Te Aroha Rugby!

This past weekend was jam-packed with so many fun-filled activities! The girls and I are only in the schools Monday-Thursday, so Friday we took the bus to Point Chev. Beach. It was great to simply relax and read/write in my journal on the beach. Everyone is in school or working so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Saturday was a loooong day, but such an awesome one! We started the day bright and early at 6 am. We caught a bus downtown and met the girls to take the ferry over to Rangitoto Island. We spent the day hiking all over the hills and volcanic rock fields. The views at the top of the summit were beautiful!

Walking in the volcano rocks

Rebecca and I at the Summit

Asian!

View from the top. You can see the city across the way. See the Skytower?

These trees reminded me of Narnia a little bit.

About to venture into one of the lava caves.

The caves were pitch black and we didn't have torches (NZ's name for flashlights) so we had to feel our way along. I occasionally used the flash on my camera to see where I was going.

After Rangitoto, we went to the Chinese Lantern Festival in the city. It was fun to walk around and see the different kinds of lanterns they had lit up, listen/watch the different performances and entertainment, and visit the various booths.

We had this AMAZING fresh cut pineapple
with vanilla ice cream on top. Yum!

After the festival, we went to Eden Park Stadium to watch my first rugby game ever! The Auckland Blues vs. Canterbury Crusaders game was so good. It was a close game too! The Blues won 24-22. Here are some quick notes about rugby:

• The clock is always running. You know a game will always be 90 minutes: two 40-minute halves with a 10 minute “halftime”
• A tackle does not mean the end of a play. The ball just gets thrown again.
• The ball can bounce, but the play still continues.
• A goal is called a “try.”This is a "scrum"
• The ball must always be thrown backwards, never to a player in front of you.
• Running a try is worth 5 points. Kicking a try is worth 3 points.
• They don’t wear any padding—they are so tough! They play rough, kicking and punching and pushing all the time. One guy had to get his head bandaged up, but he still played the rest of the game. Another guy had blood all over one side of his head, but he also still played the rest of the game.
• Whenever the Auckland Blues scored, they celebrated with these huge torches.There’s one guy on the team that they lift up to get the ball when it’s thrown in (see below).
• Everytime the Blues scored they sent up shots of fire!The best rugby player in the world! Hey, Dan Carter!
  

Isn't he just so nice to look at?? I have never seen so many
attractive men on a field at one time before!