WOAH!!
What an amazing weekend and fantastic experience.
I was supposed to be blogging about 2 weekends in Auckland but it has to be a bit out of order as the Final is so fresh in my head and was just way too amazing to save until the end of the blog!!
The whole weekend of the Final was fantastic, the city was totally buzzing, the All Blacks fans are so patriotic and passionate although extremely arrogant too haha!! On the night of the match we headed down to the fanzone in the early evening knowing it was going to be packed. The main fanzone was already full by 5.30 (the match was at 9) so we got into the overflow wharf which was just the same with big screens, beer tents and food stalls. By the time the game kicked off the buzz and craic was just amazing, it was absolutely packed with barely a spare space on the floor.
Although the match wasnt the best rugby (I am now an expert critic!) because of where we were and the significance of it to all the people we were with we had one of the best nights in NZ. Every favourable decision to the ABs by the ref was greeted with a massive cheer and flags waving etc - there was barely any French people in the crowd at all.
In the last 5 minutes it was so tense and almost uncomfortable as the game was so close. When the final whistle blew the whole city and country was in party mode. The streets were a sea of black screaming and strangers were hugging and high fiveing other strangers - they really are so passionate about their rugby and I guess they had waited a long time for this one!
We hung out in the street party for a while just soaking it all up!
The party basically continued until the next day where the team had a victory parade. They estimated that 500,000 people turned up to see them coming up the main street in Auckland. Again the atmosphere and the enthusiasm was fantastic, this country as a whole is rugby obsessed!! There were 3 players per truck came past and each one got a great cheer and flags waving. When Richie McCaw came through with Graham Henry and the trophy I was practically deafened!!!!!!
I really can not believe that we were in NZ when they won the world cup, it is definitely a unique and fantastic experience which no doubt we will remember and reminisce about for many years to come - especially during future world cups!! Woah is basically my best summary!!!
The rest of our time in Auckland was also pretty good. On the Friday night we managed to blag ourselves 2 free tickets to the bronze final in Eden Park, Wales v Australia. It was a really good game and it was cool to go to Eden park which is absolutely massive!!! We weren't sitting together but I guess backpackers getting free tickets cant be choosers!! The atmosphere was actually really good for a practically pointless game, the Welsh supporters were using it as another chance for a good night but sadly for them their team seemed to be totally knackered!
Again it was pretty cool to be there. They had set up a big walk from the fanzone out to Eden Park called the fantrail about 4.5km each way with entertainment on route so we enjoyed that!
We seem to have been in Auckland alot as we were also here during the semis weekend, we went to the fanzone for the Welsh game the atmosphere was good but the story is sort of overshadowed by the final, although we met a few of the Welsh players which was quite cool....don't worry BOD you are still my number one!!! (just incase he is reading!!!)
So our time in NZ has sadly come to an end. What a fantastic 2 months we have had, every day filled with something new and exciting, we will be very sad to head to the airport tomorrow but also very excited for a new (and final) chapter of our travels to begin. The Australian adventure awaits us.......
xxx
What an amazing weekend and fantastic experience.
I was supposed to be blogging about 2 weekends in Auckland but it has to be a bit out of order as the Final is so fresh in my head and was just way too amazing to save until the end of the blog!!
The whole weekend of the Final was fantastic, the city was totally buzzing, the All Blacks fans are so patriotic and passionate although extremely arrogant too haha!! On the night of the match we headed down to the fanzone in the early evening knowing it was going to be packed. The main fanzone was already full by 5.30 (the match was at 9) so we got into the overflow wharf which was just the same with big screens, beer tents and food stalls. By the time the game kicked off the buzz and craic was just amazing, it was absolutely packed with barely a spare space on the floor.
Although the match wasnt the best rugby (I am now an expert critic!) because of where we were and the significance of it to all the people we were with we had one of the best nights in NZ. Every favourable decision to the ABs by the ref was greeted with a massive cheer and flags waving etc - there was barely any French people in the crowd at all.
In the last 5 minutes it was so tense and almost uncomfortable as the game was so close. When the final whistle blew the whole city and country was in party mode. The streets were a sea of black screaming and strangers were hugging and high fiveing other strangers - they really are so passionate about their rugby and I guess they had waited a long time for this one!
We hung out in the street party for a while just soaking it all up!
 |
| The street after the game! |
The party basically continued until the next day where the team had a victory parade. They estimated that 500,000 people turned up to see them coming up the main street in Auckland. Again the atmosphere and the enthusiasm was fantastic, this country as a whole is rugby obsessed!! There were 3 players per truck came past and each one got a great cheer and flags waving. When Richie McCaw came through with Graham Henry and the trophy I was practically deafened!!!!!!
 |
| Street before the parade came through |
 |
| Dan Carter |
 |
| Aaron Cruden - I like him haha! |
 |
| Richie and Graham with the trophy coming up! |
I really can not believe that we were in NZ when they won the world cup, it is definitely a unique and fantastic experience which no doubt we will remember and reminisce about for many years to come - especially during future world cups!! Woah is basically my best summary!!!
The rest of our time in Auckland was also pretty good. On the Friday night we managed to blag ourselves 2 free tickets to the bronze final in Eden Park, Wales v Australia. It was a really good game and it was cool to go to Eden park which is absolutely massive!!! We weren't sitting together but I guess backpackers getting free tickets cant be choosers!! The atmosphere was actually really good for a practically pointless game, the Welsh supporters were using it as another chance for a good night but sadly for them their team seemed to be totally knackered!
 |
| Passionate Wales supporter!! |
We seem to have been in Auckland alot as we were also here during the semis weekend, we went to the fanzone for the Welsh game the atmosphere was good but the story is sort of overshadowed by the final, although we met a few of the Welsh players which was quite cool....don't worry BOD you are still my number one!!! (just incase he is reading!!!)
So our time in NZ has sadly come to an end. What a fantastic 2 months we have had, every day filled with something new and exciting, we will be very sad to head to the airport tomorrow but also very excited for a new (and final) chapter of our travels to begin. The Australian adventure awaits us.......
xxx
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