I must have had enough rest the previous day as I woke up again about 5.30 with the coming of daylight. I prepared some cheese/ham/lettuce rolls for breakfast and lunch, and made my way in to town - I ended up catching an earlier bus than intended, which gave me time to wander around Karui park
There are lots of thermal areas in this park, ranging from bubbling mud pools to sizzling steam vents, and all of it free to wander around
As I walked past a bush, I saw a bird dart in to cover and start screaming at me, so I walked past slowly until I reached a point where it was no longer upset, and decided to stop and wait there with my camera to see if I could get a shot.
Just as the bird had regained enough confidence to take its chicks back in to the open, some other people came by, and instead of moving away as per the fresh screaming from the bird, they decided to investigate thoroughly what the source of the screaming was. Of course, that scuppered my chances as the bird was not coming out now for quite some time!
As it happened, another one came running across the road, but the camera failed to take the shot for some reason, probably because it couldn't focus.
I did get some shots of the back of it though and went to one of the park conservation staff to ask what it was - I was advised the New Zealand name, and the common name, the common one being 'Swamp Hen'
I made it across the big steaming lake at the north end of the park, and made my way to Lady Jane's Ice Cream Parlour with the intention of hiring a bike, however, by the time I got there at 10.40am, there were no bikes left! I was directed to go to Bike Barn or Specialized on Fenton street instead.
I wnt to Specialized, and rented a bike for the day for $60NZ, allocated time with the bike was 11am to 5.30pm. After getting kitted out with helmet and lock, and filling my water bottle, I made my way to the redwoods.
The route out of town took me through a thermal area near the shore of Lake Rotorua, and to be quite honest, just the ride through there made the bike rental worth it... it was almost like cycling on the moon. If you've ever been to Yellowstone you might get an idea of it - white and yellow rocks, and carbonised trees (due to the sulphur). My notes for this blog read 'epic'!
After passing through the ulphur moon scape, I caught up wih Mina from Finland, who was also heading to the Redwoods MBK trails. I had taken a photo of the map in the Specialized shop, and she had set a GPS reference on her phone for a car park. We worked together to find the MBK trails start, and then went our separate ways.
From this point on ensued an epic adventure of ecially designated mountain bike tracks, al of them one way - having a designated entrance and exit. My photos will have a map showing the area I was in. I started off by going along the 'Advanced' level 'Grinder' trail to the end, then cycling to the top of the Red tank road, and riding down 'B Rude Not 2'. After all, I thought, it would be rude not to! I then made my way along Pig track, but I think I ended up taking a wrong turning as I found myself back on the wash road and a bit disoriented.
I headed up towards the top of the Katore road hill to start Tokorangi, but I noticed a run exit called 'The Lion' and just after that an entrance called 'Pady's Run', so checked the map and decided they would be fun to go along - the option being to peel off Paddy's run when it reached the entrance to Lion.
By the time I'd reached the end of Lion, I decided I really ought to take a breather and eat lunch, given it was now 2pm, so I set the bike against the sign, and got to eating - accidently allowing a dollar coin to drop out of my pocket.
I took the time to reapply some more sun cream, as I had been perspiring quite a lot and felt that given the heat and sunshine I'd be better safe than sorry.
I started the climb to the top of Katore road at 2.15pm, which only took 15 minutes, then started down Tokorangi trail. This was quite bumpy with lots of tree roots, so I didn't belt it down this track, and someone over took me at some point.
At the end of Tokorangi, it turned in to Turkish Delight, Eastern Spice, and Soak Hole. I knew from the map that Eastern Spice was designated as Expert level, and the sign posting was not very clear in this maze at this point, so I was a little nervous, however once I made it to slightly flatter ground I did find Turkish Delight and rode that to map point 4.
It was now 3.10pm, and I decided that I had time for at least another run. I also remembered about the dollar I'd dropped, so decided to do Tokorangi again. I made it to the end of Lion, and found the dollar coin (it was my inspiration really to keep going!), and then got back to the top in 15 minutes again.
This time I was a lot faster going down Tokorangi, as I knew what was round the corners, and knew ich direction to go at the various forks without having to stop to look at the map.
By the time I got to the bottom and map point 4 again, I decided that, even though it was only 10 to 4, and I had 90 minutes left, my legs didn't have it in me any more to ride further.
Just before I set off down Nursery road back to the moonscape route in to town, a huge group of people arrived, so I waited for them all to assemble at the map, and then set off.
