Freeley Speaking: Hitting the road

England flanker James Haskell takes a leap in Queenstown. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

After England's nervy victory in the opening of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday against Argentina we decided to take a few days out to relax over in Queenstown before we travel around South Island on the Kiwi experience.

So far our time in New Zealand has been fantastic. From the friendly nature of the locals, to the intense reaction and build up to the All Blacks match against Tonga, it's been great. I really have enjoyed hanging out in Dunedin with our couch surfing hosts. Before this trip to the other side of the world, I had never considered couch surfing before, but thus far it has only been good.

Couch surfing is an online community where people can offer a free bed for the couple of nights for travellers who are looking for a super budget bed for the night. Most people tend to offer the host a small gift for the bed, so in our case we brought a case of beer for our host Liam. Our bed for the next few nights was situated in north Dunedin in the centre of student accommodation.

We met up with Liam and his housemates who promptly welcomed us into their home; first order of the day was to watch Band of Brothers.

Over the next few days we fully embraced life in the house. We had long chats about life in the UK, sharing a couple of beers outside on the porch - it was warmer out there than inside most of the time.

Although painfully cold in the evening, and certainly not on the sparkling clean side, our experience in Dunedin with the students was superb. We spent a couple of nights out in the centre of town with them, heading out to a couple of student bars, including the smallest bar in the southern hemisphere - allegedly.

I suppose through this process of couch surfing we seen a side of Dunedin that many England fans would have missed out on.

Our tourist guides where the students of that house who told us the places to go. Thanks to Shaun, Liam, Lloyd, Harry and Jordie, we took in Otago Stadium - before most England fans had laid eyes on it - along with cheap eats at the Cook bar and cultural events such as the haka-off.

After such a great experience we have already booked up the next couch for the next weekend. After Saturday's result we quickly packed up with the promise of seeing our student friends again set off for Queenstown.

Driving through the wild valleys of Otago, we passed some breathtaking scenery. Snow-capped peaks and wide, sapphire blue rivers whizzed past as our bus made its way around the bending roads.

After several hours we arrived in Queenstown. Then we promptly jumped into a local bar to see South Africa play Wales. Taking in the busy atmosphere of the pub we ordered some Steinlager (which I'm getting fond of now) to settle down to watch the match.

Suddenly we noticed a few of the England squad relaxing in a couple of the booths taking in the game. The likes of Lewis Moody, Chris Ashton, and Mike Tindall all sat down relaxing before an intense week of training before our next test against Georgia.

They where all happy to interact with fans, and pose for the odd photo. It was great to see the squad away from the field of play, away from the intensity and pressure, relaxing in a local Queenstown bar. Let's hope this rest and relaxation will be the perfect tonic for a win against the Georgians.

If you have any suggestions for places to go in the South Island, please drop us a comment!

Follow Mitch's Rugby World Cup journey in New Zealand on Twitter here: @notsweetchariot