With the weather at home still pretty
cold I've decided to head down under to train in the sunshine and warmth. New Zealand has been top of my list of
places to go for many years and its feels surreal to finally be here.
For the next 4 weeks I will be travelling with New Zealand freestyle
kayakers Jason Searle, Courtney Kerin and Polly Green and then I will
be heading over to Sydney for a month to the Penrith White Water
course to train with Jez and the Australian Freestyle team.
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Joining Jason out on the water in the sunshine
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As I write this am sat in Jackson Bay,
the last bay with road access on the South West Coast in the South
Island in New Zealand. I have been in New Zealand a week now and
already seen so much and done so much I feel well and truly at home.
New Zealand is incredible and beautiful. Its scenery and vast
adventure sport terrain is like nothing i've seen; mountain after
mountain, lake after lake, river after river its paradise and unlike
Africa and Australia there's not too many dangerous animals to be seen.
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| Natural beauty everywhere |
In the last 6 days we've been on a
whistle stop tour of the South Island starting with the extreme race
at the Buller kayaking festival in Murchison. We then went to South to Crowell to test
out the new freestyle features on the Hawea river and today we are
having a very active rest day diving, fishing and hunting at the West coast.
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Racing at the Buller Fest
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| Checking out the new Hawea Waves |
Todays our active rest day before the
NZ Nationals Freestyle Event this weekend but alternative activity
day would be a better name because what a day its been. After
training and coaching some of the local freestyle youngsters last
night on the Hawea wave we headed to the west coast with Jasons Dad
to their Batch (adventure house) and today we've spent the day on the
sea in their boat, diving and fishing and tonight we will be heading
out hunting. What a day!
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Massive Seagulls and Molly Mawks
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| Amazing - Penguins in Jackson Bay |
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It was amazing being out in the Ocean;
for the the first time in almost 16 years I went Scuba diving (in the
Sea) and for the first time ever I've been fishing. Helping Jason
catch Crayfish whilst diving and then heading deeper into the Ocean
and getting the lines out on the boat where I caught my first ever
fish. 4 big Terakihi with the help of Jason's Dad and watched Jason catch some huge Terakihi, some funky little Sea Perch and a Grey Boy Shark!!! I'm so glad we went fishing after the
Dive!!!
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| First catch of the day... Crayfish |
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My first catch ever... a nice Terakihi fish
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Jasons craziest catch of the day... a Shark!!!
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That ones going straight back in...
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Tonight Jason's Dad cooking up the
Terakihi and Crayfish, some real fresh fish and chips, and then we
will head out into the hills to hunt some possums and deers. What a
day of first's and a day I will never forget. Then it will be a quick
blast back to Cromwell tomorrow for some final training on the Hawea
waves before the event kicks off this weekend.
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Fish and Chips :)
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But this isn't the only thing i'm
looking forward to as this weekend we are taking the boat back with us
so we can warm up for the event with some water skiing and wake
boarding each morning on the lake. Thanks to Jason and the Searle
family I am getting an incredible taste of what New Zealand has to offer the adventure addict. It really is an adventure sport paradise and kayakers dream.
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