Hey Everybody,
What an absolutely crazy weekend here in Wellington, with the infamous 7's Rugby tournament! It's basically a weekend full of rugby, drinks and dressing up! I'd heard many stories about this weekend - where the entire city becomes one giant fancy dress party! More to come on that!
Earlier in the week, on Wednesday night, a few people I knew headed to Waitangi park for the first of 4, weekly outdoor movies in the 'Films by Starlight' season. This week's offering was 'Best in Show' A comical look at the world of the American dog show! Plenty of people brought their dogs to the movie, which almost didn't happen after the inflatable screen didn't inflate at the first attempt! It's been glorious weather this week, so even a little light wind (and I don't mean from the dogs) couldn't stop the enjoyment of an outdoor movie! It's a famous NZ movie next week called 'Boy'!
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| The inflatable outdoor movie screen, Waitangi Park. |
RUGBY 7'S
The first evidence of the event could be seen on Friday, as I drove through the city after some client home visits, I could see a whole host of super-heros, cartoon characters and a large groups of people dressed identically, in kilts, cavemen outfits and lots of 'Lance Armstrong' outfits, with the wording 'Live wrong, lie strong' - written on the yellow shirts! There were quite a few Adam & Eve couples too! Once I finally managed to get to the stadium I began to really understand the magnitude of the event and it was quite obvious people had spent weeks, if not months, on preparing their costumes! I could write so much about it, but pictures say a thousand words!
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| Sevens costumes - I-phone! |
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| The Sevens crowd! |
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| Sevens Crowd |
The tournament, lasting two days (Friday and Saturday), draws a crowd of 30,000 to the Westpac Stadium, and people come form all over the country and further afar, for this event. The main street in the city centre also gets closed off to traffic Saturday night, for a wild street party, with live music and plenty of outdoor drinking space. I won't go on too much about the 'drunken behaviour', because whilst most people were generally very friendly, and just enjoying themselves, having so many drunk people in one space did mean that beer bottles (plastic) were thrown around, sometimes with beer / wine still in them. Happily, though most people instantly became your best friend during the space of a 14 minute (7 minutes each half) game of rugby! (Enjoy more costumes below).
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| Sevens Crowd! |
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| TV reporters! |
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| Guesses?? |
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| One of my personal favorites! |
I also joined in the fun, using my old santa suit, and with only a few adjustments, managed to make a summer santa outfit! It stared out as short sleeves, and ended up being a waistcoat on Saturday as it was too hot!!! I was joined by Kala and the first friend I made here, Hannah ( see below), plus all the fans around the place!
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| Our team! |
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| Another favourite of mine! |
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| Even the Pope came along! |
Of course there was some rugby played too! The highlights of Day 1 included England beating New Zealand! Then drawng with USA 12-12, but beating Spain at the end of the day! Kenya were the surprise team, winning their games! Day 2 had some big shocks too, and started great for NZ with a home win over their big enemy - Australia! England beat Scotland, then beat the undefeated Samoa, whilst New Zealand went on to play Kenya in the semi-final. The big shock, then came when Kenya beat the Kiwis in extra time, to get to the final, to play the MIGHTY England!
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| The Kenya team... |
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| NZ beating Australia! |
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| Australia getting the Shield - runner up competition! lol |
The final was an amazing game with the crowd all supporting Kenya against the English, with about 4 of us in the middle of a few thousand Kiwis, it was a great atmosphere! England got a good lead, before kenya scored 3 times! England scored in in the last minute to equalize, before going on to win with a 'golden try'! the crowd went quiet, whilst the 4 of us went crazy!!!!!
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| ENGLAND VS KENYA - FINAL |
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| CHAMPIONS - ENGLAND! |
SUNDAY SAILING
After a seriously long sleep (in between watching England beat Scotland in the 15's version of the game), I went to join some friends for a late lunch at a great little Vietnamese place, before joining another of the 'Adventure Wellington' activities. This time is was a 2 hours of sailing, in near perfect conditions, for a tiny $27 (£13) = cheap as chips! With just 7 of us, on a small little sailing boat, we all got chance, to steer, do the sails, and sun bathe! A little post-sail drink on the water front ended a perfect day and a wonderful weekend!
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| Our Sailing boat |
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| Sunday Sailing, Wellington Harbour... |
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| Our guide... |
Despite many failed attempts to upload photos to this blog, my spirits could not be tested, after such a great weekend! I'm enjoying life lots right now, and with an upcoming move next weekend, (so internet connection might take a few days to organize), it's going to be a busy few weeks!
A final congratulations to one of my best mates Carl, and his lovely wife Jade for the birth of their beautiful daughter Evie-Grace!
Regards from New Zealand,
Dan
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