Corgis in Xmas Parade

[Michael Romanos]

This might be of interest.
The 'Welsh Damsel' for our entry in the parade is a young German University law student, named Sabrina.
Sabrina is very excited because they do not have Christmas parades in Germany and this opportunity will be something for her to 'write home about.' I don't know how familiar she is with Corgis. Her job is to fit into the Welsh costume, look pretty, smile a lot and wave frequently to the crowd.

[Jane Austen]

Michael, you say there may be 100,000 people watching the parade? That seems to be a lot of people. Isn't this a small country (New Zealand)? You can see how good I am at geography! No, I know where NZ is, but from your desciption it is a beautiful green, lush country. Where are all these people coming from?
I like people as individuals but I don't like crowds.

[Michael Romanos]

Jane - 100,000 would probably be the max in sich a confined area such as a CBD over a 1.5km street circuit. But there have been 70,000-plus crowds in past years to this parade.
The population of the Wellington region/greater Wellington area is not far short of 500,000 which is the second largest area population-wise in New Zealand.
If you like plenty of space and a small population yet able to get to small cities and all what cities have to offer, without having to travel far, come live in NZ. I have four cities within a 20 minute drive from my place, yet I am less than five minutes from farm land.

[Michael Romanos]

The parade went very very well all round. The weather was brilliant and the crowd exceeded 70,000. The Corgis and the Queen entry made an IMPACT.
We had 23 Corgis on the march - I had hoped for 27 but illness on the part of an owner accounted for two Cardis, while one owner had to be somewhere else and our American member (who I still have yet to meet) didn't turn up. She works sometimes on Sundays so perhaps this was unexpectedly one of them. The Queen did her thing - constantly waving to the crowd, gesturing to the Corgis around her, thanking people (the audience) for coming and shaking some hands along the way. Our Welsh-dressed damsel also waved until her arms ached. But as the Queen said, the real attraction were the Corgis - with their funny shape, ultra short legs, smiley faces and grand behaviour. The Corgi banner looked tremendous. Hundreds of photos taken by spectators. We finished up alongside a fountain with a grassy surround which was a perfect way to end for the Corgis - some enjoyed a swim and the opportunity to sit on grass. The parade took 70 minutes - though we finished sooner and were able to see all the floats and entries as they came through to the disengage area. One of the Corgis who suffers from arthritis, hurt a leg when it got tangled in something before the start and was reduced to a limp. So he got a ride on the Alvin & the Chipmonks float just ahead of us and was one of the Corgi swimmers at the finish. We all had nice and cooling and expensive drinks down on the harbour wharf area later, though the Corgis got theirs free. We did have an American taking part - the young Welsh flag bearer (Sophie) was born in the USA and spent her first few years there, has never lost her Yankee accent and has an American mother. Sophie is a close friend of my youngest son, Nathan who helped to hold up the banner and lead our entry. Before the parade started we were interviewed and photographed collectively by a German journalist who had never before seen such a parade or a Corgi. I introduced the journalist to our very attractive German law student who dressed up as the Welsh maid. Quite a coincidence because NZ is a rather uncommon destination for Germans.

All of the Corgis who undertook parading in the parade with its various bands from sexy latino dancing and loud multi drumming to rock and roll and an imitation Elvis to Highland pipe bands and brass bands etc, were unflappable and acted like troopers. I think that they enjoyed all the attention they got.

I will eventually post some photos.

[Jane Austen]

I am so glad that everything went well. I seems it was a big success.
You said that you don't get a lot of German visitors? I wonder why? I would love to go to New Zealand. What is the dollar exchange rate? Would it be expensive to vacation there?

And it would be great to see some pictures of the parade and the corgis.

[MyPemCharlie]

That sounds like it was a lot of fun Michael. 23 Corgis in one place sounds like a great success. Nice to hear they all behaved like professionals with all the noise and fanfare. Looking forward to pictures!

[Michael Romanos]

In actual fact. Taylor was the fastest walker of all the Corgis - he kept ahead of me for the most part and wanted to run - simply because his 'brother' Nathan was at the front of our entry in holding up the banner, and Taylor wanted to 'herd' or rein him in.

We do get German visitors here but not that many - and most are here for tramping trips in the mountains, hills, bush and forests. So not many come to Wellington. We are at the end of the world here so apart from the Brits we don't get high numbers from West or East Europe unless there is a major world sporting event here.

The exchange rate is favoured towards the USA though it is at a lower level these days than it was say 15 months ago. A present an American dollar can be exchanged for NZ$1.25. Not so long ago and it was $1.40/$1.45. The main reason for the higher NZ dollar is that NZ has high interest rates so it is worthwhile investing in NZ. Americans are one of the leading visitors in numbers to NZ. We get a lot of Australians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, British, Malaysians, Singaporeans.

[pmavrich]

Michael,

I am happy to hear that the parade went well and am looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[Freppan]

I'm glad that everything went well. In fact, it seems to have gone better than well, but great! I am also looking forward to seeing pictures. Hee hee.