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POSTED: 22 MAY 09

Rotorua's Te Puia ... the genuine Maori experience

It’s enough to send you running in terror. But despite the bulging eyes, the angry shouting and the fierce tongue wagging, we know they love us.

We’re receiving the traditional reception at Te Puia, the New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotorua, and, although it includes all the chest thumping and thigh slapping, all the shouting and eye rolling we expect from a Haka performance, we know it’s actually a welcome.

After the sound of a war trumpet to alert the home folks of our arrival at the imposing gates of Te Puia, a warrior has been sent out to dance and thump and slap before us. This is his challenge to us, his way of finding out if we’ve come in peace or not.

Once he’s satisfied we’re a friendly bunch, he places a token, a fern, before our own elected warrior (a rather nervous male member of our small party we’ve pushed to the front) who accepts it with due respect.

Our peaceful intent is noted by the warrior, he accepts us, and with a glare and a final poking of his tongue, he invites a spot of nose rubbing and finally ... we’re in.

It’s a colourful bit of theatre and, along with the distinctive whiff of sulphur in the air, a most suitable welcome to Rotorua.

Rotorua is the top tourist attraction in a country bursting with attractions. It’s the mud pools, the geysers, the Maori culture, the famous hangi, the glorious lakes, and the many adventurous attractions: helicopter rides, off-road driving, five-star lake cruising, mountain-top dining, luge gliding and indulgent spa treatments. When Rotorua welcomes you, it turns on the party and you can’t help but love it.

At the multi-million Te Puia institute you experience the real Maori culture. This is a living, working village where the people, art and experiences bring to life the history and the sense of Maori customs and traditions.

You can try your hand at weaving from a flax plant (you probably won’t be any good at it but it’s fun trying), watch the apprentices at work in the carving school, and get a feel for the past life in the reconstructed Pikirangi Village.

Then there is the challenge of spotting the shy Kiwi in the quiet and darkened Kiwi House. We waited for a patient 10 minutes to spot a resident pair who refused to emerge.

The best way to experience Te Puia is with a guide who will tell you many of his own personal stories as you walk by pools of boiling mud to the Pohutu Geyser, the largest of several geysers in the valley, that erupts a couple of times every hour and can spurt up to 30 metres.

A day slips by quickly here. In the late afternoon, at the Te Aronui a Rua Meeting House, the Kapa haka cultural performance is conducted by a large family group.

As the family — grandpa and grandma down to toddlers and including cousins, aunties and uncles — sings, and the strong, clear voices rise and fall over the audience, the goosebumps pop out all over the arms.

After the family has performed, ladies in the audience are invited up on stage for a little poi swinging and then it’s the blokes’ turn to get up and do some chest thumping and thigh slapping.

My, how the testosterone fills the air as they get into mood of it all.

And then it’s time to feast at the traditional hangi where the food is cooked in an earthen oven and served, generously, buffet style — and where I had the best seafood-brimming chowder I’ve ever experienced.

Groups can arrange to eat under a marquee overlooking the erupting Pohutu Geyser as we did another night, an unforgettable experience. You can also have your food, usually mussels, corn, eggs, cooked by the chef in the Ngararatutara cooking pool ... great fun to watch.

For further information, email reservations@tepuia.com; phone toll free to 0800 83 7842 or visit www.tepuia.com.

NOTE: Ann Rickard was a guest of Te Puia New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute.