30-3; but rained to a draw at the Basin

We've been back at Wellington staying with the boys but not using their excellent broadband because we've been down at the Basin.  It is a pleasant little ground with a feel of Worcester and they use it for Rugby as well as cricket.
We were astonished by the lack of interest and availabilty of tickets. We paid $93 for a 5 day pass. That's £50. You can't get a one day ticket for a Test in England for that. And we just turned up at the gate. We'd been worrying since last April about getting tickets but the Kiwis just laughed at our anxiety. The ground only holds 10,000 and was sold out on the Saturday which is apparently really unusual for a Test as the Kiwis prefer one day and 20/20 matches. The Lord's Ashes Test this summer is £100 a day and is sold out for all five days already.There was a very large England /Barmy Army contingent of supporters some of whom were following the whole tour, presumably the saving on tickets paying for getting here. The ground was entirely decked out in England banners from every place a banner could be hung.
The boys hadn't been to a Test before and I think appreciated the atmosphere more than the cricket. It's not just the trumpeter (day job in a symphony orchestra) ( whenever Wagner came on to bowl or bat it was to "flight of the Valkyries"), and the chants , but the costume. When the Kiwis parade round the ground it's so you can see what fine specimens they are, Oz style; but the Brits go for being witty, or just effort, so the best two were the guy on Thursday, when the Pope had been elected overnight, dressed as the Pope and blessing the crowd and the guy in cricket trousers tucked into long socks, and striped blazer with a head that was a horse smoking a pipe, a good outfit in itself but with a handwritten sign on the back of his jacket "100% British Beef".
We had 3 wonderful days of sunshine and cricket and England definately had the upper hand and enforced the follow on, but just as we got the good news of the 6 nations the end of a typhoon hit town and its petered out to a draw with rain stopped play.
The rain also brought wind so we didn't get to see the Dragon Boat races in the harbour either. All NZ had been waiting for rain and although many places got 80mm in a day it is not of course enough to end the drought although we were surprised that there were no flash floods anywhere as there would have been in Britain.
Auckland had 2 little earthquakes on Saturday but none here which is a shame ,as ,as long as it was only  a little one,  I wouldn't mind experiencing one. Obviously  I have no desire to experience a medium to large one.
 We're off to South Island tomorrow at the crack of dawn.