Maori Performances and Bird Santuaries

Yesterday was an action packed day...
It started off with the chance to go see a Maori performance
at the local museum. It was a unique experience that highlighted the Maori culture. They performed a few traditional dances but they also performed the Haka which is their famous war dance. Afterwords, I even got to pose with the Maori Warriors. The museum was really fun because they had tons of Maori art and sculptures, as well as exhibits that emphasized their culture. The second floor of the museum also had a bunch of bunch of exhibits on animals, birds and dinosaurs that are unique to and have been found in the New Zealand area. As I was leaving the museum, I experienced the famous Kiwi generosity. I asked a local guy for directions back to the dorms and not only did he tell me but he even gave me a ride because he was heading the same way. I'm enjoying the culture and friendliness here because everyone here is genuinely nice and just wants to help you.

Later that night a bunch of us went to this Lantern Festival that is in a nearby park. It was incredible because they had tons of lights and dragons and traditional decorations all set up in the park. The festival highlighted a lot of Pacific Island and Asian influence found in New Zealand. We got to see the wide variety of cultures found in New Zealand and the festival runs all weekend so we head back later and check out what else they have because it was a blast.

This morning we had to get up early and get ready to go to Tiritiri Martangi which is an island bird sanctuary near Auckland. We did a two hour hike from the dock up to a the visitor center and lighthouse and I enjoyed getting a chance to be out in nature. We saw tons of birds, most of which were endangered. We even saw a tropical penguin burrowed in its nest! They also had this bird called the Pukeko, which kind of reminded me of a smaller version of the Snipe from the movie Up. The Pukeko is supposedly the tenth most endangered bird in the world so it was a rare opportunity to see so many so up close in the wild. On our way back down to the dock, I got another more personal tour from Ivan who is the EAP director for New Zealand because he is also a tour guide. It was great because I got to see a lot of things I missed the first time and ask a ton of questions.