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 Here we are, around 5:30 AM, pulling into Tauranga, getting ready to dock. We've still got a way to go, not actually docking until around 7:00. It looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day. |
 Our shore excursion today was in the afternoon, so we had the morning free. Mei-O found this taiji session in the Vista Lounge on Deck 7 at 8:15 and decided to join in. (That's her on the left.) |
 Before heading for breakfast, we walked around the ship a bit, taking some pictures of what we could see from our docked ship, then headed for breakfast. |
 This is the only breakfast picture I have, then, this and this are the only lunch pictures I have (with no pictures in between. I'm not sure why.) |
 After lunch, Mei-O tried her hand at this bean bag toss on the Piazza. You could win prize tickets (like she won in the bocce ball tournament, tickets that could be exchanged for prizes later) for each bean bag you got in the hole. She got one in, and almost a second one, but just came away with one ticket. (Now she had five.) |
 We had to meet our tour bus down on the dock at 1:00, so we went down around 12:30 to look around and take some pictures before we had to leave for our shore excursion. |
 Right at 1:00, we met our bus to begin our "Glorious Bay Of Plenty: Rich Land, Rich Culture" tour, and soon we were on the bus and on our way, passing piles of logs on the pier awaiting shipment, a major export from this area. |
 Right away, I started recording (0:57), trying to capture a sense of the area as we were headed... |
 ...here, to a Māori marae, a meeting place for the local Māori community. This is not a tourist attraction; only relatives (and invited friends) are allowed to visit. As it turned out, our tour guide was Māori, and her grandson married one of the local tribe member's daughters, so she is able to arrange these visits on her tours. (Lucky us.) We were greeted with much ceremony by a Māori dancer (a chief, I think), then other family members welcomed us (0:25) in front of the wharenui (the communal house). |
 We went inside, taking our shoes off at the door (all of the Māori were barefoot), for some education about Māori culture (during this part of the visit, we weren't allowed to take pictures). Afterwards, we got treated to some singing and dancing (0:24), followed by some audience participation (0:38)! There was also some guitar accompanied singing of Māori songs. It was a special and fun experience. |
 The Māori wharenui was decorated with several very artistic totem poles as well as numerous woodcarvings all over the hall (as well as a very cool ceiling), another interesting aspect of Māori culture for us to take in. |
 When we left the building, we all got a little water sprinkled on our head as a Māori blessing for prosperity and health. Then we got a picture with some of the Māori, first a normal one like this, then one like this! (Steve and Teresa got this one with a few more family members.) Their facial expressions are called "pukana" in Māori and are movements from the famous Māori haka dance (0:39, check out Steve!) "Sticking out one's tongue is a way to intimidate and scare enemies, as well as to show them that the warrior is not afraid of death, while the wide-eyed intense gaze is meant to convey strength, aggression, and the readiness for battle. It's intended to unsettle opponents and demonstrate the warrior's resolve." (from Quora). |
 We hung out in the courtyard a while while others got their photo chances. There was a single free-standing totem pole out there with this plaque on it. From Google translate, the best it could do was: A REMINDER WIKEEPA RENATI TE RANGIPUAWE I DID KNOW 1Ο OCTOBER 1961 AGE 55 A MAN WHO WAS ABLE TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS OF THE PEOPLE Make what you can of it. |
 Next to the wharenui was a huge building. It serves as a meeting hall, wedding chapel, funeral parlor, party room, and whatever else they need to use it for. Right now, it served us as a restroom. |
 One last picture, then we got on the bus and headed to our next stop. Next Top |
