Saturday, August 22nd, a group of use went to the Australia vs. New Zealand rugby game which turned out to be amazing. One of the guys I live with played field hockey in Sydney that afternoon, so we were able to catch a ride with him. We left home at about 9a.m. and it is about a two hour car ride to Sydney from Newcastle. My friend dropped us off by the stadium, which is the Olympic stadium. we took the train to downtown Sydney where we met up with another friend who lives in Sydney. We spend the entire day just walking around Sydney and doing a little shopping. It was a pretty good day.

                At about 5p.m. we caught the free train back to the stadium. Of course we had to stop and purchase some Wallabies apparel before we could go into the stadium. Once we got inside, it was amazing. We watched little kids play rugby before the game and I finally got to see the All Blacks (New Zealand) do the Haka which is a dance they do before every game and is a native war dance. I had seen videos on YouTube and was super excited to finally see it in person.

                The game itself was awesome. We were leading the game until the second half by about 10 points or so and after half time, the All Blacks stepped up their game and scored the only Tri of the game and actually beat Australia by 1 point with about 2 minutes left in the game. It was a disappointing loss but a close game which made it even better. It was definitely worth the money we paid for tickets.

                Unfortunately, after the game we had about a three hour train ride back to Newcastle and didn’t get back until 2:30 in the morning. It was a good but very long day.