WINNING NZ$2,000 AT WELLINGTON RUGBY SEVENS

UNPREPARED WORLD TRIP, BUT PREPARED FOR RUGBY

We did not prepare for our world trip, but we did prepare to kick start our journey with the Wellington Rugby Sevens. Lotte arrived from Hong Kong (with a nice lay-over in Fiji) loaded with body paint and Leonie brought home-made artificial ferns from Amsterdam.

At 5 a.m. we started six hours of painting each other in the bathroom of our entertained Maori airbnb hostess. As All Blacks Sevens with collars of the New Zealand ferns, we walked to the stadium; barely naked introducing ourselves to New Zealand. At the entrance they immediately took our golden rugby balls into custody. A pity, but we got enough attention without the balls. Immediately we were asked for a photo shoot in front of the stadium. We also played the role of photographer ourselves; admiring all the other costumes from super heroes to twin ladybugs to (one-)nightstand.

ALL BLACKS GOING FOR GOLD

To our surprise, at the Sevens, several people asked us why we have sevens painted all over our body. Luckily the judges did understand our theme and invited us to participate in the costume awards. Supporting the All Blacks, the next day we were painted ass ‘All Blacks going for gold’.

US ON THE FRONT PAGE

Arriving at the stadium a woman ran to us proudly showing we were on the front page of the newspaper! We couldn’t believe seeing ourselves so prominent in the The Dominion Post on the fourth day of our trip on the opposite side of the planet! Although Lotte did make it to the front page of the South China Morning Post, as a loyal Hong Kong Sevens fan, having been there the last five years.

A GOLDEN DAY!

Enjoying another day of great rugby and saying hi to our friends DJ Forbes, Gillies Kaka, and Gordon Tietjens ended in an even more unbelievable moment; we were asked to come onto the field before the final! The judges awarded us with the ‘Judges’ Choice Award’ and NZ$2,000! It was a perfect Sevens with New Zealand against England in an exciting final, winning with 27-21. As if this wasn’t enough, we got more victory the next day when we again appeared in the newspaper! What a fun start of the trip!

A KISS FOR THE CUP

To relax after a party night at Courtenay Place, we had a coffee with the fun and friendly rugby referee Matt O’Brien who was so kind to borrow us his jacket in the freezing cold rugby stadium the day before. Later, Gordon joined us too at the great outdoor lounge of Karaka Cafe and showed us the winners-cup. We immediately felt at home in this new continent!

Now we needed a home on wheels to explore this side of the world!