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!