Aug 12

Travel day once again. This time heading north to Auckland on a quick one hour flight. Getting to the airport from our hotel took half of the flight time. But we arrived early enough to enjoy some time with our new friend Smaug.

For Air New Zealand, they load the back half of the plane thru the rear door so you get the added bonus of stairs down to the tarmac. You aren’t allowed to take pictures or video though.

Once we landed it took another hour to get into downtown. Taking a bus from the airport to the local train station and then hopping on the train to the CBD. Several of the larger stations were all sparkly and new so we guessed they were spruced up specifically for the World Cup.

Our hotel is right around the corner from the train station next to a large pedestrian area leading towards the Fan Fest on the waterfront. We dropped off our bags and went in search of dinner. We ended up at a pub called ‘Reign and Pour’ (in our Reign gear of course). Australia v France was just about to begin. Go Matildas!

After we ate, it was halftime so we walked down to the Fan Fest. It was packed out to standing room only in support of Australia of course. We opted to watch the rest of the game in the comfort of our room.

AUSTRALIA! AUSTRALIA! AUSTRALIA! So glad the Matildas made it through! What an insane penalty shootout that was. France played so well.