Stonegrills & the Ko Tane Experience

Today we had fun exploring Christchurch with a wander through the botanical gardens, a leisurely breakfast by the Avon River and wandering through the city. We had a fun dinner at a place called The Tap Room where the 'Stonegrills' were half price between 5pm & 6:30 so we were quite excited about that... the stonegrills are meals that are cooked on the hot volcanic stone they bring out to your table and you basically cook your own dinner :) Here is Mark's Surf & Turf dinner.
Then we went to the Ko Tane Maori Cultural Experience where Dad was our group's chief, so that was a bit more fun for us. Dad was a great chief and he and Mom got to sit on the thrones at the show. Mom and I went up on stage while they taught the girls a routine to the traditional swinging pompom things as demonstrated here by Mom. :)
Then it was the boys turn to do the traditional haka chant... part of the Maori culture is this lovely act of sticking out your tongues... the warriors did it to intimidate their enemies.
Here is one of the Maori performers... I really liked her dress! Mark and I had also been to a Maori show on the North Island and the biggest difference I noticed here on the South Island was in the warmer clothing of the ladies. They had on these dresses with fur trim and also usually had on entire calf length wraps.