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Caption: Rotorua, New Zealand Te Puia
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Caption: The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
At Te Puia the geysers go off for about 40 minutes at a time.
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Caption: When the park closes, the locals come in to swim in the cool parts of the river and cook their food in the steam parts.
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Caption: NZ environmental graphics are pretty entertaining.
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Caption: Maori canoe This is the type of vessel ancient Maori used to come to NZ from Polynesia. It holds 40 and has carvings of all 70 Gods in case they ran into any of them on their journey. The Maori always believed the Earth was round and navigated by the stars.
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Caption: The Yucca plant is stripped of its fleshy parts using a shell then dyed to make the traditional skirt.
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Caption: - Oldest Maori carving school
- Only 5 of 40 accepted per year
Maori believed the punishment for making a carving mistake could be death by the Gods so only men could be carvers in order to protect the females of the family. When we asked what he does when he makes a mistake he smiled,"What's a mistake?"
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Caption: The students attend tuition-free and receive a set of 30 chisels. After school they'll repair & do new carvings.
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Caption: Ancient Maori welcoming dance
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Caption: Silver Fern National fern of NZ
It's silver underneath & reflects light so Maori would place these silver side up to mark their path home.
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Caption: I love people watching, especially people who aren't afraid to work their style.
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Caption: And now it's off to see the rest of RotoVegas...
aka Rotorua