Left my beautiful green campsite and hit the road towards Rotorua...I had a Maori Hangi cultural evening booked and was pretty excited! The drive over was pretty uneventful....more very green fields, cows, sheep and winding hilly roads! I arrived in Rotorua around 1130 and headed towards the downtown. I found the government gardens completely by accident and went for a walk, I caught the end of the Remembrance Day ceremony......I went back and got my camera and explored the area some more.....found an amazing rosé garden.....a totem poll that was a gift from Canada.....black swans....some really cool thermal pools in the gardens and then some more back behind the government building on the lake.....I wanted to go to the Pohuto Geyser which is the most famous of thermal pools but they wanted $50!! No thanks....I have seen a geyser or two in my life already!! Headed to the campground and got settled......a nice German couple came over to check out my campa and then we proceeded to have a talk about Canada for 1/2 an hour!! Then i went for a soak in the mineral pool while doing a load of laundry..... Headed out to the Tamaki Maori Village....our driver was a lot of fun.....when we arrived we had a greeting from the villagers....the warriors came out....the bulging eyes....huffing and puffing and tongues out....then the chief came out with a peace offering and invited us in.....we went around to stations where traditions were explained to us....then into the meeting house where they did a couple of dances and sang some songs......we were brought to where the food was being cooked in the ground....we watched them take the food out. Then we all headed into the dining room was dinner. It was neat to see the culture but I was slightly disappointed......after experiencing a Luau in Hawaii where we were able to roam the area on our own.....play games and make crafts....walk through a market.....the meal coming out of the ground was a huge ceremony and then a evening of dancing and music on stage.....I guess I had higher expectations and did not like that we were herded around in a group ....I still enjoyed myself and had great chats about Canada again with another German couple.....everyone always wants to talk about Canada and when I try to ask them about their country they always turn it around and back to Canada! Back to the campground....settled in for the night!