Woke up to absolute torrential rain. Actually, I heard it a couple of times during the night. We didn't have to be up too early today at least, just had to be checked out by 10am and then we had plenty of time to have breakfast and lunch and sort a few other things out.

We had to walk down in the pouring rain to meet the bus at 2.30pm. It didn't stop raining all day! And it just rained all the way to Maketu. We stopped off at the bottle shop at one point too, and the wind and rain were coming down really hard - got soaked. Don't worry, we still managed to get a crate of beer. 15 bottles for $22 (£11) so not too bad and we shared them with Dean and Jodie.

Just before we got to the Maori Cultural Stop in Maketu, our driver took us up towards the beach area to spot a few penguins. Actually, there were loads of them! Small ones trotting around. We didn't get out to take pictures though as it was still throwing it down. And the sea was really rough and brown for the first 20 metres because of all the rain water coming down the river and into the sea. After that it was a nice deep green though. Hopefully it's better weather tomorrow so we can go back.

Just around the corner was Uncle Boy's. Thats where we are staying tonight to learn some Maori culture. Its cost of $75 (£37.50) each for tea, accommodation, a show and breakfast. Uncle Boy got on the bus and the first thing he said was "Kia Ora", which is Maori for Hello (and a few other things) and we had to yell it back. He's an old guy - thought he would be a big scary guy dressed in tribal gear. He was just wearing regular clothes, had a big beer belly and wore a tired looking old cap.

We went inside with our bags and then went to the kitchen for free tea and coffee to warm us up. Then Uncle Boy explained some of the Maori culture, history and traditions, which was interesting. The men are learning the Haka tonight, so he was telling us all about that. It's used by the New Zealand rugby team, but it was used back in the day to intimidate another tribe. Watch the video of it on YouTube so that you know what it is. The girls are learning the Poi dance. Thats where they dance with a fluffy white ball on a string.
Uncle Boy appointed the eldest male as the chief - an old guy in his 60's. I'm not sure how this couple ended up on the Stray bus which is primarily for 18-30 year olds.

Time for food. We had roast chicken, lamb in gravy, lots of veg, stuffing...it was nice but can't imagine this stuff being traditional Maori food. Then again, I can't imagine traditional Maori food to be that nice.

And then it was time to meet the tribe! We all walked in and stood at one end of the hall and the tribe stood at the other end. There were only about 8 of them. It started off with a big stand-off between their chief and ours. Their chief did this big intimidating dance and then put a flower on the ground. Our chief had to make eye contact at all times and to make peace with the other tribe, he had to pick up the flower. Their chief was only about 10 as well - scaring little thing though! Anyway, all went well and we didn't get beaten up. In fact, we were welcomed in and are now part of a 40,000 plus worldwide tribe. Check us out!

The next part of becoming part of the tribe was to go greet each tribe member by shaking their hand and touching noses, a bit like an Eskimo kiss. Then all of our tribe (everyone from the bus) had to greet each other the same way too. That's one way of getting to know everyone.

Then it was time to watch a few shows put on by the tribe - 5 women and 5 men in all. They did a few traditional songs and then the guys did the Haka. They were sticking their eyes and tongues out, slapping their chests, arms and legs, scratching their chests...it was pretty intimidating actually, they looked mean. Even the two 10 year olds.

Then it was time for us to learn the Haka and the girls to learn the Poi. We went off into the kitchen and the women stayed in the hall. First things first, we all had to get down to our underwear and put on a beaded skirt type thing. Thankfully I had decent underwear on unlike one lad who was wearing a pair of bright pink boxers.
Then we got into position. Well we were all pretty useless. Our chief couldn't hardly understand anything for a start. Then we had to learn a few lines of Maori language as well as learn the "dance" moves, all at the same time. We practiced for about 20 minutes and still didn't all know it.

Tough, time to walk out into the hall in our underwear with a beaded skirt barely covering us. We put our "game-faces" on and looked mean...actually, we were all giggling like kids and looked highly embarrassed! Our chief started us off and we started our war dance. I got completely lost after the first few moves, but it didn't matter too much as I was on the second row so people couldn't see me as well. I found my feet again for the last bit though. Nobody got it right, but we still got a bug round of applause at the end.
I was glad it was over. Then he said everybody swap rows. That meant I had to go to the front! Damn. I stared at the wall and tried to look mean, but then I totally forgot what I was doing so had to watch one of the Maori kids to try remember the moves. I didn't have a clue and looked more like I was dancing to that Macarana song with my arms flapping around. Looked like a div but remembered the last bit and managed to finish with the scary face again - hopefully that'll prevent anyone from taking the p*ss!!

Was glad it was over. I did enjoy it though. My legs were sore and red after, from all the slapping.
Then it was time for the women. They had to swing this fluffy ball on a string around. That's hardly embarrassing is it!? The men have to get down to their boxers and wear a skirt, then do a dance...they got away very lightly. But they did very well though, they all seemed to know the whole routine. Not as difficult as ours, obviously! We've got videos of all this too.

Once we all finished our little dances, we took some photos with some of the weapons and got a few group ones. Everyone was in a good mood after as well, so it's pretty good for getting talking to everyone too and we all stayed up for a couple of drinks in the dining room.

So, we're sleeping in a fairly big dorm tonight. Actually, it's a big hall, and we all had to grab a thin foam mattresses and find a apace on the floor. All 30 of us! And as I am typing this, I am once again sleeping near a snorer! How is it, out of about 30 people, I end up sleeping next to the old snoring man? I've only got about 6 hours sleep ahead of me now as well. He's in reaching distance though, so might have to hold his nose.

I couldn't take it any longer so I put a pillow over his face. That dampened the sound a bit. After about 10 minutes, I couldn't hear any snoring at all. Actually, I couldn't even hear him breathing! I shot up and turned around to find him laying on his side facing me cuddling his pillow under one arm, and still breathing.
Only 4 and a half hours sleep ahead of me now before we are woken up by Uncle Boy's mystery music.