Pre-Nationals

So first day of racing over. The course was pretty tricky.
We headed out to the course bright and early, being one of the first there (we are just such punctual aussies) After a while demos started which consisted of one of the vet paddlers. One guy. Thats it. Tough, considering how hard the course was.

Riley was the first of the Aussie paddlers off, followed by the under 16 women, 16 men, 18 women, 18 men and then opens. Everyone paddled pretty well. There were a few spots where people had a few problems. The water is so unforgiving and changes constantly without any warning. The water level gets considerably lower every day also.

So we are all back at camp now very tired with left overs from the other night to make burritos (I COOKED THE OTHER NIGHT MUM!! HOW GOOD AM I?? AND PEOPLE ATE IT!!) We don't know the results for sure yet, this is New Zealand - results come a day or two later, but going by the unofficial results Chris managed to get, Alison won her division and Mark won his, Zac managed a third and Joey is still trying to get his actual time.. I don't remember everyone elses exactly, I'll get them after dinner...

We are all pumped for tomorrow and personally I am ready to kick some Kiwi butt!!- Elena

SHOT OVER!!

So back at the accomodation now, with the expensive internet. The shotover jet was brilliant!! Quite cold though. It was a bit strange going through this postcard, beautiful countryside and gorges at 80km an hour. Still, it was fun. Tori, found yet another way to get to know water, getting absolutely drenched!
The extreme race we went earlier today is finished with Michael Dawson winning the thousand prize money. It was pretty fun to watch and when I finally figure a way to put on photos, the pictures will be posted.
Racing starts tomorrow with the Pre-nationals. Demos start at 8.30am, will let you all know asap how we all go. The teams are then in the afternoon before the Teva race. Chris is hoping to go to the Highlanders game tomorrow afternoon which is being played in Queenstown. Unfortunately the Crusaders game is in Chrischurch which is three hours away..
All are well, no injuries, just a few people in need of a sleep including me so I must be off! Big day ahead!

Christchurch

WE are currently in Christchurch for the day. Coming from the Teva extreme race on the Citron river. Don't worry we didn't paddle it. The river was pretty crazy in parts, a few people got pretty smashed. One guy broke his rib. To get there to watch though you had to take the jet boat which drove you up the rapids. It was pretty fun. Now we are in Christchurch to go on the shot over jet. The girls were looking forward to shopping but everything is closed.
THe area around here is spectacular and we are all in the middle of Lord of the Rings. Or so many of us are pretending.
Yesterday we went for another session on the river and everyone is getting the hang of it but racing on it is going to be pretty interesting. We finally managed to find the french gimp and got a bit of coaching out of him.
The afternoon was spent relaxing, or in Marks case, held up in a cupboard hiding from some of the boys who were looking to attack him with tea towels.
We are all doing well and looking forward to going Jetboating. Must go as I am in a net cafe. Till next time...

Another Day.... ANother early wake up call!!!

Today started like any day shouldn't- woken up at 6.30am (which felt like homes 4.30) to go for a flat water paddle (which lets face it aren't exciting at the best of times) in freezing cold 3 degrees. The clinch to this wonderful session was that it was a lactic! yay! I bet you are all jealous right now! After return home and warming up to normal body temperature or thawing out our hands we went back up to Roaring meg for a paddle. The course is still just as challenging, but a bit more fun now everyone is more confident. We had to share the course with a few Kiwis today too, but only four. I think they will all turn up tomorrow when we go for a paddle. The water was a bit colder today with Tori giving it a good test, getting to know the water in a whole new way.

After, we took a road trip up to Wanaka. Pretty neat town, in the middle of a valley surrounding this awesome lake, which like most of the water here is a cool shade of green. WE took a few happy snaps and played in the park. If only we could have as cool parks back home! This one had a dinosaur!! I made a friend, our first new kiwi friend... he was a four year old kid that taught me how to slide down the slippery slope. Such a champ!!!
We took a bit of a tour round Wanaka, looking in some of the shops, which sell the same sorts of things as anywhere.. next we had a look at the lake and a look at where the schools course will be. On our way home also the boys thought to act like true kiwis and jump in a field on the side of the road and try and herd some sheep. Most of the sheep were smart and bolted out of there towards the gate to the nexts field but the few laggers behind were chased and Mark ended up catching one. hehe. The poor thing. After we were off again on our way home.
For all the mothers worried about us we ate another beautifully cooked dinner by Andy and Chris (and Uncle Bill). The boys are currently doing the dishes now as I write this. SO another day has come to end. We are having a great time! Next up for us is our day off. I think we might do a session later in the day. WE hope to do the shotover jet and some of us a bit of bungy jumping. (Dont panic Mum I don't think I will get the guts to jump off it yet or have enough money...) We hope maybe that by tomorrow some of the kiwis might start turning up. Although I have good authority that the majority are coming in tonight and tomorrow morning. Till tomorrow Elena.

Maaaa

So we have arrived in cloudy south Island. We were the last to leave the airport as the lovely people at customs insisted that our boats all be opened and checked. They even threatened us with napisan. Lucky for us one of our managers is a lawyer and talked us out of the situation. So about an hour after our arrival we got to see what New Zealand looked like. Two hours drive from Dunedan we arrrived in Cromwell, the views spectacular and the singing even more so. To entertain our time, we found that scaring sheeps and cows was fun, and we engaged in the good old tradition of "hey cow"

Today we were woken up bright and early (6.30!!!) and we strongly (very strongly) encouraged to take a jog or in some peoples case walk. After our getting to know the town of Cromwell, we took a drive up to the course. To say we were excited was an understatement. There was cheering coming from the bus as we caught first sight. The water is awesome! Great fun! We took a quick run down that morning with everyone doing pretty damn good on the water. Our Penrith training is coming in handy. The water is fun, fast flowing and boily in parts. We are all learning to keep out boats flat, some of us it is harder and there are a few rolls. In the afternoon we returned for another session, this time with gates. So far none of our kiwi companions have showed up yet, but by the time they do we will hopefully be confident and ready to kick their butts!

The accomodation is ok. We have one bathroom for all of us, shared with the dr people (DR! DR!!Ew!). The kitchen/common room has dr boats on the roof and in the corridors. Haha..

Tomorrow Chris insist that we wake up early again. It will get harder by the end of the week as it still feels like 4.30am Aussie time. We will do a flat water, then another session on the course and then go for a drive to see the town of Wanaka. Which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful towns on this island. It is also the site of the schools which we won't attend.

We MUST be off as the $5 it costs to get on the net only lasts for 45 min. Rip!!
Till next time!!

Thailand is dodgy.

Woops!! We aren't in New Zealand but the strange and wonderful Thailand. Go Freedomm Air!!! .....
Nah, We are currently waiting in departures to board our flight. Haven't left the land of Oz. We managed to get all our boats on fine and through security with only Andy getting the bomb searched. He looked dodgy.
So now we have about ten minutes till boarding. Till later....

Welcome to the Team!!!

Picture of the Nz team!

Welcome to Penrith Valley Canoeings Blog site. We will be updating this site often to let people know what is going on with the junior paddlers travelling to New Zealand.

The team consists of -
Mens K1 -
Joey Croft
Mark Rudd
Riley Edwards
Karel Zemek
Zach Thompson

Womens K1 -
Elena Etheridge
Victoria Edwards
Laura Holbrook
Alison Burrows

Mens C1 -
Chris Holbrook

Stay tuned for updates from the kids, they will be travelling to the south island of New Zealand on the 2nd of April and will compete in the New Zealand national slalom championships!

Good luck to the team and be sure to leave them some comments!