Auckland to Hamilton then onto Ohakune

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Finally found somewhere with WiFi!
Where was I? oh yes, Auckland to Hamilton.
Jo has very kindly lent us her car for the week so all 4 of us set off at 11:30 am. George driving the first leg. 10 minutes into the journey and a call from Jo made us stop in our tracks. The only job I'd been given by George was to look after the Tickets (3) for the Wales vs Fiji match and I'd forgotten them! Needless to say after many insults we turned round and I collected the tickets.
Arrived in Hamiton by 1:30, parked and found the Corner Bar. We had arranged to meet Bex Hayman (sister of Carl, former All Black) and we had a great time watching the first 2 matches on the many TV's (including Georgia vs Argentina which confirmed Scotlands exit - shame :-)
Then off to Wales vs Fiji. Bloody awful match in the pouring rain 66 - 0 to Wales (Fiji weren't interested)
By this time we'd heard the news that our next days trek over the Ruapehu craters was cancelled due to bad weather so I was press-ganged into agreeing to stay and watch the Irish game rather than set off for Ohkune straight away. I was therefore on diet coke whilst the jacobites drank beer like it was going out of fashion. To cut a long story short after a 3 hour drive with George rythmic snoring keeping me awake and some fine SatNav from Ross we finally arrived at our destination. To be continued...

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Photos

Hamilton
Fan Zone

Wales vs Fiji
and it rained!