Damuzzer

My absolutely brilliant long weekend!

2009-05-30T00:56:00.001+01:00

Saturday was a lovely sunny day in London and very warm! I spent most of the day at the beach volleyball court (London only has 1!) coaching/meeting junior players. It was our first kick off day of London Juniors as part of the London Beach Volleyball Club. We had 6 players turn up, 2 who were complete beginners. The aim for now is to get some of the indoor players playing beach and representing London in tournaments—long term maybe even Great Britain in the world under 21s! I also had my first game of the English season for this year after the juniors training. After 7 hours out in the sun it was home to lie on the couch watching Britains Got Talent-the UKs fav TV show!

Sunday was the highlight of the weekend. I was off to the train station at 10am to catch my train south to Pulborough. (just north of Worthing) This took just over an hour and my friend Ali met me there as her and some others had been camping down there. The reason being that Sunday was the Big Church Day Out which was held on a private estate where there is a huge historic stone house called Wiston House. The day started at 2pm but we were running touch rugby coaching sessions so were there much earlier. It was a glorious day. Many of us kiwis there commented how it felt like we were home in NZ. It was beautiful clean green countryside and there wasnt a cloud in the sky and with the temp pushing 25 deg or more we were remarking how hot it was!! (well for England anyway!) Around 6pm we headed for mainstage. It really felt like a mini parachute festival! Families were all spread out on the grass hill which formed a natural ampitheatre feel—not steep like the one at Totara Springs but also no sheep poos but rather lush green grass. Michael W Smith was on at 6:45 and was as good as usual playing for just over an hour. Then at 8:30 as a huge orange sun was setting over behind mainstage Delirious came on. After a few songs some of us wanted to be way closer and so made a run that Karen Macnab would have been proud of to get closer to the stage and mosh pit—yes there was almost a mosh pit! 5 of us went up there and had a brilliant time singing and jumping and dancing to the music. They played for 90 minutes and challenged us to again be history makers—break down denominational barriers and speak out about injustice in the world etc. Overall a phenomenal evening. I then got a ride down to Brighton and caught the fast train back to Clapham junction.

Monday (a public holiday) I went to Battle (near Hastings) with my football club. We took 2 teams-an over 35s and an under 35s. Battle Baptist were our hosts and at 1:30 the over 35s took the field. As we were short of players I played for them on the right wing. We dominated and went ahead 3-0 before letting them score 3 goals to level it very late in the game. But we then scored the winner just before full time. It was very hot and humid making for a tough time esp. in long sleeved winter shirts! Then the under 35s played. I rested and refueled for the first half and then came on 2nd half and played on the left wing. The temp had dropped and even had a few rain drops which was refreshing. Although we had been down 1-0 and 1-1 at half time we finished them off 5-1. I had a chance in both games both times putting it over the bar. After a BBQ we drove back to London—my legs were rather sore after playing 130 minutes but no cramp so pretty happy!

The Shack

2009-04-16T13:27:00.001+01:00

On the plane to Ukraine I finished off the book by Will Young, The Shack. Wow this book is brilliant! On the back cover it hints it will attempt to deal with the issue of suffering and pain in our world and how could God be in control and allow all of that? Much of the book does deal with this issue but then it hits on sooo much more! I recommend anyone who has any sort of belief in any higher being/religion or wonders if there could be such a being reads this book! Do not expect a theological argument or doctrinal statement about who God is or isn’t and why you should or shouldn’t believe in Him. However expect to have a lot of religious premonitions and ideologies kicked into space and a fresh perspective on how God just might want to relate to us if He is indeed real. It’s also been likened to Pilgrims Progress—the classic book written by John Bunyan in the 19th century. They hope this book will be made into a movie once a certain number of book sales are reached. So encourage your friends to get this book and read it! check out www.theshackbook.com for more!

Ukraine- Day 4

2009-04-15T15:21:00.001+01:00

A beautiful warm sunny day here today! After breakfast Jono , Jon and I went up to Daniels house and played table tennis. I don’t get as much practice as they do and lost to both Jon and Jono. Then visited Natasha (she runs Jono’s business for him) and had morning tea. Then Jono went to work and Jon and I walked to the beach. There is a really nice beach which is man made but a huge amount of sand has been put there so its a very large beach. Unfortunately they don’t keep things very clean so there are bottles and rubbish all along the waters edge making it look rather dirty. We walked back through the town stopping at the shop for lunch food. After lunch back at Jon and Ruths, I finished filling in the big hole in the back lawn. We had afternoon tea at Bruce and Debs place and then back to mark out and dig holes for Jon and Ruth’s deck. Ruth cooked a roast chicken dinner and Jono and Magdala came for that and then we all went to Masha’s place for a fire and cooked damper and hung out. Its been a great time here, very relaxing and London feels along way away! Tomorrow I leave back to the big smoke but I hope I can come back soon—really want to build the deck for Jon and Ruth!

Ukraine- Day 3

2009-04-15T15:20:00.001+01:00

Woken by Jono and after showering we picked Jon up and drove out to the strawberry farm. Jono’s friend Gavin runs the farm and Masha works there 3 days a week so we spoke to them and looked over the farm. Then drove to a war memorial on the river where Russians set up a dummy river crossing to avoid the Germans but in order to make it seem real they had a camp set up with people in it. The Germans slaughtered all the people there. On the way back to town we stopped at a timber mill and Jon and I looked at some timber for a deck. Jon and Rufus plan to build a deck on the back of their house so I had drawn up plans and we found the timber we needed and at a fairly good price so we ordered it all and it will be delivered on Saturday. Not in time for me to actually build it unfortunately! We then went to the school where Jono runs his English teaching business and had a look around. We left Jono there and Jon and I went to the shop to buy some bread. Was interesting to look at the various food items and see some familiar brands- Nestle, Mars, M & Ms, Wrigleys, Kinder. The shop is kinder like a corner dairy but for a town of 10 000 people its not that big! I guess most rely on the markets for their goods—I’ll see the market on Wednesday. Back to Jon’s house to find Rufus with a power tool in the pantry trying to cut the shelves down to the correct size! The joiners hadn't done it correctly so I helped her with the first one. We ate lunch and then I put a sheet of backing on the joinery under the bar, and then went outside and destroyed the old outside toilet, completely filling the smelly hole in! They also had a massive hole in the back yard which I began to throw junk into from around the yard—mostly bricks and then shovelled dirt on top. It’s nearly all filled in now! Meanwhile Rufus had finished all the pantry shelves and sanded them and put all the food in there. We all ate dinner at Jonos with Cassie from Texas and watched some DVD’s before another day was over and time for bed! Also today

Ukraine- Day 2

2009-04-15T15:19:00.001+01:00

Easter Sunday although in Ukraine its only Palm Sunday as they follow the orthodox calendar. Pancakes for breakfast and I hid Easter Eggs for the others to find (Cadbury Creme Eggs!). Went to church which today was all the 4 churches in the town together in one place for the first time. So it was a special service and ended up being 3 hours and 15 minutes long!! (and no breaks!!) We had translators but we were all still very restless and couldn’t wait to get out for lunch!! Lunch at Rufus and Jons was sandwiches and Masha also hung out with us. Later on went and played some volleyball with a bunch of locals in the town. Then back to Rufus and Jons where I whipped up a batch of scones which we ate fresh with jam and cream. Played a game of settlers which Masha won and then ate again—rice and a spicy chicken dish. Then back to Jonos house and watched a movie. Have now seen the town in the daylight and they have some great views of the river as their houses are up on a hill. Unfortunately all the trees are still bare so it looks a little dull but I can imagine in summer its prettier. The town is very basic tho, not to many cars or shops and the streets/houses are also basic. Most houses are whitewashed, and don't have running water but wells – some have pumps and some draw it by hand. Gas pipe run all over the place about ground always painted yellow.

Ukraine- Day 1

2009-04-15T15:16:00.001+01:00

Another crazy busy week in London in which I moved into a house, and tried to prepare All Souls church for Easter weekend and the 6 Easter services it holds plus on Thursday holding a Memorial Service right after our normal lunch time service and before the first Easter service in the evening! So I got home at midnight Thursday after a very late dinner at Nandos and Friday morning I was off to Luton Airport to get on Wizz Air. London has 4 major airports surrounding it and for some reason only Heathrow and Gatwick have decent train links. Luton and Stanstead luck out. Wizz air however soon wizzed me off on a 3 hour flight to Kiev where I touched down at 6pm local time. They parked the plane in the middle of the tarmac and brought buses to it to get us to the terminal. However we were short a bus so had to wait behind the plane! 2 of the idiots waiting with us lit up cigarettes—all while standing a few yards from a Airbus A320 which was being refuelled!! (They were soon told to put them out tho!) Customs was quick and easy and I was through to meet Jon and Rufus (my sister and her hubby). They had my brother Jonos van which is a bit of a machine! They took me into Kiev across the huge river Dnipr where we met Jono for dinner. At one point traffic got busy so other cars were driving up onto the footpath on both sides of the road and using them as extra lanes to try and jump the queue! People just park their cars anywhere and no one seems to care about road rules too much. Apparently many people buy their drivers licence without ever having driven before!! After dinner we walked up the main street and then went back to Rufus and Jons very nice spacious apartment. (after Jono broke the van key off in the gas tank cap and we had to get a taxi home!)

Saturday morning we packed up and loaded the van as we were going to end the day in Rzhyshchiv where Jono lives. We drove back into the city centre and got some great views of the city and river from the tin woman statue. Looked through the war museum and then a monastery and church with much gold everywhere. Could see how religious the culture is but so far from understanding God and Jesus. After lunch we wandered through a street market seeing all sorts of art and crafts and a lot of football shirts etc for sale! Then we drove south, I fell asleep in the van and an hour later we stopped at a town where a youth event was on. Interesting to hear songs that I knew sung in a language I couldn’t understand! We ate here and then drove the last 20 mins to Jonos town. Rufus and Jon also have a house here where they come to in the weekends and on holidays. There house is very nice as they have completely renovated it from scratch. Jonos is like a kiwi bach and so I feel like I’m on a holiday and I try to think that I’m actually down the Marlborough Sounds (my fav Easter vacation spot!) but tomorrow when I wake up I’ll see that I’m not!

March Madness

2009-03-31T01:36:00.001+01:00

March has been mad! March 1 Michael W Smith came to London and we hosted him at All Souls Church during the evening service and then an acoustic set after the service followed by the world premiere of his new DVD- A New Hallelujah! It was a massive privilege to meet and hang out with Michael. I even got to introduce him for his set and emcee the evening! I’ve been a massive fan of his music since I was about 12 and his songs have inspired and challenged and encouraged me at many different times in my life. The fact that he was associated with Kanakuk Kamps in Missouri helped in my decision to pursue working there where I spent 2 of the best summers of my life! So was a brilliant evening! The following week I moved out of my short term room sit and stayed with Alex for 4 nights and then Cheri and Roy for 2 nights before house sitting for Brenda for 2 weeks and now I’m back with Roy and Cheri. Its been a bit unsettling moving all around and not having a place to call home. It’s frustrating that All Souls treat the “ministry team” one way (they all get accommodation provided) and those of us not on the “ministry team” another way. March 9 we premiered the Hansie Cronje movie with Hansie’s older brother Franz coming over from South Africa to introduce it and answer questions. March 21 we held a special nite on the Credit Crunch with a BBC economist correspondent and a top economics advisor. I produced and ran the multimedia for the night—was very interesting. There have been a lot of job losses in London being a big financial centre. March weather has been very settled and quite a few lovely sunny days! Soccer has been up and down with 1 win and 2 losses. I did score one of my best goals ever as a 25 yard free kick tho! We are still near top of the league with about 3 games to play. Easter is nearly here and I’ll be off to Ukraine for 5 days to visit my brother Jono and sister Rufus and her husband Jon. Should be an interesting trip (flying Wizz Air!!) Hoping to be in a house very soon to call home and before long summer and beach volleyball/touch rugby will be here!

Summer in NZ

2009-01-29T12:27:00.001Z

This morning I flew back into London after 7 1/2 weeks holiday in NZ. I drove 7500 kms covering from Auckland in the north island down to Milford Sound in the south collecting 1 speeding ticket in the process. I crossed on the Cook Strait ferry 4 times, stayed in 4 hotels, 2 backpackers, and 2 camps. I climbed a glacier, rode in a jetboat, swam in the river and the sea, spent 18 full days on beaches (beach volleyball) and ate loads of fresh boysenberries. I ate outside at many restaurants on balmy summer evenings with beautiful sunsets such as the one in this picture over Nelson. I spent 5 days including Christmas with my family which we now do every 4 years. Its always a special interesting and crazy time—there are now 22 of us but unfortunately my sister in law and 4 nieces couldn’t make it from Australia. I also caught up with many good friends and family in Nelson and was good to see friends in other places as I travelled around too. Its cold and grey in London as per usual, seems a bit strange being back here. It was a brilliant trip and I’m very grateful to have had the chance to do it and a huge thanks to all those I stayed with or spent time with in NZ.

More on Tour!!

2009-01-29T12:25:00.001Z

After 4 sunny days in Ohope (the girls finished 9th after pulling out due to Baileys injury) we drove over to Mt Maunganui for the weekend. Weather was perfect on Friday and Saturday, Sunday morning a little cloudy as we set up for TV but came out sunny by the time we went live on air at midday. I refereed some of the games and so got on TV. Other highlights of the weekend were staying in the Sebel Hotel (very nice!!), calling the police after seeing a fight in the street on way home late at night, and a delicate first aid procedure on Nina’s feet in the lobby of the Sebel!! Monday I drove up to Auckland where we started work on transforming the Tennis Centre main court into a Beach Volleyball court. Tuesday I drove a bobcat all day loading sand into wheelbarrows as that's the only way to get the sand onto centre court. Wednesday we finished it off, Thursday was the qualifying tournament at Mairangi Bay and then the NZ Open ran Friday thru Sunday. The weather was perfect all the way through—hot and sunny every day! Sunday we were again live on TV. The first live game was a semi final between Brazil and NZ which I was refereeing-it was a brilliant 3 setter, soo close all the way and the crowd was so loud, the atmosphere was awesome, and the Brazilians just won!

On Tour!

2009-01-13T11:48:00.001Z

Halfway thru the NZ National Tour now. Started in Christchurch on Sumner Beach, staying in the very nice Grand Chancellor Hotel. Was good to join back up with the sandy crew and also did a bit of refereeing along with coaching Team Biopaints. Drove back to Nelson taking the boys from Chile and sandy Tony stopping at the very nice Maruia Falls . In Nelson we hosted a Grand Slam tournament—had 2 perfect days of hot sunny weather on Tahuna Beach—the best beach volleyball beach in NZ! I played with Cory—pulled him out of retirement we won 3 games and lost 1 and then defaulted our quarterfinal meaning we finished in 7th. After a day off on Thursday to finish packing and have a nice BBQ/swim up the river with mates and family, it was off to Wellington via the ferry with Team Biopaints. Wellington was its normal wet self on the first day of the tournament. I played as well as my coaching and crew duties making for a busy day. Finals day was much finer however and we had some great semis and finals. Monday was a long drive up the North Island to Whakatane which is where I write this from. Its hot here and today we setup on the beach and tomorrow the tournament starts. I will be playing again but mostly hoping Anna and Bailey do well—they are seeded 8th and have a favourable draw so here's hoping!!

Christmas with the whanau

2009-01-01T11:30:00.001Z

Yes its been a long time since we had Christmas together—possibly 20 years. Technically this one we still weren't all together as Tim only flew into the country just before midnight on Christmas day but as I met him at Wellington airport I at least saw him while it was still Christmas Day! Dec 23 I took the ferry to Wellington and then a 30 minute drive up highway 2 past Upper Hutt to where we had a campsite booked out. We had the place to ourselves and although its rather run down now we were able to make it work for us. Computers were networked, Christmas decorations were put up, table tennis table was put out and of course a table for settlers. We took turns cooking meals for everyone—my turn was Christmas Day so I did a ham, 2 chickens, new potatoes, and a bunch of salads. Then of course Christmas pudding and fresh Nelson boysenberries and ice cream---mmmmm! The kids enjoyed the water slide and pool and hot tub, we had a great in-laws v out-laws soccer match (won by us again-yes I scored the winning goal- yes I'm competitive!) and many other great moments together. Dec 29 I again ferried back to the South Island and to Nelson where it’s been hot and sunny ever since! Have been swimming and laying around, finished reading The Kite Runner and generally relaxing! Tomorrow I drive to Christchurch for the start of the National Beach Tour-4 weeks of beach volleyball all around the country. Brilliant!!!

Way down south...

2008-12-22T12:20:00.001Z

Sunday Jayne came to stay. She was a friend of a friend of my cousins and as I'm staying at my uncle and aunts this is where she came to stay! We talked about her travelling south on the kiwi bus (she had a ticket on it already) and she asked if I was keen to go south. I decided it would be a great way to spend the week and see some of NZ that I love so much and see some great friends in Queenstown and see some new things as well! So Tuesday after having a filling put in at the dentist we headed south. It was raining as we got to the West Coast and Punakaiki was really not worth stopping at but we did anyway and got soaked in the process!! We drove on down to Franz Josef where we stayed in a backpackers, went to the new hot pools for a soak and then had dinner. Wednesday we went on a full day glacier hike up Franz Josef glacier. Our guide Tommy was awesome, we were in the fastest group so went more place and new places. Was cloudy and as we got further up the glacier we got right into the clouds and had heavy rain mist falling on us but the ice was awesome. A long but good day! Thursday morning Jayne got up very early and did a sky dive over Fox Glacier getting awesome views of Mt Cook and the glacier. We then walked to Lake Matheson but the famous reflections were not working that day and Cook had cloud over it too. Drove on down through the World Heritage Area that is South Westland and then across the Haast Pass to Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. Stopped at Wanaka and visited Puzzleworld. Next was the short trip up the Cardrona Valley and over the Crown Range and down into Arrowtown where we just happened upon carols being sung on the village green. We bought fish and chips and L&P and sat on the grass in the sun enjoying Christmas carols. After we walked through the village and then drove on down to Queenstown where we stayed at Lakeland Park--the camp I was manager of 3 years ago. Friday we got a free jet boat ride thanks to Kawarau Jet a company started by the same people who started Lakeland Park. I had been offered a ride 3 years ago and never took it so it was now time to cash in! 60 minutes of fun in the big boat! Famous for its 360 degree spins the jet boat is very powerful and goes up to 86kmh across the lake and then up the river. We did plenty of spins and if sitting on the edge you can get fairly wet too! I was on the side for the first half but then managed to make Jayne sit on the side and the driver got her wet on the way back. Friday nite we met up with Jan and Vicki and their girls Holly and Alice. They were great friends to m e when I lived there and was great to see them again. Holly was singing Silent Night on the town green for xmas celebrations so we listened to that--she has an amazing voice. Enjoyed a Thai dinner together and then a great evening at Jan and Vicki's house talking with them--even had a fire going!! Saturday we got up early hoping to fly into Milford Sound but due to cloud the plane was not flying. So we drove the 4 hours to Milford Sound-the scenery in there was awesome! Huge rock mountains with waterfalls all over them and we wind in between them on the road before descending through the 1km Homer tunnel and down to Milford Sound. It was even snowing on the tops! Took the 90 minute boat cruise past Mitre Peak and out to the Tasman Sea and back. When we got back to Queenstown around 7:30pm there was snow on the Remarkables (now known as the Incredibles) and Coronet Peak. After dinner we met some of Jaynes friends in town for some drinks and dancing. A late nite making us rather tired Sunday as we packed up and moved out. Went to the church I attended 3 years ago and caught up with lots of people. After lunch Jayne checked into a backpackers and I drove 9.5 hours back to Nelson. Was a brilliant 6 days, laughed loads, had new experiences, saw new places and made a great new friend. New Zealand sure is the most beautiful diverse country on this planet!

Barefoot in NZ!!

2008-12-12T23:24:00.001Z

Summer is starting up here and I'm loving being barefoot again! Had 2 pretty full days in Auckland with my parents, my sister Priscilla and her 3 kids, Johanna, Jacob, and Daniella (and husband Sjoerd) and catching up with Jenny. Went to Priscilla's new property where they have just built a small house which they will live in while building a bigger house. The property is 25 acres with a lot of NZ native bush up on a hill near the Hunua Ranges south of Auckland. Thursday I drove south--so nice driving the WRX again! It was a stunning day in the middle of the North Island and Lake Taupo looked awesome with snow clad Mt Ruapehu in the background. Just south of the lake I picked up a hitchhiker and got out to help load her bag in. The road was so hot it was melting and now I have black tar all over the soles of my feet!! 7.5 hours driving and I was in Wellington for dinner and then crashed over at crazee Caths! Its now Friday morning and I'm on the Interislander ferry--the Kaitaki. I haven't seen this ferry before here in NZ but its disgusting. All the seats are old and dirty--they have gone seriously backwards! Previous ferries have been modern and clean and nice but this is a dump. And internet access is only available in a premium lounge which you pay $40 just to get into!!

Sure enough as we crossed to the South Island the sun broke through and in Nelson it was a hot sunny day! I went straight to the beach and played some beach volleyball--even got a bit sunburnt! Then I had dinner with my sister Joanna and husband Frank and Nikki, Melanie and Benji. Was so good to see them all again after 3 1/2 years! I'm now staying at my uncle and aunties in Redwoods Valley.

Mosaic coincidence in LA?

2008-12-12T23:15:00.001Z

After a very hectic week living in W1, London and getting everything sorted at work for my 2 month absence I caught the express to Heathrow and boarded flight NZ1 to LAX. 11 hours on a smooth new 777 and I'm in LA and finding a hotel. Sunday I decided to rent a car for the day (alternative option to be bored at the hotel all day) and drive to Mosaic Church. 30 mins drive up the 405 and into Santa Monica and I'm at Beverley Hills High School which Mosaic use for one of their church gatherings. I had heard about Mosaic in 2004 while staying LA so always wanted to attend at some time. I'm about 35 mins early and people are still setting up-being in a school they have to keep everything in a truck and set it all up every week. A friendly girl starts talking to me and then introducing me to some of the guys that run it. They are all very welcoming and interested to find out where I'm from and why I'm there etc. I didn't tell them I was a spy just checking out how they do things! So then I'm standing in the lobby as its still well before service time when a guy walks towards me and says, "You look familiar, where do I know you from?" I'm thinking he's got me well mistaken as how would anyone here know me? So I say I'm from New Zealand. He asks have I been in the USA before? I say yes, in Missouri, Ohio, ... he interrupts with "Kanakuk Kamp". I say yes and he tells me his name is Chris Houghy. WOW-Crazy!! I hadn't recognized him but I remembered Chris from when we worked together in 1999!! I had also worked with his sister Rachel and their great uncle (Will Russell) attends my church in Nelson, NZ (we had found that out back in 1999 when we first met!). I had prayed on the way there for some cool people to meet and then hang out with after church and God had sure answered! Chris has been attending Mosaic for quite a few years and helps with some of there missions work. They are very focused on being missional in practical ways and organise and fundraise for a lot of projects around the world. The service was simple and modern with a Christmas flavour. The 2 girls singing had amazing voices! After church I met Angela who plays beach vball on the AVP and so she knows a bunch of the same people I know. Then Chris took me for some mexican with his girlfriend, before going back to his place to watch American football. I'm writing this as I wait to board my flight in LA for Auckland, this is the first time I ever remember flying home specifically for Christmas! It feels good and I can't wait to see so many people, family and friends over the next 4 weeks.

Arrogant Australians

2008-11-22T15:24:00.001Z

Ok so we just won the Rugby League World Cup final as underdogs beating Australia convincingly in the last 20 mins of the game. Then at the awards ceremony following they have the arrogance to award the man of the match award to Darren Lockyer--what a joke!! If winning the world cup final is the big deal it should be and your team are major underdogs and in the last 20 mins you blow the more favoured team off the park then one of your team has to win man of the match!! How can he possibly be man of the match when his team lost the biggest game in 5 years?!!! Man of the match should go to everyone in our whole team--they all outplayed Lockyer and took the biggest prize in Rugby League away from him!! Good stuff kiwis!!

Giant sundials and royal silliness

2008-11-22T15:16:00.001Z

Monday my friend Carla flew in from NZ for a quick trip through this land and into Europe. So I took Tuesday and Wednesday off work and here's what we got up to! Tuesday we rented a car and drove south west to Stonehenge on the Salisbury plains. This was my first time to visit the famous landmark and although impressive when you read the history of it its not that impressive just to look at! It's not helped by a £6.50 entry to walk around it from a rather far away distance. It was also bitterly cold with a strong wind whipping across the plains. Then we drove off towards Bath stopping at a nice country pub for a baguette lunch. Then on to Bath where we wandered around the city centre which is very quaint and old--more like a European city than an English one. And with the Avon river running right through the middle it is a beautiful sight. We were going to drive over the Severn Bridge so Carla could say she had been to Wales but it was getting dark so she would have seen nothing so we drove back to London. After a late dinner we met Carla's friend Jen at Euston station and I drove them on a tour of London by night, past all the main locations. London is a whole lot more beautiful at night than during the day! Wednesday we were up early to get the rental car back on time. We then walked up to Buckingham Palace and down Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square and New Zealand house. Then back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. What a waste of money!! In my opinion it brings more shame on the royal family and England as a country. I don't know how much a year they waste in paying those people to march around and ride horses looking all historical etc all for a few tourists to be shouted at by English policemen in high vis yellow jackets looking all modern and silly. The people are half climbing the fence to take pics of a ceremony that none of us understand or can hear or really know what is going on. England and the royal family would do much better to feed some hungry orphans or tackle some much bigger issues. Another example of British reluctance to let go of the past and move on. We then took a black cab to Harrods which has everything at crazy prices but also has a Krispey Kreme store! Next up we went to Camden Markets for lunch and browsing. Then home so the girls could have naps while I cooked them dinner and then we went back into London to see the Lion King. A brilliant show!! We had great seats--up quite high but central and all clear views. The music and costumes were amazing and was a great night out.

summer down under!

2008-11-10T23:12:00.001Z

So its 4 weeks till I land in Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud for a much needed summer holiday. Here's my planned itinerary so far. Would be great to see as many people as possible so love to hear from you to meet up when I'm in your area.

Dec 6 flight from London with 1 night stopover in L.A.

Dec 9 land in Auckland

Dec 11 or 12 drive south to Nelson with possible stop in New Plymouth for beach vball tournament on Dec 13-14. If not then cross on ferry to south island on Dec 12. Can't wait to see everyone in sunny Nelson and enjoy the beach etc.

Dec 23 cross on ferry to Wellington for family reunion at Waitoke.

Dec 29 cross back to south island --back to Nelson

New Years --???

Jan 2 - 4 National Pro Beach Tour begins in Christchurch

Jan 6-7 Nelson Grand Slam Tournament

Jan 10-11 Wellington

Jan 14-15 Ohope

Jan 17-18 Mt Maunganui

Jan 23-25 Auckland

More details of the tour and results, blogs etc can be found on www.annasbeach.com

Jan 27 flight back to cold wintry London!

Just a normal week...?

2008-10-20T00:50:00.001+01:00

Well Monday was fairly normal although I had had a slight headache since our 6-2 win in soccer on Saturday. (2 assists for me from the right wing). Tuesday my throat was rather sore but I went into work anyway. Worked into the evening as it was Sofia's (one of the interns) first time on that event and needed to do some extra set up for the school concert coming in the next day. That meant I could sleep longer Wednesday morning to try and rest the throat which was getting worse and another intern- Maggy was looking after the group. I went in at midday in time for the actual concert to look official and help with security. Still worked more than a full day as finished about 9pm. Thursday I again slept with no alarm set and felt slightly better. Again went in at lunch time to start prep for the Saturday wedding. Thursday nite we hosted a DVD launch party with a preview screening (study series called Discipleship Explored) so I helped with that making another late finish. Friday was up early and in at work at 9am as we were hosting a press conference for an American bishop. After I sorted them out it was onto the wedding preparations as Lucy (the bride) and her mum and aunty and others arrived to start decorating. Spent most of the day working on the wedding prep as I was basically the wedding planner and was overseeing all the event management personally for this one. Lucy (the bosses daughter) and her husband Tom are a great couple and good friends so I was more than happy to go the extra mile for them. Saturday was a beautiful sunny warm sunny day. Started at 11:30 with 2 interns and finished the final setup. The church looked great for the ceremony which was very nice. Then there was a drinks reception downstairs in the hall which was also decorated. After photos in nearby Regents Park the couple made an entrance and cut the cake and 2 speeches. We also had a slideshow of photos on the big screen along with music. Meanwhile upstairs in the church myself and 3 others were working furiously to transform the church into a reception venue. All the remaining chairs were stacked to one side (we had stacked 250 the day before only leave 200 for the ceremony) and then we placed out 10 large round tables and 100 gold chairs and set and decorated the tables for a 3 course dinner reception party. We had exactly 3 hours to do the complete changeover. We also hung 4 large silk banners across the room from gallery to gallery along with fairy lights making a false ceiling. Next all the guests were given sparklers and everyone went out onto the steps again for more photos with the sparklers all going together. Tom and Lucy then departed by cab for a trip around the block. Doors were reopened for the evening guests to walk back into the church in its transformed state with live jazz music playing and a team of waiters and waitresses to serve a top class 3 course meal prepared by our own resident chef, Jack. Quiches for starter, lamb with a potato mash and gravy and green beans and peas for main followed by a mouse custard cream type dessert. 100 dinners all of a standard you would expect from a top restaurant. More speeches (meaning more great humour from father of the bride!) and then the "first dance". I got to sit down as a guest for the evening which was a welcome change from running around sorting things out! Everything had gone like clockwork all day however and we saw the couple off in a black cab while we all cheered on the steps of the church, (and I had to intervene and stop people throwing confetti inside the church, knowing what a mess I would have to clean up otherwise!!) The guests left and then began the cleanup and put the church back to right for Sunday morning. Lucy's family all stayed behind to help and 2 hours later (1am) you could hardly tell what had been there! By that time I had missed the last train so went with the groomsmen to the house for drink and food and then at 2am headed home. 90 mins later I crawled into bed and slept slept slept! 61.5 hours of work for the week so no, thankfully, not quite a normal week for me here in London!! But a great wedding well worth all the effort and God bless you Tom and Lucy in your lives together!!

SWATCH FIVB Junior World Championships

2008-09-20T18:13:00.001+01:00

End of August and the end of the Beach Volleyball Season. (you can read all about my travels on the English tour by clicking here.) The English tours final event was held in Brighton and due to my partners injured leg we pulled out after our first game (which we still won!) But the very next day began the hard slog of preparing the Yellowave Beach Centre and the nearby street for the Junior World Champs. (under 21s) My initial voluntary position was that of court manager. In addition to centre court which was in the Yellowave Centre with 2000 seats of grandstand around it, there were 3 further competition courts and 2 practice courts built out on the street. In between my court manager training on Monday I was helping Mark with setting things up and building the post systems etc. Mid afternoon Mark came to me and said I should move from court managing to the operations team to assist Baz, an australian guy who flew in especially for the event. Tristan (wearing his lovely blue pyjamas) was then moved into our team and between the 3 of us we formed the backbone of the operations team for the next 6 days. Posts, Nets and lines were all perfected, centre court was built, scoreboards put together, safety fences put up, banners and flags, huge blow up SWATCH things, and many things fixed or made safe. Had many trips to B&Q to buy bits and pieces and come up with ways to fix or build things. Tuesday I even had to act as safety manager as the real safety manager was apparently having a day off! Along with Amy I spent about an hour keeping people away from a digger while it cleaned up a major thoroughfare on the site--there were some very rude coaches who couldnt see why they had to go around and not walk under the digger as it worked!! By this stage most of the teams were in town and crawling all over the site having training sessions on all the courts.

Wednesday the qualification tournament took place and yet we were still setting things up! Many challenges had to be overcome and Mark had to act as tournament promoter effectively as the real promoter didnt really have a clue. This put more strain on all of us and so as the tournament started for real on Thursday morning we were just starting to get things together. For me it felt like halfway through Thursday that we were on top of things and ready to start!! Unfortunately the weather packed in and was pretty bad most days. New Zealand had 2 teams in the qualification tournament--the O'Dea brothers won their first game but lost the 2nd in a cruel single elimination format. Kate Sheriff and Simone Head also won 1 and lost 1 in their pool play meaning they also just missed out on main draw. We then had Julia Tilley and Hannah Croad in the main draw but after pool play (3 games) they had lost all 3. I had a sore throat most of the week and Thursday nite awoke with high temp and feverish. Dr Wear (Lara) was our resident doctor for the week so I was able to get medication but had to keep working each day in the cold and rain--quite miserable when you feel sick. We also had a great osteopath there who worked on my back a few times using me as a guinea pig to teach the physio guy how to do backs!! Felt great!

Most days I was up around 7:15 to shower, put my uniform on, pack my bag, and grab some croissants and yoghurt at the restaurant on the way out of the hotel. (with a very sore throat eating was difficult!) To the courts in the Chrysler voyager, often taking players or coaches with me-I drove the Kiwis and the Canadians quite often). Open the storage shed and get out equipment needed for the day. Make sure all courts are good to play and then see what needs fixing or adjusting. Watch the kiwis play or try to watch a few other games here and there. Make sure trash bins have been emptied and the portaloo company has been to clean the toilets! Make sure the whole site is safe and keep cars out of the close up parking areas so tv and radio and VIP cars can have parking. Eat lunch and dinner whenever can get a chance to get in the warm food tent. Its a long busy day and don't seem to really get a chance to sit still. Someone or something is always needing your attention or help! Still its enjoyable (except for the weather and my health) and working with Baz, Tristan and Mark was great. Saturday nite we have a BBQ for all the players etc and then go to a Bar in Brighton. Its pretty much players only and has a dance floor and great music. The kiwi players were the centre of it with heaps of energy and craziness! Something about kiwis!! Was a good nite overall and then Sunday was the semis and finals. The rain stayed away but it was still overcast. There were some people in the grandstands and some good volleyball was played! Both finals were fairly 1 sided however meaning not very close or exciting. Italy won for the boys and the Netherlands for the girls.

After a big awards presentation it was all over and the players were soon all gone, leaving us to pack things down. Unfortunately we had to move all our equipment into a storage unit further away than the one we had used all week meaning loading the van and repacking everything into the other 1. I felt horrible and the evening dragged on as we sorted the stuff out. Finally about 9pm it was all done and I loaded my stuff out of the Chrysler and into the Dodge and drove back to London and bed. A huge week--about 80 hours worked following 40 hours on the 3 days before it and 37 days straight working between my normal job and volleyball every weekend.

Now we wait to see if we will get to host a World Tour event in London next July and on up to the 2012 Olympics.

Aberystwyth, Wales

2008-07-28T00:59:00.001+01:00

This weekend was my first trip to Wales! Andrew and Joel picked me up at 8am and we drove up past Birmingham and across Wales to Aberystwyth. It was hot and sunny all the way until we got thru the hills to Aber where it started to rain! The hills in Wales were similar to NZ in places and of course there were loads of sheep everywhere although the sheep all had their tails! We found our campsite and set up camp and then explored the town. Its a quaint seaside town of about 10 000 with a large beach and waterfront area. We climbed up Constitution Hill on the north end of the town to check out the view. Back down for dinner in a pub opposite the train station called Top Nosh. Don't ever eat there as they cooked my steak well done when I asked for medium, and when I pointed this out the barman took it to the chef told him I had asked for a full refund (I hadn't even mentioned money!) and then they did nothing! I asked for the manager who informed me they had thrown my meal out as they thought I didn't want it! Unbelievable! They gave me a small sandwich steak instead which was so tough I couldn't eat most of it. Appalling service!! We met up with Reuben and his mates and cousins for some drinks at Rummers by the river and managed to scare Reuben by picking him up and threatening to throw him in the river. He was panicking a lot! Then we met some lovely locals so went for a dance with them at Pier Pressure which is a bit of a dive of a place on the Pier!

Saturday was Reuben and Hannah's wedding day. Brilliant weather, hot and sunny. The church is right in the town and right on the waters edge! Amazing setting! A Castle ruins on one side and a beautiful old building which is Wales oldest university on the other side. They had a great ceremony and Hannah of course looked stunning! Then it was off to the reception venue (after some photos) which was at a country hotel with a semi permanent marquee setup on the lawn overlooking the valley with sheep not far away ! A lovely meal and some great speeches. Reuben's was particularly humorous as he shared some stories of his attempts at being romantic going horribly wrong!! After the cake was cut, it was time for the first dance which Reuben and Hannah had practiced for. We thought it was going to be a nice slow dance together but instead as the music started they went into this routine they had choreographed themselves which was hilarious and very good! Reuben stole the moment tho when it was his turn in the middle of the routine to dance around Hannah while she stood still in the middle. As he did this he pulled 2 white handkerchiefs out of his pockets and swung them round in the air as he skipped his way around Hannah. It was a priceless moment! Then we all danced together before watching the happy couple drive away in a suitably decorated car!! After the wedding we went to the beach and paddled in the surf. Water was cold!

Sunday we went to St Mikes church service which is where Hannah works and Reuben will be working as student workers. Then a drive home, this time south through Wales to near Cardiff and across the new Severn Bridge back into England. A great weekend: enjoyed Wales, thoroughly loved the wedding, met some lovely people and would love to go back sometime!

Juliette's Wedding

2008-06-23T00:45:00.001+01:00

A very cool weekend! The French sure know how to do a wedding!! Saturday morning I took the Eurostar to Lille (90 mins) where Juliette's cousins Berenice and Cyprien met me, took me home for lunch and to get ready for the wedding. Off to the old old church which was packed and overflowing and as we were a little late we didn't get seats but managed to perch fairly near the front. Of course the ceremony was all in French so I didn't understand any of it anyway! There was a lot of singing interspersed throughout the service with the old organ playing--a very traditional type service I think. After the ceremony all the guests leave the church first and crowd around the church steps to await the bride and groom emerging from the church. We had bubbles to blow at them too as they walked out to loud cheering and whistling! We then drove to the reception venue which was a very nice restaurant venue in the country with a large garden surrounding it. There was champagne and nibbles in the garden until the main reception started at 8pm. At one point a girl said to me, "Are you Dave?" It was Helene, a girl who had worked in Blenheim on the same program as Juliette in 2004 and she had stayed with me and gone down the sounds with us. So it was cool to see her again! Juliette has a very big family with many cousins. A lot of them speak some English so we had much fun talking and interpreting each other! Then at 8pm we went into the seated reception. I was at a table with some of Juliette's cousins and others who spoke good English. When Juliette and Alexandre entered they played loud music and everyone stood up and waved their serviettes around over their heads!! Lots of whistling and cheering as the couple ran a lap around the room in and out of the tables waving their serviettes! Speeches were made by the groom, brides father, and the grooms father and all were followed by serviette waving and cheering! Juliette's Dad mentioned me in his speech although I was unaware he was talking about me coming from New Zealand until her cousin sitting beside me grabbed my hand and waved it around so people knew who I was! (He was saying how people had come from far away and how good that was) Then we ate the first course which was a beautiful fresh fish with a scallop on top and a very nice sauce-reminded me of NZ fresh cod! Then Juliette's brothers and sister did a tribute with pictures of Juliette's growing up and talked about her--again not much for me to understand but there were pictures of her time in NZ and music from Lord of the Rings in the background! Dinner followed which was chicken and asparagus and potato and beans wrapped in bacon. More family member then made more tributes and comments--it is normal for the dinner part to go till about 11pm. We had dessert around 11:30 I think! Part of the dessert was a mountain of cream puffs which they stick together with toffee in a giant pyramid. They then paraded it through the room to the main table and then back to the kitchen with giant sparklers stuck in it burning and loud music and cheering and more serviette waving!! More guests arrived for the dance which began just before midnight. Rock and roll dance is the main dance and everyone seemed to know how to do it very well. Of course I don't so that along with not speaking much French were my two hindrances of the weekend! Thankfully they also played some non rock and roll music for some more normal dancing later on. However my ride left at 3am when the dancing was still going strong (they finished around 5am which is normal for a French wedding!) And the bride and groom stay all nite dancing with everyone too! Much more fun than the NZ/English wedding where everyone is in bed by midnite! So to my hosts house for the night (one of Juliette's uncles and aunts). One of her cousins lives in London and they offered to give me a ride back to London as they were driving Sunday nite so that meant i could miss my early Sunday train and sleep in and then go to a very nice lunch back at the reception venue for all the close family and those that had travelled. Again it was a very nice time--all the family were so nice and friendly. 6pm we headed off to Calais (I slept in the car), drove onto a train to go thru the Chunnel and then drove back to London and was home 5 hours later. An amazing weekend and quite possibly the best wedding I have been too!

Margate hosts the Student Beach Cup

2008-06-03T01:06:00.001+01:00

Friday I left work at 7pm, home on the train to do washing, eat, check emails, shower and pack up. 9:30pm and I'm off to the train and into London again where Mark met me and took me to his place. We loaded some stuff in the van, helped Mark and Gabby put a wardrobe together and then got just under 4 hours sleep! 5am we were up and soon on the road. Picked up some pop up tents and then headed south east for Margate. 2 hours later we were on the beach and setting up the courts. Margate is a quaint English seaside town--has a great waterfront with beach but everything is very old looking. There are a few gaudy buildings tho with lights all on them and inside arcade games and slot machines etc--Marvegas!! Saturday was a hot sunny day just perfect for beach vball. The students soon arrived coming from all over England representing their universities. Play kicked off at 9am, Mark and I were kept very busy all day doing the admin for the draw, tracking results, and then seeding the teams for the main draw. There were 45 men's teams and 25 women's so pretty good numbers and it was great to meet some really nice people! I also acted at DJ with my ipod but with little warning so I had no play lists prepared making it more difficult! They played till 8pm and then we went to our B&B and showered before attending the official party. Time to socialise and meet many more of the players. The free food was all gone so I went and found a kebab with Louise and Marina and from Bath. Some of us stayed out to dance and finally got to sleep for a few hours. Up early Sunday for a cooked breakfast and back to the beach to start Day 2. Overcast and dull but no rain all day and very little wind making for great beach conditions. Having so many teams meant we got behind on time and so it was another long day! I ended up doing commentary on all the semis and finals which was interesting! Thanks to my years on the NZ pro tour listening to Cowboys commentary I was able to use some of that knowledge to commentate here. And I got good feedback so must have done ok!! Men's final finished at 8pm (2 hours late) and then we packed up the van, leaving at 9:30 and arriving home at midnite! Rather tired this morning but what a great weekend. Next weekend is Skegness where I will be playing--its the first stop on the English tour. I will be blogging on www.annasbeach.com for the duration of the tour. Check out how I get on!!

Another random bank holiday!!

2008-05-26T14:01:00.004+01:00

Another Monday off today with no apparent reason for it! Unlike the last one however the weather today is grey and misty and windy and chilly. But it hasnt been like this all weekend-Saturday was a great day! Up early and off to the station where I met Tanya and Monica and travelled down to Brighton beach. A bit windy but very sunny and warm. I coached 4 sessions of beach volleyball at the Nivea Beach Centre. (Tanya and Monica participated in 1 of them). It was great to get back into coaching and was a challenge as had beginners and more experienced players plus had 16 in most sessions! They have a great cafe there so I got a brilliant lunch and then tested the water but it was freezing so didnt go in! We hung on the beach for a while and then walked up the waterfront getting an icecream and then checked out some weird festival stuff in the town centre. Lots of gypsie types peddling their wares or entertaining etc! Then with sore legs and slightly burnt shoulders and neck, back on the train for the journey home.

Sunday the weather wasnt so good but after watching New Zealand collapse miserably in the cricket I headed out with a friend to a festival in Victoria Park. There were many strange and weird things and people there which made for a very interesting but fun evening! There was a large section of old steam driven fair rides and attractions--all very nicely restored and working! There was a dance tent which had a variety of music in it and a dance floor, lots of food stalls from all over the world and a main stage with live music. Then we discovered a circus act called Sensiozone (i think!). The 8pm performance was free as it was getting cold so we went along and this circus is one where you can interact and participate. The performers were a very weird group and they seemed to have made an act up that wasnt really anything--something out of nothing! After that we took shelter in the dance tent and even saw a midget doing tap dance!Then we got more hot chocolates and saw a mechanical life size horse that breathes fire and makes horse sounds etc! Finished the night off at the main stage with a band named Ska Cubano. Ska music from Cuba and Jamaica--they were really good and we danced away the cold. A fun nite!!

mechanical horse

All Souls team!!

2008-05-05T23:19:00.000+01:00

Bank Holiday??

2008-05-05T23:07:00.001+01:00

So yep in this funny ole country they call the public holidays bank holidays and this one has no particular reason for existing!! Not that I'll complain esp with weather like Nelson weather and a London Churches soccer tournament to be won! So it meant getting up at 7:30am--the 2nd earliest start for me this year!! (the only earlier start was the day I went to Italy and had to get to the airport) It was already feeling like about 17 degrees and after breaky i set off to Regents Park. Met the All Souls team and set up camp on Pitch 5 where we were to play 5 pool games. Each game being 12 minutes there were a lot of 0-0 draws. (7 aside soccer on half size pitches and half size goals) Our first game was a draw but then we started scoring and we finished top of our pool fairly easily. We then went into knockout playoffs. Final 16 which we won on penalties (I made mine!) 1/4 finals meant a change of pitch and again went to penalties (again I made mine). In the semi we went up 1-0 but they came back and it was 1-1. Then I was fouled in the box so was given a penalty. I stepped up but put it just over the bar--not happy with myself as this would have won us the game. So penalties again--again I went first and the keeper saved it. Not happy with missing 2 now. Its best of 3, they scored 1 and we scored 1 , then misses and saves so it kept on going. Our keeper Garth was phenomenal and pulled out save after save! Finally Benjamin put one in the back of the net and we were through to the final!! The team in the finals was probably not as tough as the team we played in the semi but the pressure was on and legs were getting tired. We had few chances and as they attacked on the break I tracked back into our goal box. The keeper was beaten by the shot and it was coming at me as I ran towards the goal. I got my body in the way and it deflected off my chest but to my horror went into the goal. The game ended 1-0 so I had scored the winning goal but in the wrong end. Gutted. We still got presented medals and enjoyed a very well organized day. It was a long journey home as my legs were sore and my bag heavy. But it seems May has brought summer here to London!!

View out my window!

2008-04-06T10:38:00.000+01:00

Snow in the Royal Box!

2008-04-06T10:01:00.002+01:00

Ok not quite but I awake today to find it snowing--first time in London for me! Last night I went to the Royal Albert Hall, another first for me, and enjoyed Prom Praise. This is an annual event put on by the music department that does the music at All Souls Church. I was seated in a box in the Grand Tier just a few along from the royal box. However some friends were seated in the royal box so after the smoozing drinks reception with the high rollers and guest artists I watched the first song from the Royal Box! No royalty in attendance tho. Main guest artists were Keith and Kristin Getty who have written many modern hymns including In Christ Alone. I also experienced first hand an English phenomon known as promenading. The people in the Arena (cheap seats--actually no seats at all, sit on the floor or stand) were often referred to as Promenaders. I understand from the many concerts held there known as Proms. At one point some of them began a curious bobbing similar to the sudden jerk caused when someone unsuspectingly taps you forcefully in the back of the knee. Many of them were managing to "bob" in time and in quick succession-up an down, up and down. I guess for the English reserve in such a poncy place as the RAH this would be as much movement of ones body as one could show. One Englishman in asking me what I thought of the place and the concert, commented that this type of building reeks of the British Empire days. I guess it does in some ways but the fact that normal people were sitting in the Royal Box made it less royal somehow. It still is a pity tho that in a democratic society with an elected government there is still a "royal" family. They are no different to anyone else and should be treated no different to anyone else. It was interesting when Harry was pulled from Afghanistan he said he wanted to be treated like anyone else. He then became a terror target. The best thing England could have done is left him out there and said to the world "If Harry dies in combat then thats the same loss as the next man dying, we dont care any more or less" If England cared less about his safety, he wouldnt be a terror target cause he wouldnt mean anything special to this country.

Delirious?

2008-03-31T00:39:00.001+01:00

Stu Smith testimonial concert Saturday nite at the Indigo2 was incredible. 90 mins of Delirious? at their best with a mix of classics and new tracks in the intimate 3000 seat state of the art theatre that is the Indigo2. But after 90 minutes instead of coming back out for an encore the stage hands moved the drum set (it was on a wheeled platform) right to the front of the stage where Stu came out and began to play again. The rest of the band joined him and they played some more. Then to finish they played History Maker (of course!!) then they got Stu to say some words and presented him with a gift--a blue scooter! They left the stage and we thought it was all over and started to leave when they came out again and played Investigate. A brilliant 2 hours of music, worship and inspiration. Thanks Stu and I hope the new drummer can keep the energy up!!

France

2008-03-27T01:20:00.000Z

Chateau Chombard

this spiral staircase was amazing--2 separate staircases spiralling around the same column and never meeting!!

and the view over my kingdom

Easter in Toury

2008-03-25T22:57:00.002Z

Wow! What a great weekend! After my king for a day blog I realized it was going to be more like a king for 3 days!! Monday was a similar procedure but after lunch Laure, Melanie and I went to a town named Chartres which has perhaps the most famous cathedral in all of France and it is listed as a World Heritage Site. As it was Easter weekend there happened to be a Easter Festival on in the town consisting of a market and various stages set up around the town with performers and bands etc playing. It was cold and a litte drizzly but I got a cup of mulled wine from the market and we entered the huge Cathedral which seems to dwarf the rest of the town. Once inside it was a pleasant surprise to find it buzzing with people--obviously the festival had brought people out. So often when a tourist goes into these huge churches they seem empty and dead and feel very unused and I think how much a part of the communities life the Christian faith must have been when they built these buildings. It was soo cool to see a group of young people on the stage- a couple of girls singing into mics, and a guy lightly strumming a guitar and another playing the bongo drums. The girls voices filled the whole cathedral thru the PA system and with the natural acoustics it sounded awesome!! mostly the words were French but I could see that this wasnt a normal part of the Catholic cathedrals services!! A special for the Easter Festival but so brilliant that it was opeend to them to do that. And then the last song they sang was Here I Am To Worship in French--awesome!! I had this crazy idea of how cool it would be to see all the old cathedrals of Europe and indeed all over the world, taken over by young people with guitars and drums and voices praising their God and drawing dead and dying congregations and communities back into life!! Back out in the market we saw a new dance craze called Tectonik which is for white boys that cant play football or dance normally. It seems girls dont do this dance and most of the time it involves some very weird coordinations of ones hands and arms waving around very quickly in the air. Feet and legs do some moves too!! Got a crepe and it was off for tea and cake in a little French village at Laure's grandmothers. Today we checked out one of the many giant wind harvesters that are all over the landscape near Toury. Then it was time for the train journey home. A great relaxing weekend--thanks Toury and thanks the Fauconnier family!!

King for a day!

2008-03-23T19:29:00.003Z

So today I decided to be king for a day!! I was king David as a guest of a French family. My day went something like this: woke very late, had to wash myself as the servants were all busy. Went downstairs and ate French bread (brioche) with quince jelly and drank orange juice. Watched some French football highlights, drank some champagne and ate nibbles and then it was lunch time. Or I should say dinner! First we ate a salad with foie gras (duck pate) and walnuts, 2nd course was rosbeef and gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes). 3rd was cheese platter with bread, 4th was gateau à la bechamel (very yummy desert) and then I was presented with a box of locally made chocolate in the shape of very detailed rooster, hollow with chocolates inside it!! Of course there was fine French wines accompanying it all. After we had eaten although I was feeling sleepy I got into a French car (citroen) and we drove south about 80 mins to the Chateau of Chambord (my new continental residence). This is a huge and very impressive castle where many French kings have lived in past centuries. (construction began in 1519 by King Francis I) We walked right thru the castle visiting many of the rooms, I was most impressed with the double level spiral staircase (which I plan to replicate in my main castle one day). Then back to Toury (where I am a guest of the city) where dinner was awaiting! Soup and bread followed by Tourte (beef mince and vegetables in a pie crust) followed by cheeses and yoghurt and accompanied by red wine. Now I relax and digest-however being king for a day has reminded me of another King who died for His people (thats what Easter is really about) and today is the day we celebrate Him coming alive again-He is no longer dead! Only the Creator of the Universe could possibly have the power to do such a thing-I believe it all-do you? HE sure gives my life meaning when the holidays and chocolates and fun times are over.

2008-03-14T02:22:00.000Z

Church setup for banquet

Thursday in 3D-craziest day ever? or just a normal day in my job!!

2008-03-14T00:41:00.003Z

Ok so its 12:42 am Friday morning but I have to write about Thursday before I try to sleep some! I arrived at work normal time--9:32. Queens College are rehearsing as I expect but find the PA isnt working. Troubleshoot that over the phone with PA guy and sort the problem. Put up church closed signs as the school will soon be doing a service and ask a guy to leave who is sitting in the church. As he starts to swear at me, I realise he is drunk and not wanting to do what I ask. I pull my phone out and threaten to call the police-he gets up and moves out of the main church but I still have to coerce him to leave completely. Go to my desk to check emails and messages. A guy arrives to sort some keys for us and make the office door shut properly so talk to him about that and then call Canon to get an engineer out to fix the photocopier which is jamming 3 days after being serviced!! Go back to check on the school and oversee their guests arriving. Am told of a leak in the toilets so arrange the caretaker to sort that out. Plumber has to be called. partway thru school service colleague comes out from office to tell me the key guy needs to see me. Right then church clown guy (name suppressed here!!) walks in the main doors. Colleague sees him at same time as me and says she'll ask the key guy to wait with a knowing laugh that I need to intercept the clown guy and send him on his way. He is in full dressup so I intercept and ask him to leave-I am successful but it takes about 15 mins as I make a phonecall on his behalf and listen to him preach to me. Finally get back to my office to see the key guy. Work at desk for a bit. 11:30 and back into main church where the service is all over. Begin to stack chairs, and move some up from downstairs. We have to move all 430 chairs downstairs and then 190 different chairs back up plus some tables. But we cant move them down until after 2pm as there is an event on downstairs!! by 2pm all chairs are stacked and most of the church is vacuumed. Volunteers arrive but then the lift stops working!! Call the buildings manager who calls the engineer out. So we move all the chairs via the stairs-takes about 4o minutes. Spend all afternoon overseeing volunteers setting various things up and moving things about. The photocopier gets fixed, then the lift gets fixed too--have no idea if the plumber came and fixed the leak!! Finally the guests arrive--the church looks amazing by this stage- very cool lighting and candles everywhere! A live band and the long tables so well laid out. I try to enjoy the night but am very tired. The lift stops working again but manage to jiggle it and get it working. Clean up a large spill of berry coulis on the church carpet!! Sit and drink wine and just watch whats going on, then its all over and have to organise people and things again as we pack up. Have to be stroppy and tell Dimity and Grace they can't vacuum tonite and must go home. Most people leave and then I get a ride home with Rico who is taking Lucy and Kendra (event organisers) home. We are all so amped up we go clubbing on the way home (nah not really but we could have!!). Now its time for sleep as tomorrow we do it all again-well not quite but it will be another long fun day!!

2008-03-09T23:01:00.000Z

IKEA virgin

2008-03-09T22:25:00.002Z

My weekend hadn't been dull and yet Sunday morning came and with it a decision to really lift the weekend to new heights-a trip to IKEA! (Friday night was a great evening spent with 2nd cousins Rob and Lizzie Greenberg and Robs girlfriend Claire. We went to a Thai restuarant and then had great conversation till the early hours back at Rob and Claires flat. Saturday was touch rugby, watching Six Nations rugby and then to an African worship concert to raise money for 1 million Bibles for Ghanas youth. It was an interesting evening as there were only a handful of white people and so the singing and dancing was intense and invigorating!! Most importantly tho we learnt that less than half of the worlds languages have the written Bible. We must make Bible poverty history!!) So Dave Sinclair and I took the train to Stonebridge Park, then an IKEA shuttle bus to IKEA! I had heard much about IKEA and yes it was a large store! We followed the myriads of sheep thru the lines for the IKEA lunch (2.50 GBP) and then commandeered a trolley and proceeded around the well marked out line around the store. It is designed to make you go thru every part of the store in order to get out which sucked for us because we didnt realise there was a 2nd level which was mostly the stuff we wanted so we spent forever looking for stuff on the first level and were dissappointed not to find what we wanted and then found the 2nd level and by then had only 30 mins before we had to leave. We did leave on time to catch the shuttle just and all I had managed to buy was a 99p scented candle!! I'm sure I'll be back sometime but I still miss Wallmart and the Warehouse for those great bargains!

Wings Nite!!

2008-03-04T00:18:00.002Z

Tonight was wings nite. That meant meeting at the Maple Leaf Pub in Camden Garden with some other wings lovers and eating wings and chatting. Its a Canadian place that specialises in wings, and does hot wings named suicidals. They weren't that hot really tho but still good. An interesting point in the evening came after we had been given food we hadn't ordered but ate anyway and the manager came over and asked us to pay for the food. We argued a little saying the waitress had said it was for our table but he kept insisting he was being nice and we needed to pay for it. Helen (whom had stayed quiet througout) then spoke up and told the man it was his problem as they had made a mistake and he couldn't ask us to pay for it. He said "so are you telling me you are not going to pay for the food you just ate?" Helen replied "Absolutely!!" and at that he said fine and left us alone!! I was quite shocked that this seemingly normal English lass got so feisty, but then she informed me shes not really a normal English lass!! Was quite cool to see some spunk in an English girl!! Well done Helen!!

Beach Volleyball in Brighton!

2008-03-01T23:06:00.001Z

Today I journeyed to my father's birthplace to find my favourite sport Beach Volleyball. The Yellowave Centre had its 1st birthday and I plan to come back here often to coach and play. Was pretty windy and cold today tho--kinda like Wellington is on the NZ pro tour!

Spring??

2008-02-24T23:30:00.000Z

Looks like Spring in Wandsworth common!!

Cinque Terre

2008-02-18T22:19:00.000Z

My weekend in Italy

2008-02-17T19:30:00.003Z

Friday

Up at 5:45am and off at 6:05am to catch the train! Still dark and rather cold! Around 8am arrive at Stansted Airport and check in. 10:35 and the RyanAir 737 takes off--destination Parma, Italy. 2 hours later we land in Parma and are rushed through customs which consists of one man glancing at our passports--no machine reading them! Juliette met me with one of her colleagues who had a car so could take me into town. Juliette had to go back to work so I explored Parma! I was amazed at the small cobbled streets with high and very old buildings so close together. And there were so many bicycles--these bicycles were like Mums bicycle when I was 8 years old. No gears and very old school style! Even the new bicycles were still this style. So I figured someone must hire them out so I got a map at the information centre and set off. Walked thru a big green area and found some giant teapots!! I approached to photograph them and had a guy come up and begin to speak a lot of Italian to me. He then found someone else to translate for me and I found out he was asking me if I wanted to buy weed!! The teapots must be the location for that!! A bit further on by the river I managed to find the bicycles and for 70 cents had one for an hour. I biked thru a large park and then negotiated some crazy busy streets to find the football stadium. I had asked the rental lady if there were any rules I should know and she said "No, the bikes can go anywhere!" And yes they did go everywhere--sometimes coming at you on the wrong side of the road but often on the footpaths dodging the pedestrians. After an hours exploring I walked back to Juliette's apartment and fell asleep on the couch. After Juliette came home we went out for some wine-here they bring you many snacks for free to eat with your wine! Then home to make lunch for the next day and get some sleep.

Saturday

Caught the train at 7:50am for the 2 hour trip to the coast. The trains are big and old--not like the English trains. We went thru farmland and then hills and along a nice river--through a gorge and then I fell asleep. We got off the train in Riomaggiore which is the first of 5 towns in the Cinque Terre. We then walked along the Via dell'Amore which is an amazing path high above the sea on the cliffs. This took us to Manarola which is a very cute little town with a lovely little harbour with lots of small boats. We walked on around the coast for another hour to the 3rd town Corniglia. Here we got on the train to carry on north. The trains run all the way up the coast mostly in tunnels but occasionally pop out right on the edge of the cliff. We took the train to the 5th town Monterosso. This one has a large beach which wasn't that clean but we found some large rocks to sit on and eat lunch right beside the sea. Then we walked back to the 4th town Veranozza. This 1 1/2 hour walk was up a lot of very steep steps and then along the cliff top and then a steep descent down into Veranozza. We walked thru a lot of terraces where grapes, olives, citrus trees and other things are grown. There were water pipes everywhere! Then we stumbled upon 2 fat cats sitting on the side of the track with a lot of cat food and a cat tent! there was a sign saying to please feed these homeless cats with the food provided. They didnt move--just sat there- I guess they were too fat to move. After that we began to notice fat cats in all the towns--lots of them! From Corniglia we took the train back to Manarola where we got Italian icecream and ate it by the harbour. This was probably the cutest of the little towns. It had very steep streets and pathways between teh buildings which we explored. We stayed here a long time taking photos and waiting for sunset. Just before sunset we walked back towards Riomaggiore where on the cliffpath there is a bar/cafe. Here we bought hot chocolates--they were so thick it was like drinking a pudding-sooo good!! watched the sunset and then walked back to Riomaggiore. Explored this town and decided on a restuarant (Pizzeria Da Ciro) for dinner. Juliette had pizza and I had Parma Calzone. Unfortunately it was a little burnt and the restuarant owner tried to tell me that was normal. After dinner we had to wait about 40 minutes for the train and the temp had dropped to 8 deg but it felt like about 2!! It had got up to 16 during the afternoon and in the sun we had got quite hot hiking. We jumped around trying to keep warm and then fell asleep on the 2 hour train journey back to Parma.

Sunday

Today we slept in and then walked around Parma. Went inside the cathedral which is huge and has very high ceilings with paintings all over them. Very impressive old building. It was very cold and the sun was trying to shine through! Had lunch in a nice cafe--I had crepes with Parma chese and Parma ham! mmmm! Then all too soon had to go to the airport and fly back to London. Was a great weekend, soo nice to breathe the fresh sea air and smell the salt and the sea. Gratia Juliette!!

English Football

2008-02-09T22:55:00.000Z

Today I played my 2nd real game of English Football. Its not a very high division but its FA football all the same. Last week (we won 2-0) I played my preferred right wing position and in the 2nd half felt like I was starting to get into the game. My last competitive match was at the end of September 2006 on a near perfect pitch on a beautiful sunny day at Jubilee Park in Richmond, NZ. This week I played as a centre midfielder which is not a position I am that familiar with! I had a pretty high work rate for the whole game but again my 2nd half felt better and I got a lot more hungry in challenging for the ball. Everyone seemed real happy with my performance and all commented on my work rate and that I must be tired! We drew 2-2 but should have won but for some dubious refereeing. He struggled to control the game, made some bad decisions and then it spiralled downhill. Some of our players got frustrated and he just yellow carded anyone that talked back. He also pulled them up for swearing which they often get away with in this league. So i think 4 yellow cards were issued to our team and there was much heated shouting and arguing. It damaged the match really. This team doesn't train and I think next season I will want to find a team that does train and play in a higher league. I am soon to switch to beach volleyball on Saturdays I hope--can't wait!!

100% PURE NZ

2008-01-31T00:07:00.000Z

My daily commute takes me through Victoria Station. Down at the platform on the Victoria underground line I now see 2 large advertising screens playing video footage of New Zealand. For me its a little slice of home in a big dirty grey city. Ahhhhh!!! Click on the title above to see why Kiwis are sooo proud of our country and why I love it soo much!

OBAMA '08

2008-01-27T23:39:00.000Z

Well the race is really hotting up! I am loving the contest and interest created by this years US election and it is seemingly getting more Americans interested in voting. To summarize some of my opinions I would say:

1. All the Republican candidates are what you would expect a Hollywood depiction of the American President to look like--not real but good actors and I would seriously hope none of them become the leader of the most powerful nation in the world.

2. The more Hillary Clinton speaks the less she convinces me she could rule the nation let alone deal with foreign affairs (not to mention the gender issues she would face trying to be taken seriously in places such as the Middle East where females are under complete subjugation)

3. The more Bill Clinton speaks the more he makes himself and his wife look desperate to be back in power. He also seems to make her look weak and unable to be the leader she needs to be.

4. The more Obama speaks the more you see something special. This might just be the time that come 2016 both American citizens and many others around the world could be saying we wish he could stay on for a 3rd term.

So if you are a US citizen then do the research and see why you shouldn't vote Obama!!

Online at home again!

2008-01-26T21:55:00.001Z

Yep today I finally got internet hooked up. Nothing is simple in this country! Business systems seem to be the cause of most of the problems. I tried to pay my phone bill online but no thats not possible, not only could I not pay it from my bank account online but I also couldn't pay it on the phone networks website even tho it said I could. Customer Services assured me it wouldnt work and she didnt know why it said online that I could! In fact paying for things seems to always be a hassle. So many places won't take card unless you spend over 5 GBP and some places just dont take card at all. They are still very reliant on cash and cheques are still widely in use it seems. On Friday our boiler quit working meaning no heat in the house and no hot water either! The earliest an engineer can get here to fix it is Tuesday!! You would think they have after hours call outs esp. in Winter but no. So we are all rugged up in our freezing cold house and will have to find somewhere for a shower before Tuesday! Went to a soccer game today with a local club. I could get a game with them next week. They don't train however so I may keep hunting for a club that trains. I would love to get involved with a semi-pro club as it seems that most others dont take training very seriously at this stage in the season. Have found a beach volleyball venue in Brighton and they want coaches so have asked me to come down and see them. They are even hosting the World Under 21 Champs in September. Meanwhile back in NZ, Anna improved again on the NZ Pro Tour with a 17th and 3 13th placings. Check her out here!

2007-12-31T17:54:00.000Z

Hannah and I

2007-12-31T17:51:00.000Z

Hannah and Andy

Hannah's wedding day!

2007-12-31T17:39:00.003Z

Saturday was a crisp blue sky day! Rather more like a Nelson winters day than an English one! As I sat in the train on my 70 minute journey from Clapham Junction to Reading there wasn't a cloud in the sky. At Reading I changed trains and went on to Pangbourne. Here i followed Hannah's great directions and found the church a short walk from the small station. I was really in the country now! I was plenty early but a few others were there already so I sat and waited as I knew no one other than Hannah! I introduced myself to Andy--her fiance as he was greeting guests as they arrived. At about 1pm the minister began the service and shortly after Hannah entered the church. She had 3 bridesmaids each of them accompanied by a flower girl. The service had the traditional Church of England bits but also was unique to Hannah and Andy and had some great songs with a band from the Putleys church. It was a really nice old country church and a great setting for a great wedding! After the ceremony I met Hannah's parents and her Dad arranged some of their friends to look after me for the afternoon and give me a ride to the dance reception. They had a family reception in the afternoon and then we all arrived at around 7:30. The people that took me introduced me to a few others and then I met Hannah's sister and some of Andy family. His family are from Newcastle and have brilliant accents! We had a great time dancing and eating and drinking. Met some really nice people and had a great time. Most of all was so good to be celebrating Hannah and Andy's commitment to each other--Andy is a really nice guy and I'm sure they will be a great couple! Getting home was a challenge as I missed the last direct train from Reading to Clapham so took a train into Paddington but by the time I got there(12:40am) the tube was closed so had to take the bus to Trafalger Square and then another bus to Clapham Junction and then walk 30 mins home! Even tho its December 29 it wasn't freezing outside at 2am!

Lost?

2007-12-31T17:39:00.001Z

Ok so I've had the week off and after Christmas not much to do so I got the Lost Series 3 DVD's out and have just finished watching all 23 episodes! Finally we have got some answers and much developments but it is still wide open in season 4 for where they may take us! There was a glimpse tho that they will be rescued from the island. Another brilliant season tho and can't wait for more!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-23T14:15:00.000Z

Ok so its been a while since I wrote on here! A lot has happened in that time! I am now living in south London and working for All Souls Church in central London. All Souls Church is a well known church of which John Stott was rector for many years. Christianity Explored has also come from All Souls. I am the church coordinator meaning I handle all the day to day management of the church--bookings, events and heaps of other things that crop up! It is very interesting and varied with lots of challenges along the way. I have a great flat in London with 3 Christian flatmates. Its a big warm house with large rooms which is kinda unusual for London!

I play touch rugby every Saturday and have been running a bit too. Hoping to join a soccer club in the new year. If anyone is over this way you are welcome to come and stay!!

It's been amazing to see God lead me this year from NZ to Indiana and now to London. Thank you to all of those praying for me and writing emails to me. I will try to write more on this blog next year! God bless you all over Christmas.

2007-08-04T04:57:00.000+01:00

Me with my beautiful friend, Molly.

2007-07-15T05:18:00.000+01:00

July 4th Fireworks

2007-07-15T05:16:00.000+01:00

2007-07-15T05:14:00.000+01:00

Awesome fireworks!!

2007-07-15T01:29:00.000+01:00

Looking across Lake Tippecanoe. You can see the 5 pontoons loaded with fireworks in position!

2007-07-15T01:27:00.000+01:00

The lake house and the guest house!!

the boys

2007-07-15T01:25:00.000+01:00

Josh, Josh, Heath, Me, Alex, and Theo

Fireworks!!

2007-07-15T00:59:00.000+01:00

Saturday means up early (7:30am) and out to cart luggage from the cabins up to the tennis court for parents to pickup. Then I supervise the whole of the camp cleanup. Make sure everthing gets cleaned and picked up etc etc. This is all done by 11:30am hopefully and then we have a short staff meeting and lunch and are off for 24 hours! Normally I work on looking after the few campers that stay over Saturday nights but last weekend I had Saturday off. Home to shower and sleep and watch TV (Wimbledon). Around 7:30 most of the staff meet and car pool 5 mins down the road to the Schwartz house. (Rachel is on staff) She lives on Tippecanoe lake and they have a great house with a big lush front lawn going down to the lake. They have a big party every year for July 4th with all 130 of their employees and family members there. We got some great food and hung out, then we watched as police boats escorted 5 large barge pontoons into position in the lake. Another boat further away played music which could be heard clearly right across the lake. Hundreds of boats swamped the lake their lights making the lake look like a sea of stars! It was incredible!! All around the lake shore on all sides their are houses with fireworks going off. At 10:30pm the show started and it went for 30 minutes! It was the biggest and most awesome fireworks I have ever seen! I was right out on the dock in a deck chair and the booms were huge and the fireworks massive and impressive! The finale was huge with so many going off all together! We ate a lot of really nice pie-apple pie, blackberry pie, pecan pie, and strawberry pie. OOoo it was good! It was such a cool nite and they were great hosts!! Thanks Rachel and your family!

Thursday & Friday

2007-07-07T04:22:00.000+01:00

Thursday

Sleep in! Yay! Woken mid morning by my friend Molly texting me. Laxed all morning. After lunch and a quick catch up in the office, I finished putting tents away from the campouts earlier in the week. They were finally all dry. Then I started writing mid summer evaluations. I like doing them but don't like the time it takes thinking them through! I have to write evaluations for the counselors that work with me in the teen program (Challengers). Thursday evening I spike my hair up and emcee Mock Rock. Each cabin sing/dances/performs a song and we have judges and select the best boy and girls cabins. We alternate weeks with the Mock Rock and a skit night. They can be a lot of fun with some hilarious acts. I am kept on my toes doing all the music and announcing each act. Praise God for Ipods! I am also MOD on Thursday nite so its another late night.

Friday

Write some more evaluations and then find there is a volleyball class today so rush out to teach that. Kinda hard with 8 kids of varying ages and abilities and Fridays are really a recreational class rather than a teaching class. We have a pretty decent beach volleyball court and I got new outlines, a new net and proper beach volleyballs so that all helps! Back to the evaluations. There are always plenty of interruptions along the way to doing anything. Someone to help or get something for. 4PM I load the station wagon with the food etc for a banquet at the North Village. This is a pretty cool event. The teen boys arrive there early and clean the pavilion up and set the picnic tables putting candles on them etc. We have a big new grill there and so we grill Italian chicken breasts putting pineapple and cheese on them as they finish cooking. We serve bread sticks, corn on the cob and raw baby carrots. Followed by watermelon. The teen girls dress up for dinner not knowing what they are going to or where. Their counselors take them to the dock where they get on the pontoon boat and are transported to the North Village. At the dock there waiting are some of the boys and a counselor playing guitar. The girls are escorted to the pavilion and given drinks. Once all the ladies are there 2 of the older boys say grace and explain to the girls that they want to be gentlemen to them tonight. The boys wait on the ladies tables and there is live music and a fire in the fire pit. I am kept busy helping cook on the grill and overseeing everything else as well. The ladies have a great time and the boys hopefully learn something! I clean up after it all and take stuff back to the main kitchen and clean some more! Read over some of the camper survey forms just filled out and then catch the end of the closing ceremony. Help clean up after that and after talking to 2 boys who have been fighting with each other head home for a shower and some icecream and to write this and watch the Letterman show!

Wednesday-Independance Day

2007-07-05T05:04:00.000+01:00

There was a bit of rain overnite so the girls camping out got a little damp! Lots of wet tents for me to hang up to dry. Having obtained a soldering iron I also worked on the radio antenna. Got it all put together and after a bit of brain scratching managed to get all the equipment set up and working. Was cool to hear myself on radio when I tested it! 107.9 fm- sorry you probably are not close enough to tune in! Late afternoon and back to the campout site to roll up tents and sleeping bags now they were dry. Then dinner time! Dinner tonite was good! Chicken breasts and spaghetti and garlic bread and corn. After dinner I set up for Party at the Point. I do this every Wednesday night for the teenage campers. The point is a really nice piece of land that juts out into the lake. I set up tiki torches and had Adam build a huge fire right on the end of the point. We have some picnic tables under a willow tree on the point with giant checkers and cards on them. Have hillbilly golf and bocce ball (petanque), hoola hoops and beach volleyball. I set up the portable sound system and lights (red white and blue lights tonite being July 4th). Around 9pm the kids arrive and my volunteers start serving drinks. We had made fruit punch which they served with sherbet icecream and little umbrellas for decoration! After the sunset there were a lot of fireworks going off all around the lake making it a very pretty evening! By the time its all cleaned up and I come home its almost midnite but I can sleep in tomorrow. A good day today!

Tuesday-Honesty Day

2007-07-04T13:27:00.000+01:00

One of my jobs at camp is Director of land sports. I oversee all the land sport classes and make sure they have the equipment they need etc. Being Wimbledon week today we got some new tennis balls out! My morning was mostly checking those classes. We have 3 activity periods a day--2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. After a leadership meeting, I began setting up the radio studio. Our plan is to run our own station so we have basic equipment to send out a signal around camp. This evening the teen girls went on campout so I made sure they had what they needed and helped start 1 of the fires. After dinner I did some office work but had a headache and didnt feel so good--maybe I didn't drink enough water today. Not the most exciting day but still a good day!

Sunday and Monday

2007-07-03T03:47:00.000+01:00

Sunday--Up at 8:30 to serve breakfast for the stay over campers. Clean up and tidy up loose ends before my time off starts around 11am. Home to shower, eat and fall asleep on the couch watching sports on tv. Around 6pm I walk over to the Scotts place just around the lake a little bit. (they manage another camp—smaller than Crosley) Eat dinner with them and their staff. They have a small summer staff of 8 and I find it so relaxing going over there and just hanging out. Rebecca Scott is like my Mom over here and always makes me feel like it’s my home. Go to Wallmart, don’t buy anything but going to Wallmart is just something you do when you have nothing to do! Back to the Scotts to watch a movie. Overall a relaxing day! I miss getting to church tho but we are starting week 5 of summer camp so are halfway thru now.

Monday--Aaahhhh sleep in day! I love to sleep in! Up around 10:30am and off to the office at midday. (the end of my 24 hours off for the week) Office work and bits and pieces today and then preparing for the boys campout and taking them over to set up camp. Back for dinner--meat pies!! Wow unheard of in America but our cook made awesome meat pies and they tasted kinda like my Gran used to make them! Tonite I was MOD-Manager on Duty, so that means visiting every cabin around bed time and checking on them, talking to a counselor from each cabin etc. Then locking up the dining hall, staff lounge and office before leaving around 11pm. Some nites it can be a lot later--luckily tonite is a quiet nite so ill be home on time!

A week in my life during summer camp-Saturday

2007-07-01T03:56:00.000+01:00

Up at 6am to watch the All Black beat Australia. But the idiots went and handed it to the aussies. How did we lose that? 7:45 and I'm in the truck loading luggage from cabins and taking it to the tennis courts. I organize the crew to move it all and direct traffic and start cleaning camp. 220 campers checked out this morning in about a 90 minute period so kinda crazy! Check camp is getting cleaned and direct the ants to where they need to go. 11:30am staff meeting to close the week off. Lunch, a leadership meeting and then I sort out lost and found and trash and help the 8 counsellors who are looking after the 20 campers who are staying over tonite. These kids are at camp for at least another week yet! Do a general cleanup all around camp putting things away. Take laundry to the laundrymat for campers and then pick up pizza and pop and icecream for the 30 of us for dinner. More odd ends in the evening and some prep for next week/office work. Its a quiet day at camp and kinda nice really!! 11pm now and time to do bed time medications and sign off for the day!

Pics from my bikeride

2007-05-01T02:44:00.000+01:00

2007-05-01T02:40:00.000+01:00

Stark comparison. All around the lake and in fact most of Indiana looks like this! Corn fields!

2007-05-01T02:38:00.000+01:00

Camp Crosley Dining hall from across the lake

2007-05-01T02:36:00.000+01:00

Lake Tippecanoe--someones lakehouse

Music and mountainbiking

2007-05-01T02:29:00.000+01:00

It’s been a busy 2 weeks! Have had outdoor education groups each Thursday and Friday and cub scouts and princesses on the weekends. 6 days work and 1 day off (Tuesday)! So yesterday it was nice to finish work around 2pm and then Richard took me to Wabash for a Michael W Smith concert. It was the Stand Tour which is a church tour but we were in a large theatre which is very modern and was really impressive. We had great seats by the sound desk and the acoustics were awesome. Started with some worship songs and led into some songs from the Stand album. Christa Black played violin while singing a solo and Michael Olson played 2 songs for us as well. It was an acoustic set with Smitty on piano, Christa on violin and guitar, Michael Olson on guitar and another guy on keyboard and the computer with percussion etc. They played Carolina from the Freedom album and This is Your Time (the tribute to Cassie Bernall from Columbine) After an intermission Michael W played a melody of his classics from the 1st decade and then the band came out and they just kept playing! Played us a new song from his next album (will be a Christmas album) played the music video of the song he wrote for Whitney his daughter leaving home to go to college. Finished on Healing Rain which was so cool and that led into everyone standing and singing How Great thou Art. Then there was an encore which of course was Friends! All up nearly 3 hours and a brilliant concert. Michael challenged everyone to sponsor children thru Compassion but also challenged the church to be active outside the 4 walls and change this world. Today was my day off so I slept in and then watched super 14 rugby, cooked bacon and this afternoon went for a big bike ride. I biked all the way around James Lake and Tippecanoe Lake and saw a lot of really nice expensive lake houses. Was a good couple of hours riding and then rode around the Wetlands that camp owns across the other side of the lake. We will do some campouts over there during the summer-it’s a huge area (couple hundred acres) with a few tracks thru the bush but needs a lot of maintenance done and then ongoing management. It was a beautiful day here today and so nice to be out biking by the lake and exploring this area.

Sunset from my cottage

2007-04-23T16:29:00.000+01:00

Deck outside dining hall

2007-04-16T22:03:00.000+01:00

Jumping Pillow

2007-04-16T21:49:00.000+01:00

Just installed last week-it is tiring!

History Makers, Rebecca & Angels!

2007-04-06T21:01:00.000+01:00

Wow! Thursday 5 April was an incredible day! Only 2 days earlier I had pretty much given up hope of gettting to Illinois for the Worship Revolution Tour concert. Then God provided an angel (named Amanda) who is also a big Delirious fan to pick me up from camp and drive the 8 hours with me to Quincy, Illinois! 8 hours proved to be 9 hours when deep in conversation we missed a turn and went the wrong way for a quite a while before realising we were heading north towards Chicago-whoops! It was snowing when we left camp which I guess is crazy for this time of year and the outside temp was below freezing! We finally got to Quincy at 7pm and ran into the concert at about 7:05-Rebecca St James had just started. She sang some of her songs (including Wait for Me!) and some other worship songs-she led the worshippers brilliantly and challenged us to worship God through purity in our relationships. After an intermission, Delirious played-their performance was incredible! Sang mostly songs off their latest album, Mission Bell, but of course threw in History Maker and Over the Mountains. They challenged us to be Jesus in the community and that our worship through music can change lives out there. They got us to face the outside walls of the theatre and shout to the north, south, east and west like there was no roof on the building so the community could hear us. Man what a noise! It was so freeing to worship God in that environment-the music inspires such a response! I am pretty sure its the best worhsip service/concert I have been to-Third Day at Parachute Festival would be right up there too tho, back when it was at Totara Springs. Then Amanda and I drove 8 hours back to camp-I was falling asleep, I dunno how she stayed awake to drive all that way. An incredible 20 hours with stimulating car conversation and the most awesome, inspiring concert. Thanks so much to Amanda for taking me and thank God for History Makers, Rebecca and Angels!

Sports and travel.

2007-03-27T23:19:00.000+01:00

I am not enjoying the fact that I am not currently playing any sports. I havent done any physical exercise since I left NZ. Not good!! But I last week I got satellite TV and bought the Satenta Sports channel which has rugby and soccer 24/7! All the Super 14, Tri Nations, World Cup, Air NZ cup, 6 Nations, and all the english, irish, and south african rugby. It also has aussie rules and rugby league! And on the soccer front it has English premiership and all European championship games and all internationals! So its pretty sweet! I still hope to find some soccer or volleyball even if I am coaching!

Last week I spent 2 days in Muncie which is where our YMCA head office is. Its 2 hours south of here east of Indianapolis. I was making a movie with my director for an important meeting. I also managed to get the technology to all come together for the meeting and it went flawlessly! It was a bit of a challenge as had to change laptops at the last minute and incorporate another slideshow of financial graphs and charts etc! but I like that challenge and pressure!

This last weekend Mark and I left at 6am Saturday morning and drove to Chicago again. This time we were at another big convention centre beside a hotel on the south side of Chicago. This expo we took a mini motorbike and a horse saddle and a wakeboard with a short piece of pvc pipe to put under the wakeboard so it was like a low see saw thing. We got kids to stand on the board and try to balance the board on the pvc pipe. We had a ski rope they could hold onto to help themselves. Well we had no idea it would be a hit! We had kids lined up from 9am till 4pm! The show closed at 5pm. At times I counted 16-20 kids crowded round our little booth with their parents! Their was a camp across from us with no one at their stall—they had 1 guy who looked disinterested and they had nothing really much as a display. We have a big colourful display board we put on the table at the back of our booth. Sat night we stayed in the hotel next door to the centre which was real nice. I spent ages in the indoor heated pool after dinner in the restaurant. I have been in hotels a lot lately! Sunday was just as crazy. We had lines again all day. We gave out about 800 brochures in the 2 days!

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on computers! We have a new one so I had to set that up and then for the summer I will be working with the multimedia stuff which includes making movies of each camp and getting photos on the internet each week and getting kids to write journalistic stories of camp.

Little things and a BIG wedding!

2007-03-18T04:07:00.000Z

Sometimes its the little things that make the difference. Both positively and negatively! This week I've noticed a few. This week I met the cook (Renae) and her husband (Mike) who is head of maintenance. Renae is a Settlers of Katan player so on Wednesday nite I found myself invited to Richards house to play settlers and I got fed some great dessert! I lost Settlers to Renae by one turn but now I know how she plays a little and I can't wait for many more games! Other little things were finding I can buy an extra sports channel for only $15 a month which has all rugby competitions in all countries including the World Cup live and all English and European soccer--awesome!! But on the flip side the Cricket world cup is $200 for all games live--i just want to see NZs games and cant afford that! But again on the flip side of that I found Radio Sport streaming online and I live in the same time zone as the West Indies! So I can listen to Brian Waddle! Thursday nite all the staff went to Steves house for dinner and had a great feed and then played this cool game called Apples to Apples. (I think Renae is a big game lover so I'm happy about that!) Then there is the "little" issue of waiting for my first pay cheque--I understood it would be this week but now have been told April 2! And as already mentioned lack of internet and phone line and lack of my own transport are more little things. So some positive and some negative, the little things make the difference. You notice these things more when you are trying to live over the other side of the world. I am conscious that this trip is different to past trips in that I am planning to be here a lot longer and want to be able to function without always feeling like the alien! In my country I know how everything works but over here I know nothing!

Well Bekis wedding was a huge highlight for me. I had always planned to be over here for it and today was the day. Being St Patricks Day and as Beki lives in Dublin, Ohio you will see in the pics below she wore green on her dress and the bridesmaids dresses were also green. The ceremony was simple and elegant--flowed nicely and had live string instruments. Beki looked stunning of course and had her 3 sisters as bridesmaids. I hadnt met Kevin before but Beki tells me I'll like him and he seems nice! I met Beki back in 1999 when her college roommate Heather picked me up from Columbus, Ohio to take me to Kamp Kanakuk in Missouri. We stayed at Beki's house in Indianapolis on the was thru and Beki and I have been great friends ever since. Really like a sister to me, Beki has always been there for me and I for her over the past 8 years. There have been many emails and phone calls and 4 visits by me. We have and still do encourage and challenge and pray for the other one in our life journeys. Thank you Beki for your friendship--its unparalleled! God bless you and Kevin! Was great to see Charity again and also Heather and the Shepler family.

