No new info - just trying to publish a video.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday March 31 – Tongariro Crossing
A great day today as Old Boy Jeff East led the boys across the 17km Tongariro Crossing. The boys ventured through moonscape plains, over steep mountains, past sulphurous gases and lakes, past tramping huts, before heading to the 41° Tokaanu Thermal Pools.
The boys were excited as we walked past the desolate and striking Mt Ngauruhoe – you might know it as Mt Doom from The Lord of the Rings trilogy (we even found a Hobbit with the ring!). Craters of past eruptions were filled with brilliant blue water. Jeff told us these eruptions, some sending plumes of ash 13 km into the air, and coating nearby Lake Taupo in 5cm of ash.
It was a tough trek, but it just meant that we really enjoyed the soak in the pools when we got down. Some of the boys rated the following as the highlights of the walk :-
Alistair – all the views
Ben A – the finish; knowing you’d done it
Jack – sliding down the loose scree
Josh – dragging Leo the mascot up hill and down dale
Jacob – the big lake where we had lunch
The boys produced a great BBQ dinner for us all tonight – steak, snags, pasta and salad – so mums, get them in the kitchen when they get home.
Fishing and training tomorrow – we’ll happily tell you some fishing tales tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday March 30 - Travel to Turangi
A quiet day today for the tourists as we travelled south to Turangi. A quick farewell to Terry at the Stadium Motel and then we were enroute through some beautiful countryside, with some very ordinary musical selections along the way. Raymond had difficulty negotiating the swings at our toilet break at Tokoroa, but coordination has never been his strong point.
We stopped at Lake Taupo for lunch, and then it was off to the thermal pools for a recovery swim and water slide. The boys liked the look of Taupo and are looking forward to spending more time there later in the week.
From there, it was a picturesque drive around the lake to Turangi. Turangi is a quaint little lakeside village and the motel is perfect for a team of boisterous boys. Buckets and Wilbur showed the boys what it takes to play good touch footy and the boys know they have a lot of improvement to go if they wish to be be competitive in the staff vs student 3-match series.
We are off at 6.50am tomorrow to the jump-off point for the Tongariro Pass. The boys have made their lunches and packed their snacks for the 17 km, 7 hour trek, and have retired for an early night. Expect some great photos tomorrow.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday Mar 29 - Game vs St Paul's Collegiate
The boys were far more positive going into this game and their pre-game preparations were far better than before our previous hit-out. This showed from the outset, with the boys posting their first try in the first 5 minutes. We then lost our way, allowing the Kiwis back into the game. In a see-sawing affair, punctuated with some great passages of play, outstanding defence and some frustrating periods where the team appeared completely lost, we scored in the final seconds to post a 17 – 12 win.
Whilst there is still plenty to work on, it was great that the boys were able “win ugly”. Try-scorers were Tama, Sam and Andy and our Player's Player was Syd, with honourable mentions to Shanan and Harry.
We head south tomorrow to Turangi, where we will visit the hot pools and prepare for our trek over the Tongariro Pass.
Terry and Yvonne at the Stadium Motel were outstanding hosts, coming to both our games, and intending visiting at Cambridge too.
Sunday March 28 – Training Day
A relatively quiet day today as the boys trained hard for tomorrow's game against St Paul's Collegiate. They started with a unit session, with the backs and the forwards practising their plays.
Then, a sumptuous, better-than-Subway lunch, was followed by a training session with Scott Macleod. Scott, who is now skills coach with Waikato, took the boys through some great drills to help improve their communication and decision-making. A light game of touch finished the day.
We then carb-loaded with a massive feed of bolognese, before Mr Brown took the boys through a quick quiz on important rugby rules. The boys are tired and have gone to bed early for a much needed rest.
Stay tuned for updates on tomorrow's game.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Day 2 - match against St Peter's
This morning we woke at 8.30am for brekky and a captain's run, lead by the incredibly good looking and intelligent tour leader, Ethan. Next we changed into our formal uniform and set off to Hautapu Rugby Club for our first game against St Peters. The game started off slowly, missed opputunities and lack of intensity resulted in a pretty disappointing start to the game.
Heading into the second half, we were down 29 to nothing, so we knew we needed to step it up and come together as a team but it was too little, too late, with the final score being 41-5 with Player's Player going to Ray.
After the match, we headed down to St Peter's Collegel for the post match function were we shared stories with the opposition. The afternoon was pretty quiet, with most of the boys sleeping until our trip to the local food court for dinner. Despite the loss, all the boys enjoyed the first real day of the tour, and hopefully learnt what it is going to take to be successful over here.
by Josh
Mums, all the boys got through the match undamaged, with just a bit of skin off (although a few egos required some ice packs after the game).
The Haka rattled a few of the boys and we played with nothing like the intensity we've displayed in our two tour matches back home. As Josh said, hopefully the boys have learnt what it means to play NZ teams in NZ.
The boys have been great ambassadors for the school here, with the owners, staff at the Old Boys Rugby Club (who hosted our dinner last night), and the St Peter's Ladies Auxillary all praising the boys for their conduct, appearance and manners. Recovery and training day tomorrow, with Scott Macleod taking the boys for a session tomorrow afternoon.
More tomorrow.
TW
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