Two and a Half Days of Birthday

For my first day of birthday we had two events. The first event was an acting, fighting thing. We weren’t quite sure what it would be till we got there. We knew there would be archery, axe throwing, and fake sword fighting but that was about it. We descended down some stairs and checked in, then marveled at the decorations of the place. The decor was definitely medieval, movie set, with one wall covered in mostly real swords and another section dedicated to costumes.

Next to the costumes there was an archery range that doubled as an axe throwing range which is how we started. It was the first time I had ever done axe throwing, though Jack had gone once before. We had a choice between a green or red axe, the red being heavier but easier to sink into the target, and the green being lighter but harder to aim and hit. There were eight of us in total, Jack, Natalie (my cousin), five others, and me. We all took turns throwing and had each gone about three times before some of the five decided we were done and badgered their way into having a snack break. After the snack we resumed and learned a different throw. The first throw we learned was overhand, and this next one was underhand. I think we all agreed that overhand was probably easier based on number of hits and misses but underhand was definitely just as fun.

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Once axe throwing was complete and cleaned up we listened to safety instructions and each got an unstrung bow. Jack and I were by far the most thrilled to be stringing our own bows. We each got a string and were walked through how to get it on. First it felt like the bow might snap taking my fingers with it, but with a little more pressure I got the loop around the end and was ready to fire, except that I didn’t have any arrows yet. After going through more safety instructions, we spilt up into two groups and took turns shooting. I’ve done some archery before, not much, but enough to know the basics. For a while we were trying hard just to hit the targets but after a few rotations we had all hit at least five targets and were on track to get better. When we all felt comfortable, a game was introduced. Object of the game: live! We were still just shooting at the targets but now for every target we missed we lost a point and for every target hit the “Orcs” lost a point. The game was humans versus Orcs. An Orc is a humanoid creature in stories, similar to a Troll or Ogre. If the humans got below twenty, we lost. If the Orcs did, we won. In the end, three reinforcements (+three points) came to the humans aid and that was what it took to drive the Orcs away and vanquish them once and for all… or not. Another group of Orcs battled the humans and again the humans were nearly defeated, but somehow ruled the archery field and conquered the Orcs (for real this time). We moved on to theatrical sword fighting and were taught five parries and five attacks. We started with the parries which is a fancy sword fighting way of saying blocks or defensive movement. We learned a block for the right shoulder, left shoulder, right leg, left leg, and over the head. I thought it was pretty fun the way we were taught, classic, all lined up in rows, demonstration and copy, then the instructor called out one of the moves and we all practiced in sync. So even the learning looked like some sword fighting school in a movie. When we had all practiced with a partner, taking turns parrying and attacking, we came up with a short script and performance. We didn’t have enough time to film it but we rehearsed our little skit until it was perfect. Jack came up with the idea to build onto our battle with the Orcs. We ended up with three of us being survivors of the battle and others being cast as king, queen, and three palace guards. The plot was that the king sent the survivors and their fallen comrades to battle the Orcs for practically no reason, so here they are, busting into his throne room and accusing him. Spoiler alert, the queen is on the survivors side and literally stabs the king in the back. Eventually the survivors overpower the guards and the scene ends.

Not the end for this post yet though! My second birthday surprise was going to a park. Not actually, but after Aunt Laura and Uncle Derek picked the three of us up we did go to a park, though, in hindsight there were a few suspicious whispers when we hopped out of the car. We spent about fifteen minutes at the park and then went to meet my parents, or so I was told… Surprise! A cat-cafe!
We did meet my parents but we wouldn’t be getting home for a few hours yet! We got food and were briefed on how to handle, or not handle, the cats. Then we headed into the cats’ den! There were lots of kitties and most of them were friendly, or friendly enough to come and steal everyone else’s food before going to take a nap. There was a table that we all sat at for a quick snack and for everybody to make their own bracelet while petting cats, and yes, everybody did make their very own beaded bracelet. Uncle Derek may have finished off my dad’s bracelet because it turns out he is a natural at stringing beads and my dad is not.

 

For my third day of birthday (insert Twelve Days of Christmas music here) we all went “black water rafting.” If you have never heard of black water rafting, you’re not the only one. Black water rafting is a major thing to do here in New Zealand but is pretty obscure everywhere else. We went tubing in Waitomo caves and saw many glowworms, which we learned are actually the larva of a type of fly. The tubing entails jumping off small waterfalls in freezing water so the company we went with also offers a boat trip in a different part of the caves. The four of us opted for the tubing though and had a great time crawling through little tunnels and floating on an inner tube while looking up at the sky of glowworms. At the end of the tour, when we were just emerging into sunlight, the guides sang me the birthday song which made it part of the birthday post. It had been a long drive there and we were very thankful we didn’t have to sit in the car on the way back covered in cold, cave water, the tour provided a nice warm shower before we left.

 

 

That concludes two and a half days of birthday, except for the cake. It was an ice cream cake that we picked up when we got home from rafting, and it was a very good cake!