Ready, Set, SCRUM!

Besides a sweet skydive this past week (in which I thought I should dedicate a full blog post too, haha), I have done a few other things which are definitely worth mentioning! A week of firsts it seems :-)

On Monday, I got my first NZ haircut! I figured going over 5 months without getting this mop cut was quite long enough. The lady who cut my hair was super friendly, chatty, and quite interested in my travels to NZ. Her catch phrase? “Good on you!” I swear, she must have said this nearly 50 times by the time my shampoo and cut was finally complete. She told me that for a backpacker, my hair was in surprisingly good condition. And, I told her that I was quite surprised by that considering I haven’t brushed my hair more than 4 times since I left NZ. In fact, I hadn’t even packed a brush! But, hey, apparently that’s the secret to beautiful locks. Works for me!

And, I am working on substituting my American term “bangs” (why in the world do we call them bangs anyway??) for “fringe,” the Kiwi way. I was looking for a bit of a change with my currant hairstyle, so I decided to try out a fringe again. Fingers tightly crossed that I wouldn’t sorely regret it. But, turns out I like it! So, phew! Fringe is in ;-)

I had the next day off (from BOTH jobs – yay!) so I decided to hike to Huka Falls. I had already been to Huka Falls several weeks ago, but had mountain biked there instead. Thought I’d take a different route :-)

Wednesday was of course the epic skydive day. Wahoo! (See *60 Seconds* for the full story!) :-D

And, I finally left Taupo for the first time in 6 weeks to go to Rotorua to watch my first professional rugby game!! Nz Maoris vs Ireland – I had bought my ticket last week and was super excited to watch the game at the Rotorua stadium!! Gavin, an Ireland native, had come through Taupo and stayed at Blackcurrant for a couple days last week and had told me about the game. Thought it would be pretty sweet to watch the game with someone who has a bit of their heart invested in the opposing team. Although, as it turned out, I cheered for both teams for the first ¾ of the game. Eventually decided to cheer for the Irish with 7 minutes of the game remaining. They were losing 31-28, so I was hoping to give them an extra boost of cheer! ;-)

The game was such fun!! They had a few live performances with NZ singers and even a beatboxer as pre-game entertainment. Good stuff! And, it was so nice having Gavin right beside me for the game because I was able to ask him loads of questions about the plays and such. I think I pretty much understand the basics of rugby now and thoroughly enjoyed watching the game! Quite unlike going to my highschool football games where I spent most of my time with my back to the field, chatting with my friends on the bleachers instead ;-)

Unfortunately, Ireland ended up losing…bummer. And, I was super cold by the time the game ended. My pinky on my right hand had gone numb! So, we went back to the hostel, drank a couple beers, grabbed a bite to eat, and hung out next to the fireplace in the lounge. Ahhh…nice :-) Then, once were were nice and toasty, we went out for a night on the town to celebrate the Maori win at the jam-packed Irish pub. What a fun mini roadtrip out of Taupo. I’d say it was a breath of fresh air, but this is Rotorua we’re talking about…a.k.a “Sulfur City.” Not so fresh but a lovely mix up to the weekend :-)