Giddy-up!

This past weekend I drove up the coast to watch another of the great New Zealand annual events: the rodeo (pronounced row-day-o here). Located in the very unassuming town of Urenui, approximately 90km north of my home town of Hawera, it’s not a place I’d thought capable of handling such an event. I was wrong. Donned in my cowboy boots and jeans, Jason and I arrived around 1pm, just as the grand events were getting under way. What appeared to be a small showplace situated behind some houses, the venue actually featured long tiers of grass seating (or dirt as the case was on this day due to extremely hot temperatures on the preceding days) situated around a small arena. With a large screen television housed high above the crowd to catch the close-ups, we watched for hours, mesmerized by bull-riding, barrel racing, calf roping, horse-bucking, and a variety of cowboy hat clad audience members. Amazingly, this was the event of the weekend, evidenced by a few 1000 people who had come with chilly bins, blankets, and umbrellas in tow to watch family and friends ride for their 15 seconds of glory. Just reminds me never to assume anything about New Zealand.