Saturday 17th The day the America’s Cup was won by RGS !!

What is he on about ?? On the schedule for this morning was a harbour tour of the harbour (!!) in Auckland so after a great breakfast with some Japanese business men we were driven to the harbour. JMS found a good meeting point and then sent the girls off for some more therapy – it was noticed by the senior staff that CMD also popped off !! In his morning briefs – that’s ambiguous I’d better start that again . . in his morning brief JMS told the girls what to expect from his vast experience of harbour tours in Portsmouth . . “it will be on a converted ferry type vessel inside which we would sit and listen to a running commentary” . . snore snore . . he was forgetting one small thing . . THIS WAS NEW ZEALAND and nothing is snore snore.

So imagine the staff ‘s delight when we found out that we were going for a sail in a yacht similar to the America’s Cup yachts and that girls were going to steer and actively do things. The girls could not believe it! The squad was split into two – Defiance and Defender. Defiance was the first out, helmed by the magnificent Lizzie Field or should that helmed by Lizzie Field the magnificent or rather helmed by Lizzie Field magnificently. Any way Lizzie set the standard and all had a go. Great excitement followed when we went under a bridge that was hosting some bungee jumpers . . screams of JUMP were given in an encouraging manner by our girls. And their wishes were duly obliged . .

The two hours passed so quickly that even Pablo and Andrew was sad to see us go but we had to leave . . . back in the bus, JMS was dropped off at the hotel for a statutory R&R whilst the girls went on to visit an underwater world adventure where one of our party was hoping to see Kangaroos ( LOL – technospeak folks )

The report back was that is was great fun – penguins on a train were witnessed. Sorry wrong word order . . . . . penguins were witnessed on a train ? No . . . . penguins were witnessed by the girls whilst on a train – Yes the girls were transported on a train through colonies of different types of penguin and their chicks. From Humboldt penguins through to Emperor Penguins ALL were seen. Massive Stingrays were seen up close and personal as were sharks from below. Even an enormous dead squid did not deter from the enjoyment of the girls.

The girls then even had time to be taken to a beautiful beach but no opportunity was given to walk – sorry JUMP – on the beach.

After a delightful defence from Lizzie Field, the court of King Cractacus found Sophie not guilty and the court will move on to Rotorua. Dinner was excellent again with steak / fish / chip / merangue / chocolate pudding / chicken noodle soup but not necessarily in that order.

Bed time . . . .

Friday 16th New Zealand at last . . .

Well this is what we have been waiting for . . . the beginning of the end of the dream. We have arrived again after a harrowing airport experience in Auckland. A sniffer dog found a banana in one of our girls bags that could have cost us !! Much relief was had by all when we finally got through the final gates to meet STEEEEEVE our coach driver. Excellent chap.

Short drive to the Hotel – Duckers again came up trumps with snack lunch and then we rested in our rooms and unpacked !! Girls being girls this seemed to be quite simple – just empty the suitcase on the floor and then look for what you want !

Supper was superb – in the hotel restaurant as was the after meal entertainment. The Court of King Caratacus with Judge Shoz and assistant judges Duck and Wot held their first session of the tour and the first charge of ‘perpetually infringing' was made with tongue firmly in cheek against Sophie Eaton. Lizzie Field was chosen as Council for the defence and Fran Short was to act for the prosecution. The trial will be Saturday. After this an exhilarating and relaxing game of charades took place. Thoroughly exhausted the staff then went to bed !! . . . and so did the girls.

Can I say at this juncture that the staff have been very very impressed by everything the girls have done . . . politeness, attitude and behaviour in hotels and in public . . 100% A*1. Not once have we raised our voices.

Shozz out

Thursday 15th - All Sun / All Saints / All still smiling . . ..

What a relief – ALL the girls returned having had a great time with their hosts. Several already had swopped facebook details ( the modern form of swopping addresses ) and we already looking forward to the afternoon games.

Before that, however, there was time for a spot of sun bathing and retail therapy as we returned to the Gold Coast for the morning. Sun and surf – what a combination but with some super-good looking lifeguards and an UGG outlet shop it was a dream world for the girls. The photos of the beach were FAB – sorry about the darkness but to get the girls out of the shade I would have had to be up to my waist . . . I also don’t quite get the jumping up bit . . that’s all the girls did?

Then back to business . . and the second match of the tour. The Sopwiths were strengthened with the addition of Hannah and were to play outside at the same time that the Hurricanes took on their opponents indoors. The Sopwiths had a tough first quarter and were down by 7. They then rallied tremendously in the next quarter playing some exhilarating netball in the process. On four occasions the centre pass move ended in a cleanly taken goal. Then again fatigue set it and with the excessive heat ( I thought Netball was a winter sport ?) taking its toll on the girls, the All Saints side began to exert their dominance. Nevertheless the RGS girls did not let the game get a way from them and were persevering right to the death. The end result was a 15 – 29 loss.

