Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-a-Wahiao

Help! My bluetooth keyboard has gone on the blink! Well, it hasn’t but from that unbelievable list of letters, you might think it had.

Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-a-Wahiao is the full name of Whakarewarewa, a “real” working Maori village situated in Rotorua. The village is sat on top of a large dose of Geothermal activity, which the occupants use to their advantage.

The tour guide explained the history of the settlement, customs (children still “dive for pennies” from the tourists, as they have done for yonks), cooking is still carried out in a Hangi (boxed hole in the ground) or in the rather hot pools. They also have baths, utilising both the hot water and the yellow soapy scum “minerals” that collect in the water channels.

Whilst villagers do still live in the settlement, a lot also live and work outside, but it’s probably a reasonable insight into how they have lived over the past few centuries. They all fell out with the “Craft village/geysers” next door about 30 years ago, and the gate has been firmly locked since!Here’s the website if you are interested…. https://www.whakarewarewa.com

And some photos of our visit. The “bowler hatted” carvings reflect the influence of the pesky Brits!