Outstanding Result A travel log supreme Thanks to an intrepid traveller and detail recorder

Dear lois We have been absorbed with the splendid story you have recorded during the Rugby World Cup which together with the photos have taken us to places we dream of.We also enjoyed your short TV appearance which our Alister also commented on. WE hope the TV fee was appropriate. Our thanks for taking us with you during your travels. It has enlighten our days and together with the rugby result has given us all pleasure

Last post from the UK

Tomorrow I head off on my journey to return to Auckland. I am leaving John and Nikki's tomorrow (Remembrance Day) and going by train to London and then on to a hotel close to Heathrow Airport. I fly out of Heathrow the next day and hopefully will be back in Auckland on Wednesday morning. The last couple of days here have been very relaxing. In my earlier blog I said we were off to Tatton. Just as we were leaving the house it started to rain and then continued to bucket down so that our visit to Tatton was a drive through rather than a walk. There were lots of deer close to the road so I captured a picture or two of them. Yesterday was a 'his and hers' haircut for John and Nikki so I went along for a ride to Timperley and wandered through a nice park while John and Nikki had their haircuts. Last night Simon and Clare came for dinner. It was good to catch up with them and Nikki had cooked a lovely first course and Clare brought the desert. Both dishes pretty good. I have enjoyed every part of this trip and I hope my viewers have enjoyed following along. Last night there was a glorious sunset at Wyngate Road. Should have heralded a lovely day today but alas it is raining

Catching up with old friends

Today at Wyngate Road started with a relaxing morning. John plays golf on a Wednesday afternoon so he was getting his chores done before he went off. The cleaners arrived mid morning so Nikki and I moved ourselves from room to room so the cleaners could get on with the job. Just after 12:30 Lorraine and Barbara (Annette's friends) picked me up and we went off for a long lunch and catch up. We went to the Altrincham market which has been revived to become one of England's leading markets. The general market is only open two days a week but the original indoor section of the market has been revamped into a a very nice eatery with lots of choices. Kind of like a mall food court but bit more upmarket. On the way to the market Barbara had to go back to the car to pick up her mobile so Lorraine and I just went on ahead. We were so busy talking and had to retrace our steps to find that Barbara had already arrived at the market. Chose our food and wine and settled down for a long lunch. When it started to get dark outside 4:45 pm I suggested they had better get home to their menfolk as no doubt they were expecting someone to put some food on the table for dinner. It was lovely afternoon catching up on each others journeys. Back to Wyngate Road and as there was nothing on TV we watch a film called "The Girl with the Pearl earing" about Vermeer the dutch artist. Beautiful photography and well worth seeing. Not much else to report on yesterdays activities. I see I have some links to the All Blacks return to New Zealand sounds like it was great fun and both the All Blacks and New Zealanders did each other proud.

Hale after all the hype

Monday morning saw most of the group heading out to Heathrow for their journey home. However the most of the UK was blanketed in fog so the folk flying out of Heathrow might well have had a delay. I got my away across London in a taxi to Euston. It took almost an hour by taxi so I was glad I gave myself plenty of time to get there. Found the right train and the right seat and settled down for a nice train ride to Manchester. I have never seen the UK blanketed in fog and it pretty much was the case all the way to Manchester. Apparently the fog does descend on the Country this tine of the year. With just two stops before Stockport we seem to arrive in no time and was I was off the train found John waiting on the platform. It was good to come home to Wyngate Road and catch up with Nikki. Had a relaxing lunch and afternoon just catching up and then after dinner had to watch the highlights of the RWCup final which was great. Interesting to hear the English commentators take on the game. Overall they thought the right team won but the general opinion of those commentators was that Australia was on the wrong side of some of the decisions. There is a couple of good items in the paper today. Graham Henry has been writing for the Guardian so he had his sign off article which was very good. There was also a good article about the future of the game in the emerging countries and what is needed to keep closing the gap between the top 8 - 10 and the rest. Much colder here today but I did go outside to take some photos of the garden in Autumn. For those of you who read the Gallipoli blog you would have seen John and Nikki's garden in Spring so I thought you would be interested to see it in Autumn. The colours are pretty good although Nikki says the colours are past there best. I had to take the picture of the knot garden by hanging out of my bedroom window upstairs. I hope you enjoy

