Yesterday once we were done with our shopping and brief sightseeing in town, we headed up north, over the northern motorway, towards Albany which is fairly near to Browns Bay. For the duration of the World Cup, all suburbs and areas of Auckland were given a second team to support, and each area then did up their neighbourhood with that team or country... together with the All Blanks flags and paraphernalia they have. Browns Bay was selected as the South African zone, and so we thought it would be a good idea to head up there first, before making our way to the game. In Albany, there was a South African tent set up, and was quite a good vibe and atmosphere, with them selling flags, jerseys, hats, music, sweets - basically anything and everything related to SA rugby.

For lunch, we decided on BurgerFuel, which was a burger point highly recommended by Craig. The burgers there were fantastic, and probably the closest thing I've come to a Steers burger in a while. But still not quite the classic Fergburger. Anyway, lunch was good, and then it was off to Browns Bay to check that out. However, it wasn't quite as South African there as we thought. The Haidens had gone up a few weeks earlier and said there were flags all over the place and in the street, but we didn't see any of that. Instead we thought we'd pop into the Speakers Corner Ale House pub and have a pre-match beer, which seemed like a good idea. After a couple there and chatting to some of the locals, it was off down the road to North Harbour Stadium - where SA were to take on Samoa in the fourth and last of our game stage games.

Craig dropped us off and headed back home, and planned to meet up with us later. Next to the stadium is the Westfield Shopping Mall, where we met up with Ian (from the Kiwibus) at the Merchant pub. The place was packed full of supporters, mainly South Africans, and struggled to get to the bar, and even properly meet up with Ian, so after a quick one there, it was off the stadium, we weren't all that keen to hang around in queues for much longer. North Harbour Stadium was one of the smaller grounds I've been to, especially in this tournament, so the atmosphere was brilliant from the start. The game itself was just as exciting, with South Africa starting off with a 13-0 lead courtesy of a Bryan Habana try, two kicks from Morne Steyn and one from Frans Steyn. But Samoa shook us a bit, as they crossed that line to put 5 points on the board for them. For the rest of the game, Samoa put up a huge fight with South Africa only just managing to hold them back, with the final score being 13-5. And as it was reported, "South Africa may have won the match, but definitely not the war. What a gutsy performance from Samoa". Still, that puts SA in top spot of Pool D, and most likely to meet Australia in our next match.

After the game, we got the shuttle bus back to Auckland, and met up with Craig. We met up with Tracy, who's a friend of Haig's, and decided to stop by the pub for a post-match celebratory drink. Except we couldn't get in - no ID, no entry. The only form of ID they accept is a NZ drivers license, or a passport. And I don't exactly carry my passport to rugby games. That just seemed a little silly to me. So instead we tried further down the road, to Brew on Quay, who actually let us in, so a good start :) There was also a band playing, who were pretty good too. After a bit of time there, Craig and Donna came through and met up with us there, which also happened to be just before closing time. Without knowing where else to go, the others in the group suggested back to theirs for an impromptu house party, so off we all headed. It was a bit random, and probably would've been best hanging around the city centre, but no one was sure of anything that'll still be open. So at least we had somewhere to go for a few hours, until we all called it a morning night.

Haig's flight was this morning, and by the time we left their place, we realised we were actually on a fairly tight schedule to get back to the Haiden's place, throw what we could in his bag and head straight back out for the airport. This was now around 5am this morning, after no sleep and an all nighter, so the logic behind packing and coordinating it all was left entire up to Craig. Thanks man! After a quick pack, it was straight off to the airport, drop Haig, hope he doesn't fall asleep before boarding, and then head back home for a few hours sleep.