Paihia Week #2 – Day #6

12/26/07 – Boxing Day

Today, Jenny and I went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to see an authentic Maori performance and then walk around to see a war canoe and the meeting house. It was a very cool performance. They did a lot of singing, and they played a game with wooden rods that they passed around, kind of like hot potato :) During some of the songs, the guys would make these faces, with their tongues sticking out and eyes really wide, to convey strength and hostility. The woman would shake their hands really fast, which represented the living and spirits coming together. They were all very good. Check out the pics:



In the afternoon, Paul, Jenny, and I went fishing. It was a little windy, so it was choppy, but we took Dramamine so we were okay. We went all the way out to where the bay meets the South Pacific Ocean, so there were some big Snapper out there. At first the fish kept taking the bait off of our lures without us knowing because the current was strong. Paul even caught a fish without realizing it! But we finally realized that they were biting as soon as our lines hit the bottom (which was 50 meters down) and we caught some good ones.

Jenny won by catching the biggest fish, but my big one wasn’t far behind. Jenny caught 2, one big one and one medium-small one. I caught 3 fish, one big one, one small one, and one tiny one that we threw back. Paul caught one fish that was medium-large. It was a lot of fun! A little windy, but not too bad.



When we got back to the wharf, our fisherman guide filleted the fish for us, but there was so much that we only took about half and gave the other half to an Australian guy who went with us but didn’t catch anything. We didn’t have much to cook the fish with, so we just sautéed it in butter. It was okay, so we didn’t eat all of it and gave the rest to the hotel owners. They were very thankful :)

The rest of the night we just chilled. Tomorrow we leave for Tauranga. Hopefully we will have good weather and be able to do a lot of activities. Can’t wait!