Crêpes and Rugby, My Favorite

4/30/11     Kaikoura -> Picton -> Wellington -> Palmy

This morning began relatively late for the Kiwi bus, 9:00.  We hit a little snag, however, when Andy (the driver) told us that the alternator was broken and the battery was dead, thus the bus wouldn't start.  Luckily the mechanic was super fast in showing up and helping us out.  We were on our way by 9:17.

Due to our late start each of our stops was only about 5-10 minutes.  We did get to stop and see some seals.  Honestly, if you don't like baby seals there is something seriously wrong with you.  They're just so adorable and awkward.  Anyways, our only other stop was a toilet break.  Everything else was straight on to Picton to ensure we made the ferry to Wellington.

We reached Picton around 12, our ferry not leaving until 1:40ish.  The next five hours were spent doing a whole lot of nothing.  I did get in a brief nap, so that was good.  We also decided to go to a rugby game once we reached Wellington.  Nic was kind enough to agree to drive us yet again, and he asked if we wanted to go.  We agreed.

We reached the North Island slightly before 5pm.  We grabbed our bags, loaded into Nic's car, found new parking close to the stadium, and went in search of dinner.  We wandered the streets for a bit, searching for Cuba Street.  We eventually came across a familiar intersection (thanks to Neil's guiding us before).  What we also found was Crêpes à Go ~ Go, a tiny little crêpe stand, easily missed if you walk too fast.  It wasn't exactly what we planned on, but oh my was it delicious.  If you ever happen to be in Wellington, look it up.

After departing this heavenly stand we retraced our steps to reach Westpac Stadium.  Nic and I led the way, though to be honest we only had a general idea of where we were going.  We eventually spotted a man decked out in black and yellow, the colors of the Hurricanes, and we just followed him.  To farther we walked the more fans appeared so we knew we were headed the right way.  Once we hit the train station Nic knew where to go and led us right to the doors.  We picked up our tickets and went right in.

Surprisingly the stadium was quite empty.  I wasn't sure if it was typical, but apparently it's not.  Oh well, we still had fun.  The game started out with the Reds scoring a try within 3 minutes.  It was not looking good.  But the Hurricanes came back strong and were ahead at halftime.  The second half wasn't good, though, and we ended up winning after time was out due to a penalty called on the last play.  It was a pretty cool way to win the game.  Overall it was an awesome experience.  Many thanks to you Nic.