Carolina Kiwis: Divide And Conquer

Friday

Ro was up bright and early. You’re never as acutely aware of how much noise those geared little toy cars make as you are at 7am, trying to sleep in. There was a dark cloud looming over the harbour, so Sherry scrapped her idea of an island tour, not wanting to get caught in the rain for 3 hours. She and Ro decided to get out of the rugby-crazed city in the rental car to explore north of Wellington, while Mark fixed himself a leisurely cuppa and got ready for the Sevens.

Sherry and Ro's first stop on their Upper Hutt adventure was to blow off some energy in Harcourt Park, a holiday park set in 82 acres of open forest, with some of the trees rumoured to be nearly 800 years old. The Hutt River, which was part of the River Anduin in The Lord of the Rings, flows through the park. Though they saw no hobbits, Ro did find a flying fox he thoroughly enjoyed.

Ro blissfully whizzes by

Akatarawa River Valley

Next stop was at an organic blueberry farm to stuff their baskets (and faces) with fresh blueberries. As luck would have it, the farm had a great swimming hole along the Akatarawa River (which eventually flows into the Hutt). The sun was getting pretty hot, so it didn't take much convincing for Ro to strip down to his undies and dive in. Won't forget the togs tomorrow!

Picking blueberries...mmmm

Making use of an impromptu diving platform

Continuing along the Akatarawa Valley, Sherry and Ro happened upon the Staglands Wildlife Reserve. The park was, in Sherry's words, "simply magical," and is one of her favourite things she's seen so far in New Zealand. The Secret Garden part of it was truly spectacular, with waterfalls, flowers, ferns, and bunnies hopping around everywhere! Ronan had a go at trying to catch more than one bunny, and his attempts left Sherry giggling at the memory. They had a quick bite to eat at the Staglands Café before leaving the Hutt, then headed back to Wellington for some much needed rest.

http://www.staglands.co.nz/

Staglands Wildlife Reserve

Feed the birds...tuppence a bag

This kunekune pig has a face only its mother could love

Ro's fave - the "Darth Maul" duck

This sheep found an easy mark

Crossing the swing bridge

Surrounded by animals

Ro took this one

Entering the Secret Garden

Ro trying to coax a goldfish into his hand

Meanwhile, back in the city, Mark started his day by taking in the festive atmosphere that permeated the city centre. The NZI Sevens is easily the biggest annual event in Wellington, and arguably all of New Zealand. Imagine Mardi Gras, with everyone dressed like it's Halloween, all going to the Super Bowl, and you'll have some idea of what it's like. Since it’s always on the three day Waitangi Day holiday weekend, the whole capital city screeches to a halt to blow off some steam and indulge in a little good old-fashioned debauchery. Sherry gets the Wife of the Year Award for letting Mark anywhere near it!

Rugby Sevens has just been made an Olympic sport for the 2016 games in Rio, so you’ll likely be hearing much more about Sevens in the future. New Zealand has already won the first two tournaments of the Sevens World Series this season in South Africa and Dubai, and although picked to win at home in Wellington, they've drawn a tough pool in South Africa, Wales, and Niue. Believe it or not, the USA actually has a Sevens team that competes on the tour, but they’re not exactly one of the favourites to win. For those of you interested, though, the next stop of the tour is in Las Vegas, baby!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRB_Sevens_World_Series

Mark took a brief foray over to Queens Wharf to scope out the scene. Chicago, an American-style sports bar (rare in NZ), had partnered with Speight's Beer to put on a huge outdoor breakfast for Sevens fans, with a massive jumbotron on which to watch the matches for those people unfortunate enough not to have any of the long-since sold-out tickets. Allan and Martha came over to our hotel so the guys could get their Roman toga costumes together. With help from Martha’s sewing skills and plenty of safety pins, they achieved at least a passing resemblance to Romans, then headed out for some of that breakfast. Reef was supposed to go with Mark today, but he was up all night with baby Leo, so Allan switched days with him. Ah, the joys of fatherhood.

Sadly, these heroes couldn't fly any better than the original

As if there's a NON-American Super Bowl somewhere!?!

