I must apologize for the delay but it was difficult to me to write before now.I went to Rotorua a few days ago driving from Hamilton. The most interesting activity that you can do is to visit the Geothermal earth forces and enjoy the Maori Culture. I did both.
You can see in the photos the houses around the smoke, Every house gets its hot water from the earth, not only in a Maori neighborhood, all the city can keep warm theyr houses from the earth and of course to cook the food. The Maori usually cooked under the ground in ovens called hangi. It is delicious.
Nobody knows when the geysers are going to start so you need to allow up to one hour.A long time ago were some differents Maori tribe which fought one against the other and before the combat they do a war dance. There are many war dances, not only the Haka, the most well known in Europe cos of the All Blacks. The warriors dance in front of the enemy to give themselves courage and give them as much fear as possible.
When you dance Haka you have to move your face, your eyes, your tongue, to hit your body with your hands, hit the ground with your right foot and of course to sing war song.
Last saturday, I saw on tv a rugby match, the All Blacks against the Australian national team. The New Zealanders danced the Kapo o Panga which is a very tough war dance. At the end the players threaten to cut the neck to the enemy. The faces of the Australian players were really terrified before kickoff the game and they lost the match.
