Friday marked the opening day of the Rugby World Cup (WOOHOO we are American so this means nothing to us)!!! After class, a bunch of us headed down the waterfront to watch the opening festivities. Trying to get a view of the water was an event in itself. The five of us were jammed between thousands of people with the same intentions.
In true Maori spirit, a waka (canoe) from each country came into the port. All of the waka were packed with maori people in traditional dress, riding low to the water (and taking on some water that was later bailed by buckets, not so ceremonious).
We figured seeking shade under a tree by the water would be a smart move. We were wrong. Too many people climbed/ hoisted up their children into the small tree so we were on the constant lookout for cracking branches that could lead to potential death, which I guess upped the ante and made the experience more “exciting”.
After the waka came in, we watched the maori come up onto the wharf. As they ran up, they ran in unison and twisted their paddles in their hands with every stride. One of our brand new friends from the crowd told us that this was the Orc run from LOTR! Pretty badass.
Once they were on land, we watched them perform the haka, the ceremonial dance that is done during things like powhiris, battles, rugby games, etc. This was followed by a parade through the street, which is where I took this super awesome interesting fun shnazzy video (the best part is at the end):
We decided to stay downtown and enjoy the festivities into the night. After snagging an early bird dinner at a Thai restaurant (and chasing down our waitress repeatedly so we could pay the check), we headed back to Princes wharf to watch the fireworks. They came over the bay, off the sky tower, over the city, and the air-show was accompanied by tree-light-silhouetted boats in the harbor. Americans we be, we were pretty used to these big boom bangs that lit up the sky, but for NZed, this was the biggest firework display ever to happen in the history of the country! Yippee ki yay, motha kiwis! (for some reason I needed to say that)
"I'm on boat and, its all lit up and..."
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