Experiencing new things!

We had rain most of the weekend, but I did manage to go for some awesome walks along the beach. No words can describe the unbelievable views. Each corner around a bay or stretch of beach was more wonderous. Time just melted away as I walked and walked. Not a soul did I meet. Around one bend a beautiful call, followed by a clatter drew my eye to the bush that rises behind the sand and lava rocks. I finally spotted a black bird with what I thought was carrying something in it's beak, but no, this bird has a pouch on it's neck. I later found out it was a Tui bird. I did finally make back to the house, where I ended up having an experimental breakfast. I tried: Vegamite- yuck, Midgimite- yuck, and lime marmalade- yumm. I'm going to seek out a vendor for the marmalade when I get back to the states.
Next we headed into Whangarei for souvenirs, and groceries. Had good luck with some Kiwi souvenirs, and interesting experiences in the grocery store, particularly in the produce section. Jakki, and one other costumer explained what some of the vegetable were. Of special interest was what the Kiwis call yams. Nothing like our yams at all. They are only the size of your thumb, and come in yellow, and red. Jakki bought some feijoa, a yummy fruit you eat like a kiwi fruit, but has a citrus flavor. We needed to pick up groceries to cook up some dishes to take to "the" Rugby. Whenever anyone talks about sports here they add "the". The soccer, the cricket, and the rudby, the most popular sport by far. The national team is the All Blacks. The fanaticism is comparable with Packer fever! Fellow teachers, and guests were invited to come to the school to watch the rugby on an LCD screen in one of the classrooms. 22 people showed up. Great fun, with loads of food, including the crawfish we caught! I still don't quite understand the game, but I am now a fan. An interesting thing happens at every All Blacks game, the team performs a Haka, a traditional Maori dance meant to intimidate the enemy.
We ended the evening with Karaoke, and yes they did convince the American guest to have a go at performing, singing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash!! Unfortunately this was captured on film.