Bekis wedding

2007-03-18T04:04:00.000Z

Cutting the cake

2007-03-18T04:02:00.000Z

Kevin and Beki (centre) with Charity and me

Camp Crosley on Little Tippecanoe Lake!

2007-03-14T13:06:00.000Z

What a huge change in seasons! Today was a beautiful warm sunny day! Daylight Savings began on Sunday meaning a longer evening and I’m sitting here in my lounge with the windows open—the air is warm! I’ve been at camp for 10 days now and all of last week was cold with snow everywhere. I finally left LA after waiting around in the airport for ages cause of delays at Chicago. Landed at Chicago in snow and my onward flight to Southbend was cancelled. So i had to get a hotel for the night-it was snowing and cold! The next morning I went back to the airport and got a bus to Southbend. It was a 2 hour trip and the further we went the heavier the snow got. At Southbend my camp director met me and I went to ask about my bags. Of course they were still in Chicago so they delivered them to me 24 hours later. At Camp Crosley I have a little cabin/house about 40 metres from the lake edge and fairly close to the main camp buildings. It has 2 bedrooms and a lounge/kitchen area and bathroom. It has heating and air con and washer/dryer so I have pretty much everything I need. I managed to get satellite TV as my director has it in his house so I can get it for $5 /month! 250 channels! I don’t have a phone line or internet tho which is a pain. Cell phone plans are expensive and pre paid hardly exists and they make you pay for incoming calls so don’t think I will be getting a phone. I have internet at the office and hope to get mobile internet on my laptop. So far work has been in the office on the computer. I have my own office space and desk and computer/phone etc. I have been going through all the files stored on the network server and sorting them into logical folders. Quite a big task!

Early morning at Camp Crosley

2007-03-13T18:57:00.000Z

I disturbed the birds--this is the only part of the lake not frozen over so the birds are all here!

2007-03-05T22:55:00.000Z

my cabin/house

pics at Camp Crosley

2007-03-05T22:51:00.000Z

View from my house to the frozen lake!

Stuck in Chicago

2007-03-04T16:33:00.000Z

View from my hotel window in Chicago!

Huntington Beach

2007-03-04T16:31:00.000Z

Tracy & Katie Lindquist training. I had a game with Dave Lindquist (Tracy's Dad) and some other guys)

Los Angeles

2007-03-02T06:02:00.000Z

Yep I'm in LA--Huntington Beach to be exact. 11pm March 1st I left Auckland on a new Boeing 777-200. I had a bunch of trouble with my hand luggage weighing 14kgs and only allowed 7kgs. My check in bags were 4kgs underweight so I had to go back to check in and take 4kgs of stuff out of my hand luggage bag and put in a big plastic bag to be checked in. The empty hand luggage bag weighed 4kg!! Then all the way upstairs to the viewing deck to find Mum and Dad who had said goodbye and were waiting to see me go thru to the gates. Gave them a bunch of books to cut my weight down more and then my bag weighed 8.5kgs and they were happy with that. Also had my laptop bag which weighed 6.5kgs. So I got to LA about 1:40pm local time after a rather bumpy ride at times. One bump got a considerable reaction from the passengers as we dropped a bit of altitude! Customs was pretty quick and easy with no questions asked whatsoever. Homeland security is sure secure! But then I guess I have a visa from a recognised government agency so that probably helps me. Jessica met me and took me straight to Huntington Beach where I found Tracy Lindquist playing beach with her sister. Her Dad was playing with some other guys so I joined in with them for a game. It was sunny but only about 15 deg and a cold wind. Home to Jess's place for a shower and relax until dinner. We went to Taco Surf--a cool mexican restaurant by the beach. Of course I had Dr Pepper! Then a drive to Signal Hill which is a bump near Long Beach and from the lookout up top you get awesome views of LA city in all directions. So many lights! (And so much smog!) Got some icecream on the way home and now it's bed time as tomorrow I fly off to Chicago and then South Bend Indiana where it is cold and snowing. Tomorrows high will be about 3 degrees I think! Will post some pics soon.

February is hot in Nelson

2007-02-19T20:29:00.000Z

Been back in Nelson for just over 2 weeks and its been hot and sunny and this week even hotter! Waitangi day we had the Tasman Open Beach Volleyball tournament which I played with Hamish Ballagh. We finished 4th after having 3 match points to finish 3rd and stupidly losing it! Anna and Bella also finished 3rd. It was the best beach tournament we have had here since the pro tour used to come to Nelson. Check my Tasman Volleyball website for more details and pics. My temp agency couldn't find me any work so I have done some volleyball coaching and administration etc, built the Hope Church website and had 3 days working for a guy from church preparing his driveway for sealing. Last Friday night was touch finals. We won our semi 4-2 against Waimea College and then played Nelson College in the finals. It was 2-1 to us when Tim's knee gave way, letting a try in to make 2-2. I then made a run down the side line almost full length of the pitch before a diving defender touched me and then he dislocated his shoulder as he landed! Second half and we were missing Tim and let 3 quick tries in. We couldnt come back from that and final score was 7-4. A great game tho!

My cousin Danella and her husband Rick have been living here as they have just had their first child-Thomas. So I have seen plenty of the baby and been learning plenty about having them!! Only 3 days left in sunny Nelson before I head to Auckland for the Volleyball NZ Beach Champs on the weekend and then 4 days at Mum and Dads before flying to the USA.

Americans at Stanley St Beach Volleyball

2007-02-04T01:55:00.000Z

My best softball pic!

2007-02-04T01:53:00.000Z

Young Life sports camp team

2007-02-04T01:51:00.000Z

Sports Camp & Parachute

2007-01-29T23:09:00.000Z

Friday I drove down to Totara Springs and joined in with the Young Life team for Sports Camp. Camp staff put me in this team as I knew no one that was going. But it was the perfect team for me. First most of the teams were island teams and I'm just a skinny white boy from the south island but the Young Life team had no islanders in it. Second Ed Roper was one of the team leaders. I worked with Ed at Kamp Kanakuk back in 2000! So that was pretty crazy! God put me in that team for sure! Was a pretty cool weekend, despite losing soccer semi in a shootout and getting hammered in volleyball! I came 6th in the 3.3km cross country so was pretty happy about that. Our girls came 2nd, 3rd, and 4th! Our soccer team was pretty awesome but our semi was against the other good team in camp. Nil all at full time meant a shootout. Our first penalty was a miss and then everyone on both teams put the rest in. I took our last shot and put it in in my usual spot! The keeper didnt even move for my kick--had no chance!! We realised at the end of the camp when we saw the total points that by winning the soccer and then one other final such as the mens hockey (where we felt the referree robbed us by disallowing a goal) we could have got enough points to win the whole camp overall! We finished 4th out of 11 teams and runner up in the sportsmanship award. Our girls won hockey and indoor soccer and us boys won indoor hockey. We also won lawn bowls and one hole golf. We came runner up in mens hockey, softball, girls indoor hockey, cross country, and kayaking. Ken Youngson, founder of Quantum Sports was the speaker and challenged us to guard our hearts. Our hearts are so important as athletes. If our hearts are in the right place our sporting performance will be better. Also met Eroni Clarke--he gave his testimony.

Saturday night I drove over to Mystery Creek to attend Parachute for the evening. Met up with some Nelson mates and saw a bit of the Lads with Kristian playing with them. Hung out with Chevy (Kristian and Chevy got married last weekend in Nelson and I missed the wedding). Then watched Rebecca St James in her first ever Parachute performance. She played a mixture of her older and new songs and even included "Wait For Me"!! Thousand Foot Krutch followed her on Mainstage but were a little dissappointing with the lead singer seemingly without much voice--could hardly hear him. He also had nothing much to say between songs. They used a kiwi guitarist for the first time also--dunno where their guitarist was. The song "Absolute" sounded good tho.

Was a cool weekend and made some good mates from the Young Life team. Nelson sports camp is just as good--less sports and less people but the food is way better at Teapot Valley!

Crazy month

2007-01-25T10:50:00.000Z

The Pro Beach Tour for 2007 is over! Boxing Day we left Nelson in the Biopaints WRX and drove to Auckland. 2 days there and picked up Sara and her Mom from Vanuatu and then Tiffany from USA. Drove to Tauranga for beach tournament. Check out the new website for Anna & Bella for more details on the trip. We drove 4000kms in just over 3 weeks, in Wellington my car window got smashed and a couple of small things got stolen. I played at the Matarangi tournament with average results--can't expext much better with a new partner who was a young guy fairly new to the beach. I really want to play the whole tour next year and if can get paid to referee I may quit being a sandy and just play and ref next year. In Auckland last week we finally got better weather after a lot of wind and overcast days and even some rain. Had a great finish to the tour. I now have my new laptop and it is soo good! Tomorrow I am off to sports camp at Totara Springs for my first time which should be great. And Saturday night I will go to Parachute to see Rebecca St James and Thousand Foot Krutch play. Should be a great weekend. Also this week I was approved for my visa to the USA so the plan is to head over there the first or second of March. I am already doing work for my camp by recruiting staff for the summer. I can't wait to head over but first I will have about 3 more weeks in Nelson. Sarah and Tiffany flew back out this week and so did Anna and Bella so its just me left here now! I can't handle the mosquitos at my parents place when I'm trying to sleep so tonite I'm at my sisters house!! Lol this blog is jumping all over the place. Just brought 230 bales of hay in tonite for Dad. It's so hot! Off to shower and bed.

What a day!! God is good!

2006-12-19T09:51:00.000Z

Today started like usual with me at the computer checking emails and working out my plan of action for the day. I was looking at my list of businesses I had asked for sponsorship and was thinking I would not do any more work this week on that. I just had to pick up 2 profiles from companies I hadn't yet heard back from. I was waiting for a lady to come and look at my TV and she had sounded like she was pretty keen so I was happy about that. Well then God seemed to kick a whole series of events into action! My phone rang and a guy said I had emailed him yesterday asking for sponsorship. He asked if I had got any yet. When I said no he said "I'll do it"!!! I was taken aback and then he said "I'll do the whole lot!" I wanted to jump up and down and then I heard a voice at the front door and knew the lady was here to see the TV. I was chatting to Bella on MSN and trying to type to tell her we had sponsorship all at the same time! I walked to the front door so they could see I was on the phone. Anyway then the lady bought my TV, then I rang Bella and Anna to tell them all about it. Anna was crying on the phone!! So we began a hectic day of talking to the printshop, visiting the sponsor company-Biopaints, buying clothing, getting the logo from the design company and taking it all to the print shop- Imagegear, and praying they will get it printed this week! At one stage I had parked my car in Trafalger St and completely forgot about paying for parking. I got back to my car to find someone had put their unused ticket under my window wipers and I still had 20 minutes left! In the Warehouse I needed 10 cents to not have to break a $20 note and a lady in the next que just pulled out 10 cents and said "Merry Christmas!"

Back home Bella and Anna started on my extreme makeover. We had already bought me jandals (I lost my last pair in April and hadn't replaced them) so they started by dying my hair dark blonde. Then they waxed and plucked my eyebrows. Next was lighter streaks for my hair and then hair removal cream on my chest! After I washed all that out in the shower I was disturbed to find my hair had gone orange! In the middle of all this drama my phone rang and it was my brother Tim in Brisbane phoning to say that HP were going to replace my laptop with a brand new one and he should be posting it tomorrow!! I told him I was having a great day and said we had got sponsorship. He said he had been thinking about sponsoring and offered to build the girls a free website! So it's not online yet but it will be www.annabellanz.com. We were all again excited and exclaimed that God was indeed good and wow has He had a party with us today! Bring on tomorrow!! We are so excited as now we can focus on playing beach and not worry about the other stuff. Anna and Bella are now in the top 20 women in NZ and I am excited to see what they can do on the tour! Last Sunday we had the Brightwater Classic, the girls won and I came second in the mens with Cory Schroder. I think I am playing my best beach volleyball ever right now.

I leave Nelson on boxing day for the tour and don't plan to come back before heading to the USA beginning of Feb depending on the visa. So its a busy pack up week for me. I finished work last week and its so nice not to be working this last week here.

Vanuatu--Nov 2006

2006-12-15T20:23:00.000Z

Saturday 25th

Flew to Auckland arriving 6pm. Jennie Tiers met us and took us to our hotel and then out for dinner. Not a lot of sleep as up at 4:30am to go to airport.

Sunday 26th

Flew to Port Vila-3 hours. Hot and humid! Debbie and Troy met us and Troy took us to Mele Village. This is the largest village in the whole of Vanuatu--3000 people. Here we stay in the chiefs area in a huge house which is very clean and has electricity. Much flasher than the rest of the houses in the village. We are treated like royalty! Awesome meals are prepared for us.

Troy is an ex MLB player from Texas (played for Oakland Raiders) and now owns Erakor Island Resort. After settling in for an hour another American-Doug-picks us up in his big Chevy Suburban and drives us to a resort called Club Ippique. We spend the afternoon here having a beach vball fundraiser. So we play beach and east a BBQ and swim in the lagoon. It rained real heavy tropical showers too. Meet a lot of ex-pats. Then back to Mele for a cold shower (no hot water at all) and dinner. Met Sara from USA is working with the Peace Corp on the island fo Pentecost. She's really cool and can speak the local gibberish-Bislama (a mixture of bad English and French!) so makes a great guide! It gets dark at like 7pm and light at 5am so we go to bed at like 9am.

Monday 27th

Awaken by roosters at 5:20am. I doze off some until Anna and Bella wake me again at about 7am. Its hot and sunny already so up for a cold shower and off to breakfast. French toast and bread and jam and sweet ripe bananas. After breakfast we catch the bus into town. Buses are just Toyota Hiace vans that work kinda like taxis but with set fares. Danny is our driver-he plays soccer for Mele and knows Batram, Clifford and Mike Fifi! Sara shows us around Port Vila, its much hotter and sunnier and stickier today! After lunch at a cafe (where Anna and Bella find grubs crawling in their muesli!) we go on a ferry across to an island about 400 metres of the mainland. Its Irariki Island Resort. Here we get fruit punch and swim in the pool and live it up for the afternoon. 4pm and Danny picks us up again and takes us back to the village. We meet other athletes arriving and then have an official welcoming ceremony. We are given lays to wear and the chief makes a speech, we drink Kava (yuk!) and have a huge meal. The hut we eat in is all decorated and again we are treated like royalty. 9pm-another cold shower and off to bed with the fan on full. I can see 2 geckos on my ceiling tonite!

