"Come On James..."COME ON THE BOKKE!!"

Howzit Team

I really have been useless in getting new blog posts up during this Rugby World Cup trip, but through the countless 4.30am finishes, an unending raging hangover, and endless banter abuse from Danger and Sassy, we are back in SA where I finally have some peace and quiet. Lets not take anything away from how epic this trip has been, and over the next two (three if you're lucky) blog posts, I will complete the story of this whole trip.

Well let's go back to where we left off, and that was our arbitrarily late 10.30am start to our 9 hour road journey to Wellington from Auckland, which can be solely left on the blame of Streaks chunder antics from the night before. Once again, we managed to just squeeze all our kit into the Cheap and Cheerful, we had the iTrips and iPods ready, and Sassy was the man behind the wheel. Once we hit the road Sassy described our South African decorated car as a bit of a fish bowl, as we received many a stare, and many a hooting from our surrounding cars. It seemed everyone was heading in the same South direction, and you could see that RWC fever was in the air.

The SA flags might have been the cause for the
fish bowl effect for Sassy and Streaks...you think!?

The first half of the road trip was pretty uneventful apart from the abuse Streaks received for his poor show the night before. Obviously watching Glee, doing yoga, vomiting after beers and peanuts, and somehow listening to Celine Dion on the plane (definitely framed), Danger and Sassy believe that Streaks really hasn't got much going for him in the ladies department, and this tour was all in Danger's hands.

We managed to get to half way at Subway by lunchtime. After celebrating the discovery of the new word 'Capsicum' (which is known as green pepper in South Africa), Sassy decided it was time to hand the steering wheel over to Mrs. Sassy for the next half of the journey. After saying some final words on the video camera in case they were our last (we were not being sexist at all), we were back on the road. Mrs. Sassy wasn't scared to get us to our destination quickly, and almost had a run-in with the local traffic police after doing 140km/h in a 100km/h zone (to her defense the whole of NZ's top speed is 100). Luckily just a flash of the blue light was enough to give her the shits, and we were back to the speed limit very quickly. We would later be told at the petrol station that a flash of the blue lights is just a warning, and we were lucky to avoid the cop they call the 'Nazi.' Supposedly he's the harshest cop in the whole of the Kiwi free-ways, so Sassy was stoked his credit card wouldn't be maxed with traffic fines before we even started the trip.

Just some of the beautiful views of New Zealand
that Sassy, Danger and Streaks would get to see!

That tire is squiff!!!

It was a beautiful drive, and definitely the recommended way to travel New Zealand. Sassy was constantly looking for the shire, and the mountains of Mordor, but unfortunately all those scenes were shot on the South Island - so his hopes were shattered for a while.  The Cheap and Cheerful started playing up after two hours into Mrs. Sassy's drive, and the toll of carrying all our luggage as well as the Wolf Pack's weight, something was not right with our ride. The car would profusely vibrate between 90 and 100km/h, and the back right shock seemed to be taking strain. We would only find out later after a trip to the mechanic on Tuesday, that our back right wheel was completely squiff! (South African for not straight!). Somehow the C&C managed to hold together and get us to our destination.

We would eventually arrive at the little town of Karori in Wellington just after 7.30pm, and we would be greeted by the newest additions to our Wolf Pack - Liam and Kirsty! Both are true out and out Kiwi's, and support nobody else other than the All Blacks. Liam comes from a family of 7, where all the siblings are brothers, all of them are sport mad, and all of them love to have a beer. Kirsty is fantastic at cooking, and loves her vino! The Wolf Pack would find that we would fit into their household very nicely :)

Kirsty with wine in hand, and Liam with an empty beer.
We had met our match!

Well like any good tourist would do, why go to sleep after nine hours of travelling? So off to the pub we went to watch the the England Argentina game. The Four Kings pub was the location, and the place was packed with rugby supporters from all over the world. We would get our first taste of New Zealand brew, but also our first smack of our wallet! NZ is not cheap, and at R55 a beer, the converting of dollars to rands was halted. You can't enjoy yourself in another country while trying to convert all the time, especially when Mr. Sassy changes his taste from beer to rum and coke (he would later find it would cost the same as a pint...High  Five!).

