Tour De New Zealand
20-30th January, 2000
Reported by TONY BO

Day 1 - Sydney to Christchurch

We arrived at the Sydney airport early in the morning. After the long and endless wait at the check in line at the Sydney airport, we were finally on our way to Christchurch, New Zealand on an Air Zealand flight.

We landed in New Zealand at about 2:45pm on a very hot afternoon. My intention to save money and have fruit for lunch resulted with a 'sniffer dog' coming up to me, the accompanied lady asked me to take any food out for quarantine protection in case my apple had a worm. After the incident was sorted out we picked up our hired car and checked in to the motel. We rested for a coupled of hours and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. After dinner, we went to the new Christchurch Table Tennis Stadium which was still under construction and which will become the biggest stadium in New Zealand holding 18 tables with ease.

Day 2 - Christchurch

Today's the day for our first match against the Kiwis. It will begin and take place in the second largest city of New Zealand, Christchurch. Everyone is excited and looking forward to meet our opponents?

We arrived at the venue, Cashmere Club, at 6:45pm and we were quite stunned at the number of people (estimated to be over 50) coming to watch us. The match started off at 7:00pm, and what a match we had, being down at 10 games to 9, we needed one game to even the scores. At 15 minutes before midnight, Adam Green had to play the final crucial game, at 1 set each Adam eventually won the game 21-19. The results were Adam won 4 lost 0, Charles won 3 lost 1, Derek won 1 lost 3, Tony won 0 lost 4 (no need to mention, I was recovering from the flu). Doubles results were 2 - 2.

Day 3 - Christchurch to Nelson

After going to bed at 3:30am in the morning and being as tired as we were, we managed to wake up at 7:00am to leave Christchurch and head off to Nelson. Dereck Eu realised he had just lost his MD player on the plane. Despite some frantic attempts to contact the airport and airline company, nothing was found.

We left Christchurch feeling a bit disappointed. However, Tony Lee's thoughtful and safe driving allowed us to see every inch of the beautiful surroundings of New Zealand, the everlasting winding roads and the fresh green oceans accompanied by black sand are certainly unique.

We arrived at Nelson after lunch time and the rain started to pour down. However we couldn't believe how hospitable the motel staff and the director of Nelson's Table Tennis Academy were, the director personally showed us the way to the unique playing venue, a live-in training and coaching facility, formerly a hospital! We went to the Academy and had a short practice there to get ourselves acquainted with the tables and facilities.

Day 4 - Nelson

The day began at 2:00pm when we all decided to wake up. The dull rainy weather at Nelson made it a very relaxing day. We decided to have pizza for lunch or should we say breakfast, before we headed off to meet our opponents.

After some practice and a couple of games of pool, we were shouted with the best meal since our days in New Zealand from Bryan Keane (director of the Nelson's Table Tennis Academy). His tasteful home style cooking and New Zealand ice cream certainly had our stomachs full before the match.

Bryan's attempt or tactics to fill us up before the match was disappointing for him as we defeated the Nelson team with the score being 18-2. However Bryan's hospitality was not to be forgotten. We understand that his Academy may be visiting Australia some time next year and we look forward to seeing him and his boys down under.

Day 5 - Nelson to Wellington

We left the friendly city of Nelson for Picton early in the morning. The short drive was accompanied by pouring rain and narrow winding roads and Tony Lee's thoughtful driving. We arrived at Picton at about 10:00am and caught "the Lynx", a fast ferry from Picton to Wellington across the strait. The comfortable crossing proved to be a perfect opportunity for everyone to catch up on some sleep.

We arrived at Wellington at around 1:00pm and picked up our hired car again. We headed to the main street and had lunch there. After lunch, we went to Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand and spent several hours there.

We then headed to our motel and back out to the Wellington city for dinner. It was windy and raining heavily.

The highlight of the day accurred at about 9:30pm when we all decided to do our washing. All was going well until we decided to save a bit of time and put all our washing into the tiny washing machine?fifty cents after fifty cents?still no response from the machine. "Hey, why is this machine not working?" The owner of the motel came down in the pouring rain to close the laundry room and he did not look too impressed. With his jacket covering his mouth, we knew he was mumbling something about us. He told us we have blown the fuse and the machine is "History!" You can tell we don't do the washing very often!

Day 6 - Wellington to Rotorua

Thank god! Out of that terrible motel early in the morning. It was raining once again, but the sun decided to come out after a few hours of drive when we arrived at Palmerston North. Excitement filled the car and more excitement erupted when Tony Lee beat his record from 100 km/h to 138 km/h (but only for a split second). "Great driving!" we thought, till we realised we had made a wrong turn, not once but twice. To make things worse, the bad weather and poor roads (or so Mr Lee says) had us going off course, right near the cliff?no more complaints after that about the speed of his driving.

