Sisters make long trip home for St Patrick’s Day revelry
St Patrick’s day punters have travelled far and wide to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland at a Christchurch pub.
Tess and Lauren Gourdie, who both live and work in London, arrived in Christchurch on Thursday morning and headed straight to The Bog from the airport.
Their family had already started celebrating with a traditional Irish breakfast and had no idea the women had planned a trip home.
‘‘We 100 per cent came home for St Patrick’s Day. It’s so big for my family, bigger than Christmas, bigger than any of our birthdays, we love it,’’ Tess Gourdie said.
The family was originally from Ireland and felt a special connection to St Patrick’s Day.
‘‘We are so proud of our family history, and it’s just a day where we get to have fun and celebrate that,’’ Lauren Gourdie said.
The family was one of spending the day at The Bog, which was close to reaching its 250-person capacity by 4pm.
Co-owner Darryll Park, who dyed his hair green for the day, said he expected the pub would get even busier as the day went on.
‘‘People love St Patrick’s Day. It stands for a release from life and everyone just gets to relax and just . . . have fun.’’
Park had not seen any poor behaviour throughout the day.
‘‘Most people behave themselves, everyone is in good spirits and just wants to have a great time,’’ he said.
Many punters at The Bog when Stuff visited were Irish and almost all were dressed in green, with costumes featuring silly hats, feather boas, or fake orange beards.
Phillip King, member of Irish Band the Jamesons, had been performing St Patrick’s Day gigs for 23 years. ‘‘I love doing it. There’s wonderful dancing, a great crowd, it’s all very grand,’’ he said
Michael Brennan travelled from Kilkenny in Ireland to celebrate St Patrick’s Day with his sister, Irene Curtin, who had lived in New Zealand for the last 19 years. ‘‘It’s much wilder here than it is in Ireland even,’’ he said. ‘‘The people are wonderful; I’m really enjoying just being surrounded by such lovely people.’’