Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

I went to Willowbank on Friday, July 7th. Ramona, a biomath visitor, was returning to Germany on Sunday and did a last minute splurge of activities that she wanted to do but hadn't. One activity was to see a Maori show. We could do three activities at Willowbank: See the Maori show, eat a Maori dinner, and view the wildlife. Mareike in our group was a vegetarian, which eliminated the dinner, so we did the other two.

The Maoris required a chief to lead the audience to the venue and be invited in. The guide selected me the chief. I lead the group and was at the front as we walked around the grounds. At one point, I stood on a bridge, little streams crossed the reserve, and waited while a Maori performed an intimidation haka with a bo staff. The guide instructed me not to laugh. I picked up the offering fern and we were invited to the next stage. The chief could kick the fern away and there would be war, but I didn't know that was an option. At the next stage, I did the nose rubbing welcome with the chief. Then we sat down and the show started. I sat in the chief's chair. There was a spot for my date, but I was there single.

The show reminded me of my imagination of performances at a luau. To say hello in Maori, it's "Akora." I was tempted to say "Aloha." They sang the Hokee-Pokee in Maori, danced, and performed a haka. The show was fun. They invited people on the stage at the end to take photos with the performers. That's where the top blog photo is from. The woman on my left is Mareike. The room was dusty that caused all the dots on the photo. We weren't summoning the ancestral spirits.

The walk to see the animals was fun too. The photo to the left is of me with a kia, the alpine parrot. Rumor has it that they are mischievous and will torment hikers. They like to deflate tires, steal glasses, and drop rocks on cabins where people are sleeping. This one didn't want her photo taken. The kiwi pavilion was open air. You could see the kiwis running around in their pens and touch them if that were allowed. Willowbank finds eggs, hatches the chicks, and releases them once big enough. The kiwis are mainly killed as juveniles by the invasive predatory mammals. I also saw a tuataro. It appears Willowbank is doing good work, and once I begin to tithe again, I will donate money.

The ultimate kiwi experience weekend didn't end on Friday night. I attended the All Blacks-Wallabies test match at Jade Stadium on Saturday. I bought a surprisingly good seat, on the fifty-yard line by the tunnel where the players enter the field. I went by myself and had a single seat next to a father and son. The people behind me said that the US rugby side was improving and that they played the Maori side recently. The US lost 64 to zero. Rugby is interesting and I will watch the All Blacks-Wallabies game again this weekend. I don't care for line outs and feel that if any team had one of the good US running backs, Tomlinson, Holmes, etc, they would be unstoppable. Dante Hall would be a the greatest rugby player ever.

The game was fun but uneventful. The All Blacks won convincingly. I walked to the game and stopped by the Fitzgerald Arms Tavern on the way. They had a special on DB and I bought a 6 dollar jug to skull. Maybe not in one gulp, but it's hard to have a more kiwi weekend.