a true kiwi tradition (christchurch part 1)

Place: Christchurch

Baskets Left: 3

things are sort of back on the rails with this whole museum quest my boss ms. rhonwyn has sent me on. i appear to have successfully ditched the maori god of darkness, whiro, for now. at the same time i still haven't managed to loss any of these flax artifacts which just so happen to contain all the mystic knowledge of the maori people! meaning that whiro probably isn't going to give up... that is if he's the only one looking for me!!!

my plan to just keep driving on through central otago and queenstown has gone well enough. i've made my next appointed stop in christchurch just after night fall. just like in invercargill this means that i'm a bit too late to hit the museum. at the same time i DO need to stop and not be in a car. as much fun as road trips can be it's no good if you don't get out and walk along the road too (after all walking is a type of trip).

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as most of christchurch is closed i found my wandering around town was somewhat pointless. the city square in the middle of downtown was kinda cool... if not devoid of people and anything resembling interest.

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that is till i noticed lots of groups of people dressed all in black wandering in the same direction. though craig always used to tell me not to follow the crowd in this case i thought i'd make an exception.

everyone was going to the stadium. for a rug-bee game. not just any game, but a tri-nations cup match...

so before you think i'm an expert on rug-bee people of the web wide world let me start by saying i know nothing about it. i know that my buddy andrew tried to explain it to me back at port chalmers, but other than it uses a giant leather egg, and maybe a cricket i didn't get much about it...

though why they don't just call it rug-cricket is beyond me? i mean as far as insects go you can't get much different than bees and crickets.

as for the tri-nations i wonder if that's what the lands of zelda and link have become in the modern age?

whatever the case turns out in the package of stuff ms. rhonwyn gave me i had a pass that let me get into the game. not that it was true tickets you must understand (ms. rhonwyn would never waste museum money on something so not educational), but rather a general VIP pass meant to get into museums and other such displays.

boy oh boy was it ever packed in the stadium! a sold out crowd in fact. if not for my VIP card i won't have gotten in!!!

so immediately i was confused. there weren't any bees, crickets, or any other type of insect to be seen! just a bunch of dudes on a big flat field made of grass (NOT rug!!!) standing around.

so kiwi's who were dressed just like the guys on the field were wandering around handing out flags. on it was a big fern which...

matched the giant one out on the field! that must have been the point of rug-bee... though what that point was i had no clue i started to cheer for the fern in any case...

everyone around me really like my cheering for the fern, and they joined in... at least that is till the announcer said it was a minute before the match. than everyone stopped cheering, and got mad at me when i didn't stop. oops

i guess it didn't really matter as i was going to learn what point of the fern and rug-bee were.

than to my surprise they rolled the fern off the field, and the dudes on the field lined up on either side of a big egg.

then the game began. all i really get is that the egg gets run up and down the field a lot, and the dudes try to hurt one another. not even in interesting dinosaurian manners or methods. they just push each other... which has nothing on biting, stabbing, clubbing, kicking, crushing, or pouncing if you ask me.

all i know is that new zealand won at the end. i only know that cause everyone around me freaked out a couple times because the "all blacks" tried alot. than the announcer said at the end that new zealand won.

oh well it killed a night, and nothing weird, strange, or dangerous happened so i'd say it was a worth while use of a evening.

first thing in the morning i'm going to hit the canterbury museum, and hope that all the baskets disappear while i'm there!

to be continued...

(Production Note: Life stablizes for the Prehistoric Insanity Production team, and as of such watch for multiple Traumador posts this month including the exciting conclusion of the Museum Quest. Also on our website check out an exciting preview of the up coming Search for the Taniwha)