a busy day! a group of us woke up at 5:30 in the morning and headed over to a hot spring to swim. I have never been around hot springs but it was really cool. We got into the water and it felt just like a hot tub! after splashing around Kerosene Creek for a bit, we headed back to YHA and got ready for the day. After washing off the sulfur smell, we got ready to go hiking at a redwood tree forest...it was beautiful!! absolutely stunning...everything was so green and it smelled so fresh and clean! This trip is really giving me a heart for hiking and exploring, I think I will try to get more into that when I come back to the states! YOLO amiright?? so after discovering more of God's amazing creation for a few hours, we went to a cultural center called Te Puia. It is a really cool reserve with hot spring geysers, kiwi exhibits, and Maori culture. During one part of our cultural experience, we were able to see a Maori welcome. One member from the crowd would volunteer to be named "chief" for the demonstration and lucky for our group, our very own Joe Nehls was chosen! This meant that our entire team was able to sit in the front for the presentation, so that was pretty sweet. when everyone entered the Maori building and was seated, some Maori tribe members showed us some traditional dances and songs...it was incredible! the singing blew me away with how beautiful and haunting it was. Since Joe was the chief, he had to go up and greet the men with a traditional hongi (pressing noses together as a greeting) and he, along with other team members, learned part of a haka dance...it was hilarious! they were all good sports about it. After we left the cultural center, we headed to a mountain to do some luging. SO MUCH FUN! so basically what this is is a small cart that you ride down the mountain on a track...there are turns and areas you have to slow down on but other than that, you can just race down! we were able to go 4 times which was sweet as! the first time I was pretty hesitant, but then by the 4th time down I was loving the speed of it and taking the turns as fast as a could. several members of our group crashed and got some pretty gnarly raspberries on their arms and legs but thankfully no serious injuries. We ended our day with some delicious ice cream (i got a scoop of fig and honey and a scoop of spiced apple crumble...holy yum batman!) and trivia crack
