FOR LOVE AND RUGBY
This British couple are back on tour to celebrate their marriage during the Lions’ last visit to New Zealand 12 years ago
THERE ARE not many people who can look back on the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand with any great sense of fondness. For the Ellwoods, though, it was a very special time in their lives.
That year, Kev and Sue decided they wanted to get married. They had met in Preston, where Sue had learnt to love the game hanging out at Preston Grasshoppers. Kev had played all over, trotting from North Wales to the Gulf and then back to the UK. They both loved rugby, and upon deciding to go on the Lions tour considered honeymooning on the trip. But as Sue puts it: “The more we looked into it, the more we thought it would be easier getting married over there.”
Although things were easier to organise with ostensibly just the pair needing to be catered for, there was still an element of wrangling needed.
“I managed to get hold of a wedding planner who was based in Christchurch,” Sue says. “She gave us some suggestions for venues and she enquired about the Christchurch stadium, but that was a no-no.
“It was also a question of fitting it in to when we had a free day on the tour we were doing. So it just worked out that we got married at the Stoneridge Estate on Lake Hayes, just outside of Queenstown.”
Look at the wedding snaps and it’s unmistakable: that’s New Zealand, alright. They loved their time Down Under. So they decided to do it all again. They celebrated their 12-year anniversary at the
Chiefs game in Hamilton, but they didn’t make big plans – returning was special enough.
Kev explains: “We do a lot of long-haul holidays, for two or three weeks at a time, so it was a natural thing to do. The first time we came, we did all bar the first of the provincial games and the first Test. We wanted to do something similar this time, and we wanted to see as much of the country as possible. As much as we love the rugby, when you’re spending this kind of money you want to enjoy the country. As we spent quite a bit of time in Auckland and Wellington last time, to do the Tests didn’t really feel right to us.
“We went to the Bay of Islands, which is beautiful. The first day we got there the weather was miserable – torrential rain and you couldn’t see anything – but going to the Treaty Grounds was excellent. We had a nice trip outside Christchurch as well. And we went to Milford Sound, which we couldn’t do last time.”
The couple love the Kiwi rugby culture. Back in England, they do not have a particular team. They will travel around Europe following UK sides abroad to cities they like to visit. Murrayfield is a regular destination, too. So they love locals approaching them in New Zealand.
“If they see you with a top on, that’s all they want to talk about,” Kev says. “Even when we went into a women’s clothing shop they wanted to talk rugby. That doesn’t happen in the UK! And they are super friendly and helpful. They go out of their way to ensure you enjoy yourself… apart from us winning. They don’t want that!”
Christchurch was a particularly intriguing trip for them, considering the devastation and regeneration undertaken in the city they had previously visited, following the catastrophic earthquakes of 2011. Sue vividly remembers the street that sheered off from the cathedral – a no-go zone now, next to the shattered landmark.
Not that this dampened their spirits at all. Regardless of the rugby, it’s almost impossible to get downbeat on a trip as special as this. n