Always remember the 5th of November

(I'll get to that title in just a minute!)

Not sure where to start--my days are starting to blend together! I guess I'll start with 2 weekends ago. We are finally starting to get some nice weather so I pulled on my tramping boots and took off looking for a bit of a challenge. Everytime we take the train to the city, I notice this little trail off in the mountains, and everytime I look at it wondering what is has to offer! So, I set off to find out :) It was nothing too crazy but it was a nice little getaway that is only about 10 mintues from our house. Not to mention it was a tid bit creepy walking through the woods alone! It's okay mom, I won't do it ever again--!! It only took me about 2o minutes to get to the top and I wasn't feeling too satisfied. So, worked my way back down to a little stream that runs for who knows how long! I tried to stay dry at first, but by the end, I was willingly up to my knees in chilly water.

So, that brings me to this weekend--and the title of this here blog! The 5th of November is an event called Guy Fawkes. It's named after a man who was plotting to blow up the parliment building in England--he was caught and evidently burnt in a big bonfire. So, every 5th of Nov, people celebrate with fireworks. ("always remember the 5th of november--gunpowder, treason, and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason, and plot should ever be forgot"). So, we planned for an exciting flat outing on saturday night---expecting the fireworks show to be very similar to our 4th of July. Wow, were we wrong!!
We started with a big flat BBQ--we had an american touch, a kiwi touch, and an england touch. It was damn delicious! So, off we go---expecting a nice fireworks show, never expecting that for the next 2 hours we would feel like we were in a war zone. As soon as we hit Oriental Parade (a road that is right on the water and the hotspot for the night), things got nutty!! It started with really load noises (that were pretty unmistakenly fireworks hitting cars), and heaps of people. I'm pretty sure that within the first 5 mintues of getting to Oriental Parade, we all jumped back or huddled up at least 5 times. I turn to my right--some chick who has no idea what to do with a roman candle throws it on the ground. It shoots off once and flys under some cars--shoots off again, comes right at the crowd of people--shoots off again and goes right towards another group of people. All the while, the girl is chasing it, (oh, and she now also has a sparkler in her hand) trying to catch it. She finally does and points it away from the crowd--right towards some people on their balcony across the street. I look to my left and there are fireworks of all sorts shooting up within feet---no, inches of crowds of people. All along the beaches, kids (and when I sy kids, i mean YOUNG kids) were setting off their own fireworks with absolutely no regard for the fact that they are REALLY hot and dangerous! Yeah, yeah, I sound like a huge wuss and I lost count of how many times I told my mother to get out of my head that night. But, just when I told myself to stop being a wuss, another piece of fire would come flying at my head. You try it and tell me you don't run away crying. I felt like I was playing dodge ball with fireballs---that exploded on impact. Surprisingly, all the crazyness that was going on around us stopped as soon as the big show started. It was awesome and beautiful and it was nice to not have to watch our backs for 15 minutes! But as soon as the show was over, the crayness started all over again!! Walking back through the crowd---more people who thought roman candles were fun to point at crowds of people. Me and Phil ducked as one flew right over our heads--turned around and watched it land right on some guys lap. We found a nice little place that was a bit away from the crowd and decided to hang out there for a while (don't get me wrong--we wanted to get out of there ASAP but we drove---and we thought it was better to hang out then to try and drive in this crazyness---yeah, remember the fireworks hitting cars bit earlier??). So, we sat on this little roof and just watched in disbelief. 2 young kids (couldn't have been much older then 6) were not only lighting the fireworks on the edge of the dock, but were jumping over them while they were lit. The parents kind of watched. Another roman candle (or something that shoots off multiple things) was lit on the edge of the dock and fell in the water. I thought the water would just kill it. Nope. Shoots once---right towards the dock where all the kids were, shoots again, and again and again---no one ever knowing where the hell it would end up! We finally made it home safe and sound--me and molly repeating over and over about how it would never fly in the states. How we were never allowed to light fireworks until we were at least-what, 13? And even then, dad or big brother was right next to me and I had to run away after I lit it. Usually the garage was a safe enough distance from the street!! Anyhoo---enough of that! It was quite an experience!

The first All Blacks game was on that morning at 5am. We didn't make it. We set our alarm but we weren't quite Kiwi enough to actually get up. But we caught the replay the next day and they kicked butt! (the All Blacks are the Kiwi's pride and joy--the rugby team that basically owns this place!). Next weekend they play at 3am--we'll be at the bar watching. For sure!!

Sunday me and molly took off for Mt. Kaukau (pronouced cowcow) looking for a nice little hike! It was beautiful!! Only about a 20 minute walk from our house and a 60 minute hike to the top. On the way up, we came across this CREEPY looking tunnel that we didn't have the guts to go into. Maybe next time! We hiked a little more and saw rolling green hills for as far as we could see. It was breathtaking. The pictures just don't do it justice but I guess they never do! We saw lots of sheep which we were super excited about!! They are just so cute :) When we got to the top, we had a great view of Johnsonville (our home) to our left and Wellington (our work) to the right! We had to cut the hike a little short b/c when we got towards the top we thought we were going to be blown away! But we are planning to do it again soon! I wish I could explain the view--it was just amazing!