Tuesday 28

Woken at 2:30 am by roosters crowing again! They crow all day and night--weird! Today me and the girls went to Breakers resort and swam and lay out again. It has a really nice pool and and a white sandy beach. I walk further down the beach to where they are diggin out sand for the new beach vball courts in town. They had got the loader stuck so I had a go but got it stuck too! The beach had plenty of rubbish on it--cans right down by the waters edge! Everywhere we went there was rubbish--no one seemed to care about rubbish bins. Back to town for lunch and Anna threw up in a garden on the main street! Anna and Bella went home to rest and I hung out with Sara.

Wednesday 29

Tournament sposed to start today! But the sand is still not spread on the new courts. The loader driver has no idea what we want so finally they let me in the loader and I spread the sand, we get the nets up and the Minister of Sports officially opens it. Got an interesting picture of Vanuatu time and how things work or don't work today. Sara decides to come over to NZ for our pro tour and Ory (my Israeli partner) is thinking about it too. Had a decent earthquake tonite! Also met McKenzie today-real name Mehlon?

Thursday 30

Girls played today-lost 1 won 1. Anna struggled with no energy from being sick. Real hot today but got more rain too. Weather changes real quickly. Spent $71 NZ on juice, powerade, muesli bars, chocolate and giant snakes-prob about $30 worth back in NZ! Ory took us out to dinner at the Waterfront--I had real nice BBQ ribs! Mehlon and Kelion hang out with us more--they are twins-12 years old and really good at volleyball. Real cute cool kids and really bright and fun.

Friday 1 December

Left the village today. I played 2 games with Ory winning both to advance straight to the semis. Went to Mele Cascades-- a nice waterfalls. Then moved to our new accommodation Erakor Island Resort. This is a really nice resort--just take a short ferry ride across to it. We stay in a dorm style room block. Sara comes over for dinner at the restaurant which overlooks the lagoon and is very nice. Early to bed but I'm starting to get the runs and so is Bella!

Saturday 2

Still got runs but feel OK so eat a good breakfast. Girls feel much better too. Semis and the girls play first but I need a toilet so I miss most of their first set. They don't play so well and lose. Then I play and win first set before my stomach begins to feel really bad. I end up hardly being able to move and lose the game. Then I collapse on the ground with pain and finally make my way to a disgusting toilet at the soccer stadium where I stay for about 30 minutes! I feel very weak and sick but after drinking water and resting begin to feel ok again. Watch all the finals--there are some very good men's teams here. Back to Erakor for showers before the awards presentation at the Wild Pig Bar. I win best male setter and Bella wins best female setter. Then we go to Shooters on back of Ory's Hilux. Everyone just climbs on the back of trucks day or night and drive like crazy around the city. Ory can be a maniac driver! There is no speed limits posted anywhere and road rules are look out for yourself! We only saw 1 police vehicle our whole time there and that was us passing it in an 11 seater Hiace with 14 people in it not wearing any seatbelts! Shooters was no good so took Anna, Bella and Darryn (Aussie ref) back to Erakor ferry and then Ory, me, Sara and her friend Melissa went to a house party. Mostly frenchies there and Troy and some others. Then we all decided to go to Yellow Submarine bar in town. Walked up the hill to Ory's truck where we saw a young guy lurking about. Looked suspicious so as he walked off I yelled out "Oy". He ran off and then we realized Ory's truck window was smashed and they had tried to remove the stereo. I chased but he had disappeared already. Went to town and danced in this club. Again most there were French and a lot of the guys either were gay or appeared gay. I wasn't that comfortable in there!! One guy in particular was quite disturbing--about mid 40's and wearing tight as jeans pulled right up with t-shirt tucked in and his dance moves just made us laugh and then feel sick!! He only seemed to want to dance with other men too. Freaky. Got back to Erakor Island about 4am-lucky the ferry runs 24 hours.

Sunday 3rd.

7am and Bella wakes me--I've had about 3 hours sleep. Pack up and off to the airport to fly home. It's been an incredible week and I really hope to return next year for some more "island time". I would love to go to some outer islands and see more of this country.

Beach vball story in the Nelson Mail

2006-10-28T03:52:00.000+01:00

Check out the main sports story in todays Nelson Mail! Click on the title above.

2006-10-08T09:45:00.000+01:00

My 3rd cousin Daisy from England came to visit for 3 days on her round the world trip. She brought 2 of her friends with her, from left is Rose, Sam, Daisy and me. It was great to find another cousin!

The winning team!

2006-09-24T19:58:00.000+01:00

Champions!!!

2006-09-24T03:32:00.000+01:00

WE WON!! We are promoted to Mainland League for 2007! We were so pumped yesterday as we beat Avon 3-1 in the home leg of our promotion/relegation series. Last Friday we travelled down to Christchurch again for the first game against Avon on Saturday which we lost 0-1. Their ground was bumpy and very small and there was a very strong wind. Really hard to play on. We had a lot of chances early that hit the post or got cleared off the line. I only played about 4 mins at the end. Yesterday was another tight, close game. Battram scored an absolute stunner against the run of play about 30 mins into the game so it was 1-0 at half time. Batty scored again not long into the second half so we led 2-0 which was enough for us to win as last weeks goal counted for them. Then they scored off a corner--the same way they scored their goal in Christchurch. 2-1 and looking like extra time. I got subbed on for Batty with about 20 mins to go and was really hopin to score the winner!! I put in a good cross to Mike Fifi that went just over his head in front of goal. Then in the 90th min, Fifi chased a ball and managed to cross it back from right on the line across the keeper and Jimmy Lattimore somehow deflected it in as he was diving across the goal! We were ecstatic and after a long 2 mins of injury time we all screamed and jumped and hugged and went crazy! Their was a big crowd their and they were all yelling for us too. The ground looked awesome, the grass was perfect and smooth and it was a perfect Nelson day! I will post a pic later. We then had a pig on a spit and our prizegiving and kept celebrating into the nite! Its been a huge year in our club and we have made history by challenging for this and winning the promotion. There is now 2 teams from Nelson in this league and 6 from Christchurch. I have loved playing in this team and although havent got much game time lately its still been an incredible journey and yesterday felt so good to get out there to play firstly and then to win!

So its been a pretty busy month!! Last Sunday I also moved out of Teapot Valley Camp and am now living with my uncle and aunty again. Its nice to be in a house again and have meals cooked! I plan to live here for the next 3 months.

The week in review

2006-09-11T11:31:00.001+01:00

Last Monday at 6:15 I got picked up for work and we drove to Golden Bay (90 mins) to work on a house at Pohara Beach. The owner has a bach (cottage) there so we stayed over. It was a fun job to work on. I cooked up dinner for everyone on Monday nite and also cooked panckaes for breakfast Tuesday. I came back home for soccer training Tues nite and went back to Golden Bay Wednesday morning. Did 2 more long days coming back for training again Thursday night.6:20 friday morning Clint and Alice picked me and took me to the airport. All the computers were down so check in was done manually meaning delays but my friend Anna made me a free chai latte at the cafe and I managed to get a direct flight to Auckland rather than stopping in Wellington. Had a nice flight up. Got a shuttle into Auckland City where we had a hotel booked. Met Kate and Mark there. The lady in reception told us it was 1.5 - 2 stars!!! It was really disgusting. Anyway we got changed and then a 10 minute walk up the street got us to St Pauls church. Cam and Chloe were married in a simple ceremony at 1:30pm and then we celebrated with champagne and wedding cake. A few hours break and then at 5:30 we went to Mantells- a cool venue in Mt Eden where we had the most sumptuous meal! The salmon and beef were so nice. Some great speeches were made-Gapesy as best man told some hilarious stories and read an email that Cam had written which was priceless!! "We are soo cool"!! Back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Saturday 9:15am arise and try out the shower. Got face scalded as cold water came and went.

9:45am Mum and Dad picked me up and we went to Parnell for breakfast to celebrate mums birthday. Happy Birthday Mum!! My sister and her husband and my niece and nephew joined us too.

11:30am Mum and Dad took me to the airport.

1pm Flight to Christhchurch. Fell asleep.

2:30pm Stew met me at the airport and took me the team motel.

4pm Light training run at St Bedes School. freezing cold--about 10 deg Celsius.

8pm Dinner at a local restaurant. Buffet all you can eat!

11pm lights out

Sunday sleep in and then rise and relax

11am check out of motel and drive to English Park. Watch some of the curtainraiser.

1pm our game kicked off and Mike fiff scored inside 1 minute!! 2 goals in the first 10 mins and 3 by halftime. I only got to play the last 8 mins but almost scored when I got the ball past the keeper only to have a defender clear it off the line. We won 3-1 meaning we sang in the showers and were very happy! After food and speeches we had a long slow ride home in the vans arriving home about 11:30pm very tired but after a fun successful weekend. But before bed I managed to watch a replay of Maria Sharapova win the US Open.

2 more sleeps to get my licence back and looking forward to our next soccer game--back in Christchurch again on Saturday.

Springtime

2006-09-01T11:30:00.000+01:00

Well I haven't written much on here lately--maybe thats a change I should make! Today was hot! Even got the aircon on in our smoko room on the building site at lunchtime. Our building is going pretty slow due to an engineer interfering but it should be speeding up next week. We are building a pretty big warehouse which will be divided up into many storage units of varying sizes. It will be known as Storageworld! Next week we will spend 2 days in Golden Bay working on a real nice beach house that the company is also building. I don't love my job but thankfully I don't hate it either! It is a means to an end. I am still looking into camping options in the USA. Tomorrow is the first playoff game against Burnside from Christchurch. I have been on the bench the last few games and it looks like that will continue. I have way more speed and fitness than our 2 starting wingers but my ball control is not always as good. Our coach has put a big emphasis this year on speed and getting into the corners and this is not happening. But hopefully I'll get some decent gametime and maybe an injury or something will give me an opening to get my spot back. Only 12 days till i get my licence back!!

changes

2006-08-20T09:32:00.000+01:00

Yep you might notice this page has changed its format. I like change--that is one thing I don't have in commmon with my beautiful region, Nelson. Maybe that is one reason I want to move away again. Here's a few changes taking place.

I'm employed!-I have been building now for 3 weeks
3 more weeks and I will get my licence back and move out of Teapot Valley
I have applied for some camping jobs in the USA but if nothing opens up there then I will stay around at least until early next year
We have 1 soccer game left before our playoff games so trainings have intensified and we are aiming to win the playoffs
It feels like winter has been and gone and spring is here as it is pretty warm most days
Getting my licence back will assist in my life being not so boring!
Summer will soon be starting and along with it beach volleyball and touch rugby
The Bucknam family is leaving our church and moving back to the USA
Cam and Chloe will be getting married in 3 weeks time so I will be flying to Auckland for the wedding. Will also be able to say Happy Birthday to Mum!

I can't wait for some more changes to come along!

Innocent Civilians?

2006-07-24T10:11:00.000+01:00

Just what is an innocent civilian? I remember asking myself that question after 9/11. Were the citizens in New York innocent? Or does one lose innocence by merely living in a country and thereby aligning oneself with that countries government and policies and also that countries culture. This week I have asked myself that again as I have watched Lebanese people displaced from their homes and listen to them talk to foreign journalists saying they are innocent and the Israelis are taking innocent lives. This was especially noticeable to me in a valley just north of the Israeli border. This valley has been a Hizbollah stronghold for 20 years with training camps held here etc. Now I suggest that any citizen who lives there has either learnt to tolerate the terrroists who live and train there or they don't really care about them or they might even like what they are doing to annoy their neighbours, the Israelis. The Lebanese have not just allowed Hizbollah to live and operate in their neighbourhood but have also allowed them to be involved in their government where they now hold about 10% of the seats and their influence is much greater than that. Would we in New Zealand stand by if the Mongrel Mob decided to turn from crime to terrroism and then attempted to get seats in our parliament? Interesting to see 60 minutes tonight where I see good kiwi citizens influencing the mongrel mob to give up crime and focus on their families and getting jobs and becoming good citizens themselves. And its working!! I believe the people make the country and whether you have a choice of government or its forced on you, people throughout the centuries have found ways to influence and change their society when needed. I think to do nothing for 20 years does not really allow you to be called an innocent civilian.

1st Division Soccer Championship Winners!

2006-07-24T09:14:00.000+01:00

Yes Saturday our 4-2 win over Marlborough sewed the title up for us. With 3 games to go we can't be beaten on points. My part in Saturdays win became very small. Thursday night at training something went crazy in my neck--Dads phone diagnosis was torticollis or wry neck which is a muscle spasm. Man it was painful! I had to stop training and could hardly move my head. 4am the next morning I awoke with huge pain--every few seconds another spasm would kick in with massive pain and then fade away. Next day it was much better and by Saturday it was all but gone. But that combined with Batram Suri joining our team put me in the reserves instead of starting. Batram had a great game and scored 3 goals! So I only got about 5 mins at the end of the game during which I came close to scoring! So the boys are all very happy but we still have 3 more games that we want to win. Then we have playoff games to attempt to get into the Mainland League for 2007. So plenty to play for yet!

Back to work

2006-07-17T11:34:00.000+01:00

Yep today was first real paid day of work since I finished camp end of May. I have about 2 weeks work at Fields berry farm planting berries. Last week was still a real busy one tho. We had another win in soccer where I came on at halftime as a striker and played an awesome thru ball to my fellow striker who went 1 on 1 with the keeper and scored. We won 3-1. Then Sunday nite I barely slept as I watched the mens final of Wimbledon followed by the World Cup Final. Unfortunately Henry didn't score any more goals so I didnt win anything in our sweepstake. Monday evening kids camp began. Tuesday to Friday I coached soccer at my clubs holiday Soccer Academy in the mornings and ran around camp in the afternoons as the white wolf from Narnia! Saturday just gone we played Nelson College. I finally got back into the starting lineup playing up front as stiker. We had a great game and I played out of my skin! We only won 2-1 but we dominated most of the game and had many close chances. We are now 9 points clear on the top of the table and if we win next weekend against Marlborough then we can't be caught!! (3pm Jubilee Park-come and watch us win the league!) 4 regular season games left and then we will go into playoffs to attempt to get into the Mainland League for the 2007 season.