January 7, 1992
Rest day in Rotorua
We began the day by wandering downtown to find a teahouse. Rachael enjoyed a good quiche, but I was stuck with a quite unremarkable omelette. Then we biked out to the cablecar ride up to the west hills overloking Rotorua and the nearby Rainbow and Fairie gardens. We then returned to town without visiting either of these rather Disneylandish spots, and instead went back to the Government Gardens to visit the museum. Then, back to our room for laundry and a nap.
After resting up from our grueling morning, we cycled out to Whakarewerewa, another and more impressive thermal area that also featured a Maori artifacts museum and a very elaborately carved ceremonial house. For dinner we visited a Lebanese takeout shop for gyro-like stuffed pita bread sandwiches ("the best Lebanese food in town") and then took in a Maori concert at Okinomaru ceremonial house. We both enjoyed the concert, which was performed for the most part by a fairly young, energetic troupe. One noteworthy aspect was their inability to field a purely Maori team - at least several of the performers were seemingly only slightly Maorian, if that - but they put a lot into their performance and appeared to be having a good time.
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