By Waldo
June 29 2005

Waldo, our very own answer to Judith Chalmers, pens his guide to New Zealand and his experiences on the Lions Tour. This is part 1, getting from London to Christchurch, featuring the joys of LHR and LAX plus how pubs should be developed in the UK. Part 2, the First Test, will follow shortly. What started as a provisional booking nearly 2 years ago was now upon us - The Lions Tour 2005! I left the house full of excitement but that was soon to be dampened once we arrived at the airport. An Air New Zealand computer failure! So we had to stand in a queue for several hours whilst manual checking in took place (whatever did we do before computers?). The flight left nearly 4 and a half hours late!

The cabin on the flight seemed pretty quiet for a flight largely made up of rugby supporters, something which surprised me. Something else that surprised me was the speed at which the beer ran out! Still the 1st leg of the flight passed quickly enough and not too uncomfortably and we were soon on the approach to Los Angeles. Guess what, another queue. The Americans in my opinion have got far too officious. We were in transit, we weren't going to leave the airport, in fact we weren't even going to go further than 100m from the gate where our plane was parked but we still had to queue up for nearly an hour to go through immigration, be photographed and have our fingerprints taken! Then herded into a room before reboarding our flight - my advice to anyone who has a choice of long haul flight, don't choose one that transits the US, it really is a pain!

We reboarded the flight, but one of the knock on effects of the computer failure was that we weren't sitting together for the next leg of the journey, still it was a chance to make some new friends. However, with another 14 hours to go, sleep was on the agenda more than friendly banter. After a couple of meals, a few beers (they didn't run out this time) and some fitful sleep we were soon in Auckland!

Auckland is not what you would call a pretty city. The drive in from the airport was pleasant enough, through some very nice suburbs but once you get into the downtown area it is an architectural mismash - some classic stone buildings, some colonial, some horrid 60's style blocks, some modern high rise, with every available space built on and not much greenery! However, it does have a certain charm and is certainly ready for the Lions tour. Everywhere you look there are references to the All Blacks. Large banners across the streets with silhouettes of players doing the Haka, the imposing Sky Tower and other buildings draped with the slogan "here kitty kitty", buses with "All Blacks, All the Way" emblazoned on the side and every now and again a banner from the tourist board saying "Welcome Lions Supporters, Make Yourself 100% At Home". It's a country gripped by rugby fever.

The first day was pretty much a write off, what with the travel delays and the jet lag, bodies and spirits were waning so we just took it easy and familiarised ourselves with the locality. Day 2. Rain! (this will become a recurring theme) What to do that's dry? A trip to the tourist office, who were great. We had previously made a list of the things we wanted to do, we gave them our itinerary and they did the rest. It was quite handy that we had to go the tourist office first as it seemed that a large number of Lions supporters had the same idea and soon it was full up, a contingent from Wales and another from Essex. The girl at the desk asked us "is it going to be like this for the next 3 weeks?" To which I replied, "no, much worse, we are just the advance party"! Anyway, trips organised, a quick look out of the window and it was still raining. We're off - a trip to the museum and a trip to the brewery!

Auckland Museum is much the same as any big city museum, except as you would expect there is a large section on the Maori. They had some traditional buildings recreated and lots of information on their culture and that of the Polynesians, but all too soon a check of the watch revealed that we needed to depart for our appointment at the Lion Brewery!

As brewery tours go, you didn't get to actually see much of the brewery on this one - it was more educational, telling you how beer originated, stuff about the company, how the brewing process works, how they have the largest one piece marble statue in the southern hemisphere, one Captain Cook, before taking you through a multimedia experience that seemed to be a shrine to Buck Shelford! At the end of the tour there was the obligatory beer tasting! The Lion Brewery essentially brew 3 beers at this location; Lion Red (which has become a particular favourite of mine on this trip), Steinlager (New Zealand's national beer) and Stella Artois! In the beer tasting area, the bar had a feature which I would like to see adopted in the UK - the beer taps were facing the customer side of the bar and we were free to help ourselves for the next hour! Fantastic!

Next instalment - to Christchurch and the first Lions test......