Sunday - And Australia Make It On Stage

Unsurprisingly, we both slept in a bit on Sunday.  In fact, the majority of the morning was cancelled due to lack of interest, but that wasn't a problem because there were no matches until mid-afternoon.  So we decided to get a breath of fresh air (and it was definitely fresher than Saturday by about -5 degrees) and headed off to brunch and a walk in the park. 

Brunch took us to the other side of town, to a locality called Maori Hill.  There, next to a roundabout, sits Delicacy Cafe, a comfortable and very pleasant cafe.  Following harissa potatoes with bacon and spinach (me) and frittata and salad (Fi) we headed down the hill to check out the Woodhaugh Gardens, that run alongsides the Waters of Leith (lovely name for a stream).  There are some stands of Kahikatea trees, originally common (in the Palaeozoic), but now rare.  They are one of NZ's tallest native trees, reaching heights of up to 55 m.  We also got to see our first glimpse of a native New Zealand pigeon.  This gorgeously coloured bird grows to half a metre long, and can weigh up to 700g - a very big (ha you mean FAT) pigeon.  Unfortunately, it refused to sit still long enough to be photographed, so you'll have to be satisfied with this link for the time being.

Mike ready for an inconspicuous assault on a NZ rugby club

So then it was back home to scrub up and put on the Wallabies party gear.  Off to the game.  The venue was, of course, Pirates.  After arriving and going through the usual fortifying rituals, we settled down next to some other Australian supporters (Linda and Peter from Ferndale in Perth).  The anthem started, and the four of us stood and sang out loudly, tunefully, but only partially in time as we were drowning out the sound from the speakers.  Some good natured ribbing from the assembled crowd deterred us not one iota!  Nobody joined in the Italian national anthem.  You should all know the result by now, but we made sure to make loud noises whenever Australia did well. Australian mistakes were greeted with raucous repartee by the Pirate locals. 

Linda and Peter went off to do washing things, and we stayed on to watch the Ireland vs USA match.  We got to meet Nicki and John from Rangiora (near Christchurch), along with their kids - Sophie, Max, Jeff, and Martha (aged 4).  Martha and Fi rapidly formed a mutual admiration society while the serious supporters watched the match unfold.  Nicki and John left at half time to put the children to bed.  We had a good chat to Kiwi Dave and devoured seafood and chips washed down with Speights and no-name ssb.

We had booked a table at Salt for dinner and planned to watch the final match of the weekend there - Wales vs South Africa.  We arrived to find all of today's friends there - John & Nicki and Linda & Peter, and joined John and Nicki at their table for dinner.  It was sobering to hear personal stories of the impact of the Christchurch earthquake.  None of Nicki or John's family or friends had lost anyone, but there were plenty of close escapes.  John and Nicki's house is liveable, but the quake collapsed their septic tank (a MOST unpleasant experience) which was soon replaced.  However, the house, while liveable, has cracks through most of the walls (from last September's quake, a year ago), and they have no idea when someone will be around to assess the damage, let alone start work on compensation or repair.

However, back to the match.  It was a close match that was there for Wales to take, but in the end, it went to South Africa after a penalty kick from Wales was ruled wide.  A tableful of Welsh supporters added local commentary to the match and leavened it with some beautiful singing including Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and Lead Me O Thou Great Redeemer. 

Alas the day ended.  John, Nicki and family were heading back to Rangiora on Monday, but I'm sure we'll bump into Peter and Linda again next week.

Once more up the Bradford St hill and to bed.