By the time I settled to watch the rugby last night my aches and pains from the gorse harvesting were already setting in. My pain was only made worse watching England battle against the all blacks.

Despite the score 37-20 to the ABs, England put up a pretty good fight and had some moments of brilliance. Especially Ojo with his two sprint tries. Strettle also nearly made a try that had he succeeded I reckon would have made it a whole different game.

The thing with the ABs is that you can’t let a chink in your game appear as they are then like an unstoppable steam train. As you might imagine the media here are really playing up the result. Here’s some photoblogging with kiwi captions.

We were treated to an evening at the Cake Tin tonight to watch the All Blacks play Ireland. This was the first match for the ABs since losing out at the World Cup so was important for them to win.

Let’s just say it was less than ideal conditions. It was one of those dark, wet and stormy Wellington nights when people should be sat in front of the fire indoors keeping dry and wet. Thousands didn’t and sat through 80 minutes of rugby which given the conditions was not the most exciting to watch.

Ireland got off to a fantastic start against the might ABs and for much of the game they were neck a neck. The All Blacks did however break through a couple of times giving them the win they were looking for.

I found myself rooting for the Irish to make up the numbers. Whilst there was a contingent of Irish enjoying the night out it was a thoroughly kiwi crowd willing their home team.

You’ll be pleased to know that MT and I were insconced in the warm in the corporate hospitality area. It was definitely the best place to watch the rugby and the poor sods sitting outside getting wetter and wetter and wetter by the minute. The mad dash to the car park after was the extent of my exposure to the elements but I was relieved to be home in the warm and see the waggy tails of Fortnum and Mason who as kiwi dogs would have been rooting for the All Blacks I am sure!

The headlines on the match summed up the game quite well.

“Dealing with rust in wet conditions is never easy and the All Blacks found that out as they creaked and groaned against the grit of the Irish and a decent old Wellington storm before spluttering to a much-needed 21-11 victory.”

Seems that the black caps are off to a reasonable start in their campaign of Cricket in England. It’s good to see the kiwi spirit of endeavour continues.

Back here at home the news is riddled with conspiracy and intrigue with three investigations being launched into the immigration service here. The head of the service resigned last week after allegations of corruption in the pacific division – also that she didn’t have a PhD from LSE after all. I hope our residency application isn’t sitting in her in-tray.

Electioneering is also winding up ahead of the budget this Thursday. Much speculation about whether there will be some tax cuts to sweeten the bitter pill being taken by kiwis with inflationary pressures hitting home. The price of everything seems to be going up – especially food, fuel and energy bills.

Let’s just hope that the Black Caps can start winning and cheers us all up!

I don’t want to tempt fate as there is still one more day to run at the test match for England and the Black Caps up in Napier but we did enjoy our trip to the match on Sunday.

It was a bit of a worry though as we turned on the radio on Saturday morning only to hear that England were 18 for 3. Crikey, it was going to be a torturous weekend. As you might imagine seeking someone to blame for the Brit’s performance I was called a bad jinx. Last time I went to a cricket match it was in Melbourne to watch England play Australia in the ashes. And we all know what happened there.

The sun didn’t shine on us in Napier but we did at least watch the final overs of England’s first innings and then see the Black Caps bowled out in less than one day!

Fingers crossed we get the right result and the boys don’t let themselves down.

Reading this blog you wouldn’t know that the England cricket team are here on their NZ cricket tour. It’s not something that get’s talked about much in our house but rather much desparate staring at the TV screen in disbelief.

The Basin was packed with 8,000 capacity crowd. Lots and lots of Brits frying in the NZ sun. They always say you can’t beat Wellington on a good day – today is a good day and the cricket has been going pretty well for England.

I won’t say any more about the score at this point for fear of tempting fate but suffice to say that the headlines in the paper reads “Black Caps face massive task” ….. and there is lots of pics of the Barmy Army on tour!

