It all kicked off with the pre-tournament parade down Lambton Quay *insert sheep joke here* through the centre of Welington CBD. Everyone turned up. The vibe was incredible!
And as always the 'nanny state' has to throw in its public service announcement first - "Ease up on the drink". Although I must say that it is not bad advice for about 90% of the Wellington population!
I must have taken over 500 photos so I'm just going to put a few of the good ones up. All the team ones were pretty boring, but here are the two important ones...
Love the beard! so kiwi...
And then there were all the cheerleaders. Each team was assigned a group to walk ahead of their float in the parade. There were a lot of girls in skimpy outfits and guys in muscle shirts jumping around and handing out free stuff. Some really should have been wearing more clothing...
There were some traditional ones too...
And then there was South Africa...what was with the cat face paint?! Flag cut-outs completed the look...
The South Africans didn't seem that excited, but some of the teams really got into the spirit; drumming, singing and throwing poses...
(England)
(Vive la France)I'd love to know how the guy in the foot cast made the team!
(Wales)Needless to say, I didn't catch that mini rugby ball flying at my camera...
New Zealand also had their national hero wheeling in front of them. Choice! If you don't recognise him go watch the movie 'Boy' and even if you do recognise Shogun, go watch the movie anyway - it is excellent and such a good way to see kiwi culture! well, more rural, but so accurate and funny in a Kiwi kind of way.
Even the Queen came out in support of England - very convincing...
Tom Jones put on a show for Wales... (love the cars. I would totally drive that around town)
Trophy! NZI what a way to travel - I could ride around in one of those too! not easy to park though...
I didn't even notice the dressed up guy on the left with what I can only hope is a white wig...and the Mario Bro behind him...
The cameras were out in force and really kept me on my toes...my dodging and ducking skills are still fierce though...
There were others out in force too - those are not costumes, but you would be forgiven for thinking so...
Videos of the parade...
See the guy in pinkish/red top dancing around...he was just a random from the crowd that decided to get involved in the parade. He danced with most of the groups...kiwis!
Now to the montage of costumes...
Many of these pictures I just snapped around Wellington during lunch on Friday. The 4 girls above were making a wine run to New World (supermarket). The other funny thing is that a lot of people who dressed up didn't even go to the game - they just dressed up for the sake of it and had a party! It really should be a national holiday!
At the opening ceremony it was all about the 80's. Freddy paid Wellington a visit...
They went all out with the big screens and party vibe on the waterfront. Below is Queens Wharf, stage, fashion runway, bars line the sides and of course the giant screen. There was another stage and big screen next to Te Papa on the water's edge. It really was the event of the year!
Video clip of the part-ay: http://bit.ly/g4RKUD
The the Street party on Courtenay place (a few blocks from my apartment) kicked off with a bang - well, lots actually, I assume there was a drumming show going on. It was so loud that our lounge walls and windows were rattling. It sounded amazing though. Well, you saw the video in the link - what a huge party!
I was up and about Saturday and Sunday morning and there were still people out in their costumes, still intoxicated, trying to find their way home. A little funny to watch, scary to think how drunk they must have been the night before!
1 comments:
Oh my gosh - you live in party central! How often does this kind of thing happen??
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