We didn't have high expectation of Wellington after crappy Auckland, but decided to stay a few nights before heading up to my dad and Jan's wedding in the Bay of Islands as we wouldn't be going back down that far on our tour of the North Island.

How wrong could we be. Wellington actually turned out to be a great laugh and a very enjoyable and memorable weekend.

On Thursday afternoon as we disembarked the ferry from Picton to Wellington we overheard a conversation about an International Rugby 7's tournament in Wellington which was being held on the Friday and Saturday. This year was the 10th year of the event, which is now part of an 8-tournament worldwide series.

Friday was a national holiday in New Zealand and the whole weekend was like a May Day bank holiday in the UK.

We stayed at a cheap campsite about 15km out of Wellington and took the train into the city on Friday morning hoping to get tickets for the tournament. Rugby 7's is similar to normal rugby but is 7-a-side, 7 minutes each way, and played on a full sized pitch - resulting in a very fast game, cutting out all the boring bits.

On the train journey into Wellington we started to see people wearing unusual gear, then when we got to the stadium stop the fancy dress outfits outnumbered the normally dressed people.

Our attempt to get tickets fell foul, there were only a few left at $160 each, so we gave it a miss and headed off for a bit of culture at the Te Papa museum.

For interactivity Te Papa is one of the best museums I've been to. We learned more about New Zealand being on the fault line between the Pacific and Australian plates, part of the country on one side, part on the other. There was also a great google type map of New Zealand on the floor where you could see where the fault lines run. Another highlight was a skeleton of a big blue whale hanging from the ceiling, a preserved colossal squid and information about all the New Zealand volcanoes which we will be visiting on the North Island.

Despite all the attractions, however, we felt a bit deflated and walked around half-heartedly in the main, thinking about the action going on with the rugby. So after a while, we headed for the exit and lo and behold, just outside there was a Mac's brewery pub just outside! Mac's is one of our favourite NZ brews, so we ordered a jug of a very nice wheat beer and sat down to watch the entertainment.

We were lucky to have picked that spot, because it appeared to be a regular stopping-off point for the crowds of fancy-dressed lunatics who occasionally masqueraded as rugby fans. We saw groups of Axl Roses (the guitarist from Guns 'n' Roses, in case you don't know), adult babies (complete with revolting-looking disposable nappies), safari girls in khaki uniforms, a full rainbow (each dressed in one of the colours, plus a pot of gold to go at the end), a (drag) netball team and an even draggier set of 'Hooters' waitresses - so draggy that their latex hooters practically touched the ground!

Outside the pub was a large concourse and a group of competition skippers took the opportunity to get out their long rope and invite various people to have a go. The space also allowed the human dominoes to line up and then - predictably - all fall over, one after the other.

After another jug, we wandered back towards the station and on the way found a giant TV screen, so sat down and watched a couple of games to while away the evening.

On the Saturday, we decided to wander around the shopping part of the town centre, which turned out to be pretty quiet. Once again, we found ourselves lured by the sporting and entertainment spectacle and parked ourselves - no, not at the pub - but at the TV screen.

We hadn't intended to stay long, but the more we watched the more involved we became. As we arrived, the first quarter-final was under way, so we saw that and then the rest of that round. For the record, Wales went down to an inspired Kenyan side, England beat Fiji despite going 10-0 down early on, Argentina disposed of the USA and to the delight of the crowd, New Zealand edged out bitter rivals (and tournament favourites) South Africa 7-0 in a fairly brutal encounter.

We went to the supermarket for a while to get some crisps and more water as it was pretty hot while the lesser teams played out their respective matches, then it was the semi-finals. England swiftly took Kenya apart but New Zealand had another hard time against Argentina, going 10-0 up but then only just holding on 10-7 with the Argentines kicking themselves for squandering a couple of great chances.

It was evening by then and we faced a choice. Either go back and eat at the camp, as we had originally planned, or grab something to eat quickly and run back to the screen for the final. Having invested so much time and emotion in the event, it was an easy decision. It was much harder to find a decent restaurant, however, though we found a good Indian after a speedy walk.

We returned just as the 'B' final was starting, with South Africa beating Wales. Then it was on to the final, with the partisan crowd utterly confident that the All Blacks would easily beat England.

And so it seemed at the start. New Zealand scored very quickly to lead 5-0, then 12-0 and 17-0 as the England players seemed to make mistake after mistake. Just before half-time, however, England pulled it back to 17-5.

The TV coverage put a camera and a sound boom into the teams' huddles and we heard the English coach insist to his team that they would play the All Blacks off the park in the second half (yeah, right!) and that England would win because they were fitter (hmmm, maybe).

But to the astonishment of almost everyone present, that was exactly what happened! New Zealand hardly had the ball in the second half and England pulled the score back to 17-12. Time, was running out and the hooter went for the end of the second half with the score the same. In rugby, however, the game doesn't end until the ball goes out of play and England had possession and kept driving downfield. Finally, the ball was floated out to an England player who ran round the tattered defence to level the score at 17-17. With the conversion immediately after, that was 19-17 and England had won.

We think it's fair to say that most people went home disappointed! We were not among them, of course.

Katy