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

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 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.

Lots of Things Going On

My Sugar free month is finally over, yay! But I still won't be able to have much sugar because me and mum agreed that after our sugar free month we would only have sugar once a month for things like birthdays and other special events. I don't really miss sugar that much which is good because it means that I have pretty much broken the craving. The hardest part is when people offer me food with sugar.

On Friday we are going to a science fair in Johnsonville. I am doing a project called "How Dilute is Vinegar?". I wasn't going to do one but I decided recently to do one when I had nothing else to do on free-choice school-work day. My brother Josiah is doing a project about spiders and their webs, how much prey they catch and so on. It will be lots of fun. Apparently there are tons of people coming and a few of them are doing speeches, Josiah included. I am not doing one, though I might film Josiah's speech so that we have a record.



This is me stiring some vinegar into the baking soda when I was doing my experiment.

The climbing competition at Hangdog is coming up soon and I can hardly wait. It will be lots of fun and I am training really hard so that the climbs will be easier. The people in my grade are really good and there are lots of them, so I don't make a big thing about where I get or anything. I just enjoy the climbs and the company of all the climbers. Dad and me are planning to film some of the climbs and the climbers from our club.

The Hangdog Winter Boulder Series kicked off to a great start last fortnight and the second round is tonight. Our friend B is setting and hopefully he will set some really nice routes. I hope to do well in my grade and I want to get some hard problems.

Technicraft is nearly over. I only have three more weeks of woodwork and then it will be over. On the upside I won't have to get up early and bike on Tuesdays, and I'll have more time for my school work, but on the downside I won't get to have lots of fun making cool things in all the different classes. I will miss seeing all my freinds and doing the stuff.

Introduction

Hi my name is Tessa.

I have been homeschooled since I was four years old.

I spend a lot of my time rock climbing which I really enjoy. I compete in quite a few of the climbing competitions in New Zealand. Most of this blog will be about my climbing experiences.

The last two competitions I did were outdoor bouldering (low level climbing without ropes) competitions at the Airstrip, Waitomo, and Baring Head, Wellington. Those competitions are part of the National Bouldering Series that runs over four weekends from February to March; the other two competitions are at Spittle Hill, Canterbury, and Jardines, Queenstown.

I plan to go to six indoor competitions this year. One of them will be in Australia. The other five are: the National Cup Series (four events) and the National Championships.