Raffles and Rugby...

---

Forgive us readers for we have sinned. It’s been two weeks since our last blog. Casting pseudo-Catholicism aside, our recent laxity with blogging is partly due to lack of internet but largely due to us being so busy! Finally, we have found a little hippy, backpacker retreat on a sub-tropical island north of Auckland. It’s a rainy night and I have found a comfy seat by the wood burner so some blogging shall now follow! I can just about view my laptop screen through the passive "herbal cigarette" smoke so shall proceed whilst I have a degree of consciousness. Apologies if this goes a little too abstract as a result.
We spent 3 fantastic nights in Singapore courtesy of the Scholtz clan at their beautiful family home and really appreciated all the home comforts that they generously provided. After many weeks of travelling it was great to have a comfortable place to relax and unwind. Our thanks go out to Hendrik and Christine who haven’t changed at all in 7 years! Also thanks to Gerrit (aged 5) for announcing with great aplomb that he was peeing in the pool that I was already in. That boy will go places- mark my words! Our traditional introduction to any new country has been to haggle with an airport taxi driver. Instead of this irritation, in Singapore we were met by a very pleasant driver with a sign for “Dr Carson” who whisked us away to our destination. This was clearly a sign of things to come! Not only were our digs of a much higher standard, Singapore as a whole seemed a world apart from the rest of Asia. Prior to arriving, we had heard a lot about Singapore’s strict laws (no chewing gum on the streets, no jaywalking, fines for non-flushing of public toilets, etc) and that it was spotlessly clean as a result. We can confirm that it is immaculate and are pleased to report that in this country we did not fall foul to the law (as we didn’t venture onto motorbikes!). We did smuggle in a few sticks of Wrigleys but were too chicken to chew it. We also crossed the road at designated areas and flushed toilets appropriately. We were model citizens even under the extreme provocation of being charged $54 (£27) for 2 drinks in Raffles’ Hotel. Dropping monkey nut shells on the bar floor was as crazy as we got, as apparently there is no capital punishment for littering on private property. Karen was left unattended with Christine for one morning and returned carrying a Tiffany bag following her tough mid-morning gym session and liquid lunch. To ensure a repeat did not occur, I accompanied her to the uber posh Marina Bay Sands Hotel (see photo) but escorted her away from the Louis Vuitton and Prada shops before any plastic could be swiped. We found the old colonial area of Singapore amongst the skyscraper financial institutes and felt quite charmed by the contrast. Clearly an area where British ex-pats lead a comfortable life! Karen tested my vertigo with a double challenge of chair-lift followed by cable car high over the city from Sentosa Island. Magnificent views which I would have preferred to see at street level but survived (thanks for that recommendation Mrs G!!!!)
From Singapore we moved on to the Rugby World Cup in Auckland. We were due to fly via Brisbane but as Qantas had overbooked our flight we flew via Sydney. Karen wrestled unsuccessfully with the Aussie check-in staff to get us an upgrade to ‘compensate’ us for our 2 hour earlier arrival but was most displeased by the negative outcome. In-flight staff did however inadvertently rescue the situation by plying her with several bottles of New Zealand’s finest fizzy until the previous incident was forgotten in an alcoholic mist. As soon as we landed in Australia, it was clear that there was a disproportionate amount of rugby shirts. This only grew as we headed for the Auckland gate and the subsequent flight was filled with an expectant rugby buzz. As soon as we stepped off the plane in NZ we were completely immersed in rugby world cup fever.
As Karen clearly has more Scottish blood than she admits to, we were fortunate enough to stay with her close Glaswegian relatives, Jo and Billy, who had moved over to NZ a mere 27 years ago. They are Karen’s sister’s husband’s sister’s husband’s parents. Despite their somewhat distant familial link, their welcome was as warm as their accents were still Scottish and much banter was aimed in the direction of the England shirt which Karen was now sporting. After a brief Friday afternoon nap, we were treated to a hearty dinner and a guided tour of the city on the Saturday morning. Coincidentally, that very same afternoon, we heard on the grapevine that the national rugby teams from Scotland and England were due to play each other in a group decider in Auckland and that some of my old chums had arrived to watch the events unfold. It seemed only appropriate that we should meet with them before the spectacle and partake in a few socially- lubricating beverages. One nice chap outside the hostelry even managed to sell us tickets at a knock-down price so that we could also attend. The tickets we managed to procure were in the 6th row from the pitch on the halfway line- close enough to hear the screams of the English players as they were pummelled by the brave Scots!! In a game totally dominated by the Scots, we yet again managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. Half of our party saw the game a little differently and was as pleased as punch with the result. Fortunately, being Scottish, I have had plenty of practice of supporting losing sports teams so familiar old feelings were raised again. It would have been nice to win that game or have gone through instead of Argentina but it would have been unfair on England if they had gone home then, even though they never really got into top gear. The night ended as it began, in the pub. We never managed to meet up with the Trinity rugby boys again but we found many substitutes including a nurse from Fife who worked the hospital in Kirkcaldy where I did my training!