One guess who lost a bet on this one

Wellington Harbour from Queens Wharf. Te Papa on right

Nothing like a rousing flip-cup tourney to start your morning right

Chicago must have gotten a bunch of sponsorship money for the food, because there were plenty of scantily-uniformed girls walking around the wharf handing out coupons for free breakfast. Martha passed on the greasy fare, but Mark and Allan fortified themselves with the big plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, rye toast, and a Speight's, all complimentary! Martha made her way home while Mark and Allan walked down the waterfront to the railway station, chatting with other Sevens fans along the way, occasionally getting accosted (e.g. “I love you, man!”) by various costumed freaks spilling out of the bars. Mark did see a boy about Ro’s age walking into the stadium, wearing an AC/DC shirt no less, but we had long ago decided that the chances of getting Ro to sit happily in a hot stadium seat for two full days of rugby were slim.

Breakfast is served! Don't forget your beer!

Allan & Mark ready for action

Yo, Adrian!

Fans ambling to the stadium

Full-frontal Body Suit Guys vs The Used Tampons. Ready...steady...dodgeball!

Of course, except when New Zealand is playing, the actual rugby is secondary to the, ahem, “atmosphere.” As soon as Allan and Mark walked through the turnstiles, they were draped with “kissing beads” by scantily-uniformed (do you see a trend?) Air New Zealand “hostesses,” and instructed to give out their beads for kisses. Everyone was in costume, many of them quite original. People have shirts and hats printed and embroidered just for the occasion. A lot of fans hire their costumes from shops, but the best ones are always homemade. The central idea is to have a theme for your group. There were more Tiger Woods impersonators than you could shake a 9-iron at, legions of blue-painted Avatars, as well as classics like cartoon characters, superheroes, and Braveheart. "Politically correct" has a different standard in NZ than the USA, as evidenced by the Baptist choir in Afro wigs and full blackface. There were plenty of men dressed as women, and even more women barely dressed at all. A few local companies (e.g. law firms, real estate agencies) tried to advertise their business by having their employees all dress in promotional garb. Mark thought the best costume actually belonged to a guy in a wheelchair, who turned it into a tank, complete with rotating turret! There were also a hundred-and-one enterprising fans dressed up in custom-made dalmatian outfits, with individually numbered dog tags.

These guys had to be absolutely roasting!

The All Blacks score a try against Wales

Cheering the All Blacks to victory

Glad to see America represented with such decorum

Yup, that's about right

The seating arrangements, at least on the first day of the tournament, are pretty casual. Although your ticket has an assigned seat, everyone just sits wherever they want, largely dictated by whether or not they want to be in the sun or the shade. Although the Sevens is the toughest ticket in the country and the event is always a sell-out, the seats were never all filled at any given time, mostly because of all the people cruising and people-watching on the concourse. Some fans, of course, never made it out of the bars they started the day in. Mark and Allan sat in their seats for a while, then shifted to the shady side, eventually meeting up with Mark’s mate from work, Ali, and her husband Dave, dressed as Antony & Cleopatra.

Allan, Mark, & Ali enjoying the spectacle

The crowd would cheer boisterously for all the Pacific Island nations (especially Fiji, a Sevens powerhouse) and anyone considered an underdog, like Scotland or Wales (except when they played NZ). England and the USA elicited an even mix of cheers and boos, while hated rivals South Africa, Australia, and France were roundly booed at every opportunity. Aside from when NZ would score a try, the biggest cheers went up for any underdog (e.g. Papua New Guinea) who scored a try against South Africa or Australia.

Subduing a streaker

The AB's kick off vs Niue

There was a sunset “halftime show” about two-thirds of the way through the matches featuring a Parade of Nations, plenty of dancers, a Michael Jackson impersonator singing "Thriller," and fireworks. The final match of the night was the most highly anticipated, with New Zealand taking on South Africa. It was a tense, edge-of-your-seat, defensive battle, but NZ scored twice late in the match to take the win 19-7, notching a 3-0 record in pool play and setting them up nicely for tomorrow’s elimination round.