Feeling the case for adventure, and to stamp his authority early on in the tour, Danger noticed a 100m high "Bungie Ball" which was located directly outside the pub. At only $40 a go, and some usual taunting, Streaks and Kirsty were roped in with the young man, and shot into the air! Check it out here:

Pretty awesome experience, and it also gave us the opportunity to see the colors of the town sky. Once the blood had finally returned to Danger's face, we headed for a massive pub crawl down Courtney Place, the venue for the tour's nights of marvels, mayhem, and mystery!

Sassy's animated descripton...
Mmmm.... Maori....

After visiting a few pubs on the Courtney Place strip, Liam used his exclusivity powers to get us through the front door of one of the busiest clubs on the strip - as well as the venue for Danger's first take down of the tour! Described to have the Eyes of East, and the girth of Big Wes, the Maori bird we all anticipated was finally nabbed! Danger had struck the lead in the ladies department, and wasn't going to let Streaks forget it. Mrs. Sassy had also left before we got into the club, and the rest of the Wolf Pack got home at 3.30am. Danger's bet of outlasting Mrs. Sassy throughout the trip had got off to a flyer, and an unsettled nerve started to tweak in Streak's head.

Just to back track a bit, before we headed out that night, we decided on sleeping arrangements. Seeing there was only one double bed, and two blow up mattresses (one being a double), Mrs. Sassy had some how daftly agreed that Danger would get the bed (because he knew the hosts), and the rest of us would share a room with the blow up mattresses. On arriving back at the house in the early hours of the morning after this crazy night, Danger was greeted with a letter at the door. After reading two lines, and a loud grunt, he headed into the room with the blow up mattresses and passed out. I managed to pick up the letter and read the following:

With not much else to say, I headed to my blow-up mattress (which was enduring a slow puncture) while Danger gracefully snoozed away into the night. I can only imagine Danger's dreams included images of the Pacific Islands, and haka-chanting Samoan ladies.

Well the next morning not only saw a 11am wake up, but also the countdown to the attendance of our first Rugby World Cup 2011 match - South Africa vs Wales. A wet and windy Wellington morning greeted us, and was set in stone for the rest of the day. It was not the weather we wanted, but the when the home rugby team is called the Hurricanes, it's kind of the weather you have to expect. With everyone still struggling from the night before, and the smuggest of faces on Danger's, we started prepping ourselves for the game ahead. The SA jersey's, bomber jackets, scarves, wigs, top hats, tattoo's, PDV mustaches and attitudes were all put on, and we were off to the "Cake Tin" or "Stadium" for our first game of the tour! (Due to IRB advertising laws, the WestPac Stadium in Wellington is in breach of this code, so only the word STADIUM is illuminated to the whole of Wellington - much to Sassy's delight).

Streaks, Sassy, Mrs. Sassy and Danger.
Wolf Pack ready for Action!

On our way to the Cake Tin! Ke Nako!!!

We got to the pub for our pre-match drinking, and the hangover's were starting to wipe away. The atmosphere of being with hundred's of other South African's in a pub on the other side of the planet was electric, and we were still a Springbok nation no matter how far from home we were. We were off to the game with flags in hand, through the gates, and into the 50,000 seating stadium. Streaks received a number of pats on the back, as the perfect seating of 10 rows from the front on the halfway line, and the Springbok team facing us for the anthems, it was "Ke Nako" for the Wolf Pack!

"COME ON JAMES!!!!"

After starting like a house on fire, the Springboks struggled to innovate against the Welsh, leaving the Wolf Pack very nervous come half time. This nervousness turned to anxiety, which almost turned to the beat down of the Welsh supporters sitting behind Sassy. The Wolf Pack hadn't said a word to each other for 40 minutes, but with the echoing sound of "Come on James....Come on James..." in his ear, and the whacking of a Welsh flag on his head, Sassy was close to boiling point, and Danger was ready to tackle an unaware's PDV after the game. Luckily, Francois Hougaard came to the rescue as he soared over the try line, and the Wolf Pack erupted. A few up-yours, a few fist pumps, and a few "Go back to bloody Wales you *&%$#$%%" and we were back in the game! The final whistle went, and we had watched our first victory of the tour. The thought of all the money we had saved could have been washed away had we lost that game, but the tour was still in tact, and the RWC 2007 champions had started the defense of their title with a win.

