad that the chairs and tables were human-sized, not Hobbit-sized.

The cute pub bar, and there's our guide again.

It doesn't look like I was having any fun, does it? Overall, we enjoyed this tour and hearing all the little stories about the film productions and how the locals handled everything.

This is taken from the bus on the trip back to Rotorua. There were lots of these little rock mounds, as if a Stonehenge-type of tall narrow rock sticking up from a distinct mound. I later asked our Gate 1 guide, Greg, about them, but he didn't know.

Here's where we ate when we got back to Rotorua. The cocktails menu had these items: the Harper Lee, the Atticus Martini, the Peach Calpurnia, and the Mr.Cunningham. As you can see, we sat outside on this beautiful day.

After lunch, we took a very interesting walking tour of Ohinemutu village, which is a Māori section of Rotorua just a couple hundred yards north of our hotel. We had two tour leaders, the first of which was married to a Māori woman who had lived there all her life. This picture shows how they use the natural geothermal features to cook their food. This is just a section of the sidewalk opened up where people wrap their roasts or other foods and let them steam until ready to eat!

Another natural steam vent pool in someone's backyard. At least this one is fenced off.

The Māori neighborhood! Hot and steamy.

Ohinemutu is right on the lake. The Māori have such incredible wood carvings.

There's our group, with the St. Faith's Anglican Church behind. We learned that the church was for both Māori and the European New Zealanders, with features from both cultures. I see Noreen, Julie, Virginia, Tom, Walt, and Jim, with Janet closest to the camera.

Our guide is pointing out what's left of a Māori waka. They ranged in size up to 130 feet long.

Inside the St. Faith's Anglican Church. So many Māori carvings and artworks. The first church here was from 1885, but the current structure is from 1914 and 1967. In the foreground is Greg.

 The beautifully carved posts, with little abalone shells serving as eyes in the faces.

One of the church's highlights, a Māori Jesus etched into the window glass, making it appear that he is walking on the water of Rotorua Lake.

Wonderfully carved ends of the pews, but also check out the grates across the floor, which allow for natural heating since they vent the thermal steam from underground.

Love those carvings.

About 50 yards back from the lake was their marae. As always, intricately carved and full of symbolism. A tribal marae is where the culture is celebrated, where the Māori language can be spoken, where intertribal obligations can be met, where customs can be explored and debated, where family occasions such as birthdays can be held, and where important ceremonies take place, such as welcoming visitors or farewelling the dead.

Our guide who took over during the St. Faith's Church visit and here was a local Māori woman. She and I did the Māori greeting, called a hongi, whereby we touched noses three times. We all loved our special, intimate tour of Ohinemutu, learning more about the Māori way of life.

The marae's carved figure at the top is known as the tekoteko. Intricate carvings across the marae tell the tribe's stories to be preserved for future generations. Before the arrival of Europeans, Māori had no written language, so carving, weaving and performance were used to perpetuate history. These carvings throughout the marae provide the tribe with sense of identity.

This was near the marae. He is holding a mere, a small hand-to-hand weapon.

We climbed back on the bus for more Māori cultural tours lasting into the night, but first we drove out to Lake Tarawara, southeast of town. This has been a popular excursion spot, but we learned about something here (actually, in Lake Rotomahana, closely to the east of this lake) in the 19th century that was called the Eighth Wonder of the World and NZ's top tourist attraction. It was the White and Pink Terraces. The volcano in the photo, Mt Tarawara, erupted in 1886 and covered over the terraces.

Here's a painting of White Terrace. This and the nearby Pink Terrace were formed by upwelling geothermal springs containing a cocktail of silica-saturated, near-neutral pH chloride water. The silica precipitation formed many pools and steps over 7000 years, kept nice and warm from the thermal emissions. Europeans traveled many months to reach this site, but it was a popular destination only for the young and rich.

After the 1886 eruption, a crater over 330 ft deep encompassed the former site of the terraces. After some years this filled with water to form a new Lake Rotomahana, 98–131 ft higher, ten times larger and deeper than the old lake. The terraces were always assumed  to have been destroyed, but in 2011, a team of researchers mapped the lake floor and discovered they are still down there!

