Giant Rugby Ball welcomed home to Aotearoa

Tourism New Zealand's Giant Rugby Ball was officially welcomed home to New Zealand this morning with a Māori blessing lead by local iwi Ngati Whatua on Auckland's Queens Wharf.

After four international deployments in Paris, London, Tokyo and Sydney to promote New Zealand as the host of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Auckland Events and Economic Development (ATEED), with help from New Zealand Lotteries funding as part of REAL New Zealand Festival, will run the Giant Rugby Ball from 10 September until the end of the Tournament.

The ball, which features a 10-minute audiovisual experience of a journey through New Zealand, will be open, free of charge, to the public giving visitors a taste of what they can expect when they travel New Zealand, while New Zealanders can experience the innovation used to market New Zealand as the host of Rugby World Cup 2011 internationally.

The ball has been visited and experienced by an estimated 75,000 people internationally, including the Queen, Prince Phillip, New Zealand Prime Minister's Helen Clark and John Key and many mayors of the cities it has visited.

For more information on the Giant Rugby Ball's international deployments