Sharon Shannon in Australia

I was lucky to be in Adelaide during the summer months where there are a number of festivals and events over the space a few weeks. One festival being WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance. A wide variety of musical acts from all over the world. We managed to catch Sharon Shannon and her band who were headlining one of the stages.

Sharon Shannon at WOMADelaide

Meeting Paul O'Connell

After our trip up North we went South to New Plymouth for the first Irish game in the Rugby World Cup. We arrived the day before the game and realised that most people had the same idea of us. Even though overnight parking and camping is illegal almost all car parks in New Plymouth were full with Irish camper vans. We were struggling to find somewhere to park up for the night until a random Irish guy came over to us when we were stopped at the traffic lights and told us of a place they had parked. It was the car park for an aquatic centre only a few minutes walk from the town centre. Perfect location, public toilets in the car park and hot showers in the aquatic centre. 


New Plymouth was full of Irish fans, everywhere there were people dressed in green and the two Irish bars in town were full from opening until closing. It rained and rained the day of the game and throughout the game itself but this didn't stop the Irish fans coming out. There were some USA supporters around as well although they were seriously outnumbered.

Green Army

The game itself wasn't the best but there was a great atmosphere around the stadium and everyone was enjoying themselves. The organisation of the event was excellent and everything worked as planned and without any problems. 

The rain wouldn't stay away

A few hours after the game we met Paul O'Connell in a car park. He passed passed by us on his way to the nearby gym and decided to come over to chat. He stayed for about a half hour talking, laughing and joking with everyone. 

Paul O'Connell with the group

We even got him to take our photo. This had been a running joke for most of the day but we never thought we'd end up asking Paul O'Connell. Some of the other fans didn't get the joke but luckily he did. It probably would have been better had we got a photo of us with him or sign our jerseys but possibly not as humorous.

The one Paul O'Connell took!