Diary instalment 5 - 'Queenstown - New Zealand'
You may ask why I am spending my time in Queenstown, NZ, the adventure capital of the world, writing this latest diary entry. Well unfortunately it is one of the only things which I can do at the moment! Having arrived into Queenstown yesterday evening to see sunny skies I woke up this morning to the sound of rain hammering down on my window. I was booked to go paragliding off the top of Coronet Peak this morning but the rain and cloud made that impossible. So instead I went to plan B which was to spend the day skiing instead. However when I got to the booking centre I was told that one of the resorts, The Remarkables, was closed and that Coronet Peak, the other snow field was not recommended for anyone other than experienced skiers and boarders. Now as you may remember from my previous entry whilst I am ok on skies I do have the (not-so) occasional crash so I’m not sure I would have come back in one piece had I gone up the mountains today. With all plans failing I went to the tourist information and asked if there was anything still open which I could do, I was told that pretty much all the outdoor activities had been closed due to weather, but I could go to the indoor Crazy Golf! So that is why I am now just watching it rain and waiting for my bus to Christchurch this afternoon. It is a shame but the one thing you can never plan for is the weather. At least he cloud cleared as we made our way into Queenstown yesterday and I was able to see the incredibly beautiful scenery.
Since my last installment I have continued to have a great time. I finished my stay in Sydney with an unbelievable climb of the Harbour Bridge. Before doing the climb I was not sure how good it would be but I am very glad that Lesley, Dave and Lewis who I stayed with in Sydney convinced me to do it. I went up just before dusk and seeing the Sun set over the Blue Mountains to one side and then the shadows lengthening over the harbour to the other was quite spectacular. From Sydney I hopped across to Tasmania and spent a brilliant ten days with Macca. It was great to see him again and also meet his family who were extremely friendly and hospitable towards me for which I am very grateful. I found Hobart to be a great city, having come from Sydney it was nice to be back in a place of a slightly more manageable size, Hobart is not really any bigger than Derby. The scenery around the city and throughout what I saw of the State was absolutely fantastic. It was brilliant to have Sam who drove me round to see all the sights. One of the first places we went was Mt Wellington which stands 1250m high and looks over Hobart and the countryside in the distance. The view from the top was amazing although it was extremely windy up there which made it a challenge just to stay on our feet. A highlight of the trip was when we took a day trip to the Freychinet National Park, a place that Sam would be seeing for the first time as well as me. This is quite a drive up the East Coast from Hobart so we split the journey up a little by spending the night at Sam’s cousin’s farm to make the drive shorter for us in the morning. All the way up the coast it was chucking it down and we were not hopeful of being able to see much of Freychinet. It had rained so much that a damn had overflowed and there was flooding in fields as the river had burst it’s banks and probably multiplied ten times in sizes in places. Fortunately as we entered the National Park the rain stopped and the cloud cleared for us. That allowed us to see Wineglass Bay in glorious sunshine which was an awesome sight. The shape which gives the Bay it’s name is amazing but also the mountains that provide the backdrop and the stunning clearness of the water contribute to make one of the best sights of my entire trip. We ventured down into the Bay from the lookout with the intention of swimming there but the waves were enormous so instead we just watched them in awe for probably half an hour at least before making the climb back to the car. After a lunch break by a lighthouse on the cliffs edge where the views were just as good again we decided that we couldn’t leave without going for a swim so went round to the more sheltered side of the peninsular for a dip. It was probably the coldest water I have ever been in and I think between the pair of us we probably only managed about a minute in the sea but it was fun nonetheless. On the journey back to Hobart we took the alternative route through the Midlands and inadvertently stumbled across the amazingly dramatic Lost Falls when we took a trip down a dirt track to finish our lunch. It was definitely a worthwhile detour. We just had time to take in a beautiful sunset over the mountains before getting back in time for OHA (Sam’s club) training that evening.
