| NEW ZEALAND- December 2004 |
| Claire Rosemary Jane, Children's Author |
| Visit to New Zealand |
| Links Tsunami New Zealand homepage New Zealand Index page Tsunami Towns and Cities: Auckland Wellington Christchurch Invercargill Nelson Picton Greymouth Queenstown Napier Gisborne Taupo Rotorua Paihia Specific Excursions: Franz Joseph glacier. Stewart Island Ulva island Southern Alps The Tongariro Crossing Cape Reinga Christmas Day in Rotorua Travelling Currency. |
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| Christmas in Rotorua |
| My main website is at http://clairerosemaryjane.co.uk |
| Having selected Rotorua as the place that I would like to spend christmas, I had then researched things that I would like to do, whilst there. After such a relatively hectic and very active trip around New Zealand, high on my list was to have a couple of quiet days, to watch a few films, and generally take it easy. But I had also read about the Anglican Church by Lake Rotorua at Ohinemutu, (St Faith's Anglican Church) that had a sandblasted glass window of Jesus, dressed as a Maori Chieftain, which if viewed from inside, made it appear as if he were walking on the lake. I was curious enough to want to see this window for myself, and it occurred to me that perhaps I might consider going to a service there (if there were one), on Christmas day. Having ascertained that there would indeed be a Christmas morning service, at 9 am, I was up in time to walk to the church to be there in good time for the service. I was expecting the church to be absolutley packed, as many English Churches would be on this particular day, even when they are not for most of the rest of the year. So I was very surprised to find the church almost empty when I arrived, and even just before the service was due to start, there were only about 60 people there, and this made the church itself looked only about half full. The service was the usual fare of series III style adapted communion with a sermon, nothing particularly unusual in that. There was no organ used and the vicar accompanied the singing on guitar. But my overriding impression, the one that left the biggest impact upon me, was that I would have, in such a small congregation, stood out clearly as a visitor. And yet nobody bothered to speak to me, either before or after the service, to ask me where I was from, or if I was enjoying my time in Rotorua, or indeed just to welcome me. Nothing. Had the place been packed out, I could have understood this, it would have been more difficult to spot a visitor, but it had not been. I left feeling disappointed and let down once more by the Christian Church. I honoured the church's written request not to take photos inside the church so I cannot show a picture from the inside of the window that I mentioned, but you can find one on the internet if you search for it as I have recently done. (There WAS one in "The Richard Gere Forum"- Personal messages section) So I returned from Ohinrmutu via Kuirau Park thermal area, stopping briefly at the hostel where I enquired as to other places of interest, as I wanted to see some more of the geothermal action. Neil suggested to me that it would only take me just over half an-hour to walk down to the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts centre and spend some time there, which suggestion I took up. After a brisk and quite warm 40 minute walk I arrived just in time for the midday concert, a Maori display of haka and other traditional Maori dances. Here I enjoyed this nearly hour-long maori display, after which a I joined the guided tour around the centre, visitingd Pohutu, New Zealand's largest geyser, the Prince of Wales Feathers geyser, after which I stayed on for a further two-and-a-half-hours making myself a self-guided tour, during which I looked at various other things including boiling mud pools and the cooking pool. |