Wednesday 18th
Our trip from Singapore to Paris was long but uneventful. We were on a massive double decker airbus. Boy are they a big plane. The trip was full of lots of movie watching along with lots of eating interesting airplane food! Upon arriving in Paris we collected a nice wee stamp in our passports and ventured out to get our luggage. Venturing out into a gloomy drizzly Paris day Nick was there to meet us. We were all a but disappointed to have finally arrived in Europe and be welcomed with weather that we had thought we had left in NZ! Next on the to do list was sorting out the van and roof racks. After a bit of a wait Nick, Alison, Freya and Liv headed off with the rental car people to get that sorted while the others stayed at the airport and had breakfast.
The roof racks turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Kindly loaned to us from Thule New Zealand, one of the screws that went into the roof hadn't been finished off at the factory properly and had no grooves! A little kiwi ingenuity was brought to the fore and we managed to, with the help the rental places limited toolbox, create a new screw by cutting off the head of a screw and adding some fillers in to it! The new screw worked a treat and on went the roof racks perfectly. Thanks Thule NZ for the racks, very much appreciated.
The roof rack team piled into the vehicle and headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of the crew. After loading all the boats and paddles on the roof and the bags in the back we all piled in and headed towards Belgium. It was about a 2 hour drive which for all of us suffering a little jet lag felt a lot longer than it was. We eventually arrived at Dikkebus Vivjer and made our selves at home. We are staying in big Belgium Army tents on stretches which felt amazing to sleep on after trying to sleep in an upright chair on a plane!
Thursday 19th
Today we woke up early and headed out for a team run and stretch session around the lake to get our bodies moving. The weather wasn't that flash today and we were starting to wonder where summer was. We did two water sessions which were very much a flushing out of the jet lag that everyone was still feeling. In the evening we headed into Ieper and attended the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate. It is a tribute that they do to the fallen soldiers of World War 1 every night. It was very moving!
Friday 20th
Two more water sessions were of order today. We played against the Canadian women and a couple of their U21 men which was really good to have our first game time together as a team. In the afternoon we visited the Tyne Cot Cemetery where thousands of soldiers both known and unknown are buried. Amongst them are a number of NZ soldiers.
Tomorrow the DePaddel competition begins! Paris will debut with her first international which is exciting. The team is feeling really amped for getting some game time and looking forward to showing off what we can do.
Stay tuned for some photos of our trip and results from this weekends tournament.
NZ Paddle Ferns
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Paddle Ferns Make It Half Way Around The World
Just a short note to say that the Paddle Ferns have arrived in Singapore. After a 10 hour flight from Christchurch the team arrived in Singapore ready to stretch their legs. A swim at the airport pool was on order followed by a bit of retail browsing. Boarding starts in ten minutes and then we'll be off on the next part of our journey to Paris.
"See you in Paris, Paris ;-)"
"See you in Paris, Paris ;-)"
Saturday, May 29, 2010
2010 New Zealand Senior Teams Announced - PRESS RELEASE
The New Zealand Canoe Polo Association is proud to announce the 2010 New Zealand Men’s and Women’s Canoe Polo Teams (the New Zealand Paddle Blacks and Paddle Ferns respectively). The New Zealand Paddle Blacks and Paddle Ferns will compete at the World Canoe Polo Championships from the 1st to the 5th of September in Milan Italy.
In what could be described as one of the tightest selection events in New Zealand Canoe Polo history the teams were officially announced on the 25th of April following the finals of the Christchurch National League Tournament. Selector for the Men’s team Kirsten Demanser-Wilson commented that, “it was exciting to see the tough competition between the men’s teams over the first of three national league weekends. The selection process was very intense as we had many exciting players competing for the 8 places in the New Zealand Men’s team. All players selected displayed outstanding skills, fire power, speed and that special ‘X factor’ which will help them take on the rest of the world later this year.“
After a very successful 2009 season culminating in winning the Oceania Championships the Paddle Blacks have set their sights high and are aiming to be the first New Zealand Men’s team to medal at a World Championship event. In the past few years the Paddle Blacks have undergone a vast amount of development and this is beginning to show in the team’s results as they quickly slide up the international rankings. The Paddle Ferns have proven themselves to be a formidable force having consistently placed in the top four over the past four years. After a disappointing fourth place at the 2009 World Games the team is stronger than ever and is ready to show the world that Kiwis really can fly.
