Hamilton or bust!

So in the few days in between Wellington and another big weekend of rugby I visited Hobbiton which is 15mins up the road, it's too expensive to go in and soon it'll be shut for filming the Hobbit. I had an attempt at fitness, muscles work was fine but cardio is terrible.


I decided that during this trip the journey is just as important as the destination so I fobbed off the $13 bus and decided to hitch hike from Matamata to Hamilton. Neil dropped me off and I was very excited/nervous as this is my first attempt at hitch hiking; however I made a superb sign and strategized that if I wore my Wales rugby shirt I would probably get a ride. I was right.

It took less than 2 mins and five cars going past for me to get a ride with Robin and Ray, two kiwis who were going to the Game. Robin’s parents are from Rhiwabon and we had a nice chat about home and the world cup. When we parted they invited me to stay with them at the Bay of Plenty and even to set me up with their daughter, very interesting! They were very friendly and only a little bit racist. I set out my stall at Hamish's house and then with Ben (Hamish’s housemate who looks like Dave Grohl) to House bar to meet Adan.

On the way I saw Shaun Edwards, the Wales defence coach, walking down the main street staring down at the ground and talking angrily at himself, I heard he had issues and was an intense guy but this was proof. House bar was the official supporters pub set up by the Wales coach Warren Gatland and his wife Trudy as it’s their home town, and we got a free beer and some free food there. It was a really cool thing to have as a fan and they were passing a card around as a thank you for everything they have done (Trudy found accommodation for 178 fans). I couldn’t get a VIP pass as it was the last day and they had run out so no great offers so we picked some beers up and went back to Hamishs’ to pre-game. When we were ready Ben, Hamish and I watched Scotland narrowly lose out to England at the casino sports bar and then moved on to Shenanigans. I bought a round but for some reason none of my cards were working, even though I had tried and used two cards successfully in the last hour. I asked if there may be a problem with the EFTPOS and she got pissy and said it’s no problem with us in a derogatory way suggesting I was a dead beat. I paid cash and flipped her off! They had a pretty good live band (who played an indie version of Dakota by the Stereophonics) and we settled into a spot where we talked to the locals and Welsh and Irish fans. Some German girls got there flirt on and it didn’t take long to realise they were fishing for drinks, which after my bar encounter earlier wound me up further and the phrase whore was thrown around. Now in a relatively bad mood I lost the boys and bailed for food. I went to McDonalds for confrontation number three. I ordered a meal deal that came with a Sunday and as I don’t normally eat sweets especially while drunk I asked if I could swap it out for chips which were actually cheaper. He took a no nonsense no stance, so I did the same, he kept asking which one I wanted and I kept saying none keeping the queue waiting behind me. I had my food at Hamishs’ and passed out into a very good sleep.


The previous night I was not mild or mannered, so we kicked off the next day with morning beers and as a rock star I polished off a bottle of sparkling wine before seeing the morning news that Dan Carter is out of the world cup, this was actually breaking news interrupting my programme, the prince of rugby is out, long live the prince.

I met Iwan, Ieuan and Rob Pierce at the Quadrant and Mugsy, my old rugby coach and his wife Tina joined us just after. We watched the New Zealand match and then saw the Wales team leave the hotel for the match.

The boys insisted we go to the Hamilton Old Boys Rugby club, so we did for a cheeky one and then out of the kindness of their hearts they invited me to do Jaeger bombs, after five I was swimming and went to the game.

I was intoxicated and enjoyed watching Wales take apart Fiji, however some guy in front wearing an England shirt (why do people wear another teams shirt to a game, especially if it’s as hostile as the England shirt) decided that my commentary was not warranted and lined himself up for a repeated number of put downs. Some other guy, who the people around him suggested was an addict and he must have stolen a ticket decided to pick an argument with everyone around him which included me at some stage, which was funny as I refused to take any crap from him. It got very wet but the result was fantastic and I got a ride back with the Browns and made it back before I realised I hadn’t eaten at all that day.

Me and the fantastic Mr Neil Brown

I warmed up in front of the fire and had a toasted sandwich before sleep. A great 48hrs in Hamilton with multiple misadventures from start to finish, it was a great laugh.