The Rose of Tralee - Thursday

I'm going to try and write the short short story about my weekend, because I was writing the Long Long story...aand I'm 4 pages in, and only half way through the 2nd day. So here goes...

Thursday
Tania dropped me off at the Hamilton Airport and I jumped on my flight. The lady sitting next to me was also flying all the way to Invercargill and she was awesome to talk to.

My first glimpse of the South Island of New Zealand

I told her all about the Rose of Tralee and invited her to the social evening that night at Waxy O'Shea's Irish Pub. She couldn't make it because of work, but when we got into Chch, she gave me a quick tour of the airport and went to visit a family member during our layover. When she came back, she (Sherwyn) found me in the food court and helped me study my Irish line. I was really nervous about reciting it, and didn't want to say it wrong, hence the studying.

New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

The flight from ChCh to Invi was cool aswell.
I sat next to a guy who was going Camping on Stewart Island with a bunch of other guys on our flight, and they became my fan club, the flight Attendant even came over to find out a bit more about the event, and announced it over the intercom (little did I know, one of the judges(Jim Maguire) and some Taranacki supporters where also on my flight).

I had to put on my sash before the plane landed and before I made it halfway down the gangway, my amazing/lovely/awesome/enthusiastic/beautiful chaperones spotted me and gave me a warm welcome.

Michelle drove me to our hotel and I met the other girls who had arrived, and my roomie Nicole Gourley(Southland).

After getting to know the girls a bit, we all met for dinner in the Hotel Restaurant. We met our chaperones, the organising committee, Lisa Monaghan (2009 National Rose), Charmaine Kenny (2009 International Rose), and Nicole (Charmaines awesome Travel buddy). Elizabeth from Otago hadn't arrived yet because her bus had broken down and was delayed almost 2hrs, so we met her after dinner when we arrived at Waxy O'Shea's for the nights activities.

The night at Waxy's was specifically for us to get to know eachother, and meet our escorts, so the judges were not there. Only one Judge (Maryanne Ward-1988 NZ National and International winner of the Rose of Tralee) came, and she was just there for a little while.

While we were waiting to go inside, there was a group of ladies sitting by the window and they had a sign pressed against the window that said 'WELCOME KYMBELY'

My Awesome Supporters in Southland

I had no idea who they were, but when I finally got a chance to talk to them during the night, I found out that they are work mates of lovely Sherwyn from my flight. I was so surprised and felt really special that she had asked them to come and support me because she couldn't make it. Southlanders are ridiculously awesome!!!!

Me and Zena

We were each announced and walked in, then one by one, were introduced to our escorts. My escort was the coolest, and when he came to get me, instead of just handing me a rose like the others, he took my hand, gave it a kiss and twirled me round. The crowd loved that (and so did I).

During the night the Boys had surprise challenges to complete, which was funny because most of them didn't have a clue what they were getting themselves into by agreeing to be our escorts. They had to read out a Limerick in their best Irish Accent, pour some Guinness and make a Shamrock in the foam while pouring, race to peal potatoes (Jarryn totally should have won this one), and dance with us enthusiastically. It was pretty funny.

The Guys pealing Potatoes

In between the challenges, we (the Roses) sold raffle tickets and had a generally awesome time! We couldn't stay too late because we had a massive weekend ahead of us, so we headed back to our hotel (The Ascot) to get our beauty sleep.

I'll try to make the next post shorter, but i doubt it will be because I want to tell everyone how awesome everything was!!!