As they despondently trudged back up to the Sports Hall to support the Hurricanes they had nothing to be ashamed about. The Hurricanes had also lost – narrowly 12 – 38 but had played brilliantly in patches. With a little more control of the ball and patience, the score line would not have read so badly. Positive thinking is what is required for the next game, remembering that the Hurricanes are at the moment undefeated in NZ – for that matter so are the Spitfires and Sopwiths !! Again in the . . . there was plenty of passion – you would expect no less from the likes of Jane and Georgia. Some of the movement up front from Becky and Lian was also impressive. From Immi through Katie R to Lauren at the back, fire was met with fire and the girls held their own. On another day the score would have been different – that’s obvious !! but you know what I mean ?

So 2 – 0 down there was ABSOLUTELY no pressure on the Spitfires to win the first game of the tour, knowing now that this school was no push over when it comes to netball. Indeed we were given a little warning when one of our girls said that in her hosts house there were hundreds of Netball trophies on display !! To watch the speed of thought and pass by the All Saints girls was a revelation to those relatively new to the game ( me ). Whilst we matched their movement and blocking and interceptions we just couldn’t live with their passing and shooting. Try as we might we just couldn’t get the score close enough to see what they were like under pressure. Yes it was hot, yes we were tired, yes we were playing out of our skins and in a sun drenched sports hall in which we could only see half of the court but hey it was the same for the oppo . . . A little more composure around the D and thinking about your pass was repeatedly called for by Mrs Wootten at the end of quarter breaks. So intense was the ‘fight’ – no there was no maliciousness what so ever if you interpret ‘fight’ in that way . . but so intense was the combat that both B and Toni were in tears at the end of the second quarter. I know it sounds bad of me to say, but hell I was so proud of them – if anyone was having a rough time and giving all they had, it was these two girls. B was very upset and found if difficult to breathe so was rested . . . Toni on the other hand was sent up front for a bit of peace and quiet and played a quarter as GA !!! – and not too bad was she either. In the final quarter with the water bottles empty and B back on we gave them one last 15 minutes of Worcester fight / passion . The end score like in Ipswich did not reflect the part RGS played. Yes it was heavy – yes it was a one sided scoreline BUT we played with an enormous amount of pride and courage and if you’re not going to win, then I’d rather play with those characteristics than anything else – wouldn’t you ? Heads did not drop and towels were not thrown in - we gave them a fight.

Then we had a BBQ in front of a rugby match and to our amazement All Saints were playing OSH !! What a small small world . . . you go to the other end of it and find you’ve not gone far at all. . . ( that’s’ got to be a Tolkien quote surely ?)

Back to the coach and spirits were raised with a good sing song and a posh Hotel at the end of it. Miss Duckworth magically then managed to procure some delicious pizzas and all were happy ! Bed time and ready for a 5.00 a.m wake up call.

Wednesday 14th - Birthday girls in Dreamworld

Today – or rather the previous night we celebrated the birthday’s of Elle and Katie Reynolds with an enormous chocolate cake. As we were going to be in a rush in the morning and with the likely hot temperatures we decided to spring the surprise on them after supper last night. With big smiles all round, the cake was much appreciated and much wondering went on as to how it got here ??

Any way with 16 today badges the girls got on the coach with the squad to make their way to Dreamworld. The girls thoroughly loved it and along with the rides also witnessed the tigers and crocodiles being fed as well as cuddling a koala and feeding a kangaroo. Weather still dry but windy and a little overcast.

Moved on to All Saints School after the excitement of Dreamworld and met our hosts for the night. The hosting girls were cheerful and I feel our girls left also with smiles on their faces. A day shopping forecasted followed by a match against three sides from All Saints to look forward to tomorrow.

Tuesday 13th July – Conquering the surf but not yet the netball

Breakfast Youth Hostel style – all girls creamed and watered, ready to surf.

Arrived at the Gold Coast and found Tower 36 and our typically hunky Australian surf instructors. What the girls saw in them the they don’t see in me I do not know !!! Well Ok the tan, the good looks, the youthfulness and the biceps but that’s only four things !!

Surf safety instruction complete – and then demonstration and practice on the shore looked so easy . . I was amazed how quickly the girls got the idea and NONE of them fell off at all !! This was going to be a breeze. For those who are not in the know there are 5 stages to surfing and they are very simple. Make sure your board is on the sand ( not the water ), lie down the central line, do a press up lifting you toes then count 1 2 3 and get up . . . back foot then front foot and balance with arms extended and lower the torso and look up. Easy really. After we had perfectly executed these drills the penguins ( see pictures ) waddled off to the surf and tried it in the sea. Great fun and hilarity with little success. Two or three had body boards and loved it. As the pictures I hope show we tried with some success.

Lunch was ace then the journey to Ipswich Girls Grammar for our opening fixture. Team were notified at breakfast and because of the timings – all three to be played at the same time – the girls were going to be stretched. In the end it was the Sopwith Camels ( JMS’s team ) that were to suffer. Only 7 players and in the excessive heat – sorry yes . . . . . yet again an Australian winter of 23°C !! was making us tire quickly.