A night to remember

By the time I finally headed to my room at 1 am this morning it felt too hard to write a blog. However here is my recap of yesterday. The day was warm and sunny and started with the hotel serving Champagne for Breakfast in anticipation of a win. Champagne is not for me at most times let alone breakfast so I passed that by. Eat your heart our nieces I know if you had been here you would have fought over my glass! Armed with my Twickenham radio, my camera and water set off in the bus at 10:15 am for the 4 pm match. Always seemed so early to head out and I could have opted out of the transfer bus and taken the Tube but the company on the bus is always good gun and it saves watching overfull trains flying past your station. Arrived at the ground just before 1 pm and this time the gates were open so it was good to get inside to the stadium and enjoy all the pre-match entertainment from didgeridoos to Maori haka groups. By the tine found some lunch the stadium itself was open so it was off to find my seat and enjoy watching the warm up sessions and being entertained by the band of the Welsh Guards. I recall in 2007 that the All Blacks did not enter into a serious warm up session but just stood around chatting. In this tournament the All Blacks have been all intense in their warm ups and there is plenty to see. All over the field Dan Carter is practising goal kicks and line kicks while the forwards take each on in what appears to be ferocious tackles. Before long the serious business began. Lots of All Black support in the stadium and it is surprising to hear how many English folk have learnt our national anthem and sing it with more gusto that we New Zealanders. The formalities over it was time for the match to begin. Because this was the final one always has to be nervous but there is something about this All Black team that gives you the confidence that they have a plan and a the match under control. I think that of the three All Black matches someone has been in the sin bin but somehow we survive that period. Once the match was over stayed for the presentations and watch the international media vying for photos of the All Blacks. Finally got back to the bus around 7:30 local time and we headed back to the hotel around 8 pm getting back just after 10 pm. On arrival back at the hotel the hotel staff were waiting with the Champagne and then the plan was to head up to the rooftop bar for after match drinks. I decided as I hadn't eaten for over 10 hours I should grab some food from the bar to ensure the wine didn't rush to the head. I went upstairs until around 1 am and if was a great atmosphere - New Zealanders not drinking excessively but all sharing their special moments of the game. Apparently the after match drinks didn't finish until 7:30 so there are a few sore heads around today. Headed down to breakfast around 9 am and champagne was again on the breakfast menu. The hotel has really entered into the spirit of their guests. Today was a time to get the case into order in readiness for the train trip to Manchester tomorrow. Such a nice day decided to head to Covent Gardens for perhaps a Sunday Eggs Benedict. By the time I found somewhere to eat breakfast was off so I had to choose Salmon Fish cakes as an alternative. It wasn't too many years ago that English food was considered to be the pits but I do not think that is the case any longer. I have had some really tasty meals here elegantly presented and very enjoyable. Later on to day it is farewell drinks for the group and then everyone heads off. It looks like around 80% of the group are heading back to NZ tomorrow with some like me planning something different. I head off to Euston in the morning and will be at John

and Nikki's just after 1 pm. Looking forward to that and John has saved a replay of the match and after match review so I can watch the match again without all the tension of being there on the day.

Bronze final

Today I decided to take another route on the hop/hopoff bus. The commentary on the buses is so good that you get new insights of London every time you sit on the bus. It was the last day of the school holidays yesterday so the queues outside places like Madam Tussaud, the Eye, the Tower etc went for blocks down the street so it was a good idea just to sit on the bus and enjoy the sights. The route I chose took almost three hours from beginning to end so by that time it was tine to get sorted for the Bronze Final. I was looking forward to the match as I remember in 2007 the Bronze Final between Argentina and France was the best match of the tournament. The game was at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Stadium a stadium built for the last Olympics. Great stadium in the middle of a major rebuild of an area of East London. The stadium seated 50,000 which was smaller than the other stadiums I have been in on this trip. The game was disappointment. It seems the South Africans weren't excited to be there and the Argentinians just ran out of ideas of how to win. I don't think it help Argentina when they made 7 changes to the team. This was an 8 pm match and it took until almost 1:45 am to get back to the hotel, The anticipation around the supporters group here is growing really fast from expectation to maybe we will win. Plenty of mind games being played out in the media which we hope the All Blacks are immune to. Go the All Blacks!

Opps NZ Herald photo

Seem to have prob with herald photo will try again.