blowing stuff up

The waterfront was standing-room -only Saturday night, as all good Kiwis turned out to celebrate the foiling of a plot to blow up a government house 10,000 miles away 400 years ago by watching stuff blow up. (The only amazing thing about that last sentence is I wrote "400 years ago" just to have a number, then looked it up, and found out it really did happen in 1605.)

It was Guy Fawkes Day, which, like the Queen's head on its coinage, New Zealand apparently kept even after it decided not to actually be ruled by Britian. At any rate, there was a fireworks show, and fireworks on sale in all the stores, and apparently no fireworks laws to keep people from shooting off fireworks anywhere in the city.
The last fact was fun when we watched people on the pier shooting bottle rockets toward the general vicinity of a police boat, not to mention fireworks going off at random just about anywhere you were Friday or Saturday.
It also made for a fun extension of the fireworks show, when a grassfire started at the Mount Victoria lookout, large enough for us to see from the waterfront below (as well as watch the emergency vehicles' lights wind their way up the mountain to try and reach it.)
A good time had by all - especially since we brought food and libations.

(The photo isn't actually mine - I stole it off Flicker)
Note: Post edited to use a photo covered under a Creative Commons license. Photo taken by rachelbolstad