21st Oct I can see clearly now

Match Day. In the camper park, one of New Zealand’s radio stations, Classic Hits (think Heart FM), were giving away free sausage sandwiches. For the first time on tour, I had had my breakfast (muesli) before showering, so missed my opportunity of fat, white carbs. Oh well. They were interviewing fans about Sunday. The DJ looked like Zaphod Beetlebrox from Hitchhikers Guide, his haircut was so 80s. I would have liked to ask him why he played U2 and Queen on a continuous loop, but his haircut gave him away.

I took the ferry over to Waiheke Island, (the same one Manu Tuiagli had a swim from). Its one of the many islands in Auckland’s Bay, and inhabited with seaside villages and vineyards, which is probably the reason for Manu’s swim. It was an incredibly relaxed place, and there was a Jazz Festival on. I got quite carried away with the idea, of lunch in the sun, accompanied by some jazz. In reality, there was a bad Bob Dylan impersonator, and a sausage roll. Bob Dylan, to me is a folk singer at best – although his tone deaf musings never appealed to me. As for the sausage roll, I’d better explain what it is – its not what you think. The New Zealanders haven’t quite got the concept of ‘cobs’, ‘baps’, ‘rolls’ of whatever regional variation you know a small bread loaf as. Their ‘roll’ is a piece of white bread, with butter or melted cheese on, with a sausage in the middle – you roll it yourself and eat it. Positives – not much bread to hide the taste of the sausage with, negatives not enough bread and you get into a greasy mess. So I ended up with that sausage after all.

So back to the mainland for lunch at the top of Sky Tower. While walking there I saw George North, Bradley Davies and Lawrence Dallaglio – none of them in the right situation to ask for a photo sadly to prove it. Watching the world go by below on a lovely sunny day was a nice way of spending the afternoon.

The game in the afternoon was a little disappointing. With 2 good sets of backs, I thought both teams would throw it about, as the result didn’t matter, but sadly with injuries it never really turned out like that. Poor kicking from Wales again cost them the result, for the third game, and the loss of Quade (who came up with that – in a Scrabble game?) Cooper early the game never really got going. One game to go – the big one, or perhaps two, if I can fit in the Armed Forces World Cup Final – Britain v Australia tomorrow afternoon…….

I can see clearly now – Johnny Nash – apart from a cool wind, a warm sunny day with brilliant views from the top of the Sky Tower.