Marshall's Birthday and a busy Balloons over Waikato week

On Monday we celebrated Marshall's 11th birthday. His actual birthday itself was pretty quiet. Marshall took cupcakes to school for his class, which were a big hit for obvious reasons, and he got lots of "Happy Birthdays" from his classmates, which he appreciated. For dinner we went to a good sushi restaurant. Marshall really likes sushi, but I would not call him hard-core. He doesn't like raw fish sushi, but he loves sushi with cooked foods in them, like tempura shrimp, crab, teriyaki chicken, etc. After dinner we came home and had more birthday cupcakes and Marshall opened up the presents and cards that had made their way to New Zealand. Marshall wanted me to say thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes, either through cards or by email.

Most of the exciting stuff for Marshall's birthday took place on the weekend. However, before I get to that, I need to back up and talk about last week.

Balloons over Waikato - Iwi the Kiwi

Since 1988 there has been a hot air balloon festival in Hamilton, with the present format "Balloons over Waikato" starting in 1999 or 2000. Every year it runs in late March or early April and attracts 30 balloonists, some local, some international. This year the festival ran from Wednesday, March 28 to Saturday, March 31. Every day of the festival their are, weather permitting, two mass ascensions (launches), which are open for free to the public. What is great is that while the balloons are inflating and preparing to lift off the public can walk through the field of balloons and get really close to the action.

On Wednesday morning we got up bright and early and were at the field near Hamilton Lake for 7:00 am. The highlight balloons for this year's festival were Iwi the Kiwi and two kangaroo balloons. The weather was perfect for ballooning on Wednesday morning - sunny with little wind. We watched the balloons inflate and saw the mass ascension lift off around 7:45. It was great fun--something about seeing 30 hot air balloons lift off together really stirs your inner kid.

Thursday was also fun for the Kidd family. On Thursday morning Marshall's school had a "Parade of Countries" to help celebrate the multiculturalism of the school. Marshall's NZ school has students from close to 50 different countries, so the parade was colourful and lots of fun to watch. At present, his school has three students who were born in Canada. Some of the more well-represented countries included Samoa and Somalia, but there were students from Egypt, Germany, Israel, Iraq, etc. Marshall represented Canada with two other boys.

After the parade we drove to Tauranga, which is about an hour east of Hamilton on the coast. Once there we met up with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Janet, who are on a cruise around NZ that started in Auckland and ends up in Sydney, Australia. We had lunch with them and then spent a pleasant afternoon swimming (Marshall and I), chatting and going for a little drive down the coast. (My Uncle Tom is an avid and accomplished curler, so it was great for me to catch up on some Canadian curling news.) Tauranga is a major centre with a significant port, but being on the coast, it of course also has great beaches. As a result, the area close to the cruise terminal, Mt. Maunganui, is very popular with tourists, in particular surfers. I wrote in an earlier posting that Raglan on the west coast is the probably the best known NZ surfing location, but Mt. Maunganui/Tauranga is probably the more popular surfing location. Not being a surfer, I don't know which spot has better waves. After my Aunt and Uncle reboarded their ship, we explored the coast and kicked around the beach for another hour and a half before heading back to Hamilton.

On Friday morning one of the balloons launched from Marshall's school. After the launch, most of the students partook in a breakfast that they had pre-ordered. Once the balloonist came back to the school, via his chase vehicle, some of the students got to ask him various questions. Marshall's question was whether the balloons can be turned/rotated. The answer is yes, they can. Each balloon has two vents, one on each "side" of the balloon which can be opened. Once a vent is opened, air rushes out and the balloon rotates.

A short balloon ride story someone we met last Tuesday night told us. She had guests visiting from overseas who had arranged for a balloon tour outside of Hamilton. When she and her two sons took their guests out to the balloon, the balloonist said other guests who had prepaid for the same balloon ride had not arrived and would this woman and her two sons like to go on the balloon ride as well. She said yes and away they all went. The takeoff and flight were apparently lots of fun and very smooth. The landing however was not. Coming down they ran into really bad turbulence and the basket ended up going through trees, a stream, etc. and the basket crashed/got dragged on its side, eventually stopping in a field of cows. They were all shaken-up (the women telling the story stills gets a sore shoulder from the "landing"). However, she said the worst part was the reaction of the farmer. He came out and proceeded to swear up a blue streak at them for crashing in his field and scaring his cows (which can sour the milk). She said he was not at all concerned about the people in the balloon, only his cows. The farmer's neighbour came to investigate the crash and had to send the farmer away and then the neighbour helped this lady and the others in the balloon. She said there was nothing the pilot could do, once they got low to the ground, the turbulence just took them.

After hearing this story I asked Marshall if he wanted to go on a balloon ride. With rather wide eyes he said, "No way!"

On Saturday night we had more fun with balloons. The finale to the balloon festival is the "Night Glow" event at the University of Waikato. As you can see from the picture, once it gets dark all the balloons are inflated and the balloonists use their propane burners to light up their balloons. At the same time they choreograph it to music, so the balloons are being lit up to the beat of the music. The balloons remained tethered to the ground throughout the show--it is too dangerous for them to fly in the dark. After the Night Glow there was a fireworks display. The Night Glow is very popular. In 2010, it was estimated 80,000 people watched it. We all really enjoyed the show, particularly Marshall and his friend Tyler.

Seeing as we live on the University campus, we had friends over for a light dinner before the show and drinks afterwards. They brought Marshall some nice gifts. Following up on their earlier joke, Will and Diana gave Marshall a card entitled "Marshall's Walks to Waterfalls - 100 New Zealand Waterfalls". Inside the card are pictures of 12 different NZ waterfalls. Marshall thought the card was very funny.

On Sunday we went to Rotorua and brought Marshall's friend Tyler with us, who had come to the Night Glow with us and then slept over Saturday night. We spent the day seeing a few sites in Rotorua and having a picnic. We spent most of the day at Rainbow Springs which is a small wildlife park that Marshall really wanted to visit. While there we got to see some more kiwi birds and tuatara (the ancient reptile). The park has lots of other neat birds, fish, and reptiles/amphibians. One bird there was a kea, which is a parrot that lives in the mountains of the southern island. We had read that keas are smart and curious birds, but a video playing at the park showed them doing some pretty amazing stuff, such as solving hard puzzles. They also like to rip open backpacks and tear apart peoples' cars when they get a chance. If you watch the video, you will see what I mean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twg4Yg4gFoo). I told Marshall and Karen that keas are fun to watch but I wouldn't want them in my backyard. The park also has a log ride that takes you through a short history of NZ's wildlife and ends with a plunge into a pool of water (think Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World). Marshall and Tyler went on it 4 times. It was fun, so I don't blame them.


Marshall's 11th Birthday, Rainbow Springs, Rotorua

That in a nutshell was how Marshall celebrated his birthday down under. He told Karen and I he had had a great week. He certainly was tired on Sunday night. This coming week is Marshall's last week at his NZ school.

Finally, a shout-out to Marshall's school in Quispamsis, Lakefield Elementary School. Rick Mercer has been running a contest on his show called "Spread the Net", the purpose of which is to raise funds for malaria nets for children in Africa. Lakefield raised $15,000, the most of any elementary school in Canada. Rick Mercer came to the school and taped a segment of his show there. The segment ran on Tuesday, April 3. It might be available on CBC or Rick Mercer's website. Great job!