The Kiwi Experience
Where’s the surprise? But surprise was definitely the recent reports claiming that, at most, 1,500 Irish fans will journey across the planet to watch Ireland compete in the Rugby World Cup at a time when accommodation prices in New Zealand will be doing a Garryowen.
Let’s be honest — even if the Webb Ellis Cup wasn’t at stake, a holiday to New Zealand wouldn’t be undertaken lightly. This is the Pacific’s last bus stop, after all. This is a place it can take over 24 hours and a thousand euro simply to get to, a place that has its seasons backwards, involves a 12-hour body-clock adjustment… and that’s before your first bungy jump.
If you can make the trip, however — either during the Rugby World Cup or at some other time — you won’t regret it. From the coffee culture of Wellington to the Lord of the Rings landscapes of the South Island, this antipodean outpost is one of the juiciest travel experiences.
Over the next six weeks, of course, the rugby will be unavoidable. New Zealanders do sail and play cricket. They surf, hike and ski. But to paraphrase Bill Shankly, rugby is not a matter of life and death when you’re a Kiwi. It is more important than that.
Flying into Wellington, the first thing the New Zealander next to me pointed out was Jonah Lomu’s cliff-top house. During the World Cup, the influx of 95,000 fans in camper vans, tour buses and rental cars are promised a “stadium of four million” souls. All eyes will be on the mighty All Blacks as they gun for their first victory since 1987. And many of those eyes will be hoping they fail.
New Plymouth is where Ireland’s campaign kicks off, against the US Eagles on September 11. It’s a small city on the southwest corner of the North Island, and strangely, a dead-ringer for Westport. The old volcano, Mount Taranaki, is the spit of conical Croagh Patrick.
New Plymouth, where Tom Cruise filmed The Last Samurai, must be one of the few places in the world where you can surf under the shadow of a snow-capped peak. New Plymouth is also the starting point for Surf Highway 45, a 105km-long stretch of surfing beaches collecting swells from all westerly directions as it rounds the Taranaki Peninsula towards Hawera.
Throughout the Rugby World Cup, look out for the REAL New Zealand Festival, events designed to encourage visitors to “follow the rugby the long way round”.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be performing with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, for example; wines will be sampled at the Marlborough Wine Festival Village, and a re-enactment of the very first rugby game in New Zealand, in 1870, will be staged at the Botanics Reserve in Nelson.
After New Plymouth, however, most Irish travellers will be heading for Auckland, where the Pool C showdown with Australia takes place in Eden Park on September 17.
Auckland is known as the City of Sails, and a constant procession of yachts stream around its isthmus. The swanky Viaduct Harbour, full of boats of all shapes and sizes, hosted the America’s Cup defences, and is gearing up to host the Volvo Round the World Race next March.
Auckland is also where you’ll find the best Pacific Rim food, the poshest bars, and the most cosmopolitan hob-nobbers in New Zealand. It’s home to the 328m Sky Tower too — which, if you’re feeling brazen, you can circumnavigate strapped to a metal pulley at 192 metres.
The business end of the World Cup will be taking place in Auckland, as will nine pool matches, but there’s plenty to do besides — from the beach at Mission Bay to ferry trips to the Hauraki Gulf islands, and a day’s car rental will get you out towards the west coast beaches.
Wherever you go, however, you won’t be able to avoid that oval ball. There’s a running joke in New Zealand that Prime Minister Jim Key is the third most important person in the country. He trails All Black coach, Graham Henry, and captain, Richie McCaw.
I couldn’t even get away from it underground. Touring the Waitomo Caves, a surreal cathedral of gloworms and coral just off the highway between New Plymouth and Auckland, our guide said the place was ‘ta’pu’, or sacred, to the local Maori. She then belted out a haka.
It’s indicative of just how important rugby is to New Zealanders. Old ladies will lecture you about why Brian O’Driscoll should have got up and walked off the pitch after he was spear-tackled on the 2005 Lions Tour.
Where did this all come from? Rugby was imported from England in 1870, but it wasn’t until 1892 that the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was formed. A 1905 tour of Europe, however, saw the first of the fierce and graceful thrashings that have become the All Blacks’ calling card.
“The ball was kept in hand,” as one writer recalls. “Shots at goal were declined in favour of spinning it wide or crashing it forward. Fear of the black jersey was born.”
After Auckland, Ireland encounter Russia in the geothermal hotspot of Rotorua, before leaving the North Island for their final pool clash against Italy in Dunedin.
Dunedin is another rugby heartland. It is here that captain Richie McCaw went to school, that the country’s newest “house of pain”, the Otago Stadium, has been built, and that New Zealand’s Sports Hall of Fame is contained within the local railway station.
If reports are correct, as many as 5,000 Irish made the trip to Australia for the last southern hemisphere World Cup in 2003. The number may not be reached this time around, but the green army will be buoyed up by the Irish community living and travelling in New Zealand.
Their once-in-a-lifetime trip is ongoing.
Air New Zealand (airnewzealand.co.uk) flies from London via Hong Kong or LA; Qantas (qantas.co.uk) flies via Singapore and Sydney; Etihad (etihadairways.com) flies via Abu Dhabi and Sydney, Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.co.uk) flies via London and Singapore.
Trevor Brennan Rugby Tours (trevorbrennanrugbytours.com) has several packages for the World Cup.
A 9-night ‘Sprinter Tour’ takes in three pool games, including Ireland V Australia, for €3,999pp.
An 11-night ‘High Impact’ tour, taking in Ireland V Italy and two quarter finals, costs €4,999pp.
Club Travel (clubtravel.ie) has a 28-night package from €6,879pp. Elsewhere, Killester Travel (killestertravel.com) has several tours, including the chance to meet All Black legend Jonah Lomu and Mick Galwey, starting from €4,950 for 14 days and three matches.
Ireland play the US in New Plymouth on September 11; Australia in Auckland in a do-or-die pool match on September 17; Russia in Rotorua on September 25 and Italy in Dunedin on October 2. You can check other fixtures on rugbyworldcup.com.
Iconic experiences in New Zealand include whale-watching in Kaikoura, bungy jumps, zorbing and jet-boating in Queenstown, and the Maori ‘hangi’ feasts in Rotorua. Marlborough is where to go grape-grazing, and you can find out what’s happening in Christchurch at christchurchnz.com.
Irish passport holders do not require a visa to enter New Zealand, providing they are visiting for three months or less. You just need an onward ticket and evidence of funds. The tourism website is at newzealand.com/ie
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