Let's go all the way...

We were too stoked with life. Sassy and Mrs. Sassy were chanting only one line of Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' with "Let's go all the way tonight!!!" causing Streaks a bit of unease, while Danger continued his spading ways, by chatting up who he thought was the wife of PDivvy (which only turned out to be a family friend). We headed back to the pub on the docks, and ended up staying there until they closed. After a number of beers, and celebratory Jager bombs (don't ask how much), we headed to Courtney Place to take on the town again. It was amazing how during the game, everyone was feeling a bit ill seeing that we might lose the match, but once we had secured the win - it was party time! (Mrs. Sassy had enough after the game, and headed home - Danger was on fire with his bet!).

Even after wanting to Hooke James, rugby is one of those
games that you can still drink with the opposition after a match.

After a long walk across town, which included Danger somehow stealing an Aussie girl's scarf, and Sassy stealing a cab from two strangers, we ended up in a bar back on Courtney strip. Streaks didn't move to far from the bar after getting into conversation with a Welsh-supporting Mexican who played rugby for the USA (seriously, I cannot make that stuff up). Sassy was outside watching Springbok supporters chunder over the payment, and was not impressed when Streaks convinced him to shake the chunderer's hand (I knew the guy and was seriously unaware of what had happened).



And our man Danger...to Streaks and Sassy's disbelief...was taking down a rugby playing belter!  Danger had not only continued his wooing ways from the night before, but he had upped his game considerably by taking down the captain of the team! After saying our goodbyes, and chowing down an incredible hummus filled kebab, Danger looked like Luke Skywalker after defeating Darth Vader with one hand. The man was in fine form and was living up to the expectation he had so foretold.


The next day was even a later wake-up, with Streaks rising from the couch at 1.30pm, and Danger climbing off his blow-up mattress at 3 in the afternoon. Sassy was running around the house singing "Don't Stop Believin" while Mrs. Sassy ran off to the Salon to get her hair done. We decided that Monday would be our rest day, and time to recapture what had happened over the last 3 days of tour. What better way to do this, than a traditional South African braai. Liam had just purchased a new Weber, and who better than 3 South Africans to break in his new 'barbeque'. After Sassy and Streaks' great attempt of trying to light a fire in wet gusty Wellington weather armed only with wet twigs and newspaper, Danger was sent to the shop to fetch firelighters. Epic SA heritage fail number one - and an incident that was never supposed to make the blog.

Introducing the beer bird braai to the Kiwi's. Delicious! 

We did however recover with Sassy cooking an incredible beer bird (roasting a chicken over a can of beer), and Danger searing some Lamb fillet steaks to perfection. Liam and Kirsty got to experience their first South African braai, and had finally welcomed South Africans into their home. We gifted them with their first braai set, which had 'Rugby World Cup 2011" engraved on the tongs, but unfortunately there was not enough space for "Springboks Winners 2011". Not sure how well the last part would have fitted in the Kiwi household, but the gift was gratefully accepted.


I'm going to end this blog post here, as the next few nights would see the resurrection of Streaks, the live viewing of a real life Kiwi in the dark, and a tour of the beautiful city of Wellington. And of course not to mention the next match on the list, South Africa vs Fiji. I hope to keep the memories fresh in my head, so my aim is to start on the next post right away. Thanks for all the support guys, and thanks to all those who looked out for us on TV during the match!

Chat Soon
Streaks

It's Business...It's Business Time!

Howzit Bro's

And yes, telling by all the New Zealand lingo in the title and greeting you can tell that we have finally arrived in New Zealand! After leaving South Africa on Wednesday night, we finally landed in Auckland on Friday lunchtime, with much anticipation and excitement in the air.  The New Zealand community has been unreal, in that they have been so welcoming, and so warm to us South Africans!  I now know how people felt during the Soccer World Cup last year, where South Africa really went up in people's books - and all I can say is that the feeling is reciprocal to the people of Kiwi-Land.

