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