World Cup dream takes $5000 detour

A New Zealand resident's World Cup dream required a 28,000km detour when he realised he needed a new passport in a hurry.

English-born medicine salesman Dave Barrett arrived at Auckland airport last weekend to fly directly to Johannesburg.

He said officials told him he would not be allowed into South Africa because his passport had no spare pages.

The British High Commission in Wellington would have taken a month to produce a new passport - by which time the tournament would be over.

So, Barrett decided to go direct to the UK's main passport office in Peterborough.

"I thought about going to Hong Kong, but in the end I decided that the best thing to do was to cancel my original flight and go to London for a new passport," he told Britain's Daily Telegraph.

He said his decision to fly halfway round the world had the backing of his partner. "My girlfriend was there with me in the airport and she just told me to go and do it. Luckily she was very supportive."

After touching down in his homeland, Barrett had to queue for three hours at the passport office before returning the same day to Heathrow and boarding a flight to Johannesburg .

"It was a long and expensive trip, yes. The new ticket cost me the equivalent of $5000, but I had no option," he said.

Barrett arrived in South Africa on Tuesday and is expected to be in Rustenburg this morning to watch England play the US.