Day 8, Tuesday 5th July

We get up and force our kit back into the bag again and board the bus. It’s one of the shorter journeys as we head into Taranaki, although Louie has another pwdi cos we won’t let him smoke at a petrol station.
Whangamomona, we have been told is something of a special place. Certainly no one in Wellington had heard of it. Apparently when there was a local government reorganisation they opted out and declared themselves a republic.
We start the steep climb up the mountain with a number of turns that I thought the bus wouldn’t make. Every turn was almost as bad as tro gwcw back home. When it finally levelled out at the top we are stopped by a group of children and women in a sort of wild west costume. We are taken to the Whanga Hotel and given passports and a packed lunch. We are treated to a whip cracking display and then some dance routines by children from the local school (about 10 kids). A couple of the boys join in. Whango is a tiny village of 50 families (probably as many as in your street). There is a hotel and a café which opens when the owner wants some beer money. Think a smaller more isolated Llanwytyd Wells or Tregaron. Like Llanwyrtyd they hold various events to keep the place ticking over and there are some classic photos of ‘Presidents day’ and a very worried looking ‘most eligible bachelor’ photos on the walls of the hotel. The hotel is very old for New Zealand and of course wooden, Clint Eastwood would look right at home here. Louie has the strop of all strops and heads of back to Wellington or to sleep in a near by barn, we laugh from the hotel balcony as he littlest hobos it of into the distance.
The rugby team were formed in 1903 and have team photos in the hotel from 1905. They have just reclaimed the ‘Dean’s cup’, possibly the oldest rugby union competition, played for by 3 local teams (a complicated Amman Valley Cup). We head out for the field and they seem to have about 50 players. Whereas Carterton started off easy and then moved up to the Warriors level. Whanga start of quite full bloodied with a bit of West Wales slowing down needed before they find a nice competitive standard for the match. Colin, Sheep and Big Al again play well and Jonny Kerr even joins in the tackling (not Rhys Bersley though). A large crowd has again materialised, including Al’s mates from Pontiates and a group from Blackwood who provide Mathew Watts, a former Welsh District cap for our team. We are also joined by a tv crew who are filming a documentary on us!!
Another enjoyable game we win 26-27 (without Louies help). The Whanga team are a typical farmers side- very strong, and again I think of Tregaron or Lampeter.
Beer is brought into the changing room and we move to the club house for presentations, kangaroo Kourt (now renamed kiwi court), food and singing. As always on these tours there is a connection to home. Already Louie had seen a uncle in Wellington and Deano had said hello to Dwayne Peel, but the ref is from Lampeter and knows Kevin ‘falabalam’ Cambell. (Eifion and Handel say hi Kev). Food is great with the real meat sausages worth remembering. The 'swops' causes a bit of confusion as several boys almost get a club 'jumper' when they ask for a jersey.
We then head back to the hotel and catch the Auckland match. Lions win, Martyn Willaims scores, Clive Woody looks a prick so normal service on ‘the other tour’ then. We have a great singsong with help from Pontiates and Blackwood which even gets a mention on the net. The ‘La di da’ group which has sprung up (drinking wine, buying baileys with the tour kitty, wanting better accommodation, Deano, Ron, Dai Posh, Rob Sheep) spend the evening upstairs drinking wine and recruiting new members by getting them to join in and say ‘La di da’ on camera. Eventually bed calls but apparently the cafe doubled as a night club for some members.
(that’s enough for today, 1st Betws training session tonight and I still feel knackered from tour)