New Zealand Report
On the 12th March 2020 the Victorian Junior Mixed team travelled to Otorohonga on the North Island of New Zealand. The team consisted of Laura Michelmore, Izzy Nicholson, Indi Gray, Alicia Nicholson, Harry Semmens, Brady Wilms, Angus Cooper and Cody Templeton. The coach was Kim Templeton and the manager Kristy Cooper.
We flew into Auckland Thursday morning, and drove two hours to the campsite we stayed at. On the way we stopped at Maccas and had Maccas for dinner to keep up Aussie tradition. When we went to Maccas on Thursday night we hired go karts and scooters and rode them down to the local Maccas. Later that afternoon we had some unusual encounters with the local Otto’s.
Friday morning, we went to see the glow worms, it was very exciting and fun. We went on a raft in underwater caves full of the glow worms. We were all nervous to get our horses Friday afternoon. We drove not far to the local polocrosse grounds in Otorohonga to meet the opposition, they were very nice and gave us horses to ride. We made new friends during dinner at the grounds We then took the mini bus back to camp and had a good yarn with the team. We tried to hit the hay early for a goodnights rest before playing but the boys refused to leave us alone until we gave them wafers.
We got forced to wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. We ate our scrumptious breakfast at the grounds that included bacon, eggs and a slice of bread to top it off. We all got our horses and gave them a stretch out, then begun plaiting tails and putting on bandages. 10 o’clock soon rolled around and we were pumping up for the game. We won convincingly with a score of, 20-4 (go vics).
We headed back to the campsite and went swimming. Our 2nd game was at 4pm and won again. Then had Maccas again. Saturday night the New Zealand people were very catering and put on a lovely dinner. Saturday night was fun and some of us hung out with the New Zealand Juniors. We headed back not to late and went to sleep.
Sunday morning, we had the final and won. Alicia won best female and best female horse and harry won best male and best male horse. Alicia rode Heidi and Harry rode Tana. Sunday afternoon we travelled back to Auckland in the Mini Bus and stopped for Maccas again. We all went out for dinner in Auckland Sunday night at a restaurant near the motel we were at. Monday rolled around and our flight back to Australia was waiting for us. We found out the because of corona we had to stay 14 days isolated at home. Overall, we had a great experience and were all keen to come home and ride our own horses.
By Laura Michelmore and Izzy Nicholson
