You had to be up early to really see the morning view. Opening our curtain we saw a beautiful mountain range, the top third covered in snow and coloured a beautiful pink . . . the sun not having been up so long either. It was truly beautiful and I don’t think the pictures will do it justice. Girls in the bus with bags ready for a breakfast at Flukes Café down on the chisel bank-like beach ( spelt correctly this time HG . . . you’ve gone awfully quiet HG these last few days . . are you still there ??) right in the centre of Whale Watch country. Superb breakfast but signs NOT good for whale watching. The board predicted swells of between 1 and 2 m and the trip we were booked for said “pending” . . . fingers crossed . . decisions decisions . . do we take the tablets or do we not and if YES . . then when ?? Flight WW01 was called for and we attended a briefing before being bussed out to the ship . . . superb jet driven vessel – criuising at 30knts . . . jMS and Anne-Marie ( Navy Cadet ) were in their element. Usual whale jokes emanating and lots of pointing to get others confused. Disappointed the girls hadn’t heard of Moby Dick or indeed the call by Capain Ahab ‘ Thar she blows !!” . . no matter . . small things please small minds . . 15 minutes in and we stopped . . no the world did not turn purple . . rather the Captain said he’d seen a whale and all should go on deck and look out. Some saw it but by the time those that really mattered we out it had dived . . needless to say I did not see it !! Undeterred and enjoying every minute of the journey the team waited on deck for the next sighting of our ‘Moby’ and sure enough we did not have to wait long before what looked at first like a large log of wood actually spouted a 3 metre jet of water to then be identified and a Sperm Whale. Photos were madly taken as the vessel crept closer and closer . . then with the commentator giving us warning to load up your cameras, the whale dived and we all had a perfect view of the infamous tail flip. Down she blew never to be seen again by us . . . the Captain then using his washing ling of a sonar sounding device told us that there was a whale beneath us who had been down for 35 minutes and was due to surface ( blagger !!! ) We waited in the ever-increasing swell until the last possible moment before heading back. The return journey with the waves and tide causing us to ‘roller-coast’ in took its toll on the girls as several fell asleep and at least one couldn’t keep their breakfast down. Having just docked the Captian came down to say goodbye and wish us well. Sitting right at the front and having just got her best friend Lizzie on the mend following the motion sickness journey, Sophie was then seen to jump 3 feet in the air – was this an omen for the afternoon ??? – as a Haka was performed right in front of her !!
Then the rain came and we were not looking forward to the prospect of playing outside. Then when we arrived at Kaikoura high School we were told one inside and two outside – no way . . . . with a lunch in the Hall and FW and CMD persuading the oppo to play ALL three indoors for shortened games we settled down. Again JMS not impressed with the age of the opposition – looked far older. The order of play was Hurricanes , Spitfires , Sopwiths . . . . and off went the Hurricianes and with the sea motion undoubtedly still in their legs they were blown apart. With 3 10 minutes thirds being played there was little time for recovery and despite fighting hard the early start and the sea sickness told very badly on the girls and they just couldn’t find any rhythm to their game and went down 9 – 31 . . . up stepped the Sopwiths – the opposition asking us to reverse the order as one of their senior girls was still at work and couldn’t get off – we smelt a rat here and not for the first time either . . . So we reluctantly agreed and the Sopwiths took to the field . . . totally demoralised when we saw the giant of a GD – talk about seven foot !! and then you look at Jess at Beth !! The last call from the bench was ‘Cancel the OTT’ ( OTT = Over the top ) and so we get stuck into them . . end of first third and we were 4 – 5 down . . end of second third and it was 9 – 10 down and the end of third chats were getting so so animated . . Sophie Eaton was made for this game – she was briliiant . . as were the others of course. Anne-Marie was baggin’ them every time and the defence of Katies x2 was superb. The running and competitive spirit of Hannah was unbelievable With two minutes to go we had them at 14 – 11 only for them to score . . . we needed one more and Anne-Marie GOT it . . . 15 – 12 then became 15 – 13 and the clock was still ticking . . . with 15 seconds left on the clock the WHOLE RGS squad on the bench got on their feet and were screaming as they counted down the seconds . . when it got to 3 . . . we all looked at court and could see Sophie counting down too and dancing . . . when the hooter blew the RGS mass invasion happened but that was NOT before Sophie had managed to do a cartwheel on the court – if only I were 40 years younger and I’d have done a triple salko with reverse split !! What an atmosphere . . . there was mass hugs going on everywhere – I think I even hugged the kit bag it was so exciting. Wheeeewwww we’re out of breath.
Follow that if you can . . . well the Spitfires did try despite being told to warm up in 1 minute . . quote of the tour so far FW – “We’ve not come all this way for UK to warm up in one minute – we need 10 please, thank you” Sorry to say but the Spitfires game again was against older opposition - a club side more than a school side let alone U.16 !! and like the Hurricanes just couldn’t get enough quality ball in the right area . . . end result they went down 9 – 34.
Today was the day the Sopwiths came of age – and NO-ONE will ever forget it.
Then we left Kaikoura and bombed the two hour journey down to Christchurch and the Camelot Hotel . . girls relaxed and showered before a good evening meal in the hotel restaurant. Girls now looking tired . . three days and we’ve played three matches and with a triple header to follow tomorrow.
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