Well after a slighty stressfull bus journey, I'm in Wellington for a flying visit.

The bus to Wellington left Auckland at 7.50pm on Friday night. At first I was sat on my own which was fine but then a man got on and sat next to me. He didn't talk for the first 40 mins then as soon as I closed my eyes he started a conversation, just the normal questions ie Where are you from? Why are you in New Zealand? etc. After 10 mins he moved onto - Can I have your phone number? What hostel are you staying in? Can I take you out to lunch next week? Do you like McDonalds? Not sure whether he was just being friendly or if he was creepy, i supplied him with a fake name, told him my mobile was broken and that he could contact me at the hostel (gave him a different hostel name). He was only on the bus about two hours so I had some peace for the rest of the journey (except for the girl behind me singing out loud to her MP3 player).

I arrived in Wellington at 6.30am, tired and freezing cold. I can never understand why these buses have the air conditioning on all night and no heating!! I went to my hostel and because I was way to early to check in, I went into their tv lounge and slept on the sofa for a few hours. Then once I was checked in, I went to bed for a few more hours!! Late afternoon I went to a sports bar to get some food. I was wearing my Falcons shirt and the waitress who bought my food over was from Newcastle. I also spotted a guy in the bar wearing a Falcons shirt and I chatted to him briefly, I'm sure I recognise him from KP. Once fed, it was back to the hostel to put on my thermals and coat, before setting off for the Rugby. I had decided to walk to the stadium which was lucky. I was walking down a street, heading in the direction of the stadium when I saw a small crowd outside a hotel. I wandered over then realised that people were waiting for the All Blacks to come out and get on the waiting coach. I stood and watched as the players came out of the hotel and got on their bus. I got a few photos but they weren't very good. I crossed the road to watch the coach pull away and Chris Jack smiled at me from out of the window (well, he was looking in my direction and smiling so that counts).

I really enjoyed the game especially the prematch entertainment. There was a dance performance and there were a lot of nearly naked men involved!!!!!!!! The All Blacks won the game so there was a good atmosphere as everyone was leaving the stadium. I would have liked to have gone out for a bit of a party but not on my own!!

Sunday morning, I checked out of the hostel and decided to walk in the direction of the All Blacks hotel to see if I could spot any of the players. At first I stood on the street corner and saw a few palyers going in and out of the hotel but they were with their wives/girlfriends and family so I didn't want to interupt. After nearly two hours of waiting I finally got my chance to meet the All Blacks. The first person I spoke to was Piri Weepu. I had my picture taken with him. Then all the players started coming out to the coach. I had photos taken with Chris Jack, Ali Williams (he was my favourite coz he called me gorgeous, twice), Jason Eaton, Andrew Hore, Jerry Collins, Dan Carter, Joe Rockocoko. One of my photos didn't work properly and that was with Mils Muliaina and Keven Mealamu. I was so excited by this point that I was running from one player to the other. When they all managed to get away from me and onto their bus, I went other the road and watched them drive off. Wow, I met the All Blacks!!!!!!!!!!

To try and calm myself down a bit, I headed off in search of food. That didn't work so I went for a walk along the quayside and saw a place that hired out rollerblades. I hired some skates, elbow pads, wrist guards and knee pads and rollerbladed around Wellington for two hours in the sunshine. That was great fun and I didn't even fall over once!!! After that I went to the Te Papa Musuem to check out the Lord of The Rings exhibition. I then treated myself to a meal in an Indian restaurant before collecteing my luggage and heading for the bus station.