The World might be here to play, but so are the Wolf Pack from SA!

But as all these posts start, we need to back track to Wednesday - the day we left. After screaming around Durban getting the final touches of work, and the last minute buying of Springbok supporter gear for the trip, it was off to airport for the 1st leg of our trip. Streaks almost didn't make it past the check-in counter, after a more than restless passenger behind him kept trying to check over and above us while we were getting served. It really crossed the line when he picked up Streaks laptop, and that's when he was told nicely to wait his f*%$ng turn!  I think Streaks was more under pressure from the fact that Sassy, Mrs. Sassy and himself had only got to the airport at 16h30, while Danger had been there since 14h00, and was way ahead in the beers count!  Luckily once we were through, we were good to go, and ready to start the 1st leg of our journey to Dubai.

It's Business... It's Business Time!!!

But wait that's not all! After seeing the massive queue at our boarding gates, we decided to just sit away from the crowd and throw around a tennis ball. Suddenly we here over the intercom - "Dim dim dinggggggg......Calling passengers Heffer, McLean, McLean and Campbell...please proceed to the boarding gates immediately...Calling....". Now with the immediate thought being "crisis we're missing our flight", we hurried over to the gates to make sure our journey didn't end before it began. Luckily, that was not the case. They had called the Wolf Pack to inform us that the flight had been overbooked, and unfortunately they had to bump us up to Business Class! Boo-yah! After an epic session of high-fiving and hell-yeahzing, we boarded the flight to start our journey in a lap of luxury.

The flight was comfortable az (there's the Kiwi again), bar the scary midget Chinese baby who kept stalking me from the economy class section! Unfortunately for me, I didn't get to sit next to the rest of the Wolf Pack, but I did shack up at the back next to Oscar Chalupsky (the former world surf-ski champion and Durban sporting legend). Crazy who you get to meet in the Business class section!

Danger, Sassy and Mrs Sassy loving the Business Class!
That's how you travel on your honey moon!

Corgi and four Dave's..Common!

We arrived at 5.30 am Dubai time, and it was straight to the pub at 6am. Danger started his Casanova ways by showing an old lady her way to the Milan gate - was this the sign of things to come? Only time would tell I suppose :)  But anyways, we found ourselves in the pub - 4am South African time, sipping on a few draughts to get us through the 4 hour wait! In this time Danger and Sassy were aptly given new nicknames.  After numerous complaints about how the 13 hour journey ahead would be in cattle class, and the poor quality of the normally enjoyed airplane food, Sassy was renamed Corgi due to his constant impersonating of a moaning Crusaders cricket club mate. But not to be outdone, Sassy jumped onto the name game, and renamed Danger to 'Commoner.' Mainly by the fact that when Sassy shouted Dave in the pub, about 11 people turned around thinking that Sassy was calling them! Mrs. Sassy and Streaks are still intact, but watch this space for any changes.

Sassy did have an interesting trip to the bathroom in Dubai, that involved a basin shaped like toilet, that involved a hand rail, a sprayer, and some intense squatting - but this is a story for him to tell you when he feels its right! Anyways, a duzi of a trip to Brisbane was ahead, and it was to the back of the airbus for us. Danger warned me about his plane antics, and during the night he went missing for about 90 minutes. After him remerging, we discovered he was chatting up some German 19 year olds in the back of the plane. Once again, was this a sign for things to come!? Corgi wasn't enjoying his flight as expected, and after getting calls of helllllllloooooooooo from the Commoner while he was trying to sleep - this trip wasn't getting any easier. Mind you it was quite entertaining watching Danger trying to sleep, while the music in his earphones changed from his childhood 80's classics, to Japanese House Retro. Sassy says payback's a bitch!

Exhausted Danger

We made it to Brisbane safe and sound on Friday morning, and a short wait-over gave Streaks enough time to purchase his new JVC video camera. A new addition to his three cameras and iphone which he already brought on the trip - but what a purchase! A passed out red-faced Danger lay down on the waiting couches, looking like he had somehow lost his blood pressure pills. He claims he was resting his eyes, but maybe it was a sign of things to come?

