New Zealand or Bust!: Labor day & All Blacks Game!

This week was Labor day in the USA, which is very much NOT a thing in NZ. However, something special and rare happened. All the ED docs from the USA ended up having it off. I cannot fully express the rarity of this event. Its like an albino unicorn, you just don't see one ever day. Luckily for us, Brenna decided that this was a great night for a dinner. She made a yummy chicken and bacon dish and everyone brought something to share. Most notably was Lina's apple pie ('Merica!) and Molly's Carrot cake. It was an evening of laughs and good times.

(USA dinner! Woot Woot!)

Only a few days after that funfest, cec and I drove up to the assuming town of Hamilton. Why? The AB's, or All Blacks Rugby Game. If New Zealand had a religion it would be rugby and this is the national team. They place against other countries both in and out of New Zealand. There are regional (minor league) teams, but it is a real honor to be chosen to play for the All Blacks. The name originates from 1893 when the local sports reporters would commonly refer to a team based on their colors that they wore. At that time, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was playing in Syndey, and local reporters started calling them "All Blacks" because... they wore black shorts and black rugby jerseys. The local rugby fans are REALLY devoted too! The team that they played this was from Argentina, Los Pumas. If the game was at 7pm in Buenas Aires, there would absolutely be restaurants and bars open at 5am New Zealand time in order for fans to watch the game. In our case, Argentina came to the town of Hamilton and we only had to drive 4 hours. This is a regular season game for the Rugby World Championship, the All Blacks play 6 games in the regular season. We drove up the same day after a very pleasant crossfit and breakfast. Anyway, we stopped at 30 degrees latitude, which seemed like a strange sign. Apparently, Cecil also has his own store! Who knew?

(We found 39 South!)

(Cec's store!)

Once we got to the hotel and checked in, it was a walk to the bus stop (to get the stadium). Hamiltion Stadium was tiny, in fact it reminded me of a large high school stadium or a minor league ballpark. The energy was intense though. We had the cheap seats but the view were still pretty good. The game only lasts 80 minutes, and play barely ever stops. It was VERY strange compared to a football game. Kickoff started at 7:30 sharp with the Argentina and New Zealand National Anthems. It was very interesting when they sang the NZ Anthem in both Maori and English. I recorded it HERE if you are interested in what that sounded like. Then was the famous all blacks haka, Our seats were to far away fro good pictures and videos so if you want to see it here is a nice video off youtube. which is chill-bump inducing. The game stayed close through halftime, the first Try (touchdown) was even by Argentina, but the All Blacks seemed to just wear down the other team and by the end it was a crushing victory.

Non game related things: We had a couple beers and I even had a fruit cup, yes they have a "healthy options" area in the food court and nothing else looked good. At halftime, I though hell froze over. The men's toilet line was double the women's! Yes, for Real, no I don't know why. We also were shocked to see the crowd throwing the rugby ball back when it went into the stands. YES! they threw the touchdown passes BACK to the players! I don't think I have ever seen that in a american football game! NZ people are so nice!

(Excited selfie!)

(Haka! Sorry its Blurry we were far away and the iphone just can't get there)

(Fruit salad FTW!)

(Women on the left and Men's OFF picture to the left. So strange!)

The next day we stopped at the Hamilton Garden's. It was a super interesting garden as they had all the sections showing different types of garden's through time. We didn't see all of them but the one's we did had a very specific feeling and were quite well done. Randomly, they also had a group of boat model makers there showing off their works. Impressive stuff really. Then we pretty much spent the day driving back down through the Para Para highway and cec did his long run of 18 miles that night. Quick but nice weekend.