After an eventful week on the bus we arrived in Wellington for quarter finals weekend. There were literally no spare beds to be had and the place was absolutely packed with Irish, Welsh, Aussies and SA’s which created a brilliant atmosphere and buzz around the place – the Irish as always though were still in the majority.
First thing on our agenda was sorting out the ticket situation. We had tickets to the ‘wrong’ quarter final after Ireland beat Australia. Long story short we spent the first day wondering around the streets stopping any Aussies we saw and asking would they like to swap tickets...sadly most of them had purchased both tickets so had no need to swap. We left a notice on the hostel board (along with about 10 other similarly pleading notices!!) We were beginning to lose hope and starting to really consider whether we should actually buy some tickets, when we struck lucky!!!
Basically through an Aussie guy we met in a pub who took my number, his friend worked for Mastercard (one of the main sponsors) and was not able to use some of the corporate tickets as they had been purchased for Aussies. So she was willing to give us these for a very cheap rate. The tickets were worth $300 each and she gave us 2 for $100. Unbelievable – even telling the story sounds like its made up...£25 each for World Cup Quarter final tickets! Unreal....we were so happy and buzzing for the rest of the night. Thank you nice Kate lady haha!!
So we had a good night out on Friday night celebrating our very good luck. Then match day on Saturday...it was absolutely pouring down all day (typically for Ireland games) so the street party was a bit of a wash out but the atmosphere around the town and the fanzone was still buzzing. We got our facepaint and our green Irish outfits on and had a great day. We had made friends with a Welsh guy on the bus so we had some friendly pre match banter and drinks!!
Our seats were brilliant and undercover so we weren’t soaked which was great. It was fantastic to be at the match but just annoying the Ireland didn’t really turn up, it was all a bit disappointing and we had to avoid our Welsh friend afterwards haha he soon found us though and the banter was no longer friendly!!!! The atmosphere in the stadium was great although there were loads of Aussies there which was annoying as they didn’t really sing or support anyone!!!
We were really glad we got to the game and its pretty cool to say we have been to the World Cup Quarter final just a shame that it wasn’t a better result. It was such an anti climax afterwards cos the press here (similar to home I believe) were getting totally carried away with Irelands potential ability after they beat Aus and practically had them in the final. So now the team have flown home and taken the majority of Ireland/Dublin with them so NZ has returned to a majority Kiwi place again!
The edge was taken off the disappointment slightly when England were beaten lol!!
On the Sunday we went back to the stadium with our other original tickets and watched Australia v South Africa. It was nice to be slightly impartial and not feel so nervous, we were supporting Aus so at least we got 1 result in the weekend. It was fun being there and we were surrounded by some pretty spirited Boks and Wallabies supporters so it was still a nice atmosphere and definitely a better game of rugby! The Aus v NZ quarter final will be a huge deal here so we look forward to being in Auckland during that.
After this we had to say goodbye to our new Kiwi friends who were heading on around the South island which we had already done. We stayed a few more days in Wellington and it was nice to just chill and go for nice walks over the couple of days. We visited the Te Papa museum which is a free museum over 6 floors all about the history, culture and wildlife of New Zealand. It was really interesting and had some pretty impressive exhibits including the worlds largest giant squid on display. We ended up going back over 2 days to see it all and cos it was free we didn’t mind spending more time there and there was so much to see!!
We were quite fortunate that while we were there the Web Ellis Rugby World Cup Trophy was on display for 5 days so we got our picture taken with it...its surprisingly small in the flesh!! Some of the people round us had a few ‘funny’ comments to make when we got our picture ‘thats the closest Ireland will ever come to that’ etc!! But it was cool to see it!
We really enjoyed our time in Wellington its a cool city with a gorgeous water front which was all done up for the fan zone and supporters area. Wellington is where the ferry leaves to go to the South Island so they have a massive port and a huge waterfront area so we did a lovely walk all around there.
We also used our time to sort out our plans for Australia, we are now all booked up for our camper van...I am so excited haha!!! We pick it up in Cairns for 24 days and nights of banter along the East coast! We head for Aus in 2 weeks time...I am looking forward to some sunshine and a tan and meeting some cool surfer dudes!!
Our time is totally flying its quite scary....9 weeks James and I have left together out here which is mental and we know it is going to fly!! We are definitely making the most of all the opportunities and will continue to do so!
xxx
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