Non-stop fun makes Rugby World Cup fan trail a winner

Entertainers on route make 4.5km walk to Eden Park a great experience. Photo / Supplied

More than 30 acts from Kermit the Frog to the local Harley-Davidson Club have been enlisted to brighten up Auckland's Rugby World Cup fan trail.

The walking route has been a surprise success at the tournament so far, taken up by more than 30,000 people.

"We certainly had a few sceptics when the fan trail was proposed. Would people really walk 4.5km? And it's not a flat walk either," said Rugby World Cup Auckland co-ordination group chairwoman Rachael Dacy.

"But it's proved tremendously popular with both visitors and locals, and some people are doing the fan trail who aren't even going to the match itself."

The route goes from Party Central to Eden Park.

It starts with a series of dance groups and flash mobs up Queen St to Aotea Square, where the Diwali festival will be held this weekend.

It continues up to K Rd, with buskers and a DJ, and on to Great North Rd for the Browns Bay Motorcycle Club in jackets and flags, stilt walkers and a series of musical acts. A walk down Bond St takes the fan trail to Kingsland and Eden Park.

The walk can be done in an hour, but organisers recommend taking at least a couple hours to amble through all the entertainment.

"People have saved up for the Rugby World Cup, and they get a fantastic two-hour experience at Eden Park. But when you're making a real day and night of it, the fan trail adds another hour or two to the experience," Ms Dacy said.

Bond St is a residential street so the council has not put in any entertainment in front of people's houses.

But the neighbourhood had turned itself into another fan zone, Ms Dacy said, adding that it was her favourite segment of the walk.

"Rather than the entertainment we've provided, it's the community providing their own entertainment."

The fan trail opens at 5pm and is at its busiest on the way to the game rather than on the walk back to town.