I have still not met the irish team...

We arrived in auckland on monday after the most horrendous eleven hour flight!! Stuck in the middle aisle with no leg room and ppl regularily standing on my toes (Ok technically it only happened once but still....) Flew through security and everyone was lovely chatting away. It was harder getting out of hong kong then into NZ!! They could not understand why we did not have an outbound flight of NZ!!

The day we arrived was also the day the tonga team arrived and the supporters were going MENTAL!!! Bus loads of them were heading to the airport all decked out in red! Amazing athmosphere! The weather was lovely and the bus driver friendly! He filled us in on loads of interesting facts as we drove through the city! The hostel was right in the middle of the main street and was nice enough! We had a brazilian roommate whom we never saw!! It was like having the room to ourselves again!!  The first day we napped because none of us had slept on the plane! We met claire and denise after for dinner!! It was lovely seeing them again and catching up! We were in bed by half ten though! Tiredness got us!

After a good twevle hour sleep we were ready to face the day! Sorted out the boring bits, i.e bank,food, and then was the fun of drinking! Went to the hostel bar-three free cocktails how could we resist!Lee took part in an iron man competition which really set the tone for the evening!! Six oclock the next morning we crawled into bed....we slept till half three..im not going to lie we did not see alot of auckland! We left the next day to head to New Plymouth!!!

Six and  half hours on a bus with some of the most amazing scenery i've ever seen and we arrived! There was also another lovely bus driver filling us in on random sheep shearing facts! Sinead and eoin beat us to the hostel and were lying in bed waiting for us knackered after a forty hours of flying!! We had a catch up and food and bed called!

Went out for the opening ceremoney last night and finally saw some rugby! The build ups been amzing but it time to get down to it now!! After the rugby we spend the night dancing and chatting to kiwis!!!Best part was walking through the drive though in burger king on the way home and having to persuade the lads to let us buy food! Apparently walk throughs arent welcome :P

But finally, finally we get to go to a rugby match tomorrow! Ireland vs USA!! We are all counting down the seconds! Spend today watching the matches letting the excitement build!! We have the jerseys, flags, face paints, hair extentions and tattoos all ready to go! Cannot wait!! I'll have a full update for that on tuesday- i'll probably still be hungover on monday!!!

But the most important thing to note so far is that everyone we meet seems to have met the irish team and i still have not!! I remain hopeful though!!

xxxxx

Summing up Hong Kong...

So lets all be honest here I suck at keeping blogs. Lee has managed to update hers at least four times since we arrived. I've done it once. Opps.

So Hong Kong eh....Its basically a giant shopping mall who main tourist attractive seems to play off the fact that ppl are excited to be in hong kong!! All there is to do is look at hong kong from different angles....boat, cable car, bus, foot, mountain etc... and it is not cheap dont let ppl fool ya!! We did do good as tourists though following the correct levels af awe and amazement!! We went to the big buddha, a theme park, a really long escalattor through hong kong city (as exciting as it seems..the pub was the best bit..) Then there was the humity which was SHOCKING!! it felt like someone repeatedly hitting you in the face with a big stick of hotness everytime youn left the hostel!!

The hostel was set in a building site that looked like a slum!! I may have already written about this but it cannot be over said!! Our room was nice with its shower cum toilet! you could do both at once gross i know :)

As is always the way with travelling the ppl were the best part!! the first was a nice chinese man the first day on the subway who helped us figure out the map!! then the hostal ppl, some irish girls we met and went drinking with!! if a club is called sticky fingers lets assume its not that nice :P the girls were lovely though!! Pics to follow :)

But mainly as anyone looking at my facebook knows it was all about the marines!! Not only were they some of the loviest people i ever met they also refused to let us pay for ANYTHING!! Hong Kong had sunddenly get alot cheaper!! We met Anthony, Tom and Kiefer at an irish pub (Two doors down from the hostel...couldnt even last two days out of the coutry...and dont even mention the joy we felt when we found M&S) and spend that evening and the next day with them.

Jager bombs at three o'clock, space museums, AC/DC hat(thank you Anthony), Ten chips, Check in and pictures with men in uniform...it was an amazing experience which has clearly been censored...call me for the uncensored version :P

No news from auckland YET :P I will get some for you all soon and update slightly more regularily....eh probably not...

xxxx

Hong kong??? Wha???

Four years of waiting, eighteen months planning, nine going away parties, eight presents, six weeks notice, five bag re-packs, two flights, three very excited girls and we're here!!!!

 

Arrived safe, long flight!! It was horrid!! Cramped and claustraphopic! The food was good though and there were loads of movies and tv shows! they even had some good albums!! Everyone on the flight hated us i think because we kept getting up and i was moaning about my height etc...did not sleep at all. Just lay there trying not to die!!

 

BUT then we were in HONG KONG and it is amazing!! The hostel is OK! The room itself is nice there are double beds and air conditiong and tiles everywhere!! The building its in is a slum building site!! i expect junkies to appear wanting gear at any moment! we were attacked by ppl selling us stuff as soon as we got off the bus! we politely declined!

 

We managed to navigate the underground todday which im very proud of! It helps that everything is in english, everyone speaks english and there are three of us!! But still...

 

We went to see the big buddha today and used cable cars to get there!! They were ridculously high!! Great views though!! Yesterday we just wandered around and slept!!

 

No other real news since i've been gone two days BUT as soon as something happens i'll let you know!!!

 

Fran

xxx

 

P.S. Hong kong!! Still cannot believe!!!!!

Welcome to my blog....

Heading to New Zealand in seven days eek!! Going to try keep my blog up to date with all the stories from my trip!! I will probably fail miserably at this task but i'll try my best!! Hopefully the posts will all be longer then this!!

xxxx