Watch the Pōhutu Geyser and share a hāngi at Te Puia

The largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere, erupting up to twenty times a day, on the grounds of the national Māori arts and crafts institute. The meal is cooked in the ground it stands on.

Pōhutu means splashing, and it throws water up to thirty metres, often for long stretches at a time. It sits in the Whakarewarewa valley alongside mud pools, silica terraces and steam vents, on land held by the local iwi.

Te Puia is also the home of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, where carvers and weavers train under a programme set up to keep those skills alive. You can watch students working in wood, stone, bone and harakeke flax, which turns an easily superficial visit into something with substance behind it.

A hāngi is cooked in a pit using geothermally heated stones, the food layered in baskets and covered for hours. The result is smoky and dense in a way an oven does not reproduce. It is normally served alongside a cultural performance including waiata and the haka.