Tauranga, our first stop about 100 miles south of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest port and popular stop for cruise ships. Fotunately we were the only ship there otherwise the place would have been jammed.

Like most of New Zealand the scenery is rugged with steep volcanic hills.Everything is very green and the flowers and trees are beautiful.

One of the major exports of the area is lumber. There is a type of pine tree where the needles grow straight up from the branch. We've noticed that the produce in the area is better than most we can get at home. I guess the volcanic soil accounts for that.

We took a tour to a Maori village, Tamatea, where the village elders explained aspects of their culture. The Maori are part of the new Zealand culture and economy like any other group, but at home they work hard to maintain their Maoriness. The long house is where everything happens -- weddings and funerals, meetings and private ceremonies. The walls are lined with carvings of ancestors done by men and symbolic weavings done by women.

The Maori first arrived in the 14th century, sailing from Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia in outrigger canoes. The Maori are basically Polynesian stock but there has been so much intermarriage that they come in all colors shapes and sizes.

We took part in a Maori greeting ceremony during which we were told of the history of the village, first established in the 15th century by Tamateapokaiwhenau, the captain of a canoe from Hawaii and his crew.

After the ceremony we drove to a small elementary school, where a group performed Maori dances and songs including the Kapa Haka -- a war dance. There we a display of Maori crafts including some work by a bone and stone carver that was exceptional. Also on the walls of the school was ome work by an eight-year-old who Laura says has the talent to become a really great artist.