Edinbourg!!!Scotland

Wow Scotland is so mint!!!!Had an amazing weekend in Edinbourg! What an amazing city full of life and beautiful buildings. Thanks so much to Maddy and Dan for taking me and Luuka round and showing us the Castle and down the Royal Mile!It was very cool.

When we arrived we were welcolmed by lots of rain!So we took shelter in one of the cities many pubs. This kept us warm for many hours! On the Saturday Edinbourg turned into something amazing with clear blue skys! We went down to the farmers market for some Pork rolls. We then checked out the castle and Royal Mile. We ate Tablet(Traditional Scottish Fudge type stuff). and had coffee in a nice wee cafe.

Today we did some more sight seeing and for lunch I had some traditional Scottish Haggis!!Was kinda alright too:)

It was great wondering the streets!Maddy and Dans Apartment also had a nice view of the city too!Cheers guys, it was an awesome weekend.

Nottingham, UK

I have been training lots and working and chilling out. Life has been very sweet.

We had a dinner at the Red Hot Buffet Shack the other night that went really well!

This weekend me and Luuka are catching a ride with some of the Scottish to Edinbourg!I am well excited.

I have also just ordered a new kayak!A Caiman Torrero custom made. My flatty Joe is getting one too, and a guy Sam. We will be flying to Praha at some stage to pick them up.

I am looking at hitting up Paris for a weekend also. As flights are only 10pounds!!Pretty mint. We will see.

The sun is shinning today and im off to enjoy it!

Good times!

Life in England

This last week has been real fun. I have done lots of training and started a job at the National Water Centre working in the canteen there. Ive been out wakeboarding again too, its mean as!!

I celebrated my birthday by going to the Goose Fair(Biggest Fair with loads of theme park rides in all of Europe) and then into Nottingham town, it was a great night. Thanks to everyone that sent me Birthday wishes!!!I was stoked!

Heres some pics of my sweet room and Joe's house and my bike and me!

Nottingham

This past week I have spent getting to know my way around Nottingham. I am living in the meadows and its only 10mins walk from the centre of town. The White water course here flows constantly and its only 10mins by bike from the Meadows!! Lizzy gave me her bike to use well I am here which is awesome!
I have a job at the National Water Sports Centre here working mainly serving in the cafe.
Today I went wakeboarding behind the boat. It was so much fun!I also went on the massive tube which was out of control!!
It has been a pretty chilled out week settleing in here and getting to know my way around.
Unfortunately my camera is a bit dead due to water submersion.
I will try get some pics soon.

England!!!!

After many many many hours of driving two of the British chicks (Hannah and Sarah) and I arrived at the ferry terminal in France, ready to catch the 6am ferry to England.
2hours later we walked onto the freezing deck to see the cloud covered countryside of England. We drove North up past London and finally back to the town of Robin Hood, Nottingham.
I moved into my new home in what is known as the 'meadows' area. I live at the end of Woolmer street with 2 guys, Joe and Pete and a girl Vicky. I met Joe when kayaking in central Europe and he was kind enough to offer me a room in his house. Its a very cool house and my room is sweet.
I have been paddling at the course, chilling out and looking for a job. Today Luuka took me down to the National water sports centre and we went wakeboarding by wire. It was super fun and I am keen as to get right into it.
I will try get some pics up soon. My camara is not working so well anymore unfortunately.

The Racing

Race Day- Leipzig

Qualifications: My first run was very average. I had 6 touches causing 12seconds worth of penalties and a spin that lost me a bit of time. My 2nd run I stepped it up and only had 1 touch. I got every move direct and was online for pretty much the whole run. I qualified into the semi final in 14th position. I felt that I was really well prepared for the race. It was really good having a coach to walk the course with and having video review.
The next day we had the Semi finals. The course was a lot trickier then the previous day. I somehow lost focus half way down the course and this lost me time. My bottom section was slow and off line. I finished up in 17th place.

The update

The other day we drove for an hour to the coast of Slovenja to get some kayak gear from the Sandiline factory and then on to Ljubliana. In the centre of Ljubliana town there is a river. They held a night time flat water 1 on 1 dual slalom race on the river. It was a very cool atmosphere! There was only 8 Women entered though so we went straight to Semi finals. And unfortunately for me I was up against the 2006 World Champion Jana Dukatova. So for obvious reasons I got my ass kicked. She ended up winning the race overall.
The K1 and C1 Men’s was more competitive with time trials and then the top 16 going on to Semifinals. Peter Kauzer took out the K1M and Jana Dukatova the K1W.

