Homeless in new Zealand

Well, its been a very busy last few days. Lots of driving, lots of rugby and some adventure. It started Wednesday with the Samoa vs. Namibia match; continued Thursday with USA vs. Russia. On Friday, I travelled to Hamilton to watch New Zealand play Japan. And Saturday, well I drove 4.5 hours to Auckland to watch ireland take on Australia. Today, I was supposed to drive another 4.5 hours to watch France take on Canada....but after a night spent on the side of the motorway....I decided to get to my next hotel, and just watch the game in the pub.

New Zealand vs. Japan - The All Blacks
Well, my first chance to watch the #1 team in the world in person. A great stadium to see a match, great crowd and a blowout of a match. One thing is for sure, Kiwis LOVE their All Blacks. Wait, that's a strange name for a sports team isn't it? You'd expect something like Tigers, or Chiefs, etc., but the New Zealand national rugby team is the All Blacks. So why is that? Here are two possible explanations:

• The standard uniform for New Zealand is "all black" from the socks, to the shorts, to the jersey. Only a silver fern adorns the jersey.
• Of course, given this explanation, when New Zealand is required to wear the alternate uniform in matches, it as all white and hence they are referred to as the "all whites"
• The other possible explanation dates back to 1905when the team made its first overseas tour of the United Kingdom. The local sports pages wrote a story of the match and described the Kiwi's play as if they were "all backs". This refers to their open style of play, with skilled passing and moving the ball quickly across the field. European teams of that time played the game very much with their big, slow forwards and the Kiwis played a wide open style with their backs.

As far as the match against Japan, well the All Blacks ran over, through and around them on their way to scoring 89 points to only 3 for Japan.

Ireland vs. Australia

For this match, I decided to check out of my hotel in new Plymouth, 4.5 hrs south, a day early to a void 10 hrs of driving roundtrip. I got to Auckland and met up with a friend of mine, Carlos from San Diego. Carlos is the coach of a rugby team in San Diego that my team plays regularly. In fact, the last time I saw Carlos was in May up in Seattle. My team played his team and won the match in sudden death overtime. A thrilling win. He's still thinking about that match as we both agreed it was one of the best matches to be involved in.

Carlos is in the same business as me, financial services, although he likes to say I work in the Business Prevention Dept. (Compliance) whereas he is a financial advisor. He came to NZ for vacation, was catching a few games, then heads to Australia then over to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia to play some rugby for an Old Boys team of former service members.  It was pure coincidence that we both had tickets for the same match. We met up for a beer before the match, then made the 2km walk tot he stadium before splitting up to our respective seats. After the match, we walked back tot own, grabbed a bite and parted ways. We both agreed that the match was one of the best so far in the tournament. Ireland pulled out a thrilling victory and upset over Australia.

Homeless

So, as I mentioned I had decided to avoid driving all the way back to new Plymouth, and instead decided to head over to my Sunday location and sleep in the car. Well, on my drive I was stopped twice by the police. The first time, the policeman stated that he thought I was drifting too much. The reality is, It is very hard at night to focus on staying to the left-hand side of the road, especially at night, that I overcompensate sometimes. He had me do the breathalyzer as it was standard. Of course, I had purposely refrained from drinking all evening so no worries there.

A few hours later, I arrived in Hamilton, not my destination, but where I had planned on pulling over to sleep. It was 3AM and the nightclubs in downtown were still going strong. The police in Hamilton establish routine checkpoints and stop every car to check for alcohol. Again, no problem for me. I then found a nice quite car park and pulled over to catch some sleep.  After a 4 hr nap, I made the remaining 100km drive to Lake Taupo.

Lake Taupo

This region is beautiful. Volcanic in nature, there are hot springs everywhere. The lake itself is the largest freshwater lake in the south pacific. A beautiful waterfront with shops and cafes. I found a nice local place and had a hearty breakfast. Then checked into my hotel for a good sleep. Tomorrow I leave for the far north, Bay of Islands where I have 5 days to relax, less driving, and just enjoy some touristy stuff. But I finish my NZ trip with 3 days back here in Lake Taupo.