The GSE team spent the weekend with Rotarians from 5 different clubs (under the able direction of the Westhaven Rotary Club!) and two different districts and had a fabulous time meeting everyone and learning about their various projects and club accomplishments. It was wonderful to get the opportunity to travel from Auckland to Rotorua with a bus full of Rotarians eager to share with us the Living Maori Thermal Village of Whakarewarewa and the wonders of the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal reserve.
The team got to explore the steaming lakes and thermal pools throughout Whakarewarewa where we also enjoyed a Maori cultural dance, complete with two members of the team learning the Hokey Tokey (not to be confused with New Zealand's delicious ice cream known as Hokey Pokey), and got to experience a traditional 'Hangi' meal, consisting of chicken, corned beef, boiled root vegetables, cabbage and a pudding and cake dessert, cooked in a wooden steam box that captures the steam that rises from the earth, along with sweet corn cooked in a natural hot pool.
After some shopping in the souvenir shops in the Maori village, the group was off to Wai-O-Tapu where despite the rain and the strong smell of sulfur in the air, it offered mind-boggling views of bubbling rivers and streams, filled with various colors formed by the minerals found in the water. The area is covered with craters filled with both cold and boiling water, steaming fumaroles, winding trails, spewing geysers, caves, and bubbling mud pools believed to have all sorts of healing powers.
The group capped off the day with a delicious barbecue dinner hosted by the Matamata club where the GSE team did their presentation and got plenty of time to mingle with the other Rotarians and learn about life in the more rural parts of the North Island.
Bright and early the next day the group was on their way to Hobbiton where they had a guided tour of the Alexander Sheep Farm, globally known as Bilbo Baggins and Frodo's village in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We were lucky that The Hobbit is currently filming in Wellington so we got to see the fully constructed set and learn all sorts of secrets about how the location and hobbits were chosen, how the landscape was reconstructed to meet the details in the J.R.R. Tolkien books, and what the plans are for the set once filming is complete. We were allowed to take as many photos and videos as we wanted, but we all had to sign an agreement not to share the photos online so unfortunately, while the group took over 500 photos of the little houses, round doors, beautiful gardens and magnificent trees, we cannot post those photos on this blog.
On a happier note, the trip ended with a unique cheese tasting and great lunch with the Matamata and Westhaven Rotary clubs before heading back to Auckland to prepare for our trip to the north to meet the Kerikeri and Dargaville clubs.
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