On the weekend we had qualifications for World Series race No.2.at Solkan. The weather in Solkan was really nice all week but unfortunately on race day the winds picked up and the competition got cancelled. So on the Sunday morning I managed to get a ride to Leipzig in Germany with the Canadians. Leipzig is a pretty new course 143km from Berlin. It is suppose to have a similar design to the slalom course in Beijing, just a bit smaller. They have really kindly let me stay with them in the houses that they are living in right by the course. They are really nice and warm and at a really good price. They have also said that I can train with them and will be coaching me for the week for a small cost. So thanks heaps to the Canadians!!! I really appreciate it.
I think I am saying goodbye to my European summer though because it is really cold here! I have been wearing pants and my down jacket the last few days. The place we are staying has a sauna though too which is awesome!Its been great hanging out here too as all the paddlers are staying in the houses here which makes it like a kayak villiage!
This weekend we have the last World Series race here in Leipzig! After the race I will be catching a ride with the British to England!

Brat Semis and then on to Solkan

The Semi finals were on the Sunday and for me they were yet again very average!!!I had a few wee recircs and this caused me to loose a fair bit of time. I finished up in 19th place. I look forward to going back to Bratislava again one day but would like to do a fair bit of training there before any races!! It was a pretty crazy race with at least 2 ppl in every final getting a 50, So many fifties were given out!!
Mike finished 13th, Mark 22nd.
Nina M from Slovenja=1st (1000 Euro!!)
Dana B of Slovakia=2nd(500Euro!!)
Elena K of Slovakia=3rd(400Euro!)
K1M= Peter K of Slovenja=1st
C1M= Martikan 1st

On Monday we slowly packed up and drove to Ljubiana and then on to Solkan. Being back in Solkan brings back a lot of memories of my Junior Worlds here. It is a very mellow course here compared to Bratislava. We will be training up this week here for the 2nd World Series race this weekend.
Solkan is right on the border of Slovenja and Italy so we are looking at heading in to Italy 1 night for dinner!!Italian food is the best!

Sweet, better cruize

Ciao

World Series- Slovak Open Quals

Today was the Qualifications for the Slovak Open. The course was once again very tricky!!! 

The amount of fifties given out today was pretty huge, esp. for Women.

I had one of the worst runs of my life. I started off by missing gate 2(Probably the easiest gate on the course) and it went bad from there resulting in a very slow run. My 2nd run was a lot better with only a few touches. I ended up in 25th place out of the small contingent of 27 Women. There are a lot of good paddlers here but many picked up fifties. In the womens class you could make the Top 10 with a fifty!!Crazy. luckily for me all Women go through to tommorrow's Semi- Finals. 

In the K1Men there was around 80 competitors, top 40 going on to the Semi-Finals. Mike had two fast run times which would have placed him in the top 5. But he picked up a fifty so ended up in 35th place. Luckily still making it through to the semis with a fifty. 

Mark had 2 reasonable runs and placed 2oth, top 30 went through for C1Men out of the 40 competitors. 

Mark and I spent the afternoon on the quad bikes and trying out the free shit!!Was sweet. 

Hopefully tommorrows racing goes a lot better!!

Ciao

Slovakia

Lead up to World Series no.1

This week has been real fun. On Wednesday Dana and Matej took us for a trip down the Danube river in Canadian style canoes. Half way down we came across a sandy beach!!It was a really nice beach with lots of trees and was totally deserted, we could see the Bratislava town in the distance. Real Awesome!!! Then the Italians cooked us some Italian style pasta which was totally sweet.
Then last night we went to Matej and Danas knew home for a BBQ. Was really nice:)
Tommorrow we have Qualifications for the Slovak Open, the 1st event of the World Series. We have been training on the course here in Bratislava all week and are looking forward to the race. It looks like there will be television coverage for the event(Showing on Eurosport). The event is going to be big and there is going to be jet skis, quadbikes and paintball to entertain the kids and stuff. I am keen as to go for a ride on the jetskis inbetween runs!
I am quite sure the course will be as challenging as last weekend!!
I will put some pics up in the next few days.
Off to watch demos,
Ciao

