In conjunction with the camp, sports science personnel, academy staff and athletes are conducting the Delta Fitness Challenge at the Lithgow Valley Shopping Centre.  The challenge will run from 9.30am until 12.30pm.  The challenge will give local school aged children the chance to pit themselves against some of the Academy’s best athletes in fitness testing activities, including vertical jump, sprint, prone holds and the multi-stage fitness (beep test).

Waking up in the morning everyone was really excited to get home.  The last two days in Auckland have gone so quick.  After packing our bags and saying good-bye to Amanda and her family we made our way to the airport.  While there we checked in and went through customs. I was getting so keen knowing I’ll be home soon. We boarded the plane and then began to make our way home to Australia!!

This tour would have been the best thing I’ve done, everyone had a great time, meeting all the bay girls and learning the kiwi way of coaching, and Lorraine’s cooking.  She was amazing!

 I would like to thank Nancy, Steph, Anita and Amanda for making this trip happen. They have put so much of their time into this just for us. Also a huge thank-you to the WRAS girls, they made this trip that much more enjoyable.

Leah

Today was going to be a really fun and relaxing day, we pretty much had the day to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to do.  We had to meet at the ferry terminal at 12.  Most people didn’t get out of bed ‘til after 8 as we didn’t have to do anything early that day.  I was excited that I could go shopping in Auckland, and I was very excited about the ferry trip across to Devonport.   Our room group left the hotel at about 9.30 to go do some shopping before our ferry ride.  I was starting to get very excited to go home tomorrow.  The ferry trip was very relaxing and there were some nice shops over at Devonport.  After our ferry trip we had the afternoon to ourselves so we did some more shopping and I spent lots of money.

We went to Elliot Stables for dinner which was really nice. Then we went back to the hotel and did a little presentation then six of us went across the road to the bungee ride.  I was so excited to go on it, it was dark which gave it that little bit more of an edge to it.  I was starting to get tired so went back to our room and packed for tomorrow.

Brooke

Today started like every other day, waking up to the voice of Ange at 6.30am.  I hadn’t packed my bag yet so I was freaking out a bit because I still had to shower but luckily I got in quick and had a shower with Georgia and Bop.  I eventually conquered the packing situation, my New Zealand buddy told me to ‘just shove everything in it’.  At breakfast we celebrated Amanda’s birthday with a cake and song.  

We didn’t have to lift a finger as the New Zealand girls packed up the Marae. We packed the vans to drive to Auckland. We took group photos with our newly made friends and said goodbye. I was really sad to leave my friends but I was happy that we were going to Auckland. I had mixed emotions. It was an eventful and tiring trip to Auckland with Jodi, I was ready to shop’ til I dropped.

Lauren

Today we played the New Zealand girls in a friendly tournament.  Unfortunately we lost both games, although it was disappointing it was a lot of fun.  We got a preview if we took on some of Carols coaching advice.  We then had a combined game with the WRAS and BOP girls mixed together.  Once again I was in the losing team but it was a close game all the way through.  Instead of Kelsea doing a warm down Jodi one of the coaches decided to take us to a step class as a warm down.   We were dreading doing it as we were all tired from the weeks training but we got in and had a go anyway. A few minutes in everyone was so uncoordinated and I struggled to keep in time. I turned around and saw the BOP magic team jog in and join the class. Everyone was surprised and excited to meet them.

That night everyone was still on a high from meeting the Magic, most didn’t get to sleep til one in the morning as we got up and had a midnight snack.  The funniest part of the night was the Gecko dropping on Lucy’s head in the middle of the night.

Alanna

Today was one of our hardest days for training. Our first session was with Kelsea our Strength and Conditioning coach.   She worked us very hard.  We started off with fartlek training.  We did this for approximately 7 minutes.  After this I’m pretty sure all the girls wanted to call it quits.  But for Kelsea she was only just starting.  We walked over to some stairs and ran up and down them for a while then did a lot of strengthening between runs up the stairs.   After this we did a core strength test, there was 11 stages and I have to say it was hard and painful but I made it to level  11. Unfortunately we still weren’t finished.  We finished off with a circuit which took forever.  Everyone was happy when we finished and had morning tea.

In the second session we had Carol and Anita (mum).   With Carol we did defence and with Anita we did attack.   In the third session we did team training.   All of us WRAS girls talked about strategies and game play.  We played a few half court games against one another getting ready for the game against the New Zealand girls tomorrow.   We finished off the day very tired and it wasn’t long until we were all sound asleep.

Darcie

We had an early morning start today, we went to Rotorua. The first stop was Skyline luge and gondola.  We went racing through the mountain and Brooke was racing a little too quickly and stacked it going down the advance course.  After the luge we were invited to lunch at netball Rotorua. It was amazing to see the effort they put in to feed us.

After lunch we went to Te Puia for a guided tour. We were appointed one of the funniest tour guides to show us around the Geyser and mud pools. We also saw Kiwi birds that were fast asleep.  We were then shown the carving and weaving schools.  Our tour guide showed us some traditional carvings and Maori garments.

All in all it was a fantastic day with lots of fun and adventure.

Zoe B

7.30am wakeup call which I liked, it was later than usual for me. we had a good breakfast before training. We got in the uses and took the short trip through the town to the training stadium.  Training was intense which I liked as it forced us to work harder and become better athletes.  All three sessions we were good, I learnt a lot from the first day of training and am excited for the rest of the week’s sessions.  

We tried to go to the beach but it was closed due to the oil spill from the container ship that split in half that morning.  At night we chilled out after a hard day of training talking and getting to know the Bay of Plenty girls even more.  In the first few days I have made new friends I feel we will be even closer by the end of the week.

Charlotte J

We unpacked our bus and got our first look at where we were sleeping. 31 girls from WRAS and BOP had to sleep side by side on single mattresses with a small spot at the end of the beds for our suitcases. We were meant to be welcomed on to the Marae by the elders in a traditional welcoming ceremony but they had to leave early so we missed out. We spent the rest of the night playing cards and talking with the Bay girls, getting to know each other as we were going to be spending the next week living together.

I was very tired from the flight over and travelling many of us were also nervous about our next day, our first training day. We were showered and in bed by 9pm.

Rebecca C

We got off the plane like famous people down the stairs onto the runway. We thought we saw a famous person, not really sure who he was or why he was famous we found out he had a camera and was filming for a travel reality show. When we got into the airport before customs there was a lady with a guitar singing and a man from the plane joining in with her. We were greeted by two Bay of Plenty ladies as we walked through the terminal. As we walked outside we got a woof of rotten eggs (this is actually what NZ smells like). 

We got on the bus and took a 45 min drive from Rotorua to the Marae in Mt Maunganui.  

Georgia D