Jen Hillam: A night to remember-Rugby World Cup Final in Wellington

So I last left you with my plans of heading to Wellington for the World Cup final...let me try and describe that night to you. First some background: For those who don't know, rugby in NZ is basically considered the countries religion, everyone watches it and signs supporting the All Blacks can probably be seen from outer space, as they cover hillsides and farm fields. The All Blacks playing for the final in their own country is a huge deal especially since they haven't won for 25 years and they have been so close so many times, so there was a lot riding on this game. So going to the nations capital to watch the game on a big screen was sure to be a once in a lifetime experience.
I headed down on the bus with Graeme and Benedicte, once we got to Wellington we met up with Brayden, Brayden, Bene, Martyna, Kelly, Dani, Giso, Zach, and Franzi. We found a pub with a huge tv and settled in to watch the game of a lifetime. The game was France vs. NZ. We were all cheering for the All Blacks except of course Benedict (french) and for some reason Graeme (Scot). The game was so intense, the All Blacks did great for the first half but the second got scary close. Every time something exciting happened it felt like an earthquake was shaking the city as people screamed or cheered, although who really knows they could have been a very conveniently timed earthquake..we were in NZ. The whole city was on hold watching the game and when that clock finally ticked to 80:00 and the All Blacks kicked out the ball there were cheers so loud you couldn't tell if there was even anything coming out of your own mouth. The All Blacks beat France by 1 point. It wasn't the prettiest game but it didn't matter as long as the ABs won. Hugs and high fives between strangers and friends were happening everywhere. Interestingly, Benedict with the french flag painted on her face got the most hugs of all as everyone around us congratulated her for a well fought game, I'm sure the same wouldn't have happened had France won but we were all glad we weren't going to have to protect her from any sort of angry or insulting kiwis. After the game ended everyone flooded into the streets. There were crowds of people down every main road and the police just ended up shutting all the main roads down and people were running everywhere. Excited would be an understatement when describing this town, well that and a little drunk. People were climbing up anything climbable (street poles, buildings, statues, etc.). They were reenacting scrums in the streets and we all got plowed over once or twice so of course we just decided to join in for a bit and had scrums with each other. It was truly epic as everyone celebrated together. It was a like a parade in every direction and everyone was a part of it. With so many people it was a little tough to stick together but we managed to not loose anyone and had quite the exciting walk back to our hostel to drop off some stuff then go and enjoy the partying in the street. It was just such an incredible atmosphere, you couldn't help but join in with cheering and dancing. We finally made our was to small little club and hung out and had a blast. Brayden, Bene, Zach, and Franzi left early to go get some sleep before their 4am wake up call to take a plane to Sydney for the week. I spent most of the night with Martyna and Kelly. We got ice cream and hung out and enjoyed the atmosphere for awhile but headed in early enough to get a few hours of sleep as Kelly and I were set to leave on a backpacking trip the next day. It was almost tough to sleep as the city was so loud but I managed alright and woke up bright and early to make a bus back to Palmy. As I walked to bus stop with Graeme the city felt deserted. It was a strange feeling considering how crazy it had been just a few hour prior but as daylight came I guess the parties came to an end and since it was an national holiday everyone was sleeping off the crazy night they had. We walked about 4 blocks and probably only saw 10 people in all of downtown Wellington. It was a short trip to Wellington for me but absolutely worth it.