In the Tron to catch the All Blacks vs Wales
Saturday was a little slow to get started because of the industry party the night prior. It was one of those days you get up feeling ok, run a few errands and then head back to bed for nap and this is all before 11am ahaha
After sleep round two I was feeling much better and ready for the days plan – going to watch the ALL BLACKS play Wales in Hamilton. IEP NZ has organized the tickets and arranged a bus through Stray travel to take some participants to the Tron (Hamilton) for the game.
Everyone met at the Fat Camel to have a sausage sizzle and a few bevies before we got on the bus. First beer went down pretty good, surprisingly! Had a couple more to get in the spirit of the game and then we boarded the bus. The ride up was great – everyone was pumped and there were a couple bottles of ‘coke’ being passed around to keep everyone’s spirits high! It took about an hour and half to get to the Tron and that was with a couple washroom stops – thank god!
We stopped off just outside of the city centre to grab a drink at a local watering hole. This was a kiwi bar, all blacks posters everywhere, pokies in the corner and it was filled with westies! Awesome. The bus driver dropped us there and then went off to pick up some Hells Pizza to feed the lot of us. Hells Pizza – damn good pizza! After the feed it was off to the game – stoked!
Michelle and I got our tickets and bee-lined it for the stadium, more specifically the beer tent. I was able to grab a 4-pack of Speights – I love how they will sell you a 4 pack of beer, so you don’t have to leave your seats to grab more beers!
We made it to our seats just in time to watch fire works, hear the national anthem and then watch the All Blacks do the haka! I was pumped to see it and it totally gives you chills when you see it live. Oh, when I say seats, it was really standing room at then end of the field on grass with no roof. It started to rain at the start of the game, but it stopped and managed to hold off the rest of the game. It was just like the grass seating at the amphitheatre in Toronto.
The crowd was great! Many people had their faces painted/dressed up and there were quite a few Welsh supporters in the stands. For some reason the group of guys behind us brought a bag of leaks to through. Don’t ask me why!
The game was great – All Blacks dominated 29-10! I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. There was lots of yipping going on back and forth between the supporters of each team, but in a very friendly way.