I saw two OHA first team games whilst I was in Tassie, the first of which they won comfortably against Canterbury, the Lamb’s and Craig Keegan’s old club, which Sam netting a hat-trick and the second game was another good win against University, Sam scored two more (well one and one which his team-mate scored but Sam got credited with anyway) before limping off injured at the start of the second half to allow a cameo from another former Nailer Dave Wooloford. The second win prompted a night out during which I was introduced to the entertaining Hobart nighlife and also did drink my first beer, I genuinely don’t see that I’ve been missing much and am not about to become an r aging alcoholic but after Macca got me on a few mixers, much nicer than the vile lager I had started on, I may have the odd drink from time to time again in the future. Tassie ended in a trip to the Port Arthur Historic site which I found very interesting, it’s incredible to think that only 150 years ago we were still sending prisoners to places like that. I also took in a speedboat tour of the coast down there which was fantastic.
I have now been in New Zealand for nearly two weeks. Last week I took in the North Island which was brilliant. The scenery is incredible, particularly around Lake Taupo where I spent one night, the volcanoes there are huge and snow capped which is always impressive to see. They also provided the backdrop for much of the Lord of Rings films. The best thing I did on the North Island was take an evening at the Tamaki Maori Village. Here I saw a traditional Maori Village, was treated to a performance of song, dance and theatre by the Moari people and through diplays and talking to them learned a great deal about their way of life, including a little of their language. Unfortunately the weather has been dismal all week here on the South Island. That has not stopped the scenery from being incredible though. The coastline is amazing and the rainforests on the mountains all the way down the East coast are incredible too. I have also seen some incredible water-falls and a huge glacier yesterday at Franz Joseph. I was scheduled to be going walking on the glacier but once again the weather had other ideas with rain, wind and fog making conditions too dangerous.
I have just one week left now until I return to the UK, it is unbelievable just how quickly these four months have gone. I return to Wellington tomorrow where I will spend a couple of days with my cousins before heading back into Oz on Tuesday for a night in Sydney and then a couple of days back in Ipswich to gather my stuff together and say my goodbyes to all the great people up there before my flight leaves next Friday. I arrive back into Heathrow next Saturday morning and will be in Belper for just one week before I head up to Uni in Stirling the following Saturday, hopefully I’ll get a chance to catch up with some of you before I go, if any of you can make it I think a pre-season get togther in the Riflemans, say 8ish next Saturday (5 Sep) could be in order. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading my diaries, this will probably be the last one! See you all soon!

My new favourite animal, the Tree Kangaroo, Me just before my first ever scuba-dive and the Beach and Rainforest at Cape Tribulation.
Diary instalment 2 - 'Finding Nemo'
In Queensland every year the Queen's Birthday weekend means it is time for the State Hockey Championships. This year the competition was held in Townsville, towards the north of the State. Ipswich entered two teams, one in the Premier League and another in Division One or 'The Open'. As I was planning a few days away in Cape Tribulation, a bit further up the coast I decided to call in at the tournament on my way up and arrived on the second day of matches just in time to hear that the first team, coached by Sinnie had made it into the semi-finals. Four late goals from the Sunshine Coast to come back from 3-0 down against Rockhampton in the first game I saw meant that Ipswich went through as group winners to be rewarded with a game that evening against the hosts.
Before then the 'opens' had their final two group games to play, they were struggling as they had lost numerous players to injury and as they got a 1-1 draw with Cairns they lost a fourth player with a hamstring injury meaning the coach had to play and they were left with no subs. Therefore Sinnie decided I ought to be added to the squad for the final game of the day against Bundaberg. So having managed to borrow shorts, socks, shin pads and a stick from the rest of the guys I found myself warming up in my walking boots later that afternoon, fortunately by this time the temperature had dropped somewhat from the 30 degrees I had been met with at the airport that lunchtime. Still it was far too warm for hockey as far as I was concerned and I was grateful that there were no more injury problems and I was able to stay safely on the bench until the last ten minutes when our coach come centre forward 'Whippet' decided he needed a rest and called me on to replace him. I managed a few touches before full time and was delighted to be able to walk off the pitch having played in the State Championships, not something I had expected to do on my holiday!
