A bit of Kiwiana...

Well I haven't given Johnny a chance to miss NZ since he has been back really due to lots of Kiwi happenings going on on this side of the world! As I am sure you are all aware, the good old All Blacks have been over this side of the world and Johnny and I were lucky enough to get tickets to some of their matches.

I headed over to the Welsh match a couple of weekends ago and flew into and out of London, allowing me to visit some friends along the way. Click here to read more about it.


I flew into London on a late flight on Friday night and caught up with my friend Quizzy from NZ. The next morning, myself, Quizzy and Petra, another Kiwi mate, headed off in our rental car and drove the 2-3 hours to Cardiff where we met up with Ali and Simon, Kiwi mates who now live in Manchester.

Boy is Cardiff the place to go for a rugby match! The main street was blocked off for cars so that the thousands of people, all dressed in either the Welsh red or the NZ black, could wander in and out of the pubs and sing their chants whilst waving their flags. The atmosphere was electric and it didn't take us long to get very excited about the match. The Welsh people are fantastic as well, there was absolutely no animosity between the two sides, everyone was friendly and cheerful.

Millenium stadium is often mentioned as one of the most impressive stadiums in the world and I wasn't disappointed. With its huge hanging screens and its movable roof-top, it certainly impressed me. And although we were sitting in the nose-bleed seats and could have done with binoculars, we had a fantastic time cheering on our boys with the thousands of other Kiwis up the top with us. Our singing may not have been as good as the Welsh singing but we definitely all had a great time singing anything from "Tu tiro mai nga iwi.." to "Po kare kare ana..." and even clapping the Milo chant at one point!

And it was a good game to watch! Perhaps not as exciting as it could have been but we were very proud of our All Blacks! After the match we continued to celebrate with a few more drinks and then drove back to our hotel in the pouring rain (unfortunately I was the nominated sober driver that night) for a little party of our own in the hotel.

The next day we got the chance to get in a little bit of sight-seeing and some shopping in Cardiff before heading back to London. Although we didn't get a chance to go into it, the Castle looked very impressive and I think that Cardiff will be one city worth going back to at some stage.

That night, back in London, I got the chance to have dinner with my friends Kath and Dave from New Zealand. It was great to see them and very enjoyable to sit and chat with people I have known for years.



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The following weekend was the Irish match and Johnny and I had gotten seven tickets to the match which we had shared with friends. Unfortunately, due to problems with the stadium, we were unable to attend the game. Read more about what we got up to here.

On Saturday morning I was woken up by a text from my Dad in NZ saying that the West Stand of Lansdowne Stadium had burnt down so I had better check my tickets. Going online we were relieved to find out that it was actually only a small fire underneath the North Terrace but then upset to realise that they were closing the entire terrace as a result and that was were our tickets were! ARGH! Gutted!

So after a ring around to our mates we decided that the best place to meet and watch it in was Sinnotts bar, around the corner from our place (everything is around the corner from our place these days!). Getting there at about midday, we saw that a lot of other Kiwis had thought the same thing and by the looks of things a lot of them had tickets to the North Terrace too. Someone had even put up a poster claiming one end of the bar to be the North Terrace! Ha ha! Luckily there were a decent amount of Irish supporters there though too which made the game more interesting to watch.

Of course we kicked butt yet again and the Irish supporters were bitterly disappointed... that didn't stop us continuing with our drinking and celebrating though!



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Another bit of Kiwiana we were lucky to experience were The Exponents! Read more about it by clicking here.

The Exponents were playing 'For the Last Time Ever in Ireland' (apparently) at the Woolshed the other night so Johnny and I headed down with Teresa and Brad, two other of our Kiwi mates. Unfortunately, the band didn't start until late and only played their old songs later on in the night but it was great to sing along to them nevertheless. AND the All Blacks showed up! It was the Thursday night before their game over here so the 15 that weren't playing on the Saturday turned up which included the likes of Rico Gear, Byron Kelleher, and many more including my favourite Daniel Carter who actually looks a lot beefier in person (in a good way that is!). Unfortunately they didn't stay long, they were in a sectioned off area and the bodyguard/bouncer wouldn't let us take photos but I was lucky enough to nab Gerry Collins on the way to the bathroom (ha ha - it wasn't as bad as it sounds I promise!) and got a photo with him which made my night. Check it out below!



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Well, it seems that Winter is already here now! There has been a bit of a cold snap just recently and everything is pretty icy in the mornings. I would say that snow is not too far away! However, although the weather may be bleak our social life definitely isn't so we have lots of things to keep us busy in these cold Winter days! Keep an eye out for info on our trip to Belgium, Christmas in Cork, Hogmanay in Edinburgh, and a week skiing in France! Lots for us to look forward to!