Rugby World Cup Opening!... Queenstown!... etc!

New Zealand has kicked off the Rugby World Cup on Friday September 9th and it's been a huge party ever since! Went downtown to Queens Wharf where all the fun stuff was happening and it was sooo crowded with people in all their country's colors... when we eventually got into the party zone area, we got a call from Glen's friend who had tickets to the opening match (New Zealand vs. Tonga) but was sick and couldn't attend, so he gave us the tickets for free!

dt auckland on day 1 of rwc

Got to Eden Park stadium which is approx 4 miles from downtown and the place was huge! It was also the opening ceremony for the RWC so we got two events in one... sweet... actually, three since there were huge fireworks downtown that we could see from our nosebleed section seats haha! So much fun....

rwc opening ceremony

The next morning (7:10am), we boarded the plane for a weeklong trip to Queenstown/Wanaka. Spent two nights in Queenstown at the Flaming Kiwi Backpackers and did a day up Coronet Peak, which was pretty good later on but so icy in the morning... then ended off the day with snow/rain/hail/wind so we got the F outta there real quick. We were going to go up another mountain one of the days but the conditions weren't too good in the morning but it actually ended up being a nice day... fail. Oh well, we went to Lord of the Rings land (Glenorchy) anyways but failed to see any scenery that looked familiar to the movie and weren't willing to spend $300 on a nerdy bus ride dedicated to LOTR. It was still nice though, lots of sheep. Queenstown isn't what I thought it would be... I always thought it was a lot bigger but really its such a small town. Hit up some wineries and checked out the first ever bungy (but didn't do it hehe). We saw Arj Barker (the comedian... "Dave" from Flight of the Conchords) one night, he's hilarious, almost everyone in the crowd was Aussi... hmmm... Ate at Fishbone one night (deffs recommend if you come down here) and a Thai place... yum yum... but time to save and eat some instant noodles hehe.

queenstown

Were currently in Wanaka (an hour or so from Qtown) and it's so beautiful... snow-capped mountains surrounding a huge lake. Were staying in the most incredible backpackers called Wanaka Bakapaka, pretty much a 5 star hostel... it's so awesome!! Went up Treble Cone and Cardrona ski resorts, then heading back to Queenstown to meet up with Glen's sister Kate and her boyfriend Lloyd and head up the Remarkables Ski Field. 

lake wanaka

Were here til Saturday then back to Auckland for the night then heading to Napier for a few days! xo

view up treble cone

kea bird up treble cone