Last updated 21:39, June 11 2018
Competition winner Joanne Turpie guided All Blacks Luke Whitelock, Jordan Taufua and Waisake Naholo on a tour of Wellington's cable car on Monday night as the squad prepares to take on France on Saturday in the capital.
After a comfortable victory over France on Saturday night three All Blacks were looking to relax with a tour of Wellington's famous cable car.
Joanne Turpie, a MetService business analyst and big All Blacks fan, won a competition to give a group of three unidentified All Blacks a tour of a capital highlight and ended up - to her delight - guiding winger Waisake Naholo and loose forwards Luke Whitelock and Jordan Taufua on their first ride on the famous funicular railway.
For the past three years Turpie has used the cable car to get to work everyday at MetService HQ which sits on the hill in the Botanic Gardens between the top of the ride in Kelburn and the Victoria University stop.
Competition winner Joanne Turpie and friend Lyndon Andrews guided All Blacks, from left, Luke Whitelock, Jordan Taufua and Waisake Naholo on a tour of Wellington's cable car on a wet but clear Monday night.
She was surprised and delighted when she learnt she had won the chance to take the star trio on her favourite Wellington tourist attraction.
"I couldn't quite believe it," Turpie said.
As for the squad's recent form, Turpie said she thought they played solid rugby in their 52-11 downing of the European tourists at Eden Park.
Her assessment of Naholo, Whitelock and Taufua was equally positive with Turpie describing the star tour group as being a good bunch who asked sensible questions.
Whitelock praised Turpie's guiding skills and said he was happy to be part of the tour on the cable car, which he said had always been an "icon of Wellington."
"It was great to have a local - she was pointing out stuff left and right," Whitelock said.
The All Blacks arrived in Wellington on Monday for the upcoming French test at Westpac Stadium on Saturday - the forecast is for scattered rain, clearing and a low of 11 degrees Celsius.
New Zealand Rugby head of marketing brand and retail ventures Todd Barberel said ticket sales were going well with only 1000 tickets left for the 34,500 capacity venue.
"Fans should get to the ground early to avoid possible queues so they can soak up the All Blacks test match atmosphere," Barberel said.