Unfortunately the first team didn't quite make it through to the final, they dominated their semi but were only able to score once and ended up in a penalty shoot out. They missed 3 of the four flicks and were condemned to the 3rd/4th playoff on the Monday, the same fixture that the seconds would be playing in the open. After play concluded on the Monday, the first having won 7-2 to secure their best finish in years and the seconds losing 3-2 for a creditable 4th (my services not required in this fixture), I caught the bus up from Townsville to Cairns where I would be spending the night. Despite the two cities looking close on the map it turned out to be a six hour journey and I didn't make it to my hostel until nearly 2am!
On the Tuesday morning I was collected by the Jungle Tours bus at eight to head up to Cape Tribulation. It was the start of a great few days. We made several stops on the way to Cape Trib, the first of which was at the Habitat Centre at Port Douglas. As the naem suggests this is a wildlife sanctuary where there are many animals living in an 'as natural' habitat. I had an amazing time seeing Wallerbies, Kangaroos, Koalas and even Tree Kangaroos for the first time. As we continued north we stopped next at the Mossman Gorge, this is a beautiful spot in the Rainforest, we were able to swim in the gorge and the water was brilliant, the pool itself was full of fish and swimming alongside them was quite an experience.
Swimming was certainly not on the agenda at our next stop as we went on a boat trip on the Daintree River to see crocodiles, another creature that I had never previously seen in the flesh. We were lucky enough to see four Salties. Through from a 2 month old which was barely 30cm in length to an adult of four metres. To see them up close was surprisingly less scary than I had expected but it was incredible to think that the seemingly innocent baby would grow up to be the size of the father we had seen further down the river.
Having made it to the beach house hostel on the Tuesday evening I woke up on the Wednesday expectant of what would be another incredible day. I was booked onto the Rum Runner boat which would take me out for a day on the Great Barrier Reef. The plan was to snorkel but on the particularly choppy journey out to the reef we were offered the chance to take an introductory scuba-dive if we wished and me, along with two others decided to go for it. Unfortunately the other two divers backed out as we were doing our safety checks, leaving just me and the guide to dive. The Reef is without doubt the most amazing thing I have ever seen. There is an unbelievable range of colours, shapes and different sorts of life amongst the coral. Within moments of being underwater I was lucky enough to see a shark, a 1.5 metre White Tip, not huge by shark standards but big enough to worry me, Daz, my guide, gestured for us to swim towards it though and sure enough as we did so the fish swam off. As the dive continued I also saw both a Stingray and a Turtle, both of which are incredible creatures to see at such close quarters. In the afternoon I jumped at the opportunity to dive again and again saw some a whole host of vibrant fish and plants, I stroked a sea cucumber which is a bizzare feeling and has my guide pointed out on his underwater whiteboard we 'found Nemo' swimming round in a huge shellfish. Unfortunately I had to return to dry land at the end of the day, I would have loved to stay out there underwater.
I spent my final day in Cape Trib sea kayaking which was great fun but extremely hard work too. After splashing around against the choppy sea and capsizing twice that morning it was time for me to return to Cairns and onwards to Ipswich in time for Friday night hockey. That was the plan anyway but I ended up going for "an hours sleep" after lunch on Friday and not waking up until Saturday morning, Sinnie still can't believe my ability to sleep. The trip to the North was fantastic, it was amazing to see the contrasting landscapes this country has to offer, Cape Tribulation is a unique place on Earth, the only place where two natural wonders meet, the World's oldest Rainforest and the World's largest Coral Reef. It has certainly wetted my appetite ahead of my tour from Alice Springs to Sydney which I start in a month's time and hope will offer even more incredible experiences.

