New Zealand Working Holiday: April 2015

Saturday, 18 April 2015

Rainbow Springs Nature Park and Mitai Maori Village

The next morning in Rotorua, my friends and I went to visit the Rainbow Springs Nature Park. Once we stepped inside the park, we experienced a refreshing and relaxing background originated by the existed ecology. It’s a laid-back experience to find ourselves bounded with natural surroundings; native bush, crystal clear waterfalls, fern-fringed pools and many more…

A relaxing ecology

We’re given the chance to sightsee many protected species. For example, the kea, the kaka and tuatara.

Since the tickets we bought are valid for day and night tours, we revisit the park at night for a different experience. Rainbow Springs has colourful lighting effects added and made it a unique tour at night. By night, we walked through an open-air area to watch the Brown Kiwi. In fact, it’s my first time looked at live kiwi throughout my visiting in New Zealand. I was excited indeed to get so close with them!

Rainbow Springs Nature Park

Location: Fairy Springs Road, Rotorua.
Tel: (07) 350 0440
Website: www.rainbowsprings.co.nz
Opening hours: 8am – late, everyday

In my opinion, Rotorua is the best place to explore Maori culture and a tour to the village is a must. In fact, there’re few different village tours promoted around but we finally chose the Mitai recommended by the people in the hostel we stayed. Anyway, we prepared to be at the site in the evening. We’re brought to the actual Maori village location in natural bush.

Statue in the Maori village

Visitors were watching the Warriors Canoe performance

In the village, the performers presented the Maori cultural experience and the warriors paddling in a canoe was one of the best performances we had seen. All audiences were entertained with the legends, native songs and dances before a feast started.

Then, we’re invited to enjoy the famous Hangi, a traditionally cooked meals using heated rocks by Maori. The meal served in a buffet style mainly consisted of plain chickens, potatoes, kumara and some other vegetables yet the taste was really good and it’s a new experience to us.