What I love about traveling with Stray is that they take you to places off the beaten track. The buses don’t just go from city to city like the local buses, but they make sure to stop for nice small walks and places of interest along the way to break up journeys.
Our next stop on the North Island journey was Lake Aniawhenua where we had another Maori cultural stay. Just like at most other stops travelers can sign up for the things they are most interested in doing like cooking courses, weaving course or the option I went with which was drinking a couple of beer by the lake while fishing for freshwater eels which was nice. Especially when I managed to catch one that would be smoked and served the next day. The main meal for the evening though was a huge Hangi which is a traditional Maori way of cooking where chicken, ham, beef and vegetables where all dug down under a lot of coal and left there for cooking for three hours. Delicious food!
