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Published: April 5th 2012
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So with us being over 3 months into the odyssey, you may well ask if we have made any life changing discoveries, or found nirvana, or shaved all our hair off and begun tantric yoga. Sadly none of these things, we are in dire need of haircuts in fact. I'm beginning to resemble the Honey Monster and Anna is doing a good impression of Corey Feldman (that'll test your early 90's cinema trivia!). However, we have discovered that you may well take the girls out of the Northern Hemisphere but you can't take the Northern Hemi out of the girls!
We have been loyal to our rugby fanaticism and have been trying to purloin as much RWC memorabilia as possible to ease the pain of not actually being here at the time. We've done pretty well despite the best efforts of the Irish & Welsh fans who were here and seem to have bought the whole place up! (Though I still haven't got my shirt!!). Interspersed with this was a keen effort to keep up with the 6 Nations back home and see if Wales could claim their rightful place as the best team in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite the
time difference, the usually flaky French and a typical forwards effort from England the boyos were superb and we managed to catch a good few games at lovely Irish pubs around the place that played the reruns for us. Sadly Paddy's Day was spoiled for me due to our capitulation in London but at least I don't have a grumpy travel companion for the rest of our time here!
As with all of our travels we always try and fit in some live rugby. This time in NZ we are still in the rugby season so there is lots of exciting stuff to watch. The tournament is called Super Rugby as obviously the south hemisphere has to be the best (Oz, NZ and SA). We have been just looking forward to seeing some of the world cup heroes.
Our first game was in Hamilton the home of the Chiefs, they were playing the Blues of Auckland. The Blues are a bit like Cardiff in that they have fair weather fans, but a lot more successful. There were some All Blacks on show, my favourite Richard Kahui and the boxing heavyweight champion of NZ Sonny Bill Williams (will the
boy next try his hand at 3 day eventing!). This turned out to not only be our first rugby game it was the first rain we had experienced in NZ, and did it rain. Our new rain coats were put to the test and rather failed as it did not stop from the first whistle to the end. It was a good match the Blues did not really turn up despite Hamilton only be an hour from Auckland. We had the added entertainment of having a school group sat in front of us, every time Sonny Bill got the ball the girls screamed, he is sort of a sex symbol over here.
Our next Super rugby game was in Invercargill the most southern city in NZ. This was to be the only home game here this season for the Highlanders, as they have a new roofed stadium in Dunedin ( thanks to the world cup). Our camp site was right by the stadium so we left getting tickets to the last minute but there were plenty to spare. This was to be a kiwi verses aussie encounter. The highlanders were up against new recruits the Melbourne Rebels ( led
by welsh man Gareth Delve). The stadium was a lovely setting, I have never been to a match where there have been so many gum boots worn( wellies) not even in Llanelli. They seem to be the latest fashion with the farmers. Beer was flowing we also brought a flask of tea as it does turn cold once the sun goes down. Once the rugby got started it was a really good match but rather one sided once half time had come. We enjoyed the half time entertainment race, where two teams had to push a 4X4 100 metres whoever won had a year's supply of meat. Perfect again for the farmers. To top off a great win by the Highlanders we went and got a Lamb balti on the way home. It claimed to be the best in Invercargill and it was pretty good.
The next important lesson we have been reminded of, is that it's always good to have friends in different corners of the world! Having enjoyed seeing old friends in Oz, it was fantastic to catch up with Kate, Pete, kids, dog and cat in Christchurch especially as we had not been there since the
quakes. Paddy's Day was also salvaged by the fact it was Kate & Pete's joint 40
th birthday party and we enjoyed meeting their kiwi mates and family. The whole week was fun though how Kate has the energy to keep up with the three kids is beyond us!! We also spent time at Taylor's Mistake which is a stunning bay and Anna had a fantastic frolic in the sea with Isabella's boogie board (don't worry she didn't bully her to get it, honest). It was a beautiful day and a great way to catch up on what everyone's been doing. Of course, we saw evidence of the impact of the quakes (and numerous aftershocks) on both the physical landscape and people's lives. Suffice it to say the people are incredibly down to earth about it all and just get on with things and the rebuild, though slow, is definitely taking shape. We were sad to leave but know we have plenty of opportunities to catch up with Kate etc.
Generally, this is an amazing experience for us. There is nothing like waking up in the morning and having a view of either the Pacific Ocean or the Tasman Sea
and knowing you have the freedom to go to another spectacular place like it later in the day. Mealtimes are an event rather than a chore and it is amazing to just spend time together and not worry (yet!) about work schedules or fitting everything in or whatever. The real lesson to learn is how to be this chilled when all the day to day stuff starts!! We're loving every second of it but think of home often and hope we can entertain you all over here one day.........
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