The Brisbane skyline, Sinnie playing for his Vets side, St Andrews, The fields at the Ipswich Hockey Association, All roads apparently lead to Rosewood, one of Ipswich's townships
Diary instalment 1 - 'Life with Sinnie'
By Ben Mills
Having never flown before the thirteen hour flight from Heathrow to Singapore was an interesting experience, the films were entertaining for the first three or four hours but after that I began to discover how dull flying really is. As I was flying to Brisbane rather than Sydney I had to wait until 9pm for my flight out so having arrived at eight in the morning I was able to spend the day in the city. Singapore is certainly a great city but it was a bit too warm for me, the thirty-five degree heat and ninety percent humidity was a bit different to conditions back home.
Eventually, thirty hours after leaving the UK I landed in Brisbane and, after negotiating a suspicious customs officer, the first person I saw through the arrivals door was Sinnie! As ever he was was full of life despite it being 6am and I'm fairly sure we solved all the world's problems on the hour drive from the airport to Ipswich where Alan and Lynette (and until July me) are living.
My first month here has been great. As a tourist I have spent a lot of my time getting to know the city of Ipswich, it's a fairly small city but there's plenty to do. One of the best things about the area is that the built up parts of town are mixed in with the countryside and bushland. I've also been into Brisbane a couple of times which is an amazing place. As with all cities there are dazzling modern buildings, loads of great shops, bars and restaurants and numerous museums and galleries. But the best thing about Brisbane is that there are vast areas you can go to and feel like you are anywhere but the middle of a huge diverse and modern city. The Southbank of the river with it's man made 'beach' and miles of gardens is a great example of this. And how many cities can you go to where rather than jumping on bus to get home after work you hop on board a ferry instead?
I've also had the chance to visit some of the local townships which show a very different Australia to the big cities. The towns are generally very small and seem to just merge in to the bushland. It's been great to get a couple of trips to the beach in too, a flying visit to the Sunshine Coast on the way to a hockey tournament, the coastline here was very impressive, even at 7am! Me and Sinnie also stopped of for fish (for him) and chips on the beach on the way to his vets game last week, I'm sure that's not the pre-match diet he encouraged as first team coach, any excuse to sit on the beach for half an hour is good for me though! In the next few weeks I'll be heading off to some places further a-field, next week I go to Cairns and am taking a tour into the rainforest and then spending a day swimming in the Great Barrier Reef. Then at the end of the month I have a week in Bundaberg, living on the beach and I plan to explore the off-shore Islands there, I'll try to send back some pictures of both.
As well as plying tourist I'm also spending a lot of time working with Sinnie at the hockey fields. I've been signed up to play for Hancocks in the local competition which is good fun but also some of the roughest hockey I have played. I'm also earning my keep by umpiring numerous games over the weekends. On top of that I'm coaching one of the junior teams for Hancocks and have worked with some of the junior Ipswich representative teams. The hockey round here is surprisingly different to hockey in Belper. First of all the system is very different. The Ipswich Hockey Association have two astro pitches and four grass and these are the only fields in the area. All the clubs play each other here over each weekend, games are played Friday night and all day Saturday. Most clubs run three senior teams; A grade, reserve grade and A2 and the junior grades are C (U15), D (U13) and E (U11). All juniors play on full pitches, although Alan is trying to get them to move to mini-hockey for the E graders.
Then there is the actual playing of the game, the style is alot more basic than some of the hockey back home, most teams seem to favour the long ball and me and Sinnie have renamed the tackles as 'hackles'. This has made coaching here quite a challenge (for me and even for Sinnie) as there are a lot of habits that we feel need to be broken and we have set ourselves a challenge of 'tidying up' the tackling in the local competitions during my stay.
Anyway hopefully that was an interesting read for you, I'll try to send some more reports (hopefully a bit shorter than this one) as my trip continues. If anybody has got any suggestions on things I should do whilst I'm here or wants to contact me at all then feel free to drop me an email, pigeotay@hotmail.co.uk. Hope all is well back in Belper.

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