After leaving Rotourua Lydia headed back to Auckland and I popped into Hamilton on the way to see my buddy Alan who I taught with back in Dublin. We had a few scoops in what is a cool little town and I got to have a look around his school . Needless to say, I was extremely jealous of the facilities this school had in comparison to our own back home. The kids in Woodwork were building boats, other kids were making their own surfboards. The school had an abundance of brand new Apple-Macs and kayak lessons were happening out in the pool. This all in a public school in a country of lesser wealth than our own, makes you wonder.
Back in Auckland, Melika and Lydia were having the girls over and myself and Nick went off to indoor cricket. After a brief outline of the rules I was in the game. Have to say, I did'nt do too bad but I held the bat like a hurley stick which helped immensely.
Next day we brought Nick and Melika out for dinner. Nick and Nicky joined us aswell and we had a gorgeous Malaysian meal in Ponsonby followed by a few scoops in the nearby Dog's Bollix. Mysaelf and Murph were on a scouting mission as we reckoned that this would be the best venue for the up-coming Ireland, All-Blacks game.
On the Saturday we went into the city. Neasa and Trev invited us to stay in their's so we would be able to get to the pub in time for the game at 6 in the morning. Their buddies from work, Sandy and Jason came over and to get us all in the mood for our imminent victory over the mighty All-Blacks we eat a hearty Irish stew, practiced our war paint for the morning, listened to the national anthem ( the French one ) and watched Willie Anderson's response to the Haka on youtube.
So up we got at 20 past 5. Not feeling so mighty at this stage. I had a wardrobe malfunction in that my water had found it's way into my nearby shoe at one stage during the night, so unfortunately I missed out on the face painting as I spend half an hour drying my shoe with Neasa's impressive Formula one hair dryer. We drew much attention from passing vehicles as we marched upon the pub decked out in the green.
True to their word the pub opened early and served complimentary breakfast muffins galore. We settled in to what then turned out to be a return to the bad old days of a tonking at the hand's of the Kiwis. All week long the Kiwis had been very respectful about the game saying they felt this was going to be a tough game etc. This was emphasised before the match by the announcement of their strongest team and the performance of the Haka they normally reserve for playing their most respected opposition. But then Ireland failed to live up to the billing and we were hammered.
On tuesday myself and Lyds went over to the beautiful island of Waiheke for one last visit. We went up to Nick and Nicky's for a lovely meal on the first night . Next day we watched the Munster All-Blacks game on the t.v. , this was much more like it. A thrilling game which went down right to the wire. It put us in good form for the rest of the evening as we snuck in one last delicious pizza at Stephano's and had a jam session back at the house.
We sadly left the island on thursday and headed back to Aucland one last time. On friday we brought Leon to the zoo and got to see loads of cool animals, Lydia, as always, was particularly impressed with the monkeys.
Saturday was our last day in New Zealand and so Ronnie planned a BBQ to send us off. We brought all the gang around including Paul, Monique and kids, Neasa and Trev and loads of Maleka and nick's mates we've met along the way. The sun was shining and it proved to be a great day with delicious grub cooked up on Ronnie's massive barbie and plenty of cold beers and wine.
In the morning sadly we had to say goodbye to New Zealand and head off into the sunset for our next adventures in Australia. This has been an amazing time in a absolutely fantastic country. Without doubt, we will be back again soon.
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