Friday, June 30, 2006

NZ Junior Team





Kayak Pics



1. A pic looking down the drop at Tacen
2. The flat slalom race at Ljubjana

Bovec

At the moment we are in Bovec, about 1-2hrs from Solkan. We are just here chilling out and having a break!!it has been wicked. We went on a river run yesterday and for the first time in so long i felt cold!!!We had hired creek boats and when we started off on our journey it started to hail!!!And really big hail like actual golf ball size..no word of a lie!!! Then today we went roadtripping to find a lake for a easy flatwater paddle!!!I was the navigator in Kiddas van...and you have probly already geussed that we never got to the 1st lake!When we went for plan B(the 2nd lake) it was when we got to the Italian boarder(without our passports) that we had to go all the way bak to Bovec!! Luckily we found a easy patch of water to do some sprints on.
It was at the final destination that we found a dead snake that the boys quickly used to scare me and Abby out of the water! So it has been quite an eventful last few days for sure!
I better go..
love Louise

Monday, June 26, 2006

Solkan!!!

We have finaly arrived in Solkan!!!The venue for the junior worlds. The course is not big water but its not very flat either. It has fast flowing water and so far I like it.
The major action for today was when me and Luuka got left behind at the place we are staying while the team van took off to the river for training!!!But lucky for us the Slovenian National Basketball team were round and seeing too kiwis girls in distress they very kindly gave us a ride down the the river!!They were really nice and we were extemely greatful!
For now were into some solid training at the course along with some sweet sun tanning!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Tacen

Today we went and watched the seniors race on Tacen. It was great fun as we got to see some of the top paddlers in the world! Two New Zealand seniors raced, Jared and Johann and they both did pretty good. It was a real hard course and every second paddler seemed to be getting a fifty! This one chick missed 4gates!It was crazy.
Tommorrow we are heading for Slokan which is about 2hrs away. It is the venue of the junior worlds and where the 2week countdown will begin! So it will be good to the course!

Friday, June 23, 2006

T......T....T...Tacen

After 10hours driving we finaly arrived in Ljubljana the capital city of Slovenja. And yes over the past few days now we have been facing up to the almighty Tacen course. Which after several runs of rolling for me...I eventually got it sorted.
Then last night we went out to a concert that they have on to celebrate the start of their holidays and the beginning of their summer!! It was wicked! We did some sweet moshing then we watched the male dancers dancing to Bad Boys...and they sure did show a bit of skin, Luuka got it all on vid!!!
So after another day of training we are heading out tonight to watch a slalom race on (j;Hamishs input) the flat water section in the middle of town. Then tommorrow we watch the seniors race on Tacen.
I better go have dinner
catchya lata
Louise

Team NZ in Czech






Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Augsburg





Some pics of the trip so far







At the airport with mum and Heath

Me, Abby and Luuka with our hats!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Prague!

Lots of fun was had in Ceske Budeviche...we went to a beer factory, it was super hot, oh and we did loads of training and kayaking on the course.
The race in Ceske Budeviche went ok. There was not as many people as expected but the temperature kept in the 30's and it was a lot of fun! We raced both Sat and Sun. The Sat race went quite badly for me...I missed a gate which meant a 50sec penalty and put me down to 19th place out of 24. The Sunday racing went a lot better for me. My first run was sweet!And my second run was ok too..only i lost a bit of time on one gate.But they were both clean! I ended up in 8th overall which was good.
Anyways now we are in Prague training. Its a wicked course with lots of sucky holes! We are staying at this boat house place which is right next to the course.
Better go!
love Louise

Monday, June 12, 2006

The competition begins...

Hey hey to all...
well it sure has been a very busy past week...after leaving Augsberg in Germany we headed to Merano in Italy where we had our first race. it only took my first run for me to realise just how good these european chicks really are. My race was fun and I was happy with my improvments...16th the first day and 13th the 2nd day..everyone in the team did really well for our first race which we all had heaps of fun at and some of the guzs even got a trophz.. if you would like to know more about the others and the comp check out the Nz blog...www.kayaknz.blogspot.com
Italy is definatly one of mz fav places...with the live bands, good food and very hot guys..well some. The place we stayed at was a mansion and real cheap for what we got.
Anyways today we headed form Merano through a very scenic 6hr drive through Austria and Germany all the way to the Czech republic where we were greeted by at least 6prostitutes, it was soo disgusting. We then went on to meet a nice young Czech boy and check out the course. We then went back to our very nice lil villa where we were served with Czech beer and some dinner. dont worry dad..i only had 1 beer...
The weather here has been sooo good..im sitting here in a singlet and shorts at 9pm as it is so hot..We are 10hours behind Nz so you guys are prob getting up about now.
I apologise for the spelling of some words...the keyboard is a bit different here.
So thats all ive got time to summarise for now...theres a lot of stories to tell when i get back...
I have a race this weekend here in Ceske Bodeviche so it will hopefully go well. We are told its a small comp...but not for us as it has 50 paddlers in my category..
Saying of the day...If you can outperform yourself then ultimately you can outperform others...
I will be in touch again soon im sure...
Luv Louise

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Training in Europe


Time is going very quickly here!It seems more like 1day rather then 3 already! Training has been so much fun on the Augsberg course!I am starting to get used to the pushy water and mz new boat is so good to move around!
Our coach Kidda is awesome! Hes really nice and definately knows his stuff.
We are supposed to be going to Merano in Italy tommorrow for a race but we just found out from some of the Canadians that theres no water so we may be staying here in Augsberg a bit longer or going to Austria where we would train.
I wish I could put photos or videos on here coz theres so much to show and there are some pretty funny vids made already!*This internet cafe has no wiring thing for camaras*
Anyways I betta go! I said I would be Back about 20mins ago!
Catchya lata!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Euro Trip!

Gootentarg!
After 30hours of flying which included stops in Singapore, Brisbane, and Dubai we finally made it to >Munich in Germany! Along the way we had several Wolley moments!!With Eric losing his passport in Dubai!!But its ok, after 3checks on the previous plane were done by the hostesses it showed up.
Me and Luuka got our new boats!They are very cool! We went to the Augsberg course and watched a world cup race which was wicked!We then paddled on one of the flatter canals to get used to our new boats.
Its hard work here speaking to people at the shops and stuff! Very few shops are open because its a 3day weekend and Sue sent me, Chris and Luuka out to find milk...I had to give had gestures when asking randoms where to find it and they were pretty creative!
Anyways all is good here!We are stayiing in a awesome lil apartment. So far it has been so much fun!
Hope everyone is well bak in NZ!
My cellphone for some reason is not working so thats why theres been no texts yet!
Cya
Louise