We first hit Wellington halfway through our road trip, staying for 2 nights before getting the ferry across to Picton and the south island; unfortunately, the awful the weather had meant that all we had managed to do was get to the impressively free Te Papa museum and watch the new Indiana Jones film.

That was fine, however, as we knew we were coming back for the All Blacks v Ireland game ten days later. Fittingly, we met up with our Irish friends Sile and Kev for the weekend in order to get the proper Irish rugby experience.

The friday night before the game was spent with a takeaway curry and then a chance to soak up the big game atmosphere in the first of the Irish pubs, and I even got to catch up with the English cricket team as they continue to trash the Kiwis. Surprisingly, for such a friendly bunch, they seem to get a bit sore every time I remind them, however.

Game day was soon upon us and we fittingly met the guys in Molly Malones at 2 and spent the day with all the Irish fans, muchos Guinness and stout and a truckload of Irish folk songs in a phenomenal impromptu performance by what seemed like a random fan. A fantastic way to spend the the build up to the game.

After a couple of days of brilliant sunshine, it was inevitable that the kick off would bring a downpour. Typical! Our seats were in the firing line, so we hightailed it up to the high and dry seats in the rafters, along with 30,000 others.

The weather was soon forgotten, though, as the All Blacks ripped into their legendary 'haka' and laid down the challenge to the visiting paddies. One word: awesome. Predictably, the rain led to a fairly scrappy game but unfortunately it wasn't scrappy enough for the Irish to pull off an upset. Hopefully England will pull off a coup this weekend instead.

Kev