Rocky, Doctor Who and a Rainy Summer

Wow!

It's been a while since I wrote last. I've been really busy with nothing much.

It's summer and I'm sitting by the heat pump with slippers and puffa jacket on. Today is not raining but it has rained more than usual this summer with lot's of flooding in the South Island. We were glad to be staying in a unit on the rainy days of our Golden Bay holiday, it would have been pretty miserable in tents. We got some good climbing in around the rain. I tried Burly But Sensitive (22) and had a lot of fun mucking around on it. I re-climbed one of my favourites twice (Beautiful Day (18)). I went on a horse trek on an Icelandic horse. They are quite different to the horses I'm used to riding: they are small pony sized and they have slightly different gates. Here is a photo of me galloping on the beach:

I left the holiday early to fly home for horse camps and Nui Wai. I flew in a little six seater plane and we had to circle around Wellington three times before landing because our flight was low priority and others were allowed to land first. I stayed with my aunt and uncle for the nights in between the two horse camps.

On the first camp I got Rocky as my horse. Rocky is a horse who is a challenge to ride because he is really strong in the mouth and also really spooky. Part of the reason he is spooky is because he was abused when he was younger, before he came to Nui Wai. I was really excited that they thought I was good enought to ride him. I mostly worked with him bareback because we were trying a more gentle style of riding with the horses. His trot is really bouncy so it was hard for me to sit to and I spent most of the week just trying to keep my balance, it was an achievement to trot the whole way round the ring without having to stop him because I was losing my balance. On the last day I rode him with a saddle and that was so much easier: I could trot and canter comfortably. He loves to move forward so he had more fun too. We were doing jumping that day, but because I had Rocky I couldn't jump the proper stuff on him. I put a little jump that was only about 20cm in the ring and walked him over it. He found it really scary and kept trying to walk around it so my arms got a real workout steering him into it. He took me by surprise one time and jumped when I didn't think he was going to. Because I wasn't ready he got his mouth yanked by the reins and that freaked him out. I had to work really hard to get him to go over it one last time. When he finally went over it he went over well and I didn't pull on his mouth. I then got to ride one of the other horses to jump some bigger jumps, up to about 70cm (I think). One of my favourite parts of the camp was my solo ride on Hobbs. I hadn't gone on a ride by myself before.

On the weekend between camps I stayed with my aunt and uncle. We did lots of gardening except when it was raining. My aunt and I went into town one day and we went to Te Papa to see the exhibition on wedding dresses in the past. It was really cool but neither of us saw a single wedding dress that we would have wanted to wear.

I got Rocky again for the second camp which I was really happy about because I had been hoping to work with him. The weather wasn't as sunny as the first camp. We walked up the west ridge with the horses almost every morning and that was a lot of fun, though very tiring. It was still warm enough to swim two of the days. The first one I took Rocky and went with LK who was on Huck. Rocky spooked at the reeds in the water and bolted out of the water. I fell off and he snapped the reins and ran home. I hurt my finger and got a few grazes on my knee but wasn't really hurt. The next time I shared Tara with S. Then we went swimming without the horses and some of the girls jumped of the cliff into the water. We did more jumping on the last two days which was fun. Also went out on rides in pairs (I didn't take Rocky). I went on a really fun one with L. We had races up to the camp and just fooled around a bit. At one point I had to get off the clear some small trees off the path which had been blown over by the wind.

At the end of the two weeks I was missing my family and I was really happy to see them when they came to pick me up.

Below are some photos from camp: the first two are me on Ray, then it's Rocky grazing then me standing with Rocky. The last one is from the second camp and it's me jumping Hobbs.

My latest non horse-related obsession is Doctor Who. I have watch the first four series and I'm racing through the books. I don't have to worry about running out soon though because there is just so much of it. I have watch a couple of episodes from the original series.

Horses!

