Yesterday morning, we began the day by visiting the New Zealand Rugby Headquarters. We had wanted to see an All Blacks game including the famous haka (YouTube if you don't know what that is), but it is not yet the season for that, so we were treated to a tour of the brand new headquarters instead. It was an amazing workspace, and we were able to take a couple of good photos as well.
Next, it was a picnic lunch in the sun at the local boat club and then off to hike up Colonial Knob with our Maori guide, Gary. The hike up the gorgeous hillside included 739 stairs, but we all make it in one piece to the lookout point where we could see the south island. Unfortunately, we didn't all make it down the "mountain" in the same shape. As we started to descend the back of the mountain by way of the road, Laura slipped and rolled her ankle. That resulted in a scavenger hunt-style search for the key to the gate that would allow one of the cars up the road to pick up our injured teammate. In the meantime, Laura hobbled her way down the rocky terrain so that by the time the gate was finally opened, Nick only had to drive up about 200m to rescue her. (She is now doing fine). In the end, what was intended to be a 1.5 hour "tramp" resulted in a 4 hour adventure.
It was then back home for a quick freshen up before heading off again to our evening engagement at another Rotarians home for a potluck dinner and a casual presentation. It was great fun and we enjoyed all of the homecooked New Zealand food. I keep saying that I really need to eat a kiwi while I'm here since they are in season right now, and I haven't had one yet. Nathalie keeps reminding me to qualify that with the word "fruit" since kiwi can mean the fruit, the bird, or the people, and I most definitely mean that I want to eat a fresh kiwi fruit!
This morning, we headed off to our next location, which meant heading over the very scenic yet very windy Rumatuka mountain into the Wairarapa valley. After driving for about an hour, we arrived in Greytown, which is one of the oldest towns in New Zealand, we are told. It is a really great boutique town of little shops, restaurants, cafes, and galleries. In one of the cafes, we met two of the Rotarians who would be hosting us, including Alastair who owns the sheep farm where we will visit this evening for sheep shearing and a spitroast dinner.
After tea, we had a couple of hours on our own to wander through town, and then we met back up at the Jack and Jill cafe to meet our host families for lunch. I am now sitting in a gorgeous farm house looking up at the sheep grazing on the hill above me. If I wander across the house to my room, I will be able to look out one of two walls of windows onto the green farmland in the valley below. It really is quite bucolic.
One of the interesting things that we've noticed is that many of the families we are meeting are actually from England originally. I also found out today that you can golf at several of the beautiful nearby golf courses for $5 - $15 and some of them even have an honesty box where you pay before you play. I was talking to my host family this morning about how it would be so wonderful to live here, and the conversation somehow evolved into a discussion about the hundreds of mini earthquakes New Zealand experiences each year. Apparently only about ten of those are felt, but I'm not sure I could handle that. At Te Papa, I went into the earthquake house, which shakes about in order to simulate an earthquake, and it was quite unsettling. However, after making my way through the countryside today, I might just be able to put up with it!
I don't have wifi access right now to upload my pictures, but I will keep you posted over the next couple of days until I can add the photos.
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