Semi Finals Day

On Sunday we had the Semi finals. The course was not quite as tricky as the previous days but was still challenging enough. Mark was the first Kiwi off and put down a solid run to finish in 27th. I was next and had an okay run with no major screw ups but I lost time with a few unnecessary spins at the top and middle of the course. I ended up in 23rd. Mike had a bit of trouble in gate 1 and a sweet run after that but ended up in 24th.
Last night we cooked a feed for some Slovaks(Matej and Dana) and some Italians(Stefano and Omar). We cooked a traditional Kiwi meal of Chicken pie and Pavlova.
I will try get some pics of the kayaking and the course up soon.
This coming weekend is the Slovak open and there is a lot of hype. It is going to be a big race here with lots of Television coverage. As Slovakia dominated in the olympics winning three of the 4 classes. There is big prize money up for grabs along with cars and other expensive items.
Today Matej and Dana are taking us to check out some old castle and a beach!!!sweet.

Danube Cup Qualifications

Today we had the quals for the Danube Cup.
I did not perform well at all. I picked up a 50 in my first run and had a few recircs in tricky places. I played a few of the moves safe though and this payed off as I have made it through to the top 40 Semifinals tommorrow in 25th place. A lot of people struggled on the course here as it is rather tricky.
Mark Youngnickel is also through in 13th place. Mike and Ciaran are racing in about 1hour...they should be sweet though, yesterday Mike finished in 7th and Ciaran was in the 20's.
sweet

Race no.1

Today we had the 1st race here in Bratislava.
The course was very tricky, meaning you needed to be working hard and be very focused the whole way down.
Unfortunately for me I picked up a fifty sec penalty in both runs at diff places. My 2nd run was going really well until I had a wee recirc that lost me a lot of time and it went bad from there. i finished up in 32nd out of 48. Mark ended up in 17th out of 58 and mike and ciaran have not raced yet.
We are heading out to the movies tonight to see Batman with some of the Slovaks.
More racing tommorrow

Bratislava

After spending a good fun week in Augsberg with Kathrin we began our long 6 hour drive in the Skoda to Bratislava. Here in Bratislava we have an apartment in the centre of town which is pretty sweet. We have been joined by Ciaran from Ireland too.Unfortunately these last few days me and the Kiwi boys have been a bit sick with some kind of cold but hopefully it will get better soon.

The course here in Bratislava is big white water and fast flowing. It is really fun to paddle.

Yesterday Mark, Ciaran and I went and checked out Bratislava old town, heres some pics...

Augsberg!!!

I was yet again lucky and managed to get my boat and overweight luggage on for free!!Stoked.
I arrived in Augsberg and went to Kathrins place!! I have now met up with Mike and Mark and our Kiwi training has begun. Today Kathrin left us to go on a surfing holiday in France!!!I would love to go with her but am wanting to do the upcoming World Seiries races so decided to stay here and train. She will no doubt have a wicked week!!
At the moment the Freestyle Kayaking World Cup is on so we have been able to check out some of the action. We caught up with two of NZ's junior paddlers that are here competeing (Callum and William from Levin). This morning they whipped out some sweet moves in the Junior Mens comp. This afternoon Mike will be giving it a go.
Ill put some pics of the action up later...

Sant Celoni- last week

On Tuesday I took a bus to La Seu D'Urgel(Place Pre Worlds was) to pick up my kayak. My kayak is fixed now and is so much better to paddle without water leaking into it!Well I was there I was lucky enough to jump on the whitewater and go for a kayak and they even kindly let me for free. I then caught a bus and train back to Sant Celoni, I was fortunate enough to get my boat onto both.

This week has been pretty chilled with a few trips walking into the nearby hills and to the beach. Last night I went into Barcelona town with Rueben and Andreu and a few others. There was a massive street party going on and it was packed! There were decorations everywhere and different streets had different stages for different music. We danced into the morning and then headed back to Sant Celoni feeling exhausted.

Tommorrow I am flying to Augsberg in Germany and meeting up with another kiwi Mike Dawson. I will be training in Augsberg for the week. Am amped as to get back in my kayak!!

I better cruize...

