The Royal Moko

I discovered that there is one thing that Palmerston North is really good for: sleeping. I did so long and soundly last night. It’s a hard place to find your way out of, and we were glad finally to see it in our rearview.

Today’s journey was from Palmy to Taupo. Along the way we had a coffee in Taihape, which I told you about already. It’s “the gumboot capital of the world.” At their annual gumboot-throwing contests around Easter time, they have a variety of activities in addition to hurling Wellies. There’s a dog-barking competition, and black-sheep and lawnmower races. I can’t tell you why they do this, but I do know that the men’s open record was set last year by Niki Martin at 44.97 meters, and Kristen Churchwood holds the women’s all-time high (29.8 meters).

Along the highway north toward Lake Taupo was this sign: Kids driving you mad? We’ll sort them out. ARMY.

We drove up the beautiful Desert Highway, which had been closed by snow on our way south. Two weeks ago the mountains were shrouded in heavy clouds, but today they were splendorous. When we stopped to take a photo we encountered a kindly, dignified old man who exhibited his own dramatic landscape; he’d forgotten to zip up his pants. I don’t know which mountain range I was looking at, but they included some or all of these: Girdlestone Peak, Tahurangi, Mount Ruapehu, and Te Heeheu. I really wish I had the time, stable weather and strength to hike the 20-kilometer trail back through that frozen volcanic wonderland that you see in the background.

In the foreground, my cartwheels are looking more like cartwheels, don’t you think? Not bad for 59 years old, don’t you think?

Isn’t Mount Doom something out of Lord of the Rings? Well, here’s the real one. Oh, wait a minute. I just read that these mountains are, indeed, one and the same: Middle Earth, Land of Mordor and all that.

We took a detour near Tuarangi to visit Tokaanu Thermal Pools, a nice (and free) little walk through steamy creeks and boiling mud pots near the head of Lake Taupo.

For 500 years local Māori tribes have used these hot springs for bathing, cooking and healing.

Once in Taupo, we had a little hot pool experience of our own, with a walk along the Waikato (flowing water) River that drains from the lake, and up a steaming side creek. Syd had brought her bathing suit so she immersed herself at the base of a scalding waterfall. I had no suit so I sat on a rock and stuck my legs in as I clutched my backpack, spooked by the warnings encountered along the way.

Lake Taupo is mighty big—some say the biggest freshwater lake by surface area in Australasia.

I really hate to admit this, but it didn’t ever click into my thick mind that Queen Elizabeth II is monarch of New Zealand. You’d think I’d know that, especially after weeks of seeing her on the $20 bill and the fifty cent coin, and on all kinds of New Zealand paraphernalia. You worldly people out there: can you name other countries in the Commonwealth realm that have her as their royal leader, aside from the UK? I’ll tell you. They include Papua, New Guinea, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada and Belize, and of course Australia and Canada. I had no idea. I am embarrassed. This is why I travel.

At tonight’s backpackers’ hostel (Blackcurrant) in Lake Taupo, they have this drawing hanging at reception.

It’s our royal friend, gone Māori. I still haven’t seen anyone wearing tā moko, the traditional face decoration that used to be common among the respected old woman. They’re beautiful things, in a fierce, intimidating way. Originally they were carved with a chisel (uhi) so that the resulting pattern was grooved rather than flat. As I understand it, these days they’re more like ink tattoos. Each one is different, designed with symbolism for its wearer. The tattoo artists were revered and sacred. Here’s what Captain James Cook said about what he saw back in 1769:

The marks in general are spirals drawn with great nicety and even elegance. One side corresponds with the other. The marks on the body resemble foliage in old chased ornaments, convolutions of filigree work, but in these they have such a luxury of forms that of a hundred which at first appeared exactly the same no two were formed alike on close examination.

I hope I see some moko (mokos?) when we get to Rotorua. In the meantime, I think Queen Liz looks fabulous with one.

Hi, Pat. Thanks for your comments. Yes, it’s very hard to try to capture photographically the scale of the beauty here.