Maybe I'll start writing on the 22nd of each month ;)

So this post is going to be primarily about horses. That's because they basically take up all my time at the moment. I'm always thinking about them: Hoping it will be sunny on Saturday, counting down the days excitedly and reading about them in fiction or non-fiction books or magazines. I love every minute I spend with them; even if I'm just mucking out a paddock I'd still rather be doing something towards looking after them than sitting inside looking out at them. I feel good about myself when I look back on a day spent at Nui Wai and realize that I did more tack cleaning, grooming and mucking out paddocks than actually riding horses.

Last weekend I had an amazing ride in the morning followed by a soaking in the afternoon. I went on the ride with KP. We went up Mt Grace and it was just the two of us. On the way up the horses spooked at the pig pen because the smell freaked them out so we had to get off the horses and ewalk them past, Then we continued up to the top with a fair bit of cantering, KP giving me tips about how to make it easier for the horse. On the way down we trotted and cantered to start with then, when it got steeper, started walking the rest of the way, however we had a set back when we rounded a corner to be faced by dog that decided it would be fun to chase the horses back up the track which it promptly did, so we charged back up the track until KP turned around and shouted at the dog to scare it off. After this the horses were extremely hesitant about going back down but we got them going again and made it back a little later than planned. That afternoon I got soaked when I was washing some saddle blankets, partly because I had a minor water fight with the girl I was doing it with and partly because I stood too close to the table we were washing them on and some of the water slopped off the side onto me ;(

Below are some photos I took on my phone of a couple of the horses in the back paddock. The first is of Rocky and Zac with their heads resting on eachother's backs which I thought was really cute since Zac is a bit antisocial and likes to bite the other horses a lot. The second and third are of Teddy's face and the last is of Zac and Rocky again:

Horse Riding Camp!

I have just gotten back from a four day horse riding camp at Big Water Horse Centre. It was so awesome!!! I love all the horses. The highlights were going up the west ridge on Zac, jumping 70cm on Teddy and cantering around the farm on Red. The camp was from Tuesday till Friday. On Wednesday I was leading one of the younger girls around the dressage paddock on Tara and we were trotting (Tara was trotting, I was running) up to the little mini jump and she knocked my foot because I was too close to her. I went in a full circle head over heals. I didn't get hurt though.

The camp was really really really amazing. We weren't always riding but we were always doing something to keep the horses happy and healthy.

Looking back

I have just been looking back over all my previous posts. It's really funny to see how much more I wrote when I was being home-schooled. However I did make several spelling mistakes that I would certainly hope I don't make anymore.

Hello Again

Hey!

I know it's been a long time since I last posted so there's probably a lot to catch up on. I'm not going to go into any of the boring details though.

The reason I have the time to write is because I'm home from school with a cold. It's the second one I've had this term, the last one kept me home for five days and this is day three of staying home for this one.

So lets see what I've been up to since last year:

Term three: we studied Naenae and Photography for our main subjects at school. I was very busy with school work and didn't do much outside of school.

Term four: Our class went on a four day camp on matiu/somes island. We did volunteer work cleaning up some of the paths around the island. One of the focuses of the camp was that we were cooking all our meals entirely from scratch. For example on the first night we had a meal with pasta and the pasta had to be made with the special pasta maker one of our teachers brought along. The most special thing about the camp was that we got to help tag the penguins on the island. I got to help catch check and let go two of the penguins.

Labour day: one of our teachers was accidentally shot by a hunter who mistook her for a deer when he was spot lighting near the campsite where she was camping. This event caused much trauma and grief in our class. Three of us went to her funeral to represent our class. The time afterward at school was spent trying to grow through it together as a community.

Also around this time my great aunt died of cancer. Her funeral was the day after my teacher's so I had a

lot of mourning all in one week. She had been ill for about a year and a half. It was very sad to say good-

bye to her.

Summer holidays: I spent Christmas Day at my grand parents place. It was a lovely sunny day so we went to the beach which they live a five minute walk from. The waves were really big so we enjoyed catching them on our boogie boards.

After New Years we went to Golden Bay. We spent a lot of time at Paynes Ford but I managed to spend about half of the two weeks doing other stuff. Some of the things I did were;

A two hour horse trek

A few hours in a hired kayak with Mum going around the islands and little beaches around Tata Beach.

