We were in Wellington for one night then left for the South Island. 

We then came back to Wellington for the Ireland - New Zealand rugby test match. We had a free day before the match so I went on a Lord Of The Rings tour around Wellington city and Upper Hutt. It was great because I got to see and stand in the exact same places that the real actors did in the movies. We visited the scenes of Rivendell, Hobbiton Woods - "Get Off The Road", Minis Tirath, Helms Deep and Isengard. I thought some of them were excellent but others left alot to the imagination as Peter Jackson used a load of digital imagery to disguise the location of the scenes.

We also went to the Weta Workshop where most of Peter Jacksons movie props are ceated and alot of he LOTR stuff was built like the miniture models for Helms Deep and Minis Tirath which were actually constructed into the side of a 50 metre high quarry. Overall the day was brilliant and got some good photos of it.

I (Sile) just wandered around Wellington for the day!

The next day we had a huge Irish style breakfast and then started drinking (fairly) early in preparation for the rugby match. We went to Molly Malones Irish pub where there was a great pre match atmosphere. Some Irish guy got up with his guitar and started singing loads of Irish songs which got the crowd all fired up. Especially with Fields of Athenry and the classic Jumbo Breakfast roll!! The band that were paid to play did not get half the attention this guy got. He was brilliant!

No sooner had we left the pub to go to the stadium when it started to pour rain and continued to rain for the duration of the game. It was excellent to be there for the Haka and to see the Kiwis on their home ground, also when Ireland got their first try and got an 8 - 5 lead it was looking as if we had a chance, but after a brillinat 1st half the scores were tied at 11 - 11. We got some more drinks in during half time (more to warm our insides than anything else!) and went back out into the pouring rain for the 2nd half. Unfortunatley the irish didnt score at all in the 2nd half and the kiwis beat us by 21 - 11. The locals were happy and the Irish were happy enough too, I don't think anyone really expected us to win anyway! It was a great atmosphere and I think the Irish did a great job cheering on the team. We were definately a lot more vocal than the Kiwis!