Big night out at the Rugby last night to watch the Hurricanes play the Chiefs. The local team delivered a right caning with a 39-19 win over the visitors.

It was a balmy evening so made for a pleasant night out. Although it seemed like touch and go whether we’d get tickets as the queue went for miles and people were reporting only a few tickets left. Seems that someone needs to go back to school to teach the ticket sellers how to sell and preferably more quickly without having to share the EPTPOS machines. Made me think we could do with Marilyn my friend’s aunt who ran the ticket office at Sunderland Football club for years.

We were seated close to the front which to be honest I didn’t find a great place to be as all you saw were chunky thighs and knees scrabbling around. At least when you’re higher up you get a better sense of where the ball is and what’s happening.

With The ‘Canes dominating play at the opposite end from where we were sitting I was looking forward to the second half when play would be more at our end. But no, the Chiefs were striking back and I’m not sure I really got my money’s worth of action.

Still, it was a warm and balmy night and the locals did win!

Today is the state funeral of Sir Edmund Hillary. There has been wall to wall media coverage since he died last week. An icon of New Zealand, a national hero, has brought 10′s of thousands to walk past his coffin in Auckland before the state funeral today.

One of the greatest known explorers has had a huge impact on NZ. He put NZ on the map and has since climbing Everest been known not just as a mountaineer but a philanthropist and father figure to the country.

The Royal Family have taken a beating though after it was announced that noone would be flying over for the state funeral. Even an obscure minor royal would have been seen as giving Sir Ed the recognition he deserved. Instead he’s got the Governor General and our PM to be a poor exuse for royal representation. The NZ republicans are loving it.

Can’t help but thinking that the English Rugby Players are not feeling very happy! Jonny certainly looks like a big sulk is going on. Shame really as there is no shame in losing in the final of the World Cup. Better than falling out of the competition in the quarter finals!

It was a tough game to watch since the potential for winning seemed to ebb away – the English boys just didn’t seem able to hang onto the ball at crucial moments.

There is one definite positive now – the darn rugby is over and we can reclaim office water cooler chats back to wind and other weather phenomena!

It’s fair to say that there’s been a topic of conversation dominating the media, the office, pubs, clubs and bar……how can it have gone so wrong?

After several days of listening to the respective dissections of how the All Blacks played, the French Team’s passion for the win, the usless refereeing and the controversial conditioning training, I am frankly bored. I don’t recall that when England lose footie matches that the grief continues for days and days and days. Or maybe it did and I just didn’t notice.

Most of the team have returned looking pale and shocked. And can you believe it, they’re now trying to muscle in on the final matches of the home season to quench their thirst for a win. Can’t see the lads who’ve been plugging away for weeks in the cold and wind will find that an attractive option, especially since putting and AB back in the team will mean someone else who has battled in the club competitions will have to sit on the bench.

Still, the hopes of the nation now rest on the Silver Ferns being victorious in the world cup – the Netball World Cup that is. Now before you snigger – netball is prime time sports viewing here in New Zealand. The Silver Ferns stand tall and proud to be netball players on the world stage. I can’t say it’s really captured my imagination yet but when world supremacy is at stake it might be a bandwagon I’ll leap on – just so I can saviour the kiwi culture and psyche.

If you’re wondering about this domestic-executive’s sporting endevours. I’m still battling on in the jog squad. Three weeks into the training I’m finally managing to keep runnning rather than gasping for breath hanging onto lampposts as the elite runners get away from me.

I’m so dedicated to my fitness campaign I was out in torrential rain last night – for 40 minutes battling the wind along the harbour. Brave move I think and I’m very proud of myself for keeping going. Well, I bought the shoes so better show willing and didn’t want my mate Ron to feel disappointed in me.

Thank goodness the ABs did their stuff and kicked off their World Cup challenge with a positive start. Not sure I could have stood a bad start and the immediate malais that would have brought to the country.

Instead, headlines this morning read “All Blacks rampant as Italy hammered”
New Zealand 76-14 Italy.

Go all blacks……….