We finally arrived in Auckland at 1pm, and the warmness of the New Zealand people was immediately recognizable. Granted that could have been influenced by the free ice cold Coke we received as we left the building, but it really showed when we got to the park and ride to get to the rental car place.  The company who we hired the car from was called "New Zealand Car Hire" and Sassy made it his job to get us there. The cab that we climbed into was from the "About New Zealand Car Hire", thinking that it was the same company. First fine of the trip for Sassy came we arrived at the car rental only to find it was the wrong company. Luckily a quick call was made, and we were picked up and taken to the right place to meet the newest member of our wolf pack - Cheap and Cheerful!

The Cheap and Cheerful! What a Bokke Supporter!

A white Toyota Sunny sedan greeted us, having just the right amount of boot space to fit all of Mrs. Sassy's vanity bags, and Streaks' hair products. We kitted C&C out with his South African gear, and after 20 minutes of trying to enter our Auckland address into the GPS, we finally managed to get our 90 minute trip across Auckland town underway. The place was pumping as the opening ceremony and opening game was only hours away. The World Cup vibe was here, and we were loving it.  However after 15 minutes into the trip the GPS died, and after Danger almost ripped the entire car charger out the socket in trying to get it going again, we were in trouble. Thankfully Streaks pulled out his MacGuyver moves with his array of electronics, cables and chargers and we were shortly back up and running.

We finally arrived at the beautiful home of Sassy's brother-in-law's sister Debbie (remember her from the last blog) and her awesome husband Tom. Thanks so much to them for hosting us in their beautiful home! The first New Zealand beer was cracked open, the shoes were kicked off, and the chilling began. Mind you, the first beer was followed by a couple more, and a trip to the bottle store ensued. The one thing you notice in Auckland is that there are South African shops everywhere! The shop next to the bottle store provided us with some awesome Droe-wors, so much so that Sassy claimed it was better than what we get back home (big call!).

The beautiful Auckland view. Sassy had big talks of applying for NZ Residence!

Auckland went all out in their fireworks display. Spectacular!

The opening ceremony was a really good show, and we could see the fireworks from our veranda. Even though the rugby that followed was a a bit scrappy, the haka's that preceded that game was incredible. The look on Richie McCaw's face just showed how much winning this World Cup means to him and New Zealand. Streaks wasn't feeling great during the game, and after looking very pale he made his way to bed. Danger would later find out that Streaks had a 4.30am visit to the bathroom that sounded awfully like someone calling for Ralph! A much better looking Streaks later confirmed that every overseas trip he went on started out with a chunder, and this was a good sign for things to come!

The Wolf Pack with Debbie and Tom! Awesome hosts!

The next morning would see the Wolf Pack move to Wellington, and a 9 hour trip in the Cheap and Cheerful lay ahead of them. This trip will be covered in the next entry which is likely to come tomorrow, due to the pure craziness that has already occurred in Wellington! Were the earlier signs mentioned that of what lay ahead? All I can say is wait and find out - you don't want to miss it :)

Streaks...Out!

Awake in Anticipation

Howzit Team

Dreams can come true...let's make it a 3rd Bokke!

It's amazing that no matter how big an event is - whether it's saying a speech before a crowd, or facing up to the first ball of a cricket match, the night before you becomes sleepless, and all you can think about is what lies ahead. This time around, this is no cricket match, and it's definitely not a gala dinner. This is the World Cup baby! This is something people dream about doing. This is something people dream about seeing. This is something that makes people dream so much they can't even sleep.  And that's exactly what has happened to me! The anticipation is getting me so psyched up, and even though we have two days of travelling ahead of us, I don't think there's anything else in the world I'd rather be doing or seeing.

I've been lacking inspiration of late, just mainly because I've been working so hard in getting everything up to date at work, and of course the drinking that comes in between. But I've kept the old trusty camera by my side, so after three weeks since my last video, I am going to be a compiling a 3 week montage into a 5 minute vid, that will hopefully cover the full build up to this epic journey. The video will feature soon!

