We are the Champions... of Flippa Ball

Sunday was the much anticipated Flippa Ball Championship.  It was a real nail biter and came down to the wire, but the NEVN Silver team found themselves in the winner's circle.  North East Valley jumped out to an early lead after an offensive onslaught to go up three to zero at half time.  In the second half the other team came charging back to tie it up, but NEV's defense didn't break.  A glimpse of the suffocating defense can be seen in the video below.  With the clock winding down Charlotte threw a buzzer beating winning shot.  Making the final score four to three.  We are the champions!

Afternoon at the Aviary

Yesterday was a beautiful fall afternoon so we decided to walk down to the Botanical Garden and check out the aviary.  Here are some of the pictures Grace and I snapped during our outing:

 Grace snapped this picture of John and I, she's a pretty good photographer... She also took the first picture listed, up close of the green bird.

These cute little guys started out on a wooden perch near the side of their cage.  Grace began making a squeaking type noise and they were instantly attracted to her.  They followed her up and down the side of the cage.  She loved it.

On our walk back home through the gardens I snapped a few pictures.  

Rapid Racin'

At 6:30 on Saturday morning with the creek boat strapped to the top of our wagon, coffees in hand and a sleeping seven-year-old in the back seat we set our destination for the Kawarau River.  The final race in the New Zealand National Extreme Kayaking Championship was in the gorge at Citroen rapid.
It is a three hour drive along a windy two lane road through beautiful countryside to the river, Grace slept the whole way.
As spectators Grace and I had a tricky hike down into the gorge to the water where we were ferried across the river in an inflatable raft with an outboard motor.  Then we hiked along the rocky riverside to the rapid.  We had our pick of big rocks to perch upon in order to get a good view.  The boaters were competing in heats of four, launching off a wooden ramp.  Citroen is a long, big water, class IV rapid, and we had a perfect seat right in the middle.  The competition lasted about 3 hours, of which there was lots of full contact boating and plenty of carnage. Winning the competition for the men was Jamie Sutton, Louise Jull won it for the women.
We had a great day full of whitewater fun and excitement!

      

Just keep swimming, swimming-Dory Finding Nemo

That's my man!  Leading his heat to the finish line!

       

And the rain came pouring down...

Rain has threatened every day for the past two weeks.  The skies have been overcast and the temperatures have averaged a cool 50 Fahrenheit.  Now, normally I would not complain about the brisk temperature but I am not ready for the change of seasons yet...  On Sunday to escape the cold and wet weather we took Grace and her friend Tayla to the Otago Museum.  They have a neat kids section full of experiments and all sorts of fun, hands on learning stations like a giant floor piano, air cannons, ways to test your reaction time and your ability to relax, fresh water aquariums, BIG bubble makers, coloring stations and optical illusions...  They also have a butterfly sanctuary.  Access to the sanctuary is through a dark, mirrored room lit only with black lights, this is to highlight and prevent any butterflies from hitchhiking their way out of the sanctuary.   It is a magical feeling when you open the door, the light floods in causing you to squint your eyes, the warmth of the humid air wraps itself around you, and then your eyes adjust and you find yourself in a tropical place full of beauty.  The butterflies are everywhere, it is not uncommon to find them on your head or have them land on your hand.  There is a path that leads you behind a waterfall and over a bridge, which separates two ponds where you find koi fish and red-eared slider turtles... Which reminds us of our killer, pet turtle Stripe, I would be lying if I didn't admit that a part of me thinks of Stripe and wonders what would happen if you added the turtles to the fish pond... (I know what Stripe would do...)  If you continue on the path you come to the back wall where there are several tanks of various things.... The first time I was here I pressed my face up to the glass in an attempt to find what was living in these tanks, without reading the sign that clearly said Tarantulas... I have a paralyzing fear of spiders, so when the big, hairy dude came out of his cave I was horrified.  However, during our last visit to the sanctuary we watch the caretaker feed the spiders and I learned that their 'sting' is nothing more serious than a bee sting, which has never killed anyone.  This of course doesn't help me with their eight, hairy, fast legs that freak me out, but it was good to learn.   Watching them eat was pretty neat, the big cricket was dropped into the tank; it hopped toward the cave where the deadly spider lurked, then from the darkness it emerged, like a big hairy hand, covering the cricket and dragging it back into its lair.  It was pretty cool, quite a day at the museum.
I have to say that leaving the warm humidity of the sanctuary for the cold winds of Dunedin made me a bit homesick for East Tennessee summers...  We have officially entered autumn down here, there is a briskness to the air that is universally specific to that time of year.  But until the time when we come back to the states to visit we have the fire in our potbellied stove and each other to keep us warm.  (And I suppose we always have the option of spending the day with the butterflies)

Busy Little Gracie

In Flippa Ball news, last week Grace was named Player of the Day.  Awarded by the New Zealand Water Polo Association for 'Fantastic pressure on defense and attack, with a positive attitude throughout.'  We were very proud!