PADDLE FERNS
Erin Bolton - Palmerston North
Julie Bolton - Palmerston North
Alison McCrae (c) - Christchurch
Tania Perrett (vc) - Christchurch
Paris Pidduck - Otaki
Freya Sonneland - Nelson
Olivia Spencer-Bower - Christchurch
Coach: Nick Burnett
Manager: Alison Perrett
PADDLE BLACKS
Anthony Barendsen - Palmerston North
Hamish Dugdale - Christchurch
Carl Duncan (vc) - Palmerston North
Jed Graham - Christchurch
James Mitchell - Palmerston North
Tom Neilson (c) - Christchurch
Jimmy Sewell - Adelaide/Christchurch
Mike Taylor - Wellington
Coach: Steve Hunt
Manager: Carol Taylor
In what could be described as one of the tightest selection events in New Zealand Canoe Polo history the teams were officially announced on the 25th of April following the finals of the Christchurch National League Tournament. Selector for the Men’s team Kirsten Demanser-Wilson commented that, “it was exciting to see the tough competition between the men’s teams over the first of three national league weekends. The selection process was very intense as we had many exciting players competing for the 8 places in the New Zealand Men’s team. All players selected displayed outstanding skills, fire power, speed and that special ‘X factor’ which will help them take on the rest of the world later this year.“
After a very successful 2009 season culminating in winning the Oceania Championships the Paddle Blacks have set their sights high and are aiming to be the first New Zealand Men’s team to medal at a World Championship event. In the past few years the Paddle Blacks have undergone a vast amount of development and this is beginning to show in the team’s results as they quickly slide up the international rankings. The Paddle Ferns have proven themselves to be a formidable force having consistently placed in the top four over the past four years. After a disappointing fourth place at the 2009 World Games the team is stronger than ever and is ready to show the world that Kiwis really can fly.
PADDLE FERNS
Erin Bolton - Palmerston North
Julie Bolton - Palmerston North
Alison McCrae (c) - Christchurch
Tania Perrett (vc) - Christchurch
Paris Pidduck - Otaki
Freya Sonneland - Nelson
Olivia Spencer-Bower - Christchurch
Coach: Nick Burnett
Manager: Alison Perrett
PADDLE BLACKS
Anthony Barendsen - Palmerston North
Hamish Dugdale - Christchurch
Carl Duncan (vc) - Palmerston North
Jed Graham - Christchurch
James Mitchell - Palmerston North
Tom Neilson (c) - Christchurch
Jimmy Sewell - Adelaide/Christchurch
Mike Taylor - Wellington
Coach: Steve Hunt
Manager: Carol Taylor
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Koahsiung Taiwan
Sunday 12th July: The team had a good flight over from Singapore to Taiwan. As one of the first international teams to arrive, everyone was very excited to see us. It too was exciting to arrive in Taipei and be escorted throughout the entire airport by security men with guns! At customs there was a special line for World Games athletes too!
We headed down south to Koahsiung from Taipei on the High Speed Rail...ie the super fast train that gets up to 330kms per hour. Arriving in Kaohsiung we were greeted by the World Games Canoe Polo organisers. They had a special Canoe Polo sign and everything! So as they lead us out of the train station we followed like a snake behind the Canoe Polo sign hoisted high in the air! They had a bus ready and waiting for us and took us to our hotel. All around Kaohsiung we could see World Games posters, flags, massive big billboards....all sorts of advertising material! Very sophisticated!
Step one of the acclimatisation process started Sunday evening. The team ventured out into the hot muggy night in search of something to eat. With english beginning a rare spectacle, the team had to rely on pictures to guess what they could eat. After some serious umming and aaahing the team spilt into a couple of different directions to test out the culinary delights taiwan had to offer. One group dined on dumplings while the other feasted on a good hearty meal of a steak and egg!
Monday 13th July: Water Park Day!! Nick had been waiting ever so patiently for the past 4 months or so for this day to come! Half of the team opted for the more mellow route of some site seeing on a wee island off Kaohsiung, while the others heading on the subway to the Blue Lagoon Water Park, which had a good couple of water slides starting 10 stories high!! First on the list was a four person raft water slide where you casually went around a wee curve then plumited for about 60m leaving your stomach at the top. Being the keen bees we are we were first up the top only to be told we couldn't go on the waterslide with out a sexy lycra swim cap. After a little negotiation and alot of hand movements, we persuaded them to let us do just one ride to get down to the bottom then we would go buy some. The eagerly awaited clothing item was a real fashion accessory with most opting for a lovely florescent pink! The rest of the morning was filled with lots more rides then back to joing everyone else back at the hotel at 2pm. We filled the afternoon with some ball throwing in the rain and dinner out at the dumpling restaurant. This place had no pictures through, so we took a gamble and ordered one of everything from the menu! Luckily for us it worked out well and we had a tasty dinner!
Tuesday 14th July: We headed into the centre of Kaohsiung to complete accreditation. Kaohsiung City Hall was decked out with masses of advertising material and was a big place where all the accreditation was taking place. After the team having their temperatures taken to make sure no one was sick, they waited in team area while all the technical stuff was taken care of. Once we got our passes we picked up our WG's bag of goodies and headed over to the catering centre for lunch. It was a plush place similar to the Park Royal! The volunteers were so friendly nodding and saying hello to everyone.
After refueling we headed to the Lotus Pond to check out the Canoe Polo venue. It's situated on a pond surrounding by temples. Looks like a real atmosphere will brew with loud speakers blarring out music across the pond on competition day. The team are getting excited about getting onto the water now! Back at the hotel the team is just relaxing till we head away to have dinner and explore the night market.
We headed down south to Koahsiung from Taipei on the High Speed Rail...ie the super fast train that gets up to 330kms per hour. Arriving in Kaohsiung we were greeted by the World Games Canoe Polo organisers. They had a special Canoe Polo sign and everything! So as they lead us out of the train station we followed like a snake behind the Canoe Polo sign hoisted high in the air! They had a bus ready and waiting for us and took us to our hotel. All around Kaohsiung we could see World Games posters, flags, massive big billboards....all sorts of advertising material! Very sophisticated!
Step one of the acclimatisation process started Sunday evening. The team ventured out into the hot muggy night in search of something to eat. With english beginning a rare spectacle, the team had to rely on pictures to guess what they could eat. After some serious umming and aaahing the team spilt into a couple of different directions to test out the culinary delights taiwan had to offer. One group dined on dumplings while the other feasted on a good hearty meal of a steak and egg!
Monday 13th July: Water Park Day!! Nick had been waiting ever so patiently for the past 4 months or so for this day to come! Half of the team opted for the more mellow route of some site seeing on a wee island off Kaohsiung, while the others heading on the subway to the Blue Lagoon Water Park, which had a good couple of water slides starting 10 stories high!! First on the list was a four person raft water slide where you casually went around a wee curve then plumited for about 60m leaving your stomach at the top. Being the keen bees we are we were first up the top only to be told we couldn't go on the waterslide with out a sexy lycra swim cap. After a little negotiation and alot of hand movements, we persuaded them to let us do just one ride to get down to the bottom then we would go buy some. The eagerly awaited clothing item was a real fashion accessory with most opting for a lovely florescent pink! The rest of the morning was filled with lots more rides then back to joing everyone else back at the hotel at 2pm. We filled the afternoon with some ball throwing in the rain and dinner out at the dumpling restaurant. This place had no pictures through, so we took a gamble and ordered one of everything from the menu! Luckily for us it worked out well and we had a tasty dinner!
Tuesday 14th July: We headed into the centre of Kaohsiung to complete accreditation. Kaohsiung City Hall was decked out with masses of advertising material and was a big place where all the accreditation was taking place. After the team having their temperatures taken to make sure no one was sick, they waited in team area while all the technical stuff was taken care of. Once we got our passes we picked up our WG's bag of goodies and headed over to the catering centre for lunch. It was a plush place similar to the Park Royal! The volunteers were so friendly nodding and saying hello to everyone.
After refueling we headed to the Lotus Pond to check out the Canoe Polo venue. It's situated on a pond surrounding by temples. Looks like a real atmosphere will brew with loud speakers blarring out music across the pond on competition day. The team are getting excited about getting onto the water now! Back at the hotel the team is just relaxing till we head away to have dinner and explore the night market.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Paddle Ferns Arrive in Singapore
It can be reported that so far this has been a really uneventful trip! Everyone arrived at 8.45am at the international part of Christchurch airport, checked in, said our goodbyes to our faithful supporters and headed on our way up to a rather empty international lounge. Following a small wait we boarded onto our Singapore Airlines plane headed for Singapore. As we settled into our seats we mussed over the fact that in a little over 10 hours we would be in a different climate, different country and having a whole lot of fun. The plane trip was filled with lots of movie watching, eating, and a bit of card playing.
As soon as the team left the plane, they were hit by the heat and the humidity. But to be honest, it wasn't that bad! A nice change from the freezing cold winter of New Zealand.
The team spent a night at the Allson Hotel in Singapore, before arriving back at the airport at the crack of dawn. The team is currently enjoying a light bite to eat for breakfast, before they head down to their gate to make the 4.5 hour flight to Taipei.
Spirits are high, jet lag seems to be a thing talked about only in the magazines, and a golden sunset appears to be on the horizon.
A big thanks to all our supporters, from the Paddle Ferns
As soon as the team left the plane, they were hit by the heat and the humidity. But to be honest, it wasn't that bad! A nice change from the freezing cold winter of New Zealand.
The team spent a night at the Allson Hotel in Singapore, before arriving back at the airport at the crack of dawn. The team is currently enjoying a light bite to eat for breakfast, before they head down to their gate to make the 4.5 hour flight to Taipei.
Spirits are high, jet lag seems to be a thing talked about only in the magazines, and a golden sunset appears to be on the horizon.
A big thanks to all our supporters, from the Paddle Ferns
Friday, July 10, 2009
The Team is Ready to Fly!
The excitement begins to boil at new levels. Tomorrow morning, the team will board a big Air Singapore plane and fly over to Singapore, have a quick stop over and nap in a Singaporean hotel, before piling back onto a second plane and jetting over to Taiwan. After arriving in Taiwan the team will catch the train and head down south towards Kaohsiung.
The team gets a couple of days to acclimatise before the boats arrive on Wednesday. Some light training, scrutineering, etc will keep the team busy on wednesday and Thursday before all the action starts Friday morning!
The New Zealand Paddle Ferns playing schedule: (All times are Taiwan times)
FRIDAY 17th July
8.20am NZ v France
10.30am NZ v Great Britain
2.50pm NZ v Australia
4.40pm NZ v Chinese Taipei
SATURDAY 18th July
7.45am NZ v Germany
Saturday afternoon also has semi finals and finals.
The team gets a couple of days to acclimatise before the boats arrive on Wednesday. Some light training, scrutineering, etc will keep the team busy on wednesday and Thursday before all the action starts Friday morning!
The New Zealand Paddle Ferns playing schedule: (All times are Taiwan times)
FRIDAY 17th July
8.20am NZ v France
10.30am NZ v Great Britain
2.50pm NZ v Australia
4.40pm NZ v Chinese Taipei
SATURDAY 18th July
7.45am NZ v Germany
Saturday afternoon also has semi finals and finals.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Team Selection Announcement
The team that will represent New Zealand at the 2009 World Games in Taiwan this July was announced on the 25th of April.
The 2009 Paddle Ferns are:
Erin Bolton
Andi Fear-Ross
Angie Hamlin-Tuck
Alison McCrae (Captain)
Tania Perrett (Vice-Captain)
Freya Sonneland
Olivia Spencer-Bower
Joanna Wright
The 2009 Paddle Ferns are:
Erin Bolton
Andi Fear-Ross
Angie Hamlin-Tuck
Alison McCrae (Captain)
Tania Perrett (Vice-Captain)
Freya Sonneland
Olivia Spencer-Bower
Joanna Wright
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)