Photos From Josiah's Trip

Here are some of the photos that Josiah took in Europe:

Josiah is Back!

Josiah got back from Europe last week.
In some ways I am glad he is back and in others I wish he was still in Europe, for example when I am working quietly and Josiah starts talking in a monologue about what he is doing, but it is nice not to be an only child any more because I have someone to talk to when Mum and Dad are busy or tired. Most of the time he is the first person in the house to go to sleep, he is still used to European time. For the first few days he was complaining about the cold weather because it had been hot in Europe. He took a disposable camera with him to Europe but the film machine at the place where we were going to get it developed was broken so we haven't got the photos yet, when we have I will post some of them. In Europe Josiah bought some very cool holds for our boulder wall and some chocolates for me and Mum and a friend but the chocolates got left in Europe accidentally.

The Ducklings are getting bigger every day. Here are some photos from a few days ago:

Getting Injured

at the final of the hangdog winter boulder series I hurt my right ankle. I was doing the dyno problem and I caught the second hold then swung off and landed half on and half off the small boulder mat. The next morning when my ankle hadn't got any better me and Mum went to the Emergency ward at hutt hospital and sat for hours waiting to be seen. They thought it was probably torn ligaments. I had crutches for three days before I could walk on my foot. I am back climbing now but not quite fully healed. Recently I bought some Anasazis (climbing shoes). They are really good, when I first bought them they were really painful but now they are quite bearable to wear.

We have ducklings by our creek at the moment, they are adorable. These photos are from a few days old to today:

The Auckland Competition

The Auckland comp was really cool.

I had lot of fun going on the Climb Zone with my friends K, E and B. The climbs were really nice. I was pleased with my footwork most of the way. When I fell off on my second qualifier it was because I had not got my foot up earlier and failed to get it up at that point because I could not get it over the lip onto the hold that would make me be able to reach the next handhold.

Josiah and Dad both did Opens again but neither of them got into finals.

I won the speed climbing which puts me first equal overall in the series. I came fourth in the lead climbing by one hold. I got third in the series but did not get to stand on the podium because we had to leave to get to the airport to catch our plane home. The photos taken at the comp can be seen at inkbig

Josiah is in Europe!

The team left on the Monday after the competition in Auckland. At the moment they are in Zurich, Switzerland, training. Soon they are going to Imst, Austria, for the world cup competition. They are keeping a team diary. It can be viewed on the Climbing New Zealand website

Photos From the Rotorua Competition

These are some of the photos that my Grandparents took the competition in Rotorua.

This is me on my first qualifier:


This is Josiah on his first qualifier:


This is Mum on her first qualifier:


This is me on my second Qualifier:


This is Geoff on his second qualifier:

Josiah Going to France

Josiah is going to Europe with the 13 strong (one of the biggest we've ever had) New Zealand National Youth Team in just over a week's time to compete in the Climbing World Youth Championship in Valence, France. He is very excited about going to Europe especially since he might get a chance to go outdoor climbing in Italy as part of the training that the team will be doing to prepare for the competition. In Imst, Austria, they will be attending a world cup competition which the older ones are allowed to compete in while the younger ones will watch the competition and train on the secondary wall.

Josiah has just started a blog in which he and Mum will be writing about the journey.

It will be rather different not having him at home for three weeks. I am probably going to miss him towards the end of his trip.

Josiah is the only competitor from Wellington in the team. He is training very hard for the competition.

Mum and Josiah are very busy doing things to prepare Josiah for going to Europe. This means that like before the Hangdog competition the house is in a bit of mayhem with school work not getting done because Mum is too busy to enforce it and I am too lazy to do it.

It is very interesting listening to all the stuff that Mum is reading to Josiah such as anti-doping and baggage restrictions.

The Rotorua Competition

The competition at Rotorua was lots of fun. My grandparents came up with us to watch the competition. It was very cool having the whole family competing. My first climb went really well because I topped out along with 11 other girls out of the 17 that were there. My second climb did not go quite as well because the hold I fell off was not as good as I had hoped and I didn't manage to go back down to the previous hold when I realised that it was not very good because the previous hold was even worse. I was coming 3rd equal into the final. I still need to work on my foot work because in the final I didn't think about my feet at the point where I fell off. I came third after the final. After the competition when we were at home we watched the videos my dad had taken of our climbs in slow motion and it was really cool to see the points where Josiah fell off because of his feet slipping off holds.

Last weekend we went outdoors to Turakirae Head and I got a V3 called "Palmer's Garden World". Josiah got four new climbs including a V5 flash and V6. A flash means you get the route first go having seen people try the route before whereas an onsight means you haven't seen anybody try it and haven't been given beta about it.

Hopefully I will soon be able to post some of the photos that my grandparents took of me and my family at the competition.