Round 1 - WPFC v QRFC

Round 1 - WPFC v QRFC

hello wellingtonians!

my name is john and im a Roar fan.  my mate josh and i are heading over for the first game of the season.  unfortunately, there wont be many of us over for round one.  for some reason, the others are keen on perth as the annual trip.

reason i am posting is that i was wondering if anyone had any tips for where to stay, and where is the best boozer before the game and to meet other football fans?

never been to wellington before and really am looking forward to it.

oh and if youre wondering about the mrs chan thing, its a very long story!  ill tell you over a beer.

Welcome along, I'm sure you'll have fun.

The Backbencher is the main YF drinking hole (?)

Where to stay depends on budget, are you looking for backpackers or flash hotels?
Plenty of good backpackers; I think one ofthem sponsors us.

thanks for that mate.  ill have to look it up.  is it close to the ground?

and we are going on the cheap.  backpackers FTW.  if you guys have a sponsor we are more than happy to help.  all part of the big football family and all.

was planning a day trip to picton on the ferry whilst we are over.  is that advisable?  if there are any local wonders worth checking out, let me know!

i cant wait but its 9 weeks away damnit!

You and me both buddy.

As for it being near the stadium - here's a map

Depends how long you're in Welly for - there's plenty to do and see in town - from memory it's about 3 hours on the ferry to Picton so that's a 6 hour round trip

Looks like the boot's gonna be on the other foot this time Bevan... the memories are beginning to flood back!!!

That's really cool to see Queenslanders coming over for YF hospitality. The more the merrier!

http://www.downtownbackpackers.co.nz/ This place is probably the closes to the stadium.  A 3 mintue walk to both the backbencher and the stadium.  Although it is  a 10-15 minute walk to the entertainment hub of wellington (courtney place)

Tell me about it people! Tell me about it...

In terms of backpackers though, the great thing about the Backbencher and the Stadium is that they're easy to get to, so you could stay closer to Wellington's nightlife, and not have a problem with getting to the Backbencher and the Stadium (and then it's much easier to stumble home at the end of the night...).

Understandable, you want the annual trip to be a game you can win ;)

portland towers stubbling distance to both stadium and backbenchers on the way past

I wouldn't advise you to go to Picton, it may be a nice place but the ferry is heinous.  Having said that, before the Phoenix came around I wouldn't have wished my worst enemy to go to Wellington.
loyalgunner2008-06-10 16:47:04

Don't listen to him, Wellington is by far the best city in New Zealand - with or without the Phoenix (although the Phoenix do make it even better).

Picton's okay, but if you want to go down there, I would recommend a trip to the Sounds instead and chilling out for the day/night at someone's bach or something similar.

As far as backpackers goes Base Backpackers http://www.stayatbase.com/base-backpackers-wellington-hostel/ is within crawling distance of Courtney Place (which is essentially Wellington's strip - bars, clubs etc).

It is 10 -15mins walk to the stadium.

As far as local wonders go, Mermaids never fails to amaze

Downtown Backpackers was fine from personal experience...

thanks for the tips people.  much appreciated.  looks like the talk of an away trip has inspired others and a few more have put their names up.

now for the yucky part - making a decision about what to do whilst in town.  we arrive on the 15th of august and back home on the 19th.

just out of curiosity - whats the weather like at that time of the year?  i think we are going to snap freeze.

You could have come over four weeks ago... then you'd have frozen!!!

It's not too bad though... just budget an extra $50 for some thermals - I wish I did lol

he he.  just remember us queenslanders think anything under 25 degrees is cold.  should be interesting!  knowing my luck there will be horizontal rain.

I know... I'd lived there for seven years before I came back - and am very acclimatised to Brissy lol... but will live (as I'm sure you will too lol).

There better bloody not be or there are going to be some frozen bodies in the YF zone for the last 10mins.

Look at http://wellingtonnz.com
for general tourist info.

It will be cold, definitely under 25 degrees (maybe 18 if you're lucky!)
Plenty of indoor things to do though, and the best nightlife in NZ!

yeah trolled that website to death already!  pretty good info though.  ive never been to wellington before and im very much looking fwd to it.  looks way more interesting than auckland thats for sure.

flights all booked and paid for.  got it for $380 odd return (AUD).  not bad at all!  cheaper than going to perth.

and personally i have lived and survived a canadian winter so im pretty prepared for wellingtons weather.  the others with me however......

you could always convert and buy these

or toughen up and go local - tshirt and shorts

And any young Aussy footballer good enough to play in the Prem should, like Troy, first come and play for the Phoenix and get use to playing in a cooler clime.

I think it's cool that Australian fans are now wanting to visit us and see the ROF properly and savour our atmosphere. A good bit of tourism doesn't go amiss and they should all have a good time.

Cheers for the info lads, much appreciated... I'm coming over with Mrs Chan and like him, can't bloody wait! Should be good to have a couple of pints with your lot (that's if you'll let us motley folk in your pub  ).. There will only be a hand full of us but it should still be a cracking trip! Damn cold though...

u could hire a mountainbike and hit some trails...and take in some views.

bump!

looks like the entire orange army are coming over for round one.  yep.....three of us LOL!  might be some other blow ins on the day, but not much activity from the OA.  *grrr*

still havent booked accom yet but a backpackers place around courtney seems cool.  have got a question about flags and banners.  are there restrictions about getting them into the ground there and are there restrictions on the length of flag poles?  any help would be great.

We're verifying that ourselves currently.

Sauce

Patrons may not bring into the Stadium:
- Signs or banners that are obscene, offensive or abusive
- Flag poles of more than one metre in length

other than the Portland there are the http://www.aitkenonmulgrave.co.nz/ apartments. the Backbencher has a deal with them were you can dine and charge it back to your room.

Their could be restrictions on the poorly paid pie-eaters in 'Security' uniforms like the ones that gave us grief at Suncorp... be careful not to block the views of any empty seats or your you'll be on your way back to Kitty's before your butt hits the ground!!! (or your feet for that matter lol)