Are we there yet?
1st chance to take stock and post on here and can't beleive what we've done in such short time. Didn't sleep on 2nd flight so am pretty tired but it's a crazy tour. We got into Auckland and met our guide Gappa and then flew a 33 seater to New Plymouth. With only a few other passangers on the flight we soon took over with our own waitress service and by the end of a short flight we had the driver ribbing us and everyone knew who we were.
We were arseing about on the runway and then as we walked into the reception (it was about the size of Pembrey airport) I could see what I thought was a busker. It turned out to be a primary school teacher with a full load of kids who put on a great performance of singing and dancing including the 1st haka of tour. It was very impressive and we were quite blown away. We gave them a crap version of Sospan fach and handed out some keyrings and stuff.
We met our other guide Marshy who played for Taranaki until he hurt his shoulder. Him and Gappa are huge and want to play for us, doubling our pack weight in 1 go. We got a free coat and got on board our 'flower power' bus. Drove to Palmerston North and watched the Lions put 100 points on Manawatu. Glanaman boy Shane Williams got a new try record and we got the flag on tv for a bit.
Not everyone made it out but your intrepid reporter made sure he was there for research puporses. Its a very student town so although not very big had plenty of bars and clubs open late. We lost Louie for a bit which was nice, and we took over a bar which was literally four walls a DJ and sawdust floor. Some of the boys ended up in a dance off with some of the locals and I eventually came in 4:00am which is a great way to see off jet lag.
yesterday we got the tour started properly with the usual kangeroo kourt, t shirts, tour slave etc etc. Visited the NZ rugby museum and gave them a badge, they were actually quite interested. A Welsh bloke in another party spotted a letter he'd sent last time he was in NZ with a 1st day cover of the Welsh triple crown, on display. we stopped and embarrased ourselves at a local park with a training run and then visited the Tui brewery. highlight was getting boys to pose for photos in a bed with a cardboard cut out woman, blackmail letters to follow!
Quick pub lunch and then drove to Masterton. We had a few (more) beers and met former All Black, Buck Williams who was capped alongside former NZ coach John Mitchell.
Thursday: Good kangeroo court followed by Choir practise in Big Als room. game against carterton this afternoon. Selection issues now with 3 extra players and Louie promising places in the team in return for bribes. We have a small band of supporters with us, a jock another taff and a couple of kiwis, one of whom is also going to play. Gullibles travels are also staying here and some of them may come and watch. The main tv station are going to come and film some of the tour and there was a small bit in the local paper about our game today. Plenty of stories but we are paying for this by the minute.
We were arseing about on the runway and then as we walked into the reception (it was about the size of Pembrey airport) I could see what I thought was a busker. It turned out to be a primary school teacher with a full load of kids who put on a great performance of singing and dancing including the 1st haka of tour. It was very impressive and we were quite blown away. We gave them a crap version of Sospan fach and handed out some keyrings and stuff.
We met our other guide Marshy who played for Taranaki until he hurt his shoulder. Him and Gappa are huge and want to play for us, doubling our pack weight in 1 go. We got a free coat and got on board our 'flower power' bus. Drove to Palmerston North and watched the Lions put 100 points on Manawatu. Glanaman boy Shane Williams got a new try record and we got the flag on tv for a bit.
Not everyone made it out but your intrepid reporter made sure he was there for research puporses. Its a very student town so although not very big had plenty of bars and clubs open late. We lost Louie for a bit which was nice, and we took over a bar which was literally four walls a DJ and sawdust floor. Some of the boys ended up in a dance off with some of the locals and I eventually came in 4:00am which is a great way to see off jet lag.
yesterday we got the tour started properly with the usual kangeroo kourt, t shirts, tour slave etc etc. Visited the NZ rugby museum and gave them a badge, they were actually quite interested. A Welsh bloke in another party spotted a letter he'd sent last time he was in NZ with a 1st day cover of the Welsh triple crown, on display. we stopped and embarrased ourselves at a local park with a training run and then visited the Tui brewery. highlight was getting boys to pose for photos in a bed with a cardboard cut out woman, blackmail letters to follow!
Quick pub lunch and then drove to Masterton. We had a few (more) beers and met former All Black, Buck Williams who was capped alongside former NZ coach John Mitchell.
Thursday: Good kangeroo court followed by Choir practise in Big Als room. game against carterton this afternoon. Selection issues now with 3 extra players and Louie promising places in the team in return for bribes. We have a small band of supporters with us, a jock another taff and a couple of kiwis, one of whom is also going to play. Gullibles travels are also staying here and some of them may come and watch. The main tv station are going to come and film some of the tour and there was a small bit in the local paper about our game today. Plenty of stories but we are paying for this by the minute.
posted by Llanelli Warriors match blog at 11:34 am
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