Arrived into Wellington into the welcoming arms of Lisa and her parents. It's fantastic having so many good friends to look after me.
Had a great time playing in Wellington - Lisa took me right under her wing! Met up with her friend Julie for a quiet night in her local, only to find a pub quiz on, and we had to take part! We didn't do so badly, we weren't even close to last and we were the only team to get all the referee signals right in round one. We put it down to the fact he was quite cute in his little shorts!
The following night was a big night out with Shane, another of Lisas friends, for his birthday. We got all dressed up, which was fun for me, hadn't done that too often! Had to borrow a decent pair of shoes from Lisas mum though! We had a great night with a bit of everything - fun, drama, tears and laughter. Met some great people and had a blast.
No time for feeling the after effects the following day though - belly dancing!!! Not tried this before but Lisa and her friend Cameron go regulary and dragged (well, hardly actually, I was really looking forward to it!) me along for an afternoon workshop. It was so much fun - found muscles I never even knew I had. Got the hang of it ok and with Cam lending me one of those wrap around jangly things for my hips, it was great fun to make the right noise as well!
A girly night in with dvds and a glass or two of bubbly and my time in Wellington was up. Picked up a hire car for relocation to Auckland (big beast of a thing, but great to drive) and headed up to Tauranga to catch up with more friends. It was a bit of a challenge finding the house (hadn't been there for 18 months and then only driven there once!) but made it - just! Jake and Veronika again made me feel so welcome and it was lovely to walk the dogs, say hi to the horses and catch up with the kids.
Next stop was Auckland to catch up with some more friends. A great night out with David, a local lad! He'd been working at the Alliance & Leicester when I was there, goodness, well over two years ago now and had returned to his homeland. We had plenty to catch up on, it took us a while and it was great fun. Late back to the hostel though and getting up to the top bunk in the dark was a bit of a challenge. I'm not sure I managed it that quietly! Lunch the following day with Jason from Norwich Union. We'd had a sit down with a my maps and photos before he came out here and it was so cool to see him actually here and having a brilliant time.
And then off to the airport to pick up Hilary. So good to see her again and we did a very airporty huggy thing when she arrived - it was great! Dinner at Viaduct harbour (where we had our last meal in NZ the last time I was here) to catch up with the three months activities since Sydney. Amazing what you can pack in!
In the car coming away from the airport, I had a call from Dave (from Wellington) to say he had been able to get us tickets for the Wellington Sevens Rugby. I was stunned - these are like gold dust and I never imagined I would be lucky enough to go. In fact, I still haven't wiped the smile off my face.
It was Wednesday and the tournament started on Friday.
So, we had a plan, Auckland to Wellington in a day. Only 10 hours driving according to the AA. But what a reward. More from the Sevens in the next episode of Warrens Wanders!!!
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