Two days of shopping in Takaka

Several lovely bush walks

Term one 2011: at school we started the term with an eleven day camp travelling around the north island. We were studying the Maori history especially those parts related to the Treaty of Waitangi. We spent an afternoon getting a tour of the Treaty Grounds and then spent the day there on Waitangi Day. After going up to Waitangi we came back down the island spending four days paddling down the Whanganui river. The iwi who took us down the river were extremely awesome, friendly, smart, funny, creative people. I was really sad at the end of the river trip because I didn't want it to be over.

The school work this term has not been very enjoyable for me. However, I am not going to be going to Wa Ora in term two. I will be going back to homeschooling :) so that I have the freedom to choose my own work and how I do it. I was really sad that the school did not continue the Spanish after last year and instead switched to Mandarin. I will be happy to be able to continue the Spanish at home. This year I have enjoyed the Maori a lot better so I will be sad to leave that part of it. I'm also really going to miss my classmates and Teachers :(

Unwell

*Cough cough* oh well at least I get to spend a couple of days relaxing. It's probably good for my stiff sore body to get a bit of a break from Mum's 20 minutes every morning exercise regime. Thats a new thing she started me on in the second week of the holidays. That's when my holidays ended...

It's sad not being able to climb or play squash. Life becomes very dull when you're home from school for several days on end, even when you have all the stuff you need to do your school work sitting beside you. I can't find the inspiration to sit down and search the internet for scraps of information. Last time I got a cold I got addicted to Television but this time the urge is not really there. So, I sit around asking Mum what I should do. And When she gives me a perfectly good suggestion I shrug and tell her "Nah, something fun."

The one television show that I am addicted to is 60 minute makeover. Lots of fun to watch them race through yet still get the job done with amazing skill. It's kind of depressing that I can get attached to probably the most boring TV show around.

School, when I'm there, is pretty good. This term we are studying Naenae from the period of about 1935 to 1955. It is quite cool to be learning about my own suburb even though I think it is a ugly place except for the hills and even some of them are covered in gorse and traveled by loud noisy bikers. We have just started learning Spanish and I've missed two sessions. Oh well thats what you get for catching some lousy cold.

I have recently found an awesome blog for reading and writing lovers. It is a blog called The FABO Story. Every Monday a new chapter is added by a different one of the nine New Zealand authors. So far there is only one chapter but the story is already awesome and addictive. Here is a link for anyone who is interested: http://fabostory.blogspot.com/

Rotorua National Cup Series Event 2

Recently we went to Rotorua for the second event in the national cup series. This time I didn't compete. Instead I did homework and took photos of the family climbing. I had a lot of fun hanging out at the gym with some of the climbers from the other gyms. In his grade Josiah got first. He topped out his first qualifier, got the furthest on his second qualifier and topped out his final. Mum and Dad both did well in masters. Mum got fourth and Dad got third.

School is going well with plenty of killer homework to try and complete. Our chicken eggs arrived a couple of days ago and are now in the incubator at school. They are so adorable even though they look identical to other chicken eggs, it's probably because I know that there are little chicks growing inside them :) Our chicken coop is nearly finished. We just need to put the roof on. For humanities this term we are studying Ancient Alexandria. It is very interesting. It's really nice to be doing maths again and not just practice stuff. We are learning about statistics which is a lot of fun.

Matariki, which my school celebrates, is coming up so there is lots of stuff going on for that in Maori, and also in art where we are making things with flax. I am looking forward to singing the songs we are going to sing.

Busy Term Two

Sadly for me term two will be even busier than term one was. I guess this is partly because of it being eleven weeks not the like nine that we had last term because of camp.

Three days in and I already have a zillion things due and that's just for half the term :(.

This term for occupations (the first half of the term) we are continuing our study of chickens by buying five chickens and looking after them in a hutch that we are making ourselves from a design made by someone in the class.