Our accommodation in Auckland for the rest of our stay was the only room that I could book in Auckland about 5 months ago on the internet and was one that Karen had been particularly keen to explore- The Auckland YMCA!!!! Many jokes have been cracked in the past 5 months but we were actually very pleasantly surprised. We got a clean, double room with a bathroom shared with one other room. It was a little reminiscent of student halls of residence or hospital accommodation but was only 10 minutes’ walk from all the action, had a great view and even had a huge gym attached which we could pretend to use. Downtown Auckland was permanently awash with rugby fans which gave it a lovely warm and friendly vibe. There was always an abundance of willing crowd marshalls to give information and free buses and trains to ship the masses to and from Eden Park. There was even a marked Fan Trail which led the crowds on foot via many free events including face painting, ice creams, video games, giveaways, bands, etc which all added to the party atmosphere. I have to say that the organisation around the games has been excellent. For the quarter final games which we attended (England v France and New Zealand v Argentina) we were in the back and second-back rows of temporary stand respectively. We were a bit critical of this. We bought the tickets within minutes if their release so obviously they filled the stands from the back- thereby penalising those who were keenest to attend! Also, the stands were cold and windy and had no access to the bars in the main stands where we could watch the preceding games in Wellington. The only visible screens were too far away and the volume incomprehensibly low. Rant over. These small things were not enough to dampen our spirits or spoil our enjoyment of the event. Before the England quarter final we managed to get our photos taken in a bar with an ex- All Black captain, Reuben Thorne. He seemed very impressed by our banter (not) but was polite and generously posed. I am sure he was also taken by Karen dressed in her England hat and shirt, draped in the English flag and covered in red and white face paints. The result of the England v France game didn’t please the red-and-white coloured member of our party and was a slight anti-climax as England again never really threatened to show top form or looked like winning. The All Blacks performance against a brave Argentina was measured, if not spectacular, but was well worth seeing. I think the result would have been inevitable if they had played Scotland but it would have been a great opportunity to challenge my liver once more.
In the week between the 3 games that we attended, we hired a campervan and headed north from Auckland, up the peninsula into the imaginatively named Northland. This region, famed for its sub-tropical climate, appeared more like a wild autumn day in Skye. We visited Goat Island nature reserve where we could hardly see it from the shore, didn’t even consider snorkelling in the grey, choppy water and spent a disturbed night as the van swayed in the whistling gales. Once the storm passed we were able to appreciate the beauty of the rugged coastline as we ventured up to the Bay of Islands and were amused by the fact that Scottish rugby fans were outnumbering the local population 3:1. We retraced the footsteps of Captain Cook by spending a day on a yacht visiting a few islands. We also learnt that in New Zealand you can get sunburnt even when it appears overcast. Apparently something to do with a thin ozone cover. You don’t get that in Skye!! Other days were spent in magnificent Kauri forests (huge 1200+ year old trees), at vineyards (I had to drag Karen away from the Fat Pig Vineyard) and sitting in geothermally heated pools (some were a bit stinky!). It’s a tough life!
So that brings us just about up to date. When we leave the hippy commune in a couple of days, we shall pick up a larger, posher campervan and head south from Auckland to explore the rest of New Zealand over the next 26 days...

PS. A big 'well done' to Ben for making the Edgerton rugby team. Your mum told us you’re an amazing winger and have been scoring tries and ‘tackling like a Rottweiler’. You should have been over here in NZ, the England squad needed you!! Big hugs xxx

PPS - make sure you scroll right to the bottom of this page to see all the pictures, before you go to page 2 :-)

---

Photos

6 rows from the pitch!!
Camera batteries dies approximately 5 seconds after this shot...