Fans with vans enjoying the South

Preparing to leave the Dunedin Holiday Park yesterday are (from left),  John Hargreaves, of...
Preparing to leave the Dunedin Holiday Park yesterday are (from left), John Hargreaves, of Reading, Louis Matthews, of Devon, David Bentley, of Northampton, Ranald Torrance, of Watford, and Chris Martin, of Devon. Photo by Jane Dawber.
Visiting rugby fans are having a ball in New Zealand.

English fans John Hargreaves (21), Louis Matthews (21), David Bentley (17) and Chris Martin (24) and their obligatory Scottish mate Ranald Torrance (24), have been travelling the country following the action since September 3.

"It's been a really good time. New Zealand is full of England fans," Mr Bentley, of Northampton, said yesterday.

"We've had a good look around, too, and have been exploring places like Fiordland in between matches."

The group was in the last of 400 vans to leave the Dunedin Holiday Park yesterday.

"When we got here on Thursday, this place was empty. It's amazing how quickly it fills up. It filled up in a matter of minutes," he said.

"Then everyone scarpers again. We went to get breakfast this morning and when we came back they were all gone."

The group was heading to Queenstown yesterday but will return to Dunedin on Saturday for the England-Romania match before fuelling up their their van for the marathon trip to Picton and over to Wellington to see Scotland play Argentina the next day.

Highlights of the trip so far include English player Mike Tindall's controversial visit to Queenstown and Ireland's win over Australia.

"It's not an English sporting event without some sort of scandal," Mr Bentley said.

"We were in an Irish bar in Invercargill for the Ireland-Australia game. The Aussies there were complaining they'd never heard so many Kiwi accents singing Irish songs."

Portobello Village Tourist Park owner Sherryl Charles said the RWC had been well managed in Dunedin.

"The DCC extended bus services down here on match days and the fans have been making full use of them. It's been a really good boost for the whole place," she said.

"We had heaps and heaps of Argentinians and English for the first game and we're starting to get lots of Irish inquiries now.

"It's been wonderful. A really good event. It would be the busiest we've ever been. We had 100 campervans in the ground and on the [Portobello] domain for the Argentina-England game."

The Dunedin Holiday Park has also been busy "We had about 400 vans last night [Sunday] and about 700 for the England-Argentina game. The Irish game will be as big as the first game," owner Rex Moss said.

"It's been great for the city. The council has been absolutely marvellous and the bus companies and taxis have also been great. Everyone has been doing their bit."

Dunedin City Council acting community and recreation policy team leader Dolina Lee said the campervan tourists had been well behaved during their stay.

Not one infringement notice had been issued for people illegally freedom-camping during the tournament.

nigel.benson@odt.co.nz

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