On a happier topic the holidays were great! In the first week I just lounged around sleeping, eating and reading ... but in the second week the whole family went down to Christchurch for the first competition of the National Cup series. We had decided that because it was the holidays we would stay on for a few more days and do some climbing at Spittle Hill. After the comp I was feeling really tired and wasn't looking forward to doing more hard, tiring stuff, but when we got into it I became hooked. My favourite part was when I succeeded at a V2 that J and C had given up on. I even did it the same way.

The next competition that I'm going to is not a national one; it is one at HangDog for secondary school students. It is aimed more at beginners than people who climb heaps so any teens that want to go totally should. For more info please see the HangDog website:

www.hangdog.co.nz/riot.asp

Very crazy first term!

Oh my gosh. It's the end of term already and it only feels like two or three weeks. this term has been really busy with school taking up just about all of my time, homework taking up free time that isn't spent climbing. If the rest of the year goes this fast then it'll be next year before I it feels like a term is gone. the first climbing comp of the year is rapidly approaching. we are going to spend a few extra days down in Christchurch climbing at spittle hill. just a couple of weeks ago I had my 13th birthday. I can't believe I'm actually a teenager, it doesn't feel any different.

Other than school there hasn't been much going on for me. Last Saturday was my school's fair. Heaps of people turned up and it was mayhem trying to actually do anything. We sold so much stuff.

Yay only three more days of school before the holidays are here!

School Camp

I have just got back from school camp.

It was heaps of fun with lots of crazy stuff that made it that bit more enjoyable.

My favourite part of the whole camp was the day we spent working at Nui Wai farm because we got to ride horses.

The bouldering was pretty fun too especially when we went in the cave in the hill and saw a dead bat (creepy and disgusting).

More Photos From Golden Bay

Our Summer Holiday in Golden Bay

For the first two weeks of January me and my family were in golden bay climbing at paynes ford. On the third day climbing I got my goal for the holiday, a 21 called Lost Soul. Over the rest of the holiday I got two other 21s and three 20s.

Josiah had a great holiday getting lots of hard climbs including three 25s, a 27, and a 28.

Towards the end of our trip me and Mum went on a tramp from Totaranui to Wainui staying at Wharawharangi Hut overnight. On our tramp we met lots of really nice people.

One of great improvements over last year was that I got to stay in my own tent instead of having to share with the rest of the family. Another was that we got to have much nicer food.

on our last day climbing we took some friends of ours who were staying in Golden Bay and gave them an introduction to climbing.

The weather this summer wasn't as good as last time so we didn't get to swim in the river as much and it rained quite a bit making climbing harder.

On the first day of our tramp me and Mum got rather wet because it rained on us quite a bit on and off.

The Photos from top to bottom run :
Me abseiling off my first climb of the year, a big spider about the length of my thumb, Josiah hanging in the hole on 1080 and the letter G, Me on Lost Soul, Josiah Warming up on a 22.

Merry Christmas

This year has been a very busy and action packed one. Christmas was really great. We spent with Christmas day with relatives and had lots of fun. here are some photos that I took on my new camera (Christmas present):

More Ducklings

We have a new family of ducklings by our creek and they are adorable. One of them has a tuft of cream feathers on it's head. Josiah named it Buff. There are nine ducklings altogether. There were eleven at the start but two died. They are still only maybe a week old so they are very tiny.

Last Holiday Post

Home 14 Oct

Sunday-more rest

On Sunday we had another rest day hanging around the place. I read lots of my book. We went for a walk in the evening along the beach a little way. We finished Little House On the Prairie.

Monday-Crystal Cascades

On Monday we hired a car and went to Crystal Cascades. Our car was the same type as the one we hired in Sydney except it was bright yellow. My ankle hurt so I didn't do the full walk because the last bit was uphill and that hurt more. After the walk we went for a swim in the river. There were lots of little spotted fish that were really cool.

Tuesday-Going Home

On Tuesday we packed our bags then ,having time to kill, we walked down to the mango tree at the end of the street to take some photos of us with it. We also took some photos of us at the beach. When we got to the airport we had to wait for an hour for a flight. I looked at some shops. On the flight to Sydney I read my book the whole time. At Sydney airport we used the free internet to check our mail.


