There we were, waiting out halftime at the rugby and with a rising cheer from the crowd, the players returned to the field and after a moment... darkness!
We are back from our little weekend jaunt south. It was filled with fields of baby lambs, high winds, and lots of rain, rugby and brews. It was great to get out of the city - even if it was into bigger cities haha.
The first stop on Friday was for a tour of the saleyards in Feilding - a place better know for a high profile murder case. The rain paused long enough for us to walk through watching the auctions of sheep and cattle. We had lunch at the cafe on site where all the farmers hang out afterwards - I think our raincoats were the only ones that weren't navy blue or army green. Sadly, the weather meant a no go for the horse trek - oh well now we have an idea for anyone who is coming to visit!
We decided instead to hit up the rugby museum as well as the art and science centre next door. We had Indian food Friday night and caught a bit of our local team defending the Ranfurly Shield (more on that in another post!) successfully. Saturday morning we picked up some smoked garlic at the local market!! Then headed south to where there were reports of wind gusts reaching 170 km/hr. Now Wellington is known to be windy but this was certainly more so than normal.
By the time we got into town the weather had calmed a little. So we checked into our cheap hotel (yep, booked it before I found a job and then when I thought to change it, of course everywhere else was pretty much full) and got out into town. Like the tourists we are, we even brought our umbrella to ward off the rain. But windy Wellington stayed strong. It was a bit grim out in the rain so we cabbed it to a craft beer bar we'd read about and tucked into a couple pints. Being the winter day it was, I went for a porter but Dustin started with a pilsner. However, midway through our drinks, a tour bus rocked up and unloaded about 20 people into the bar so we carried on.
Before game time, we managed to sample another craft beer bar (they are very popular in Wellington!! yay!) and have some Malaysian food for dinner. It was a little more pleasant out, or at least drier, so we walked to the stadium. The Argentina fans are a passionate bunch! Each corner the group of them got larger and larger and the singing and chanting louder and louder. They could be identified by their blue wigs or the flag capes and blue and white face paint.
The rugby was as good as promised with Argentina putting up a good fight. The AB's were the winners though! The atmosphere was great in the lead up to the game and about 3 minutes after kick off, the rain poured in! I don't know why an open stadium made sense in Wellington. So holding on against the wind that swirled in, we all tried to unwrap and put on our ponchos. Yes, we had the forethought to grab some because even good rain jackets tend to feel wet with 2 hours sitting in the rain. So everyone was aflutter for a few minutes and then we all settled in to watch the magic. Dustin's eyes were lit up at all his favorite players on the field. Then the power went out at halftime for about ten minutes. It was freaky at first as they rushed the players back to the locker room and the security staff came down on the pitch but it only lasted about ten minutes and then it was back on track.
After a third craft beer bar stop (this place advertised a book club on Mondays!! Love that idea!), we called it a night. We woke up to sunshine and enjoyed a buffet breakfast with a view of the city. We definitely realized that we wouldn't really want to live in Wellington so coming home on Sunday was that feeling of *sigh* it's good to get away but good to come home. There were at least a dozen rain storms on the way back up but we aren't made of sugar so it didn't matter.
Now back to the grind... they have gone full force and poor Dustin is stuck with 7am-5:30pm days now with the threat of full Saturdays and possibly Sundays looming. And the project deadline isn't until the end of October! Yikes. Hopefully they make headway and can calm the hours down before that.
We are back from our little weekend jaunt south. It was filled with fields of baby lambs, high winds, and lots of rain, rugby and brews. It was great to get out of the city - even if it was into bigger cities haha.
The first stop on Friday was for a tour of the saleyards in Feilding - a place better know for a high profile murder case. The rain paused long enough for us to walk through watching the auctions of sheep and cattle. We had lunch at the cafe on site where all the farmers hang out afterwards - I think our raincoats were the only ones that weren't navy blue or army green. Sadly, the weather meant a no go for the horse trek - oh well now we have an idea for anyone who is coming to visit!
We decided instead to hit up the rugby museum as well as the art and science centre next door. We had Indian food Friday night and caught a bit of our local team defending the Ranfurly Shield (more on that in another post!) successfully. Saturday morning we picked up some smoked garlic at the local market!! Then headed south to where there were reports of wind gusts reaching 170 km/hr. Now Wellington is known to be windy but this was certainly more so than normal.
By the time we got into town the weather had calmed a little. So we checked into our cheap hotel (yep, booked it before I found a job and then when I thought to change it, of course everywhere else was pretty much full) and got out into town. Like the tourists we are, we even brought our umbrella to ward off the rain. But windy Wellington stayed strong. It was a bit grim out in the rain so we cabbed it to a craft beer bar we'd read about and tucked into a couple pints. Being the winter day it was, I went for a porter but Dustin started with a pilsner. However, midway through our drinks, a tour bus rocked up and unloaded about 20 people into the bar so we carried on.
Before game time, we managed to sample another craft beer bar (they are very popular in Wellington!! yay!) and have some Malaysian food for dinner. It was a little more pleasant out, or at least drier, so we walked to the stadium. The Argentina fans are a passionate bunch! Each corner the group of them got larger and larger and the singing and chanting louder and louder. They could be identified by their blue wigs or the flag capes and blue and white face paint.
The rugby was as good as promised with Argentina putting up a good fight. The AB's were the winners though! The atmosphere was great in the lead up to the game and about 3 minutes after kick off, the rain poured in! I don't know why an open stadium made sense in Wellington. So holding on against the wind that swirled in, we all tried to unwrap and put on our ponchos. Yes, we had the forethought to grab some because even good rain jackets tend to feel wet with 2 hours sitting in the rain. So everyone was aflutter for a few minutes and then we all settled in to watch the magic. Dustin's eyes were lit up at all his favorite players on the field. Then the power went out at halftime for about ten minutes. It was freaky at first as they rushed the players back to the locker room and the security staff came down on the pitch but it only lasted about ten minutes and then it was back on track.
After a third craft beer bar stop (this place advertised a book club on Mondays!! Love that idea!), we called it a night. We woke up to sunshine and enjoyed a buffet breakfast with a view of the city. We definitely realized that we wouldn't really want to live in Wellington so coming home on Sunday was that feeling of *sigh* it's good to get away but good to come home. There were at least a dozen rain storms on the way back up but we aren't made of sugar so it didn't matter.
Such a fun trip!! Glad you two had a good time. I really wish I had a neighbourhood pub that did book club Mondays. What a hoot!
ReplyDeleteThat pic with Dustin and the umbrella is pretty cool - make you certainly understand what kind of gale you were dealing with! That second to last snap is actually breathtaking. What a beautiful, beautiful view!!
xx
V.