We decided to sleep in today and had the curtains drawn. It was 8:30 a.m. by the time we woke up. I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT when I peeked out the window. It was a BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY day!! I wished I’d gotten up at daybreak!!

We headed out to explore the town. Most things were still closed because of Boxing Day. Andrew spotted a flyer on the window of a closed store that told of a Bob Marley exhibit in the museum. We stopped for breakfast at a sidewalk café and continued on to the Polynesian Spa of thermal pools. Nearby we saw some beautiful spacious grounds and a very large unusual building at the far end. It turned out to be the museum. Bob’s colors were flying out front. We walked down and looked around for about an hour. We had to head back to catch our rafting trip. We were to be picked up at the hostel at noon. We were going to raft the Kaituna River. It has the highest waterfall that’s commercially rafted in the world supposedly. We rode a bus down to their work site and got our wetsuits and equipment and lessons on what to do. We had to get our commands in sync. From there we actually hoisted up the raft and walked down to the river. The river was narrow and winding just tucked into the hillside. You just about wouldn’t realize it was there. Lush green growth was all along the banks. It was great fun. Parts of it were pretty tame – until you came to a waterfall. There were six or eight along the trip; some were bigger than others. The biggest was seven meters tall. It was just about the width of the raft. There were folks stationed at the top taking pictures. The raft in front of us capsized so they got an extra photo if they bought a set!! We managed to stay in ours. The only loss we had was a pair of glasses one Japanese man had left on. The water sucked them right off his face. He was on my seat on the other side. I had all kinds of water up my nose so I could sure see how it happened. He should have had a croakie on them. It was all great fun and ended too soon. I felt like a kid – "can we go again?"

We went back to the hostel and changed and headed back to the museum. Walking there a different way I happened up on an Internet access and stopped off to check mail while Andrew headed on. I joined him in the museum and we watched some video documentaries on Marley. It really was quite interesting. I didn’t know or remember a lot of that. They threw us out at 5:00 p.m. At 6:15 p.m. we were being picked up for the Hangi – a Maori dinner and cultural explanation. It was very interesting and a good production. They take sharing their culture very seriously. They share their traditions and tell about their ancient weapons and toys. The dinner was cooked in a pit. This dinner we decided to count as our Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner! Dinner was turkey, ham, roast beef and chicken, veggie stuffing, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and bread that tasted like Mexican sopipias with a solid center. Dessert was some kind of cake pudding, sauce and whipped cream. It was all wonderful and Andrew made a FEAST of it!! We enjoyed the last speaker. He told of the Maori spirit and shared some of their proverbs. I may use some of his thoughts in a presentation I will be making in February. He believes the Maori people have survived because of three things – faith, hope and love. I think that’s probably true for all "survivors" no matter what their challenges are. This whole experience was the brainchild of a young Maori man about seven years ago. He didn’t think the Maori were being properly portrayed when introduced to the tourists. He wanted to be sure they were getting correct information. He sold his Harley to finance the beginning endeavor. Now he has forty people employed to share their customs and traditions with tourists. We all have a story!