On an Island in the Sun...

This week was the Pasifika festival in Auckland where there were lots of shows, food, souvenirs, etc, so Thursday night we went to the festival opener which had just one stage open that showcased one dance/song from each of the islands represented at the festival.

Because we are at the mercy of the bus schedule for our arrivals, we got there an hour early but found it very easy to kill time in the beautiful Western Springs park. There were REAL LIVE PUKEKOS which I was holding at about a unicorn level up to this point because we hadn't seen any, but at this park the pukekos were just out amongst the ducks, geese, black swan things (freaky red eyes, I feel like they were an omen, waiting for something bad to happen now), and pigeons. Let me just tell you, they are so funny because they have such long skinny legs that remind me of an awkward teenager. The Pukeko in a Ponga tree is real, my friends.

That mountain that is right behind my head (excellent placement) is the volcanoon Rangitoto Island that Heidi and I hiked on Friday. Before going Raewyn told me it was a "new" volcanoe, "it just erupted 900 years ago" so I was a little bummed we weren't going to see any bubbling lava, but maybe a little more relaxed knowing I was going to make it home that night. We took a ferry from the city to get there and we realized that we had officially taken every mode of transportation we could so far on this trip: airplanes, cars, buses, feet, a train, and now a boat. Did I miss any? We thought that wasexciting.

Here we are at the top, overlooking Auckland! It's kind of hard to see, cause the skytower is directly behind my head (again, grateful to those who took our picture for us, but we kinda missed the point here) and cause its a very flat and sprawling city, but there she is!

Today we went to see more of the Pasifika festival. They had all of the different islands set up a stage and lots of tents with vendors for food and cool things to buy in different parts of the park. Here I am watching the Kiribati dancers, whom I had never even heard of before. Along with Kiribati the islands represented were Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and Tangata (Maori/Aotearoa fits in there somewhere too). Very cool to see the little differences in each culture. We are now working on our hula-ish/ grass skirt dancing in front of our mirror so we're pros by the time we go home:)