Our small group met at Auckland's Waterfront, a focal point for much of the World Cup festivities. It was nice to meet a few new sketchers, very hard to get into sketching though with the huge crowds (made up mostly with visiting French, South African and Welsh supporters), and plenty to look at with street performers, Maori Kapa Haka performances, carving and art displays, and the visiting luxury yachts and cruiseliners in town for the event.
One of the street artists, Marcus Winter entertaining the French and Welsh rugby supporters. We enjoyed his hilarious welcome speech, '...the best show you'll see in Auckland today before lunchtime' he informed us (it was about 8 minutes from 12 at the time)...
Rotorua carving school, Te Puia, had a carving display in full-swing...
Sushi for lunch...
Face painting in the shopping centre, a bit biased this particular stand - any colour available so long as it's black - perfect for NZ supporters. It strangely seemed to be an all ages thing...
Ta Moko artist Matt Smiler at work on French rugby fan Clement at Kura gallery. It looked painful but he was doing a great job of not showing it...
It's hard to believe this event will all be over next week Auckland will return to it's usual quiet state, which will be fine of course — so long as the All Blacks win this weekend!