Quick Match synopsis – ALL teams played incredibly well and seemed to gel virtually form the first whistle and kept up the pace for at least three quarters. The Sopwith’s fought to the bitter end but lost 11 – 17, the Hurricanes ( CMD’s second team ) lost 12 - 20 . . . . . . and the Spitfires ( FAW’S first team ) lost 21 – 40. If the truth be known the Spitfires were playing the school Open U.18 team and in no way did the score reflect the possession. It was only in the fourth quarter that fatigue really played a role and the opponents sheer ball handling skills were amazing. A great deal was learnt by all who watched. In fact rumour has it ALL the teams we played against were slightly older than us . . So JMS’ dream of everyone playing was a success with ALL his Sopwith’s playing for the whole match.

A tired yet excited squad returned to the Sports Centre to lick their wounds . . .

Shozza out

The Eagle and the Chicks have landed

I still can’t work it out – how come we’d been in a plane for 33 hours and its still Sunday in the UK ? Strange thing time . . . . Anyway after an exciting start at Birmingham Airport which saw our own British Grand Prix race being held between Pershore and Birmingham and the girls looking every inch the glamour part, the journey settled down the usual flight excitement of take off / landings interspersed by the monotonous waiting in transit lounges. Dubai airport was extremely clean – so good were the cleaners that they were asked to clean to outside of the roof ! Nothing difficult in that except that it was domed in shape.

The 14 hr flight from Dubai was made a little easier for the girls as they found a rugby team from Halifax were also touring Australia and rumoured to be staying at the same Lodge as us !! Lodges OK – if you like dormitories and bunk beds . . . takes me back to the good ‘ol days of Youth Hostelling . .

Arrived in Brisbane 6.30 am - got through customs with little difficulty – despite one girl ticking the declaration box stating that she was carrying weapons of mass destruction and met our coach driver. Got to the Sleeman Sports Complex with the girls grabbing a breakfast. Advice from Australia was to keep the girls awake as long as possible soa s to acclimatise to the Aussy time so we changed for our first training session in a car park in the heat – I forgot to tell you its 25°C and baking. The girls worked hard and sweated up nicely before lunch and the swim test . . . . which we have been threatening them with for the past 8 weeks but have not had the opportunity. Now in this Commonwealth state of the art pool they have just completed their 25m swim test as well as completing the Synchro-swimming challenge led by Lian Young, much to hilarity of the watching crowds. The girls are ready to surf.

For the naturalists amongst you we have seen crows that look like magpies and no reptiles or marsupials at all yet. Hopefully by the end of the tour we can cross several of them off our I-Spy-Animals list.

We have already made good friends with the staff here at the complex and ALL are incredibly friendly and wanting to now what we are all about – dressed as we are in the smart suits. Met a female SHOZZA would you believe – no I didn’t think you would !! But I have.

Supper to follow and by then I think we will have had enough of our first day in Australia . . . now to find a wifi to get this all back home.

Pictures to follow . . . look out for the magpie . .

Friday 9th All my bags are packed . . . I'm ready to go

Hopefully now the girls have packed their bags and are ready to go. Passports / money sorted as well as washing kit and shoes. There's not left to do now except rest and mentally prepare oneself for the long long journey . A good book and a set of cards would do the trick nicely.

Good training session this morning and in the heat, the girls did very well indeed. We still have a little work to do on the plane making sure ALL know the base line pass routine as well as the 'double decker' Centre pass.

Thursday 8th July The end of an era . . .

Its the end of the school year 2009-10 and there were plenty of tears as friends departed not only for the Summer holidays but also for life . . . those that are not to return in September will be sorely missed and that includes the departing teachers too . .

Still we must look forward . . Friday 10.00 Final training session - please remember to bring swimming costume and towel as well as P.E. kit for a couple of hours training . .

Shozza

Thursday 8th July Nearly sorted . . .

Well by all accounts I am very pleased to announce that the kit and kit bags have been issued to all and all have been extremely well received. When Saturday arrives, Terminal 1 will never look so good as when 23 RGS girls glide through on their way to the checkout desk. Parents have been warned to expect tears from the coaches and the netballers . . . its been a long long hard 14 months but the day is rapidly arriving.

Once on the plane, we strip off into something more comfortable and then for me anyway it's going to be sleep / su-duko / read . . . 'Empire - wounds of Honour' by Anthony Riches . . / sleep / puzzle book / and so on . . may even get a mid-flight blog off over Turkey - who knows . . where we be . .

Shozza out

Thursday 8th July Getting nervous . . .

Hi folks,

Hopefully this will be live as soon as I can find the 'send' button . . . getting nervous I really am . . as you can tell by the incorrect order of those words . . Still as I said to Mrs Wootten on Sunday "I'm packed and my bag is only half full - what have I forgotten now ?" And she said " All of my stuff, silly" Trial message complete with hopefully the correct time . . Shozza out