Rotorua and the language of transformation

The Maoris must be in some way lingustically related to Gaelic speakers or those with a Scandanavian tongue... yet another language, I guess also like my own that does not always pronounce the letters as they are written on the page.

We left Rotorua and travelled to Whakatane. It's one of many places in NZ that begin with the letters 'Wh' but not 'Wh' as in 'where' or 'why', but 'Wh' as in 'fun' and 'fantastic.' So we have gone to see friends in Fockatarnie. I digress.

We left our site before the 10am eviction and were pleased to go. Not a good place or experience. We decided we wanted to go and find 'the old English-looking building you see in the tourist brochures' somewhere in Rotorua. It transpires that it is the museum and it could not get more English looking and therefore the seedy side of Colonial if it tried.

Cream walls. Wooden exposed timbers. Tiled sloping rooves. Two bowling greens, a rose garden and a tip of the hat to our near neighbours in France with a gravel 'square' to play Petanque. All that rubs shoulders with Rotorua's own version of Kiwi culture – hot springs. Back in the 19whatevers a very English 'taking of the waters' style Bathhouse was built here too, but all this gentility is overwhelmed with the raucous Satanic stench of sulphur. It's sort of revolution. Two fingers to you Empire building squibs says Rotorua – I will out smell your delicate roses and cloud your bowls with gag-inducing steam. I loved it! It must be the Protestant part of my Anglicanism coming to the fore.

So to stoke the pyre we decided to spend some time at the Polynesian springs. $32 it cost for us to get into the family pool and spas – a bargin in anyone's book. This gave us spa pools at 40 degrees and 37 degrees and a fresh water pool at 33 degrees. The spa pools felt great on the skin – slightly ascorbic – and wonderfully hot. We all had a wonderful time and didn't want to leave.

We eventually left Rotorua's wonderful whiff (thanks for that tweet Mund!) at about 2pm, much later than we thought. We drove the 30 to Fockatarnie. Now my memory is that part of this road used to be unsealed, but no more! But, it still has to be one of the worst roads we have driven in NZ – rubbish surface. (Dear I must have had a dull day... commenting on the road surface...)

We arrived, and just pulled on Martin and Sarah's driveway. They are son and DiL to other friends of ours. We got in, kids played, walk to playground, great chat about church, church planting and God's vision, mission and ministry, the structure, future and life of both of our churches. Back for lasage and play and kids to bed, followed by more chats. Martin and Sarah have been more than generous and I have been inspired by their seeking after God's will for them and the church they are called to serve – thanks guys you have been a blessing!

Next day, up, breakfast, Al and our kids and Martin walked their kids Ben and Isaac to school. the kids had breakfast and the adults did more God talk. I feel like I have been led to two people who are as passionate for God and His church as I feel I am. They have been great hosts and I feel the tentative beginnings of friendship.

We left about 10.45 in search of Moko (?) the dolphin who has made his home in the rive estuary at Fokatarnie. Well we found him, chasing the dredger boat – didn't his mother warn him not to do that? - not far from the shore. Great to see a dolphin pretty close – could clearly see his dorsal fin and his blowhole exhaling. He was clearly playing and enjoying the attention from people on the dredger and small dingies nearby. An amazing experience.

We drove from Fockatarnie then on to Waihi via Te Puke for a quick lunch. Waihi was put on the map because of the gold and silver found and then mined there espcially Martha's Mine which is a huge open cast mine effectively within Waihi itself. It's a nice wee town and has an interesting museum about the mining industry which has recently restarted. The mine is vast and makes the enormous mining trucks that take 15 minutes to reach the bottom and consume 100 litres of diesel an hour (!!!) look like Tonka toys. A great short stop. The hilight for me in the museum was the video about the moving of the Cornish pump house 296 metres away from falling into the mine.

The pump house has become for Waihi, a symbol of their mining past and present. When application was submitted to reopen the mine a sub-clause was added that said that the mining needed to move the pump house. Watching the video about what they did, an amazing feat of engineering – stabilising and then moving an already standing structure, was jaw-dropping. Google it and see if there is a video about it. It is worth a few minutes of your time to watch. And there the pump house now stands at the top of town, upright, turned and moved to safety.

We drove into Waihi Beach with grey clouds rolling in and found our site, just over the road from the most amazing beach. The site is a place where Kiwis have holidayed since the 1950s, but instead of having a Butlins feel about it, it feels experienced, lived in, like your favourite pair of shoes. Relaxed and yet knows what it is about. I ca hear the waves on the beach as I write, with a chorus of crickets.

Today has, aside from the dolphin encounter, been about seeing the past transformed in the present for the future, if you get what I mean. The Pump house, part of Waihi's past has, through it's move, been transformed in the present into and for the future. This is also the central message of Holy Week. God in Jesus says again – I love you. I want to be with you. Will you be with me? And through the cross, God takes into himself our past and present, and through the abject horror of Christ's death, transforms our present into and for His future.

Ding! Ding! Next stop Auckland!