[lettie]

Before leaving the Rotorua area, I decided to have a gander round the New Zealand Maori Arts and crafts Institute. Here, they teach young Maori traditional skills like wood carving, there is a song and dance show put on for the visitors and the women show you how they make their traditional dress using flax, which grows just about everywhere in this area, despite the sulphorous conditions. Here are some photos, there's one of the carving workshop, female Maori dancers with the little white poi balls made of flax fibres and stuffed with reeds. These things are swung around quite skillfully during the dancing. It's a good job they know what they're doing because they'd have your eye out if they hit you with one. Male dancers performing a traditional 'haka' and one of the intricately carved wooden canoe type boats.

I'm hoping to re-visit this area, as there's so much I didn't get to see. I was only in the Rotorua district for 2 days and tried to see as much as possible, but time was limited.