On Saturday, February 17, 2018, we awoke to another beautiful day.
We had a lovely breakfast out on the deck.
We didn't have anything in particular we had to do that day, having crammed our main activities into the first few days, so after considering our options, we decided to go back to the beach, since our visit there after the dolphin trip had been cut short.
Along the way, we saw kiwi fruit growing in vineyards along the road. Apparently kiwi (the fruit) originated in China, and was called "Chinese Gooseberry" for some time, but was named "kiwifruit" by marketers when it was exported from New Zealand, and the name has spread. (Kiwi is of course the name of the national bird of New Zealand--more on that later--as well as the nickname for people from New Zealand).
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| Kiwi vineyard |
We thought it would be fun to have boogie boards for the beach, so we stopped by a K-Mart in New Zealand. While there, I saw these funny "business socks".
Rob and Melissa were really excited about the underpants they got as a gag gift for all of their children. (When their kids opened the underwear later, one looked confused; one laughed; the youngest said, "Where's our real present?"; and the youngest boy donned his underpants and thrust out his chest as he displayed them with pride.)
They didn't have boogie boards at K-Mart, but I wondered if these foam floor things would work. (Only sort of, it turned out). I also bought a small pump to inflate our inflatable boogie board, since our electric pump only ran on 120V, and New Zealand uses 220.
When we got to the shore of the Bay of Plenty, we once again started climbing Mt. Maunganui (aka Mt. Mauao).
This, time, though, we hiked all the way to the top. Except for Rob, who ran all the way to the top, more than once.
From up above, we could see that a couple of cruise ships were in port.
It was a warm day, but we knew we would be jumping in the ocean when we were done with the hike.
From above, we could see both sides of the peninsula that the mountain was on, and we could see that the sandy beaches went on for miles.
Along the way, we talked with a young gal from Chile. I told her that Jon had lived in Chile, so he talked with her for a while as we neared the top, so that was cool.
Mercifully, there was a shady bench at the top.
I loved the scenery along the way.
The other side of the mountain had steep, rocky cliffs.
And the sheep grazed near the base of the mountain.
As we neared the bottom, we saw that there was a wedding taking place on the beach.
There were some kids doing a Maori performance for the middle-aged couple that were getting married.
When the kids came out, we told them that they did a great job.
Without any prompting, they said, "Oh, did you want a picture?" and then posed for us.
At a signal from the lady, they went into menacing Maori mode, grimacing and sticking out tongues.
The lady showed us how the skirts were made of flax reeds.
The kids had traditional Maori tattoos drawn onto their faces (for the boys) and chins (for the girls).
Linette had ice cream for lunch. I didn't think that sounded healthy, so I had pizza and ice cream. :)
New Zealand did seem to live up to its claim of having great ice cream.
Down by the beach, a Volkswagon Bus convention was going on, with dozens of them driving by, all in a row.
There were also some hang gliders flying around. (Apparently one of them died that day, which is sad.)
The inflatable boogie board worked pretty well.
The foam floor tiles, not quite as well, but better than nothing.
Shauna had some ice cream that she shared afterwards. Rob was driving, so here I am feeding him as we go.
That evening, after we had all had a chance to shower and take a little break, we went to a Maori cultural performance and dinner at the Mitai Maori Village.
Here is a traditional war canoe.
The dinner was covered and cooked using heat from natural thermal vents.
And here is the food after the grand unveiling.
The big buffet dinner was great, and we had fun talking to an older couple at our table, along with a cute young gal from Europe (Switzerland, I believe), who was in New Zealand with her boyfriend (who had decided not to accompany her to this event). We all gave her dating advice. :)
We went on a little hike through the forest before dinner, and they had us all do a little Maori yell.
There was a natural spring there bubbling up cold water. The bubbling silt looked like a lava flow.
Here's a short video showing it bubbling up.
And some dudes floated by in a Maori war canoe.
The cultural show was nice. Here's a Maori Poi Ball performance.
And here's a dance I like to call "Clickity-Stickit."
And finally, the intimidating Maori Haka!
After the show, we went for a walk in the dark to see the glow worms. It was kind of cool to see them. In case you don't want to just imagine glowing dots, here's a lame picture of two of them.
That night they also took us to see Kiwi birds, which was kind of a cool experience. They're nocturnal, so it was dark when we went in to see them; and we had to be quiet and not take any pictures, since a flash or light might throw off their schedule and stress them out. So we all had to tiptoe through and find them in the near-darkness, which made it kind of eerie.
The Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand, is native to the island, and is the nickname for people from New Zealand. I heard people on the news refer to themselves as "Kiwis" multiple times.
In the next episode, we get another look at Kiwis (the bird), and I'll share some pictures of this funky bird. We also associate with some Kiwis (the people) at church, and visit a thermal lake.