This week, Grace's accomplishments go from becoming a Brownie, playing a double header in Flippa Ball, having a sleep over and going shredding....

For the last two weeks Grace has been attending the local Brownie meetings, a few of her friends from school are members and encouraged her to give it a try.  She has enjoyed it and decided on Monday to become an official member of the Brownie Pack.  It was cute, the girls had a neat little induction ceremony that John and I attended, after which they had a celebration party.  Grace has earned two patches which I promptly sewed onto her sash. 

Friday was our first sleep over.  Grace invited Amelia, she is on her Flippa Ball team and in her Brownie Pack.  (She is wearing the dark pink shirt in the picture to the right above)  The girls had a blast.  Right after school we took them to Moana Pool.  I have mentioned this pool before, it is where they have their Flippa Ball games and it is AWESOME!  There is a wave/leisure pool, two 25 meter lap pools, a lazy river, fountains, a platform diving well, a spring board diving well and last but our most favorite, two enclosed water slides...  I have posted a video John recorded of the girls going down the fast slide, it is a bit hard to watch at times but I think it is hilarious.

After the pool it was off to Flippa Ball practice and back to the house for Fish and Chips.  Earlier in the week we had some pretty hard rains as a result we sprung a leak in Graces room which shorted out her only light.  So the girls were up ALL NIGHT with head lamps giggling.

With nothing planned for our Saturday we ended up on the river.  We went shredding on the Taieri River with some friends, Michele and his partner Simone.  The Taieri is only 30 minutes out of town, a nice little hour long, class III run.  We made two runs, on the first was John, Grace and I in the shredder and Michele in his play boat.  This was Simone's first trip down whitewater so the second trip was Michele and Simone in the shredder and John in his new creek boat.  The wind was out of control, my shoulders were hurtin' by the end.  I'm pretty sure that if we had stopped paddling we would have gone up stream because the wind was so powerful...  Michele and Simone enjoyed their trip in the Shredder, they said the wind wasn't as bad and there weren't any swims, which is always nice.  We were happy to have been on the water together, another successful family shreddin' trip!

Sunday was the BIG Flippa Ball day... Two games, back to back.  Ms. Hesson had prepared them well with Friday's practice, lots of drills and practice swimming with the ball.  It paid off, they won their first game 4-0 and their second 10-2.  These kids are always so amazed when they score a goal, I love their facial expressions. After their games the team played in the wave pool for quite awhile.  

We returned home around 6ish for a yummy Sunday dinner, BBQ chicken and roasted veggies.  

Aramoana Beach

             
Thursday was beautiful so when Grace got home from school we decided to head to the beach.  This time we drove along a very narrow and windy road out to the mouth of the Otago Harbour, to Aramoana Beach.  This area is famous for great surf waves, blue penguins and fur seals.  There are plenty of gorgeous hikes in the neighborhood and across the bay, on the end of the Otago Peninsula is where you can find nesting Royal Albatross, massive birds.  We were able to watch them soar around above the peninsula.

Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand which means land of the long white cloud.  One thing we have learned is that the weather here changes often and quick.  The skies had clouded over shortly after reaching the beach and the temperature had gotten a bit colder.  In a few of the pictures Grace is bundled up in John's down vest.  We didn't stay very long for this reason, but we did catch a few fur seals up close...

On the way home we drove up to the top of Signal Hill, this is the massively steep hill we live on the western side of.  At the top is the New Zealand Centennial Monument built in the 1940s, signifying 100 years of British sovereignty, sometimes I forget how young this country really is...  

By the time we reached the top of the mountain the weather had changed yet again, the skies had cleared, it was warm and the sun was shining down on us...

looking across the bay at the peninsula

the peninsula

Otago Bay

the city of Dunedin

the stone in the center is a piece of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland