Taupo Frisbee and Kawerau King of the Mountain

 The Taupo hat tourney went really well for me. I was on a really good team. Somehow we had chemistry on the field even though none of us had played together. The draw got messed up terribly. There were supposed to be 5 rounds each team against all of the other 5 teams, but they messed up the first two rounds and couldn't get it fixed so there had to be 6 rounds 5 on Saturday and one on Sunday before the semi-finals and finals. My team (LOL, it was a YouTube themed tourney) had to play all 5 of our games on Saturday. We won the first 4 but in the fifth the team we played had a bye in the round just before and we were just too tired to put up much of a fight.

On Sunday we were the number 1 seed out of the rounds so we made the semi-finals straight away and didn't have to play till noon. It was supposed to be 11 but they messed up the playoffs draw as well; terrible management by self admission from the tournament director.  Although I wasn't too happy about the hour at the time, it worked to my advantage. The hour gave me a chance to properly warm up and stretch. I played one of the best games of my life in that semi-final. I had 6 layouts, 3 for D's, 2 for scores, and the best one on offense, but not for a score.  I didn't play quite so well in the final (my first one ever) and the teams fundamentals fell apart for long streaks and ended up losing but it was a great tourney and I had a ton of fun. Sorry not too good of pictures from that weekend; at least none that make sense.

On this past Saturday, I ran in a mountain race called Kawerau King of the Mountain. I was thinking about doing it and said so Friday night downtown to one of the other teachers. The school just finished their assessment from the Educational review office (The administration system is way different down here) so the principal put up a $350 bar tab for the teachers and staff. The teacher I was talking to said "Well I live up in Kawerau; you can ride up there tonight and stay on my couch and race in the morning." At that point I couldn't back down, but the more I found out about the race the more I wanted to. Not until about a Km into the race on the side of the mountain clawing my way to the top, and starting to get my second wind, that I was glad I decided to compete. The race itself was about 6 or 7 kilometers long round trip and the vertical rise is about 800 meters, so just insanely steep. The winner finished in 48 minutes I finished in 1hr 25 but I was pleased with that time. It took me 58 minutes to get to the top, the same time that the winning woman finished in.

I don't think I have ever been sore like this before. The pain is only in my quadriceps but it feels like they have been shredded to bits.

There is more information, pictures and video @ http://www.kawerauharrierclub.co.nz/mount_frontpage.php I am in picture numbers 339 and 340. The video of me is a little harder to find, it is the last video in the sixth set in the sixth set and is 52 seconds long. It is worth a watch. I almost take some guy out.

The other teacher also snapped this photo of me as I approached the finish. As you can tell I am completely exhausted at that point.

I forgot to mention that I made the local paper. The caption on the picture says:

"HE'S THE BEST" Alaskan student teacher Thor Jones is a hit with students from Whakatane Intermediate

4 Bobcats Luging in Rotorua. Pretty nice helmets ehh.

Huka falls. That is some angry water.

As promised Hunter on the trampoline.

The Wellington skyline from the harbor.

The view from the beach in Kaikoura. Remenicent of Alaska.

The cathedral in Christchurch city center. Still intact quite nicely.

A shot from the ferry. The ride to the south island reminded me so much of Kodiak.

Quite a Long Post About Traveling

Well My 2 week Holiday was a great time. I spent a little over a week on the south Island and made it as far south as Queenstown. I really liked my time there the scenery was outstanding.

After my night in Picton I headed south on a bus to Christchurch. The damage to the city from the earthquake was not near as bad as I thought it would have been. I saw a couple of buildings that had the sides had fallen off and a lot of collapsed chimneys. I think most of the damage isn’t really visible it is more to the water and sewage systems. I tried to get out of the city the next day by hitch hiking.  It took me 2 hours to where I could actually stick my thumb out and even then it wasn’t a very good spot. I didn’t give it much of a chance but I was sick of taking busses. That night I got my dad to rent me a car for a few days. It was a tiny little thing but it got me around with pretty good fuel efficiency.

                That second morning in Christchurch I picked up the car and along with a new found friend from Norway drove to Queenstown. Queenstown is such a beautiful city, but aside from the scenery you wouldn’t know you were in New Zealand. I think I met one Kiwi the whole time I was there. Everyone there was European. Most of the people were there for the adventure activities, Skiing, Bungy jumping, sky diving, rafting, and jet boats… I think that’s about it, but I think that I’m missing something. I opted for snowboarding, mostly because the sky diving was really expensive.

After Skiing for the day I headed to the Rangitata to get my rafting fix. It is a really great section of river. The float starts out with 20 min of flat water, followed by a small set of class 3 rapids. After that it quickly escalates, there is one class 5 rapid called Rooster tail. It is about a 3m drop with a large wave at the bottom. There is about 200m of flat water after that during which the rafts pull over to scout what is coming up, the pinch. The pinch on the Rangitata is about 200 meters long and consists of about 7 class 5 rapids one right after the next.  I had a great time on the first day and they invited me back the next day for free. The second day I was sure we were going to flip because on our raft we only had me and one of the experienced guides, guided by one of their rookies who was taking that section of the river for the first time ever. The kid did a great job though and only made one small mistake that didn’t make any real difference in the end. I was really impressed with the operation there, they feed you two small meals and have some accommodation there that is comparable to the best hostels I have stayed at. I could have stayed for weeks but I had to get back to Christchurch to return the car.

                I booked a train at 7:00AM to Picton for after I returned the car. I woke up early and headed to return the car but could not find the rental agency for about 20 minutes I then called a cab which took 15 minutes to get there. The cab cost $30 and took another 20 minutes to get to the train station. I got to the station as a train was pulling into the station and I thought, great I made it, but as it turned out I missed my train by about 5 minutes. There was no way to rebook because I booked the ticket with a bus company that books discounted tickets. There were no more busses or anything for the day so yet again I was stuck in Christchurch. I needed to get back to the north island so I looked at plane fares and it ended up being cheaper in the long run to fly anyway so I booked for the next day.

I was quite surprised that there was no security for domestic New Zealand flights, almost like flying ERA out of Kodiak. The flight was smooth quick and comfortable. We landed in Rotorua without issue. I spent one night there and came back by bus to Whakatane the next day. I have been resting up and planning lessons here in Whakatane for the last few days and start teaching again tomorrow.

Wow that was a long post. I am sure it would be easier to post more often with less typing, maybe I’ll try that. Pictures tomorrow. My camera is charging.

Rugby and The South Island

Hey everybody! sorry I havent posted recently I have been busy with school, travelling, and watching rugby. Since it has been nearly 2 weeks since my last post, I figured that it was time. I have been taking quite a few pictures but stupidly left the cord to transfer them over to my computer back in Whakatane.
         Last week I went with three of the other teachers from the school up to Rotorua for a rugby game. It was the Bay of Plenty team V. Otago and The Bay beat them convincingly. I have really enjoyed watching a lot of rugby down here. This country is rugby crazy and I am catching the fever. I am dissappointed that I will not be able to make it to an All Blacks game before I leave but there is still plenty of good rugby going on.
          Right now I am sitting in Blenheim on the south Island wating to take a bus to Christchurch. I caught a ride part of the way to Wellington and a bus the rest of the way. I stayed in Wellington for a night and hopped on a ferry the next afternoon, arriving in Picton on the South Island at about 6:00 PM.
Wellington was fun but too much of a city for me. Picton on the other hand is great. It is a cozy little community with a big harbor. Coming over on the ferry if I didnt know better I would have thought I was back on Kodiak Island. The shoreline and forrested hills have very similar features. There are little homes tucked at the back of each inlet accessable only by boat or a long rough logging road. It made me a little homesick. I have no plans for this week besides seeing as much of the south island as I can and maybe catch a rugby game.

Teaching in a Maori Immersion Classroom

I have been in the classroom now a total of seven days and have really enjoyed the experience so far. I am with Rebecca Parsons in a year seven and eight mixed classroom in the Maori Immersion syndicate at Whakatane Intermediate. Immersion is a little bit misleading. The purpose of the syndicate, which is unique in the school, is to promote Maori culture and language for its students. Most of the students are of Maori heritage but there are white students and other races as well.

I have  been teaching them some basic spanish and they love it. I only spend about 20 minutes to half an hour in the afternoon but they soak it right up. I have picked up a few phrases in Te Reo Maori but nothing to write about...yet.

Got to watch my first All Blacks rugby game, or test as they call it, against the Wallabies, the Australian team. It was fairly sloppy rugby but a close game that the All Blacks managed to come out on top of by one point. That was saturday night. Sunday morning I woke up and listened, online, to 3/4 of a game of great Bobcat Football, followed by the fourth quarter of some hope and then the old familiar sinking feeling in the gut associated with being a die hard Bobcats fan. There is the consolation however, that the Griz lost. I was also pleased to find out that they do air Sunday and Monday night football down here, except that is is on monday and tuesday afternoon so I have to record it. I don't mind though because then I can fast forward through all of the commercial breaks. I watched a 1 1/2 hour version, including time to eat dinner at half time, of the 3 1/2 hour Redskins beatdown of the cowboys.

Kristen; I keep forgetting to take pictures of Emma and Hunter on the trampoline but will put them up as soon as I do. It won't be till next week thought because they are at their mum's this week.

In conclusion:

The best part about New Zealand so far: The people. Almost everyone I have met is extremely friendly. They have all kinds of questions and are always offering tea, food, or lollies.  (candy)

The worst part about New Zealand so far: The only coffee is instant coffee or esspresso . It is a weird adjustment the only time I would drink the instant stuff back home was while camping. I am trying to aquire a taste for it but am still not terribly fond, and there is no way I am paying for esspresso every day. I hope I can find some regular beans soon, and some way to brew them.

Camp in Tirohanga on Thursday morning, nearing afternoon.  

Since my time in the schools had not started yet, I needed to find something to do with my time. So, Wednesday I took off on a bike journey along highway 35 from Whakatane to Te Kaha. It was an exciting four days that went along these lines.

Wed: Stopped into Whakatane intermediate to meet the faculty and staff, and most importantly my associate teacher Rebecca. It seems like a great staff and I am excited to get to work but I was all packed and ready to hit the road on my new bike, so I rushed off to enjoy the few free week days I had left. I finally got out of Whakatane at about 10:30, immediately I had to climb the second toughest hill of the whole trip, not too bad but I still had about 45 kilometers left that day. I took those pretty slowly, stopping at a roadside oyster shack, a couple of country stores and a cafe in Opotiki. I got to the campground I planned on staying at in Tirohanga at about 5 only to find out that it was closed. I asked the gas station attendant next door about it and he said it would be fine if I just set up my tent and checked in later, so I pitched my tent and began to cook dinner. A local teenager approached me and started asking questions. I wasn't sure what to think of him but it turned out that he wasn't sure what to think of me and just wanted to know who the crazy lone cyclist was. That night I had a crude reminder that it is only early spring still here even though it doesn’t feel like it in the day sometimes.

Thurs: I hadn't slept much because I froze all night so when the sun hit my tent I welcomed it by sleeping till 10:45. It felt great except that I planned on making it about 60Km that day. When I finally pulled out at about 11:40, my nether regions doubted that I could make it that far, but that soon subsided and I began to make pretty good time. That is until the unexpected 200meter 3 kilometer long climb that I encountered. I was quite proud of myself when I made it to the top and stopped for some water but I forgot to take a picture. The ride down the other side was quite thrilling except for that little guy in the back of my head saying "You know you have to come back up this on your way back through right?" After that the rest of the day was a breeze and I arrived at the Te Kaha Homestead Backpackers around 4:30PM. They were a friendly bunch there that night and they fed me well (roast chicken and sweet potatoes) so I decided to spend Friday there as well.

Fri: Slept in, again, and sat around most of the day. The winds blew onshore all day so a swell came up pretty good by the evening. Even though it was pretty choppy, a couple German guys and I decided to try our hand at surf kayaking. There were only 2 wetsuits so they went first. I had fun watching as one was relatively successful and the other just got rocked by the waves. After about 20 min. the one who had caught a few waves obliged and gave up his wetsuit so that I could have a go. I managed to catch a few waves and stay on my boat. On the last wave though I got turned sideways and well the video below speaks better than I can describe. That night I watched a rugby game with the owner Paul and hit the  sack to be rested for the ride back to Opotiki.

My Fail Video
Sat.: I woke up Saturday morning, tuned my bike up, and got off to an early start (for me) at around 9:15AM. By noon I was 25Km down the road and to the top of the monster hill from Wednesday. I had a quick drink and this time I did remember to take pictures. After a quick photo shoot I whizzed down the other side again. It is amazing how much faster a hill goes by on your way down. I kept on pedaling wend about a kilometer and to my surprise, who was to drive past, but Blue. He was bored on his weekend and came out to see if I wanted a ride. I thought about saying no thanks but he had come a ways and I didn’t really want to freeze another night in the tent so I hopped in and the scenery jetted by and we were in Whakatane before I knew it. Kind of a disappointment to not finish the ride on my own but I had already done it once and the hardest part twice.

Great Success

Settling in, in Whakatane.

This is Blue. I'll be staying with him for the whole of my stay. As you can see he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, OK by me. He works in forestry doing odds and ends. He has two kids, Emma 12, and Hunter 8 that live here every other week. Pictures of them to come. They are very energetic and love to jump on the trampoline. Pictures of them to come.   

These are Blues two Black labs Missy on the left and her energetic daughter Maggie on the right. The only time I have ever seen her without that soccer ball is when I have thrown it for her.

I bought a new bike today called a "black thunder". It only cost me about $350US. I rode it to the top of a hill next to town and back down. About an hour later I rode it to the beach with a surfboard strapped to me. I surprised myself when I actually stood up on the first wave tried to catch, but the next one confirmed Kristens prediction that I would eat it. I got churned but as they say down here, no worries.