Bil, the British and Irish Lions tour mascot.

In 2017 the British and Irish Lions take on New Zealand, the 2016 World Sports Team of the Year in their own back yard. The relentless itinerary sees the Lions playing all New Zealand’s Super 18 teams, the NZ Maori and three tests against the All Blacks over a six week period. This is some sporting Everest for the Lions’ players and management. 

But never mind the players and management, what about the supporters? Lions’ supporters travel en masse. Who will forget the ‘red-roar’ at the Gabba which spurred the Lions to  a first test victory in 2001 prompting the Australian Rugby Union to the scatter the Lions ticket allocation to the extremities of the stadia for the following tests in Melbourne and Sydney? New Zealand is a challenging destination for supporters given the greater distance simply to get there, accommodation limitations and relatively small sports stadia in a country which is designed to cater for for a population of just under 4.5 million and the monopolistic tendencies of the Official Lions Tour Partners. Supporting the Lions in New Zealand can be an expensive business.

Having lived there between 2007 and 2012, the Lions tour seems a perfect excuse for a first return visit to this astonishingly beautiful country and re-acquaint myself with many good friends. So what to do?

Sir Edmund Hilary on the NZ$5 won’t pay for much on an Official Lions Partner trip.

First things first, I need permission to go. My wife, a long-suffering teacher, is resigned to the fact that the tour is during the school term time which means she won’t be able to come and gives me her blessing.  A request to my employer for 3 weeks off work is fortuitously timed and is also approved. So I’m at first base, the opportunity is there if I can make the budget work.

A quick look at the Official Lions Tour Partners’ offerings and things are not looking hopeful. A 3 week tour taking in one test match is priced from £2,500 (excluding spending money – obviously) and rises to an eye-watering £9,399 for the three tests and a few days in Fiji version. With test match tickets not on general sale (they can only be bought as part of a package from an Official Lions Partner), the whole trip is in doubt. However, further research reveals that the provincial game tickets can be bought if you have a New Zealand delivery address. With several mates living in New Zealand, providing an address will not be a problem.

So here’s the plan. I’ll spend three weeks following the Lions as they play their provincial games and head home before the test series starts and before the bulk of the Lions supporters arrive, accommodation and flight costs sky-rocket and tickets become difficult to secure. Travelling around the provincial venues and engaging in small town New Zealand somehow seems genuinely more fun.

China Airlines, the flag carrier and largest airline of the Peoples’ Republic of China, is my new favourite national carrier. For a limited set of dates in May and June 2017, which just happen to coincide with the provincial games, they fly from London to Auckland for £555. This price point (which is after the Brexit devaluation of sterling) is a a couple of hundred pounds below what I was expecting to pay. Things are looking promising.

With the long haul return flight booked I’m committed. My plan is to head to Whangarei for the Lions’ opening game against the Provincial Unions’ team before heading to Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Hamilton for the games against the Blues, Crusaders, Highlanders and Chiefs respectively. I’ll finish up in Rotorua where the Lions play the Maori All Blacks (rebranded from NZ Maori). If all goes to plan, I’ll be back home to watch the one remaining provincial game (against the Hurricanes in Wellington) and the test series (1st & 3rd  tests in Auckland, 2nd test in Wellington).

This itinerary is achievable but the timescale does not leave much slack for travel from Auckland to the South Island cities of Christchurch and Dunedin and back. Internal flights are pricey, it appears that a premium is being charged.  This is when I discover that airnewzealand.co.uk sells the same flights as airnewzealand.co.nz but at a premium. The replacement of the .uk with the .nz makes a big price difference with the total cost of flights from Auckland to Christchurch and back from Dunedin to Auckland £177 on the .nz site and £300 on the .uk site. I am sure there’ll be a justification for this difference but it’s lost on me.

So, that’s the flights sorted and with a £14 fare for a 6 hour (ouch) bus trip between Christchurch and Dunedin and lifts likely from my kiwi-based mates to the fixtures on the North Island, that’s all the major travel sorted.

Now for match tickets. Aside from Eden Park (where the Lions play the Blues) which has a capacity of 50,000, the provincial matches are played at relatively small stadia. Small capacities means that the cheap seats are still relatively close to the action so, in the interest of keeping the cost of my trip down, cheap seats it is. The cheapest ticket I buy is £25 (for the Provincial Unions game at Toll Stadium, Whangerei) while the most expensive is £35 for the Blues game at Eden Park, Auckland. The cost for six games is £183.

Next-up is accommodation. Having lived and worked in Auckland for five years and with offers of accommodation with mates in close proximity to the other North Island match venues (and one mate who’s travelling to the games in a ‘horse float’ (kiwi for stock lorry) who’s offered me a spot in the back to sleep if I need, I’m going to chance my arm with North Island accommodation and assume that things will sort themselves out without the need to book accommodation.

For games on the South Island my approach needs to be a bit more organised and I decide to book single room backpacker accommodation in Christchurch and Dunedin. Five nights accommodation comes in at £216. It won’t be the Ritz but nor will I either (a) need to pay through the nose nearer the time (b) freeze in a sleeping bag trying to sleep somewhere not very appropriate – I am getting to old for that. And, with rugby in town, backpacker accommodation could make for an interesting experience.

Now, I know that some of the costs I’ve avoided can’t be replicated unless you are in the fortunate position of having friends in New Zealand to put you up and share transport but, even if you double the £1,146 total cost, it’s still a better deal than the Official Lions Partners’ 1 test match option priced from £2,500. And I’ll enjoy my trip even more knowing I haven’t sold the family silver to get there.