The Gordon Stags attended the World Golden Oldies
Festival in Wellington, New Zealand, and were
greeted in fine style on a cold rainy day that left no doubt as to
how the names "Windy Wellington" or "The Land of The Long White
Cloud" came about. Though small on numbers we were big on
enthusiasm and eager to get the festival under way.
The festival began with the opening ceremony,
unfortunately because of the weather the parade of nations was
cancelled and we proceeded directly to Te Pa, the New Zealand
National museum, for the celebrations. It was a great evening with
the food and drink flowing freely and was filled with many memorable
moments and comments, including "We're Famous!" from one kilt
wearing Stag. The kilts and the sporrans were a hit prompting many
requests for photos which were gladly traded for pins.
Teaming
up with the Alice Springs Dingoes we played in 3 matches at various
locations around Wellington during the week and proved to be a great
bunch of guys to play rugby with. With the Dingoes providing the
forwards and the Stags the backline we were a daunting site on the
field. Luckily we all made it through the week unscathed expect for
a few minor bumps and bruises as displayed by our new President, Bob
Lollback. The Alice Springs Dingoes weren't quite so lucky with one
of their players breaking a leg and another a neck injury during the
second match.
As you would expect the festival was well
lubricated with Rugby players being renown for enjoying an ale or
two. This was proved beyond doubt when the flight to New Zealand ran
out of beer before row 23. Must have been those nervous first time
travellers. The same continued at the grounds
with the first batch of 45,000 cans of beer being consumed on the
first day.
With free days to enjoy most made their way out
and about Wellington for some sight seeing and a bit of fun. The
discovery of an indoor go-carting venue was too much to resist for
some of the guys and off they went in search of some thrills.
Thinking they resembled Top Gun fighter pilots but looking more like
they were going to be fired out of cannons the challenge was on.
Needless to say, the driving was fairly reckless but a lot of fun.
So much so that a return visit was made on the Saturday before the
closing ceremony. It's a good thing the guys at the centre were
handy with a welder as they had to make a few running repairs and
I'm sure they were glad to see us go.
So after a week of over indulgence it was time for
one last night of partying at the Closing Ceremony. Before leaving
the touring party all got together to present the game ball to Karl
Houghton who was voted player of the festival, obviously no one else
wanted to have to pack the football. The ceremony was held a short
distance from the hotel in a giant marquee that was capable of
holding the 4,000 players and 1,500 support staff that attended the
event.
The closing ceremony was a great event with, once
again, the food and drink flowing freely. The entertainment was
first class with live music and other entertainers, a group
favourite being
LASERMAN (check
out the video) who would bounce
lasers off his mirrored suit out across the audience. The
celebrations continued well into the night with many requests as to
what was under the kilts and kicked on later at various venues
around town. Needless to say the flight home was much more subdued
than the one there.
Everyone enjoyed the festival and are all looking
forward to wearing the Stags tartan proudly in Scotland during 2008.
We hope you've enjoyed reading this short write up
of the Wellington Festival and will be putting more information,
stories and photos up on the web site in the near future. We'd like
all people who went on the tour to participate so if you have a
story to tell and/or some photos please send them to us
and we'll make sure they get included.
For more photos be sure to check out our
Photo Gallery
