OK, we expected to watch rugby on TV, but dart throwing championships?! And while we're on the subject of cultural differences, I know we all speak the same language, but doesn't "sachet" sound so much better than "garbage bag" ?? And one of my faves, for which I provided a picture below, is their term for shopping cart ;-)
It has been pissing down rain since the middle of the night so we are having a lazy morning at home. We may be running out of sunny days here based on the online weather forecasts, but we hear it's balmy (40's & 50's) in Bend. We started the day with another 2 hour hike in the Whakarewarewa Forest, walking through some big California redwoods and past sulfur springs.
Then we drove into town to see the Rotorua Museum, which is situated in Government Gardens. Hal watched a bowling match, I took pictures of flowers and then we went into the museum, which was originally built to be a bath house for people "taking the cure" of the various hot mineral waters and mud baths.
They used x-ray, electricity, and vibratory stimulation to treat people from all over the world. Unfortunately, the sulfur in the waters immediately corroded all the pipes and interacted with the lead in the white painted furniture and walls, turning everything black--generally the place was a maintenance nightmare. Still it stayed in business for about the first 50 years of the 20th C treating celebrities, soldiers returning from the war, and the rich folks who came on cruise ships for several week stays. You're able to go down into the basement to see some of the old treatment rooms and pipes for bringing in water. Also, visitors can go the attic and get an amazing view of the surrounding sulfur springs and lake Rotorua.
Now the building is a wonderful museum with a large standing collection and narrative presentation of artifacts about the original settlers of NZ. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of this part. Surprisingly, there was a special collection on display from WOW (World of Wearable Art) with winning costumes on display. My favorite, "EOS" for Evolution of Spirit, involved a hand-made beaded wire costume requiring 1,000 hours of work over a 4-month period to create. Alas my pic is blurry but you get the idea. I didn't even try to take pictures of the mini-collection of special bras from WOW because they were in glass cases and I knew the flash would make them unviewable; nevertheless, suffice it to say that one was made from kitchen utensils, one from fiberglass with operational mini-cranes attached to the shoulders, and one was made from the artists' two deceased budgiebriars (aka parakeets) with spare feathers from an anonymous donor. The heads were strategically located.
All in all, an interesting museum well worth the visit.
It has been pissing down rain since the middle of the night so we are having a lazy morning at home. We may be running out of sunny days here based on the online weather forecasts, but we hear it's balmy (40's & 50's) in Bend. We started the day with another 2 hour hike in the Whakarewarewa Forest, walking through some big California redwoods and past sulfur springs.
Then we drove into town to see the Rotorua Museum, which is situated in Government Gardens. Hal watched a bowling match, I took pictures of flowers and then we went into the museum, which was originally built to be a bath house for people "taking the cure" of the various hot mineral waters and mud baths.
They used x-ray, electricity, and vibratory stimulation to treat people from all over the world. Unfortunately, the sulfur in the waters immediately corroded all the pipes and interacted with the lead in the white painted furniture and walls, turning everything black--generally the place was a maintenance nightmare. Still it stayed in business for about the first 50 years of the 20th C treating celebrities, soldiers returning from the war, and the rich folks who came on cruise ships for several week stays. You're able to go down into the basement to see some of the old treatment rooms and pipes for bringing in water. Also, visitors can go the attic and get an amazing view of the surrounding sulfur springs and lake Rotorua.
Now the building is a wonderful museum with a large standing collection and narrative presentation of artifacts about the original settlers of NZ. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of this part. Surprisingly, there was a special collection on display from WOW (World of Wearable Art) with winning costumes on display. My favorite, "EOS" for Evolution of Spirit, involved a hand-made beaded wire costume requiring 1,000 hours of work over a 4-month period to create. Alas my pic is blurry but you get the idea. I didn't even try to take pictures of the mini-collection of special bras from WOW because they were in glass cases and I knew the flash would make them unviewable; nevertheless, suffice it to say that one was made from kitchen utensils, one from fiberglass with operational mini-cranes attached to the shoulders, and one was made from the artists' two deceased budgiebriars (aka parakeets) with spare feathers from an anonymous donor. The heads were strategically located.
All in all, an interesting museum well worth the visit.