I got back to the bike shop at around 4.20pm and gave the bike and hat back, and bought a cloth version of the map of the trails. It was $15NZ, but all the money for it goes to the upkeep of the trails so I was more than happy to pay. I could have gotten a paper copy for much less, but I figured that wouldn't last very long on my travels!
I decided to go to Peterpan travel to ask where they recommend I go for a well earned pint. The person there was the person who had sold me my ticket for the Mitai Mauri experience for this evening, so she fished out a free voucher for me for the Sobar. I wandered over there, and enjoyed a Black Dog brewery Bite - for free!
As I was sorting out my bag at the bar, I discovered I had forgotten to give back lock to the shop, so after the pint, I went back and handed in the lock.
I went back to Peterpans to wait for the bus, as it was now 5.20pm and I was to be there for 5.45pm. As I was waiting, a group of 3 girls from Manchester/Sheffield arrived, also waiting for the Mitai experience tour.
Once the bus arrived, I decided to ask the driver if it was possible to get dropped off at the camp site - the busses from Rotorua to Ngongotaha stopped at 6pm, and it was a 1 hour walk from the Mitai village to Ngongotaha. That was arranged, so instead of heading back on bus 12 that I came in on, I was to board bus 9.
The tour started with everyone congregated in the eating hall, introducing ourselves. 9 countries were identified as being where everyone came from, and the Polish person volunteered to be the chief to represent us all.
After the introductions, we went to see the entrance of warriors on a Waka (war canoe), with burning torches, and cermonial posturing.
There was then the unveiling of the food, where it was explained that originally the food was prepared in a big hole in the ground with meat at the bottom, vegetables on top, then leaves covering to keep it all warm.
We went to the concert hall next, to see a performance of singing and demonstrations of the weapons and instruments that Maori people use.
There was a peace offering ceremony, where the chief of the Mitai people offered a sprig to the chief of our group, and the chief of the second group that was also there, after which we were treated to traditional singing and dancing
We were also introduced to the instruments as mentioned:
Putatara - a conche used for warning of people approaching the village
Pukaea - a conche with a mouth piece which is more like a trumpet
Koaiwo - a flute, which looked to be made of bone
Hue - a drum, much like bongo drums
Kuta - guitar - which was introduced to maori culture after contact with western culture, and adopted as a way to revive Maori culture

One of the song/dances performed by the women was called "Your boyfriend is no good come with me", and then a traditional love song was performed by descendants of the couple the song it was about - the theme being that the chiefs of two tribes, one from an island on Lake Rotorua, and one from Rainbow Springs, forbade two people to fall in love, but they did anyway
During the love song, two swifts made their present known and seemed to be enjoying the show from the rafters
We were introduced to the weapons, and then the tribe performed a full version of the Haka - which was originally used to intimidate the enemy before battle, some of the motions implying "You will be yummy in my tummy once I kill and eat you!"
The history of the face tattoos was also explained, including how originally it was a 3 part process - puncturing the skin, opening the wound, then staining it, and if the wound healed closed, the process was repeated, resulting in the tattooes also being actual grooves in the face. Ouch!
Each part of the tattoo represents four birds that the first Maori had with him on a journey to the underworld to chase after a woman.
Forehead: Bat / ipurangi
Nose: Parrot
Chin: Owl
Jaw/Cheek: Kiwi with its beak open.
The sides of the face represent:
Left: mother / peace
Right: father / war
After all this information and performance, we went back to the Fudekai (food house), for the buffet dinner, with selection of soup, arlic bread, rice, sweet potatoes, normal potatoes, chicken, lamb, vegetables, salad, and fruit salad for dessert
The people at the table I was sitting at were from:
India: Mumbai
Germany: near stuttgart
Canada: London
Canada: London
England: Manchester
England: Manchester
England: Sheffield
After the meal had finished, we were advised that everyone for bus 9 should now board bus 11, and vice versa.
We then went on a walk through the forest in the dark, where we were introduced to the fortifications of the village, and the meaning behind the masks at the doors to the houses, before going on to the springs, where there were many glow worms shining in the dark. The glow worms are believed to be the connection to the underworld by the Maori, hence the name of the place - Fairy springs
It was finally time to go back, so we boarded the busses, though I had to move to bus 5, as there was no room on bus 11 (previously 9!).
I made it back to the campsite for 10pm, and then it started to rain at 1020pm as I was drifting off to sleep - my last thoughts being "The tent will be wet in the morning when I want to pack!".