Lifestyle and Leisure
Facts about the maori
Setting off in search of maori facts and legends, our intrepid reporter was also looking for the source of the foul smell just outside Taupo!
I must be a glutton for punishment. Despite the fact I'd been warned by practically everyone who'd ever been there that it stunk to high heaven, I just couldn't wait to get to Rotorua and check out the awful stench for myself – a kind of morbid fascination, if you will. In case you're reading this with no clue as to why a city should be so noticeable for its foul aroma, allow me to explain. Rotorua is situated on an area of highly prolific volcanic and geothermal activity, which produces a rather wiffy gas known as Hydrogen Sulphide (sulphur). Basically, this has a smell akin to three-month-old rotten eggs – don't ask me how I know what this smells like! – and should you happen to catch a blast of the rising steam, which is created by hot magma just below the surface, full in the face then you certainly know about it.
Our, that is mine and my wife Becky's, first experience of the not entirely pleasant sulphur smell occurred at a small park located just outside of Taupo known as the 'Craters of the Moon'. Upon entering the park you could be forgiven for thinking that you have just stepped onto the scene of a plane crash where the debris has only recently been cleared. Small fires appear to be smouldering away throughout the park, while the burnt out and largely dead landscape adds to the feeling of devastation. The closer you get to the rising steam you quickly discover that there are no smouldering fires at all, just sulphur steam created by the underground geothermal conditions. Get too close, though, and you too will soon discover what three-month-old rotten eggs actually smell like!
Of course, being surrounded by such dire odours is not always a bad thing. It can be used to your advantage. For example, should you get hit with a sudden bout of wind, you have the perfect excuse. Despite some suspicious glances from Becky my protestations that it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the sulphur could not be disproved, no matter how hard she tried. The Craters of the Moon is just one of many places around this part of New Zealand where you can view geothermal action. The most spectacular examples of such activity are said to be found at Wai-O-Tapu park, located 27 kilometres south of Rotorua. Geysers, bubbling mud, steaming ground, expansive vistas, huge volcanic craters and the world-famous Champagne Pool which was formed by a hydrothermal eruption over 900 years ago, are said to make the park one of New Zealand's must-see attractions.
However, due to a combination of heavy rain and the fact I was too tight to pay the admittedly reasonable entrance fee, we by-passed Wai-O-Tapu and headed straight into Rotorua itself, bound for Kuirau Park which is the closest area to the city where you can view boiling mud pools and steaming geysers for free. When we got to the park, which was handily placed right next to our campervan park – thus providing me with even more excuses should I succumb to any further bouts of flatulence during the evening, we quickly located where the mud pools were thanks to the crowds of tourists gathered around them, not to mention the rising clouds of steam which, it has to be said, also helped. The mud pools are so alive with activity that you can't help but imagine that some kind of strange creature is going to come bursting out of the water at any moment to wreck havoc on all those around it. After joking to Becky that I fancied a quick dip, one American tourist helpfully pointed out that it would be extremely hot in there and that I'd burn myself so it'd probably be best not to. Well, thank god he'd pointed that out! Further proof that Americans and sarcasm just don't mix.
Anyway, to (finally) get to the point of this story, while scientists will have you believe that the bubbling mud pools and geysers found in Kuirau Park are caused by geothermal activity typified by many hot springs, gas and steam upflows, thermally altered ground and silica deposits from prehistoric times, the Maori explanation is far more interesting. According to Maori legend, Kuirau Park is named after a Maori woman who married Tamahika, the son of a famous chief called Tutea. Kuirau and Tamahika were the first people to settle beside the small lake that winds its way through the park, where there were also warm bubbling pools ideal for bathing in. One day, while bathing in one of these pools, Kuirau was spotted by the local Taniwha – mythical creatures that lived in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea – who dragged her down to its lair beneath the pools. Kuirau was never see again.
However, the Taniwha's kidnap of Kuirau had been witnessed by the Maori gods, who were so angry with the creature's behaviour, that as punishment they set about making the lake boil and in doing so killed it. Today, legend proclaims that the bubbling pools are caused by both Kuirau and the Taniwha trying to escape from the boiling water back to the surface. One thing the Maori version of events doesn't explain, however, is what exactly it is making those awful smells. And yes, before you ask, I'm certain it wasn't me!
Facts about the maori
Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
It is estimated that the first Maoris arrived in what is today known as New Zealand around 800 AD, from the mythical land of Hawaiki (according to Maori legend). There is evidence to suggest that Hawaiki was actually an island located in eastern Asia, possibly Taiwan.
The first Maori settlers originally called New Zealand 'Aotearoa' which when translated means 'Land of the long white cloud'.
In 1840 representatives of Britain and Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty established British rule, granted the Maori British citizenship, and recognised Maori land rights. However, only 500 Maori chiefs actually signed the document, despite the fact there were thousands of chiefs of different Iwa (tribes) in NZ at the time. Even today the treaty's' provisions are widely disputed by the Maori, who believe that some of their land was illegally confiscated.
Today there are around 635,100 Maoris living in New Zealand. This constitutes roughly 15 per cent of the entire New Zealand population. It is estimated that outside of New Zealand, there are only 44,900 Maori people living throughout the world.
Today, Rotorua has the largest Maori population in New Zealand, and is known as NZ's 'centre of indigenous culture'.
In the Maori language the word 'maori' actually means either 'normal' or
'ordinary'.
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