My Overview Of The Trip

Things I Found Out
Aeroplane food tastes disgusting.
Driving through unfamiliar scenery isn't boring.
It is very easy to get lost in Sydney.
Non-free internet costs ton in Sydney airport.
Snake skin doesn't feel like fish scales.
Kangaroo fur is very soft.
Macaws bite when they don't want any more food.

Photos from Crystal Cascades and on our last day:

More Kuranda Photos

Resting and Kuranda Wildlife Park

Trininty Beach 10 Oct

Thursday-rest day

On Thursday we had a rest. Me, Mum and Josiah went to the beach for a swim and to sit in the sun reading our books. I spent ages in the water so we came back to the motel so we wouldn't get sunburnt.


Friday-Kuranda

Yesterday we went to Kuranda via the skyrail. On the skyrail there were two stops along the way: Red Peak station and Barron Falls lookout. We spent a little while at each doing the board walks that they had. When we got Kuranda we went to the koala and wildlife park first where we got my our photos taken with a koala and then a snake. Their names were Princess (koala) and Stan (snake). After the photos we went into kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and fed them. The kangaroos were really lazy, they just lay down waiting for you to bring them food. Also at the park there were fresh water crocodiles, turtles, a wombat and several breeds of lizard. You only got to go in with the kangaroos and wallabies. After the Koala and wildlife park we were very hungry so we went in search of a place to get lunch. We had bagels and mango smoothies. After lunch we went to the butterfly sanctuary where there were lots of very colourful butterflies. We didn't see any caterpillars. there were these black and blue butterflies that I think like pink because they kept landing on my pink shorts. When we'd had enough of the butterfly sanctuary we went to the bird park. It was awesome, we got these Indian ring-necked parrots landing on our hats and playing with them. Mum got an Electus parrot on her hand when she was trying ot take photos. There were two macaws that bit our hands when we tryed to feed them. After the bird sanctuary we went shopping at the markets to get prezzys for people. I got myself a hair clip that I've been wanting for ages.


Saturday-more rest

Saturday was another rest day. We hung around the motel all day. We swam in the pool in the morning then we watched two episodes of Little House On the Prairie.

Photos:

Arriving at Cairns and Seeing the Reef

Tuesday:
On Tuesday Me, Mum and Dad went grocery shopping then we all went for a swim in the pool before breakfast. After breakfast we went to the beach for a few hours swimming and building things in the sand. For lunch we had sandwiches with salad stuff. We sat around and read books/ swam in the pool. We all got sunburnt, Josiah least bad. I got burned on my face, Dad on his front and back, and Mum on her back where her singlet didn't protect her. We had pasta and vegetables for dinner. I didn't have any vegetables because they were all ones I didn't like. After dinner Josiah washed the dishes while the rest of us relaxed and read books. When Josiah was finished we watched Little House On The Prairie. I really liked it. I started book 2 of the fellowship of the ring.

Wednesday - Reef Magic:
Today we got up at 6.40, packed our togs into our bags, cleaned our selves, had breakfast & brushed our teeth. We walked to the road and waited in the shade for our bus to arrive. On the bus to Cairns we saw what we thought were fields of sugar cane. When we got to the terminal we signed in then looked at the souvenir shop. On the way out to the reef Me, Mum and Dad got sea sick. when we got to the platform we changed into our togs then put sunblock on and got our snorkeling gear. We got straight into the water and snorkeled around seeing the colourful fish and the not so colourful coral. We got cold after a short while so we hired wetsuits for the rest of the day. I saw some beautiful fish and some really cool coral. I was the only one out of everybody except the groups that got to have my photo taken with a sea cucumber. later in the day we went on the semi sub. It was really cool. We got to see a turtle and a shark. I wanted to go on the scuba dive. Lunch wasn't that spectacular but I managed. Josiah and Dad got a vegan meal.
It was lots of fun and I would defiantly recommend it.

The photos are from Monday: Spotty listening to music in the car and Me at Sydney airport with a plane behind me