Excitement turned sour when we decided to relieve the tension out on the poker machines in Rotorua. Except for Adam Green pulling out 80 kiwi bucks, everyone lost with myself the biggest casualty.

The day concluded with a relaxing bath in a 38 degrees mineral pool at the "Polynesian Spas". I personally decided to go further (I needed to) and relaxed in the hot spa back in the motel. Despite my upsetting moments on the pokies, I had the best sleep ever.

Day 7 - Rotorua (by Adam Green)

Day 7 began at the Thermal Village where we explored the hot springs and the Maori culture. It was very interesting to see what went on years ago here in Rotorua. After the show and concert, we went into the souvenir shop and Tony Bo found just what he needed: 'GOOD LUCK'. He bought a necklace that he hoped may help his gambling nightmares. We'll just have to wait and see. Then we went for lunch and headed for Auckland. After a few hours of driving, we finally hit Auckland, we checked into the motel, we then went downtown to our first and most preferred destination; the CASINO. Well, what can I say, Tony Bo is a very, very BAD MAN. He was very unlucky at times (or should I say all the time) and said he promised he would never gamble again.

Day 8 - Auckland

Our short days in New Zealand are slowing coming to an end. At 12:00 pm, we were exploring the largest city of New Zealand. And yes, the city is amazingly big compared to the rest of New Zealand (cannot compare it to Sydney, of course). What did we do in this immense city? What else, but spend a packet on souvenirs and gifts.

A few hours of shopping was followed by the exploration of the North Harbour Table Tennis Centre. Our eagerness to get there early and get ourselves familiar with the place resulted in dining in at Maccas for an hour before it was opened. But it was all worth the wait, we were quite amazed at how big the stadium was and its great setup.

At 7:00pm, the friendly BATTLE began, The North Harbour players are of very high standard indeed, Charles Chau performed very well, not dropping a single 'singles' match. The final results were Wah Sing 13 - 7, Charles won 4 lost 0, Adam won 3 lost 1, Derek won 2 lost 2, Tony won 2 lost 2. Doubles results were 2 - 2.

The day was finished off with a couple of games of pool (in the stadium) and a short snack and chat with the NZ players. Being as tired as we were, we went straight back to the motel and slept.

Day 9 - Auckland

Time for the markets before our final match against the Kiwis. Regret after regret, "Why didn't we go to the markets earlier, things are so much cheaper there". After spending half of our fortunes on gifts, we were off to the great 'Sky Tower', the tallest tower in New Zealand, and one of the tallest in the world. If you thought Sydney's Centrepoint (AMP) Tower was high, 'Sky Tower' is in fact taller than Centrepoint (we won't mention how long the needle is). This is also the place where the Casino is situated.

We headed off to the Auckland Table Tennis Centre after seeing the amazing panoramic view of Auckland up in Sky Tower. The Auckland Table Tennis Centre was even more amazing than Sky Tower, it was HUGE! Definitely one of the biggest I've seen and definitely the best one we've been to in New Zealand. Despite its immense size, the setting was certainly a distinct feature with seats set all around the stadium, ideal for spectators, and most importantly, enough room for every table for any style of play, especially great for defenders.

Our second last day in NZ has been a fantastic day and night for all of us. Not only did we beat Auckland 18-2, but we all won at the 'Sky City Casino', including me! The final results were Charles Chau won 4 lost 0, Adam Green won 4 lost 0, Derek won 3 lost 1, Tony won 3 lost 1. I don't need to mention exactly the casino results but who can forget Derek Eu's amazing luck. After I dropped the last of my winnings on the floor, Derek decided to put the chip on one number 35 on the roulette, and presto! 175 kiwi bucks.

You would have thought that Derek Eu would be more cautious with his belongings after losing his MD Player on the plane, but no, after coming back to the motel, he realised that he had lost his watch at the Auckland stadium.

Day 10 - Home Bound

Our mood was reflected in the pouring rain (again). Our last destination was the "Kelly Tarlton Aquarium". We arrived there in the morning the living penguins there and its informative writing on the wall were interesting and unique features of the aquarium.

We had lunch at the Aquarium. We managed to find Dereck's watch at the Auckland stadium after lunch.

It was 2:00pm and time to head for the Auckland airport. More dramas arose as the plane was delayed and we had to have dinner at the airport (free of course). We spent our last dollars on more souvenirs before we boarded the plane. We arrived back at Sydney at around 9:00pm and had problems getting through the crowd in the airport.

Well! What can I say. Overall, our tour in New Zealand was a great experience for us all, in table tennis and in general. It was enjoyed by all and it is definitely a trip to remember. We would all like to thank Wah Sing and the sponsors for their contributions and Tony Lee, our team manager, for his time and effort in organising this most successful trip.