Ireland vs the All Blacks - wet and miserable

After catching one of the last flights out of Christchurch on Saturday afternoon before the airport closed due to extreme weather conditions (wind and snow), we arrived in Wellington and were greeted by cold but clear weather. Having spent some time catching up with our lovely hosts Gillian and Simon, we headed into the city centre and met up with the other rubgy-goers for a late lunch. After some lunch and a couple of drinks, I headed off to the cinema and the rest of them headed to the stadium for the rugby match.

Apparently the heavens opened as soon as the guys sat down for the start of the match. When I got out of the cinema at 8.30pm, it was pouring rain and freezing cold. I took refuge upstairs in the restaurant area of Molly Malone's, and sat with a book while the weather outside got worse and worse. The Irish flag outside the window couldn't even peel itself off the flagpole enough to flap in the wind. There were televisions near me and I could see the match on telly, and everybody looked cold and miserable, even the players. And despite a brave fight, Ireland lost 21-11 so there wasn't even the warm glow of victory to help afterwards.

I've never seen people as cold and wet as the crowd that turned up in Molly Malone's after the match ended. Skry was wringing water out of all his clothes, Phil and Lou looked frozen and miserable, and Esther had to go straight back to their hostel to put on something dry. I was so glad that I'd stayed indoors!

Off to Wellington tomorrow

Tomorrow we're leaving on a jetplane for the wet and windy shores of Wellington. Ireland is playing the All Blacks in the rugby. I couldn't give two hoots about that, but Wellington is great for shopping so I'm coming along for the trip. It'll be great to see Simon and Gillian again too - I used to work in the same company as Simon when we worked in Ireland - and we are very lucky to have such nice people putting us up even though they already had their own plans before I invited myself to stay. I'll try and take some Wellington photos for your amusement, weather permitting. If weather does not permit, I'll be hiding out in bookshops, pubs, and the cinema, while the rest of 'em are getting soaked at the rugby match.