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What up everyone at home! Im just back from my second surf in two days. We surfed in the local Auckland spot called Piha. Last night when we surfed there myself and Peadar prety much had the beach to ourselves other than a few local longborders. It was pretty small and mellow but the odd big waves came through on the sets which were really sweet. We had a beautiful sunset surf. Today was due to be bigger with offshores inds and boy did it deliver. Unfortunately though the line up was packed making it very difficult to catch any waves although we did manage to catch a few nice ones each.
For the last week we have been living in a friend of Peadars beach pad about half an hour north of Auckland in a place called Waiwera. Its a stunning and very peaceful spot with plenty of nice tropical forrest walks in the area.
I wrote all of the above while staying in the beach pad in Waiwera but did not get a chance to finish it. I have now done a full circle since I wrote my last blog as I am now staying in Sams house outside of Wellington in a place called Waikanae once again. The reason being is that Peadar and the other two have gone to Nuie a Pacific Island for two weeks. I have moved into a spare room in Sams house in the mean time and Sam who works for Greenpeace has set up an interview for me with them too. The interview is on wednesday morning so all going well I'll get the job. If I do Sam and I will work for Greenpeace in Wellington for the next few weeks and then we will travel around the north Island with Peadar and co when they get back working for Greenpeace simultaneously which would be sweet!
Since I left Sams house two weeks ago I have done plenty of travelling around the north island. After leaving Sams house over two weeks ago we made our way to New Plymouth where we saw the first Irish game of the world cup in which we smashed the USA followed by a messy night on the town in which the Irish drunk New Plymouth dry! While there we stayed a night in the basement of a friend of Sams house. We had planned on leaving the following day but Gimli our fine Subaru decided to break down on us meaning we had to bring it into a garage straight away to get fixed. The driving shaft on one side had been completly bust so it had to be replaced. We had hoped that it would be fixed that day but unfortunately it wasn't. As we had nowhere to stay that night one of the men who worked in the garage kindly put us up in a spare room for free that he had above another garage he owned. This was one weird night as he rented out the other area above the garage to a very odd couple who had cats all over the place. Plus they were not overly happy about us staying in the other room. The room was tiny with two matresses squeezed into it. It was just big enough to fit six of us in. Paul and his girlfriend Mairead had joined us at the Irish match and Sam had left earlier that day to return to Wellington.
After that weird nights sleep we got up early the next morning to pick up the car which ended up setting us back $450 which was at a discount. Gimli has really been digging a hole in my wallet lately! On pickeing up the car we parted with Peadar as he was hitchhiking up to Whangerai to spend some time with his cousins. The remaining five of us headed to Lake Taupo for a night out as it was Lucys birthday. Joshua and I entertained all in the nightclub with our clumsy yet funky breakdancing. The next day we spent a few hours in some awesome hot springs before driving to Hamilton to spend a few nights with my third cousin Elizabeth. On arriving in Elizabeths house we were greeted by yet another tasty roast and yummy cake for dessert. We all lived in luxury for the two days we spent in her house and one of the days we visited the infamous surf beach Raglan. Strong onsure winds ensured we didn't get a surf in but no doubt we will visit the beach again on a better day.
Once we left the life of luxury in Hamilton we made our way up to Auckland and on our first night there we stayed with friends of Peadars and co from Tanzania. Yet again on our north island road trip we were greeted by a tasty roast with some awesome cake for dessert. Over that ten day period I have never been so spoilt for meals in my life, funny that it happened while on a roadtrip. We stayed the night in their house too getting up early the following morning to be brought up to there beach pad north of Auckland which I mentioned earlier. They have been incredibly kind in letting us stay in there house. We moved into the beach pad on the saturday of the Ireland versus Australia game. As a result we didn't spend too long in the house and made our way back into Auckland city centre to get warmed up for the big game.
To warm ourselves up we bought a few boxes of wine to share between the six of us as Peadar was with us once again. We snuck these into the fan zone where we watched the two games that were on before the Irish game and went about taking care of our wine. Once it was time to head to Eden Park myself and Peadar left together as we lost Pual and Mairead on the way to the game. We were both pretty well dressed up but Peadar took the biscuit as had bought a green toilet brush earlier and kept spraying people with what he was calling holy water. On the way to the game we shared the train with a load of cocky Ozzies. The actual game itself as all of you know was simply fantastic. No doubt the best game I have ever been to. The atmosphere was incredible with various Irish chants continuously ringing around Eden Park. When the final whistle blew all my friends and I were in tears. I managed to lose Peadar, Paul and Mairead after the game but it was all good as I was with Aimie Musgrave, Garry Ryan and the rest of that big Cork group. We stayed in the stands for a good half an hour after the game chanting, crowd surfing and carrying out general happy madness. We were a roudy group of aroud twenty and after we finally left the stand we got the train back into the city centre. Funnily enough the lord mayor of Auckland ended up being on the same carriage as us on the way back to the city. We carried out a variety of chants and songs for him that included The Fields of Athenry, Ole Ole Ole, were all drinking in the mayors gaf, Sonny Bill for mayor and a pathetic attempt of the Haka just to name a few! The mayor absolutely loved us though and eventually got up and sang a Maori song for us. After our applause we delivered a few more chants and then just before the journey was over the mayors bouncer, secretary person gave us $80 to buy the lot of us a round, legend!
Then as we departed the train chanting ole ole ole we were greeted by a massive applause by everyone in the train station especially all the Kiwi train workers in their high vis jackets. But it only got better because as we were on our way up the esculator a massive Maori women shouted something out in Maori to which all the other Maori train workers lined up behind her and started to do the most incredible Haka. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. It was an awesome sight and it sent shivers down all of our spines. They were showing their respect for the Irish and it left most of us temporarily speechless! Once they had finished their was a few moments of silence before we burst out with ole ole ole once again. There was cheering all round at this stage and some of the younger Maori employees ran after us ditching their high vis jackets on the way to come party with the crazy Irish for the night. We then chanted our way up Queens St which is the main street in Auckland and our roudy gang just continued to grow. The city centre went crazy that night with every Kiwi claiming their Irish descendancy and every car beeping at us in congradualtions. The Ozzies to be fair to them were also very gracious in their defeat saying the better team had won but his didn't stop us form rubbing it in. All in all it was a very memorable night and definately one of the best ones.
After that epic night in Auckland we all recovered in the beach pad during the following week. A few days after the game both Paul and Mairead left us for Australia. Pauls time in New Zealand has come to an end as he is now working on a stud a few hours outside of Sydney. Mairead on the other hand has returned to Melbourne where she is presently working as a nurse. In general New Zealand has been really going crazy since the world cup started. There has been a fantastic atmosphere in every town and it has been great to see almost every stadium full. What has also been great to see is the minnows stand up and push the super powers in most the games so far. I'm hoping Samoa will beat South Africa and Scotland to beat England in this weekends games. Plus I obviously want the Irish to smash the Italians. Talking to New Zealanders what they would like to see and what obviosly us Irish would love to see too is an All Blacks Ireland final but lets not get carried away ust yet! In the mean time hopefully I'll get the job with Greenpeace so I can do my part for the environment. Hope all is well back in the Emerald Isle and that ye are all enjoying the world cup as much as us out here. Till next time. Peace and love!
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Brandywine We could've done with that insghit early on.