We then went to Te Puia, a 173-acre Māori tourist attraction (a popular excursion during our cruise stop in Tauranga) just south of Rotorua. The tribe here is Te Arawa, which our guide in the photo is part of. We had our big Hangi dinner, we saw their wood-carving school in action, their weaving, and stone and bone carvings. They have a famous geyser, and mud pools, hot springs and silica formations since it's an active volcanic area. They had a Kiwi bird, but it was in its house when we visited given that daylight savings time began the day before, and the Kiw's nocturnal timing was not yet adjusted to our clock!

 It's a national school for Māori wood carving. We got to watch several of them in action.

We also watched weaving. These are finished samples.

This mannequin shows not only the garment they made, but the common face tattoo paintings and handmade earrings, and she's holding a mere.

A small model marae, although their full-size marea was there, too.

Te Puia is in the Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley, and they kept hoping we'd get to see their famous geyser, Pōhutu, erupt.  It's the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere, erupting on its own schedule, once or twice every hour. But we never got to see it. It sometimes reaches heights of 100 feet.

We did get to see Te Tohu, also called "Prince of Wales Feathers" geyser, named in 1901 during a British royal visit. The guests had noticed a resemblance between its plume and the feathers on the the Prince of Wales' coat of arms. Te Tohu is called an "indicator" geyser – it usually erupts just before Pōhutu, its neighbor.

 

Our guide is explaining things, but we're sitting on naturally warm seats from the thermal springs below us.

 LOL. Janet is enjoying her "hot seat!"

It was nearing time for our Hangi dinner, which involves meats and potatoes steaming in pits warmed by their thermal heating. But first...

We watched a pōwhiri, a traditional Māori welcoming ceremony. This is where Rick had been chosen to participate in front of all the tour groups (I raised my hand to be the visiting chief, but was not chosen). The ceremony was originally used to challenge a visiting party and find out their intentions. Though the pōwhiri has a basic structure, there are variations, depending on the occasion. A pōwhiri usually involves a wero (challenge) from a warrior (Rick!) and a karanga (welcome call) from a host. This is followed by whaikōrero (welcome speeches) and then hongi – pressing noses together three times in the traditional Māori greeting. 

Rick's comment from his visit the previous October: This was really exciting. Somehow, out of a crowd of well over 100 tourists, I was selected as "Chief." I stood before "my people," who showed me due respect. The Maori chief was very fierce looking, scantily clad in his native wear, colored markings on his face and body, as he confronted me in the traditional way. I had been prepped for what to expect, but it was still a little intimidating. The ritual involved me placing a silver fern frond before him, as was the custom for a visiting tribe, which could be arriving with ill intent. The Maori chief was to determine whether I and my tribe were friend or foe. After he had inspected the fern, and consulted his own people behind him, he won their approval and then ritually signaled this to me. Then we did the nose kiss three times. At that point all of the 100-plus guests finally were permitted to enter the performance hall. As Chief, I was seated in the front row along with wife Beth and sister Cheryl. As part of the entertainment/ritual, I was invited to the stage to participate in a sort of dancing and chanting, as I represented my people. This involved me sticking out my tongue as far as I could, and doing some sort of grunt/chant. I felt foolish, but then, all the males on stage were doing the same thing, and my feelings were actually tinged with pride! Later, when we went to the dining area, Beth, Cheryl and I were again seated in a priority area, and we got to eat first. We did appreciate that, because by this time we were really hungry. For the rest of the New Zealand tour I was referred to as Chief by our tour guide and the other Americans. I was pleased to have gained their admiration and respect!

We then all went inside their large marae to watch various performances, much like those Janet and I got to see on our cruise ship. We'll always remember the tongue sticking out! This event was followed by the large buffet dinner (Hangi) in a normal-looking food hall. (Photo stolen from Keith.)

We then bused back to our hotel, and packed for an early-morning flight to Christchurch. What a big day! We truly enjoyed learning about, and participating in, Māori culture.