I'm really looking forward to our first stop in Dubai, as that is where the purchase of my first video camera is gonna be made, and the rest of the trip will be done in HD baby! Currently I've been using an old digital camera that I got for my 21st birthday, and which I managed to fix with a vacuum cleaner (believe it...because it's true!). So the quality might not be as good, but it's enough to cover the just of what we've been getting up to.

Sassy - Don't Stop Believin' 

The one person we haven't divulged into any shenanigans of has been Sassy, who asked me why we haven't brought up any stories regarding him! I have managed to take any photos of him passed out around a toilet, or getting his hair died, but after Saturday night's perfomance of him and Bugsy at Gazza's house, and some epic renditions of Journey's - Don't Stop Believin',  I suspect that we'll get more than we bargained for when we eventually get across to the land of the long white cloud. Watch this space!

Well for those of you that can't stand a youtube video chowing all your bandwith, let me cover the last 3 weeks events into this blog entry.  We left you off last after an epic cricket weekend with the boys, that saw me passed out next to a toilet.  I reminded everyone that this put Danger into a good mood. Such a good mood that he followed up my exploits by passing out in his car at the club, and woke up the next morning in a dusty parking lot. And just a reminder, Mrs. Sassy was still at the club...awake...and drinking! Yeah buddy! One free night of drinking is heading my way in Wellington!

You've been warned Bobo

That was followed up by watching the semi-finals of the Murray Cup at Crusaders - the annual knockout club rugby competition that is held every year. I headed down there with Danger, Knighty (remember him from the video - you can put your house on the Bokke to beat the Wallabies - champion!), Wardo, "Morne Steyn" (dead ringer), Ash, and the rest of the team. Our mate Sandro was playing in the semi-final, and even though he showed a great perfomance against his opposite number (Gcobani Bobo - yes the former Springbok), it wasn't enough to get them through to the final.

I did however manage to catch up with him and the rugby boys after the game to capture a few of their views as the RWC tournament edges ever closer. As usual after a few beers - team lineups, play selections, and whether Butch "No Arms" James or Morne "Kaaren't Miss" Steyn should be SA's starting flyhalf - the end of the day assumption was that the Bokke are strong enough to pull off yet another RWC crown, and show the world how we can really step up to the plate.

Our George sponsored hoodies! Yes please!

Other than that we have just been doing the basic prep in getting ourselves ready for the trip. Big thanks must go to SportsFusion who we organised all our Springbok supporters kit. Big massive weather protective bomber jackets were definitely the buy of the season, and thanks again to the George for organizing us sponsored hoodies. I believe that Danger is going to get more than what he bargained for when we hit the pubs in New Zealand, because there's nothing like having "Danger" written just above your backside (yes - the names were placed at the bottom of the jersey - obviously it's there to warn all those Maori birds!).

Streaks is back baby!!!

Also thanks to Wildri, who revived Streaks back to his golden ways, with one epic hair appointment. A whole lot of sunshine, and epic awesomeness got blasted in to the man's locks, and he is now ready for his kiwi adventure!

Just want to say thanks for all the support that I have been getting from everyone with regards to the blog and the Youtube video! There's nothing like getting nagged by your friends, family, extended family, and complete strangers, on how they can't wait for the next entry! A big shout out must go to Mr Sassy's brother-in-law's sister, who will be welcoming us in Auckland (yes I'm still trying to work that one out) - as well as to Big Wes (a veteran of three Rugby World Cups) who has been telling us stories through many a serving of Jagerbombs and Captain Morgan, how the RWC is an experience like no other. It's not surprising that one of his stories included the Boks win over France in the 1995 RWC Semi-final, which he attended! Really hoping this trip lives up to all the glory of RWC's past, as I really feel this will be a trip of a lifetime.

Streaks, Danger, Bugsy and Big Wes - Yes...epic!

Anyways the next time you hear from me, I am likely to be in sitting in the airport in the Middle East, playing with my new camera toy, as we wait 5 hours for our 14 hour connecting flight to New Zealand via Australia.  Looking forward to having you guys on this journey with us, and make sure you keep a look out for us in the crowd! I will be keeping everyone updated on Twitter - so make sure you follow me @DevinH21 today.

Cheers
Streaks