September 30, 2023 Day 3 New Zealand
Today was a windy, rainy, cold, gray day as a gale swept over the island. But there were breaks in the weather and we took advantage because the motel room is pretty small! We decided to use our bus passes we purchased yesterday to head the 1.7 km to the Mangere Bridge Tavern to watch some rugby! We got decked out in our foul weather gear!
Since arriving in NZ we have become aware that the country is in the thick of the Rugby World Cup, with NZ claiming the Cup 3 times, in 1987, 2011 and 2015, and rugby being considered the national sport, it’s a big deal here! The “All Blacks” as the team is known, because of the all black uniforms with a silver fern frond adornment, are also known for the “haka” dance they perform before matches. So we got some “kai” (food) and joined the locals watching women’s rugby. We avoided the weather, met some friendly blokes and had a great time!
October 20th, 2023 at 6:33 pm
That looks like you guys had a lot of fun!
October 27th, 2023 at 5:42 pm
Looks like Robert totally fits in! [I know close to nothing about rugby!]
October 28th, 2023 at 2:48 pm
Yes, we don’t either, but it’s fun to watch, much more action than American Football. We went to a local bar this morning to see the first half of the final, All Blacks vs. South Africa. Unfortunately the All Blacks lost on penalties mostly. It was hard to watch, they closed the gap to 11-12 but got a goal taken away on some kind of technicality. So even though they were the only team to make 2 goals, it wasn’t enough.