Holiday Update #1: Wellington Sevens!

For those of you who may have been worried, YES, I'm still alive.  I finished my job in Hawera on Feb 4th and packed up/left town, and for the last two weeks, I've been unemployed, homeless, but having an awesome vacation!  (or "holiday" as they call it here). 

Friday night, immediately after finishing work, I drove to Wellington.  My friend Lyndsey was able to score me a ticket to the sold out "Wellington Sevens" Rugby Tournament.  Her description was, "It's one giant party and the costumes are incredible!  You've *got* to come!"   So I did... and she was right!

Rugby sevens is a variant in which there are seven players per side (instead of the usual 15) and games are supershort (7 min halves instead of 40).  This allows for a tournament to be played in the span of 2 days.

The party... er.... tournament ;) started Friday afternoon, but I sold my Friday ticket since I wouldn't be able to get to Wellington until later that evening.  I was able to meet up with my mates at the pub after Friday's matches.   Steve (my new vet pal from Hawera) and I were the only ones in the pub not in costume!

Luckily Alastair let me borrow his helmet so I looked at least partially costumed for this picture :)

The cool thing about the costumes for this event is that groups of people dress in themes, so you wouldn't just see one Arab costume walking down the street--- you'd see a dozen walking together!  

 Lyndsey organized the Roman/Toga theme for our group.   Pretty classy, eh?

The crowds were unbelievable!  On Saturday, the rugby didn't start til 1:30pm, but the bars were packed with costumed people much earlier.  Check out the deck on the bar below!  Can we say "fire code violation"?

We spotted these guys partying on a yacht docked at the Wellington harbor.  Real men wear pink (pajamas)!

Chewbacca (and his cousins) made an appearance...

It's not everyday you see pink ballerinas with wings watching cricket in a bar...

 Or a dozen chickens crossing the road....

Or Maori men in leopard leotards perfecting the art of ribbon dancing...

My fave all-around favorite costume of the day was this..

Well done!

Oh yeah, there was a rugby tournament I was supposed to go to, right?

Here's the stadium (and all the crazy folks walking in)

The guy in front of me was wearing this--- I couldn't believe it!

I also got way excited about these..

 The color was a little (artifically) redder than a classic Ballpark frank, but the taste was spot on.  Yay!

Oh yes, back to the rugby.  Team USA was there, and won the "Shield"!  (which is kind of like winning the losers bracket).   I was proudly (and all alone) shouting "USA! USA! USA!" while they accepted their award. :)

New Zealand and England made it to the "Cup" final.  Here are the boys in action!

Guess who won?  New Zealand, of course!

As a special treat, the team took their shirts off and performed the traditional "Haka" dance.  Yum!

What a fantastic weekend!  I'd have to say it was undoubtedly the best party of my life.  Just wondering when I might get around to using that toga again.... :)