Cardiff Nov 2010

Fresh snow!

The All Blacks. The reason we went to Cardiff (as well as catching up with some friends), meant we piled into a coach on Friday night all set for the 3 hours journey west. 

We had wrapped up warm but nothing could prepare us for the icy temperatures that met us in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Snow had been falling for the couple of hours before we arrived and it was very picturesque as well as dangerous walking in slippery shoes!
Cardiff is home to about a million people, and this weekend the influx of Kiwis would have pushed that right up.
We were picked up by Ned (Hamish’s mate from Christchurch) and taken back to their apartment in Cardiff Bay, where we hit the hay in preparation for the big day ahead.

Saturday morning dawned and the snow hadn’t gone anywhere. We had a decent breakfast and hung out with Ned’s son Zinzan, who is a big bundle of energy. Spending time with a 3 year old for prolonged periods of time made Lou less keen on having kids and Hamish more keen. Then we all went out for a walk around the Bay area, it’s very nicely done with lots of bars and cafes, but the icy wind drove us back inside pretty quickly.

 

Great hair day

Then we stocked up on supplies at the supermarket and cracked open a few beers while some other Kiwi’s joined us for the pre game drinks. It was nice to have a room full of New Zealand accents for a change! 

Late afternoon rolled around and we started the process of wrapping up for the game, never in Lous life have has she worn so many layers and still been cold. In the end we think Lou 6 layers on top - very Michellin man like.
 

Zinny with his super powered flag

We arrived at the Millennium Stadium very excited, it was impressive. The Welsh fans seemed to be very confident that they could actually win for some reason (apart from the guy next to me who admitted he put £100 on NZ for the win). We had great seats just on half way, under the upper tier, although the roof was closed anyway.

 

The local brew

New haka, Lou always call it

The anthems and the haka were amazing, and so was the minute silence for the Pike River miners. But the Welsh really know how to sing a tune, when they started singing Bread of Heaven, it was incredible - it was so loud!! But I guess that’s what 75,000 people sound like. 

The game itself was patchy, but Dan got his record which was cool to see. There were a few moments when we were looking at each other saying that if the Welsh won we were going to be on the first bus out of Cardiff, but the boys pulled through. Interesting to see how many Welsh supporters started leaving with about 10 mins to go.

The record breaking kick

After the game we headed into town (which was literally like the next street) and stopped for some fuel at McDonalds, it was strange having the game start at 5pm as it seemed way later when the game finished. We headed to a bar called Tiger Tiger where some friends were, it also happened to be the closest bar to the Hilton where the All Blacks were staying….
We saw a few random Kiwis we knew and had a bit of a boogie, but no sign of the AB’s.

Welsh girls are an interesting lot, they seem to be immune to temperature, we have never seen so many girls wear so little when the temperature is below zero. Their skin was literally blue and they didn’t seem to care.
 

Lou - "I can't feel my face..."

We decided to head home about midnight, and due to Hamish’s amazing sense of direction (after a few beers) the 15 min walk home took us about 40 mins. I was no help as I was trying to cover as much of my face as possible whilst still trying to see and walk in a straight line.  

A great night out, the Welsh people seemed to be so happy that all us Kiwis were there and having fun in their city.

The next morning with heavy heads, we noticed that the canal that came from the sea in front of the apartment we were staying in was frozen over. And then we heard that it was minus 18 in parts of Wales the night before…..and this is what Hamish made me walk home in!!!!  

We had a lazy breakfast and then headed back into the city to see what it looked like in the daylight before we went back to London. It’s actually a really nice city, and the size and the atmosphere reminded us of Christchurch. We walked past the Castle but didn’t go in, I think we were in no state to absorb any interesting information.We took Ned and Zinny out for lunch to this old man’s bar, and paid £6 for a great roast with all the trimmings. Things are so much cheaper outside of London!

 

Then we said our goodbyes and then cruised round the shops and then headed to the bus stop. On the way there we randomly walked past the Hilton just as the All Blacks were leaving. There were a crowd of about 30 people waiting outside, and some of them were seriously hard out autograph collectors, like they had scrap books with photos of all the players that they were getting signed. We saw quite a few, John Afoa, Mills, Corey, Hosea and Brad Thorne. Most of them were stopping to say hi to the fans and sign a few autographs, but when Dan Carter came out, he just sprinted to the bus and ignored everyone. Too cool ay.

The funny part was that a lot of the All Blacks were walking to the bus each holding a box of beers!!! Not so sure if the PR people would like that.

All Blacks Bus

Finally, it was time for us to go. The bus trip home was painful, especially when we arrived and London was having another Tube strike, it seems to happen every time we go away…

A great weekend, catching up with some good friends and seeing the All Blacks win.

Interesting fact #1: You can teach a 3 year old to say anything, including “Get in there boys” whilst watching the game.
Interesting fact #2: You don’t need a passport to get into Wales.
Interesting fact #3: Wales has not beaten the All Blacks since 1905.