Adios

The Update

I had another pretty good week here in Sant Celoni.
The kids are picking up quite a bit of English now which is good and I am starting to get a fair bit of Spanish or Catalan lingo down!
On Wednesday night I went out to a live concert in the square where there was a guy singing in Catalan. He was an excellent entertainer and really got everybody going. It went on into the early hours of the morning.
Then on Thursday night I was invited out for a BBQ dinner in a field. A fire was lit and veges and potatoes from the vege garden were cooked!! We then had dinner by candle light. One of the guys plays the guitar really well so he jammed on that into the early hours of the morning. I am still trying to get used to the Spanish time here. They eat dinner at about 9-11pm and don’t go to bed until at least 12 usually!!
On the wkd I went into Barcelona with my friend Rueben. We checked out a few magnificent buildings in the morning such as the Temple de la Sagrada Familia and the Olympic stadiums. In the arvo we went shopping and took in the sights and scenes around La Ramblers and the main streets. Our plan was to hire bikes and cruise around the city on them but after our massive all you can eat Buffet lunch(Was delicious, including loads of Gelato/Ice Cream!!) we were so stuffed we just headed out to the Barcelona Harbour. Was a wicked day!!
On the Saturday night the town was celebrating as it is the beginning of there holidays. So I was picked up by some of the locals and we cruised down for some Moheto’s and some party action. The party went on till 6am, we then went and lay on the beach as the sun rose, was so much fun!!
Then later in the day I packed my things and jumped on a train to France's 2nd biggest city, Lyon. On my train I got talking to some Spanish people who helped tell me the quickest root to Lyon which helped a lot. And I also met a girl from Sweden called Fredrica. I was a little unprepared and had only taken 1 banana for the 8hour train ride but luckily Fredrica was really nice and shared her bread with me and we enjoyed a nice quiet wine on the train. We arrived in Lyon at about 11pm and me and Fredrica were heading for a youth hostel when we ran into a French chick Emily. Emily offered us to stay in her appartment!!!She makes hats and we got to stay in her hat room which was very cool!!She also showed us around Lyon which was wicked, its a very cool city with a river running through it.
The next day I tried to find a bus to Sault-Brenaz(Kayaking course about 50km from Lyon) but there were none!!So I caught a train to the nearest town. I was planning on hitching from there to Sault-Brenaz but this lady came up and asked where I wanted to go and when I told her she just took me there!!!I couldn't quite believe my luck!!I also met a French girl Marie on the train who was from Lyon and she offered for me to come and stay also!!I think French people are super friendly and nice!!Was cool.
So anyway I spent the week camping in the beautiful surroundings of Sault-Brenaz with a club from the Netherlands. We camped right by the river which was perfect! Every morning we had Fresh French Crossants and we ended the days with wine, beer or Sangria. It was really good to be back in a boat on white water again and it was really good having new people to train with. They were a really cool bunch of paddlers and were fun to paddle and chill out with. Cheers to the team for having me and helping coach me and keeping me entertained!!It was an awesome week!!
I finally made it back to Sant Celoni and found that the house was locked and my family had gone on holiday...so I slept under the stars!! Luckily today the neighbours were home and they have lent me there spare key!!
Tommorrow my friend Andreu is heading to La Seu and I will cruise along with him and hopefully go for a paddle and take my boat back with me as I have plans for some kayaking in the next few weeks. Plans will be revealed in time...

Adios

Pics: Barcelona, Lyon, Sault-Brenaz

Click to enlarge

Sant Celoni-Barcelona-France...

Ah these last 2weeks have been insane!!!!I don´t know where to start. I arrived home from France last night to find my family has gone on holiday till next Friday and im locked out so I can´t add any of the sweet photos I have of my adventures and havn´t got much time to write in detail....but ill write some and fill in the gaps later...
France was amazing!!!It was great to get back in a kayak after a few weeks of rest and the weather was perfect mfor it. The people there are soo nice! I got 3 offers from people to stay with them in France and was given a ride from some randoms at the train station to the kayak course! Without the ride I don´t know what I would have done?? I got very lucky!!
I went back to Barcelona with my friend Ruben and we had an awesome day!!!It was soo good to have a guided tour. And I partied it up in Sant Celoni a few nights which was awesome!!The Spanish sure do know how to party!
Tommorrow I am going to La Seu(The place Pre Worlds was for kayaking) with my friend Andreu so I will finally get my boat back all fixed!!!!Yesss!
Better go...
Will be in touch!
Oh yea and Olympics have begun...Luuka will be paddling on Wednesday and Thursday!!!Very exciting. Best of luck to her...Go NEW ZEALAND!!!

Adios