Issue # 67 - March Musings

. March 2013 .

Jake checks out the dive spot across the road. Not much diving today!

 Greetings all, and welcome to our March 2013 edition. Yet another action packed month with plenty of travel and sport to keep you entertained for 5 minutes or so...
Dave heads to NZ for a quick visit. Sam heads to Jamaica (with the rest of the family following). Jake turns Greek and we get a little wet! .

For blogs from 2007 - 2012, click here

Sea Swim, Touch and Weather
There's plenty of swimming in this month's issue, so brace yourself!
First up is the 600m sea swim that Sam and Jake took part in early in the month. There are a number of sea swims throughout the year. Most of them 800m (half a mile), and the big Flowers One Mile Sea Swim that is held every June.

 It was a nice warm day with very little current to battle. Both kids made a good fist of it and came away with respectable times and placings.

 Sam swam well and finished in top 10

 The Winter Touch league is back. Dave is playing for the same team he played in last year, The Heineken Brew Crew. Michelle went to the dark side this year and is playing for a team that has been around for years, the Five Nations. Both sides are unbeaten so far, but that will soon change. Who's it gonna be?!

George Town getting a bit of a pounding

 We had a bit of weather earlier in the month as well. The temperature dropped as low as 21 degrees, and we were really feeling the cold! The seas cut up rough and the main drag through town was closed off for a day or so because the waves were crashing over it.  Our house is reasonably close to the sea and the waves could be heard crashing on the rocks and the shore without too much trouble at all.

Random shot of a sailing/cruise ship while waiting for Jake's class' show 

 Greek Day
Jake's class held Greek day the other week. They've been studying ancient Greece and Jake has found the whole thing quite interesting.
On this day they all dressed up in their Greek costumes and put on a show for the parents about the ancient Greeks and Gods, then went back to school and had a Greek War, and ate Greek food, and a great time. It was very entertaining!

Click here for pics of other goings on around here

NZ Visit

Dave's Dad (Doug) hasn't been all that well so Dave headed back to New Zealand for a visit.

Despite his first flight being cancelled on the Monday morning (Cayman time), he made it back to Waimate, arriving Wednesday (NZ time).

If you hadn't already worked it out, Dave's home town is Waimate (in South Canterbury). Dave has been away for a while now so it all turned into a mini-nostalgia trip.

Doug was in Timaru Hospital when Dave arrived, but they managed to break him out and get him back home the following day which was pretty cool.

The Forks Hotel - home of 'The Bottle'.
An interesting story, click on the link just below to find out the story behind it all.
Teds-bottle-part-of-Waihao-Forks-folklore

Self-explanatory really...

A beer with Cairdy & Bam
There just happened to be a 21st going on in town and Dave managed to sneak past security and catch up with a whole bunch of people he hadn't seen for years.

Hmmm...some stars from a previous blog make an appearance (and Phil).
Siobhan and Lisa were visiting us in Cayman in January.

The Bailey boys

Family shot - with Gordy, Alan, Doug & Lil

 Lil (Dave's Mum) is a fairly handy artist.  Here's a few of her latest works that were in the local art show.
Let us know if you want to but any, we'll put you in touch!

This one won the 'Best in Show' award and was sold in pretty quick time.

One of the older buildings in town being prepared for demolition after all of the Canterbury
earthquakes had taken their toll.

 Doug has been heavily involved in the creation of a heritage site in Waimate called Bushtown. They are re-creating an old sawmill and associated bits and pieces that used to make up the industry in days of old in the area.

They even dedicated a bridge to Doug in recognition of his efforts over the years.

 Doug took Dave and his mate AJ down to Bushtown for a guided tour. They had a good look around the site and learned about the old sawmill and some history of the buildings as well as future plans for the continued development of the site.

Bishop Doug

AJ and Doug

A quick beer at the Waimate Hotel

 They also went up to the White Horse with Doug to have a bit of a look around.

View of Waimate from the White Horse (Google it)

Steak on the hoof!

A compulsory stop for all visitors to Waimate.

 Wellington
The next part of the journey was Wellington, where Dave had about a day and a half to check out their Beach House at Waitarere and also their home in Wellington. He didn't have a lot of time but did manage to catch up with a couple of characters while there. Lunch at Police Headquarters in Wellington was very nice. Prepared by our friend Ash and enjoyed with the company of Shelley overlooking the Harbour Captial on a sunny day.

Podge seems to be a serial offender in the blogs of late. He was in Cayman in January. Dave also caught up with him in Waimate, and then he appears in Wellington while Dave is there. So, there was nothing else for it...
"Another beer Podge?"

Dave stayed with Graham and Susie and the worlds friendliest dog (Rory) at their house in Maungaraki.
OK, the Dog absolutely hated Dave from the outset, and didn't hold back whenever the two were in close proximity. 

 Waitarere
Dave also popped up to Waitarere for an afternoon to check out their beach house.
If anyone is looking for a weekend getaway or a place to chill, just let us know.
It's a great little spot to get away from it all, and is only just over an hour north of Wellington.

Waitarere Beach

Fish n Chips on the beach! Can't beat that!

"Lefty" the seagull investigates the Fish n Chips.

Waitarere Sunset

 Wellington (again)
This our home in Wellington. It's been rented since we left but Dave just wanted to make sure it was still in good shape.

Colonial Knob - believe it or not, Dave used to run up there in his lunchtimes...

Our good mate Paris. It was great to catch up for a quick one with Paris in Wellington.

It was a brief trip back to NZ but it was good for Dave to catch up with Doug and Lil, the rest of the family and a few mates as well. There are a whole bunch of people that he wanted to see, but didn't have the time on this trip for many at all. Hopefully next time!

Click here for more photos from the NZ trip

CARIFTA 2013 - Kingston, Jamaica

As you know, Sam was selected for the Cayman swim team to compete at CARIFTA (The Caribbean champs). CARIFTA stands for Caribbean Free Trade Association, who supported the event from the start way back when. It's for Junior swimmers from age 11-17, a bit like the NZ Age Group Swim Championships. Age groups are 11-12, 13-14 and 15-17 and age is as of the previous 31 Dec. Sam went last year for the first time and swam 3 individual events and one relay. This time she was in 6 individual events and 3 relays. She was seeded top 10 for the 100 and 200 Back so we were hoping for a few finals.

The 11 - 12 yr Girls relay team

 The team left for Jamaica the Tuesday before Easter, to have some time to bond as a team, and train in the 50m pool. The meet didn't start until the Saturday, so Dave, Michelle and Jake flew over on the Friday evening. The swimmers stayed away from the parents in the "Swimmers Village" at one hotel so the rest of the supporters all stayed together at another one. It was fun being part of a big group supporting our kids.

 We didn't get to see Sam very much as they kept the team away from the interfering parents. But at the end of each session we got to say Hi, so that was cool.

 The opening ceremony

 

Biggles

Sam did some really fantastic swimming. PB's in almost all events and she made it into 3 finals.Two of the finals were on day 2 - 200 Free and 100 Back - qualifying 7th in both putting her in Lane 1. She swam a strong 200 Free doing pretty much the same time as in the prelims (which was 6secs faster than her previous PB) and came in 6th. Later in the evening, after a few power stoppages, she had the 100 Back. She swam another fantastic race and managed to get a Bronze Medal much to everyone's surprise - it doesn't usually happen from out in lane one! The Cayman crowd went wild and Michelle could not contain the tears of happiness. There was quite some celebrating done that night!

Some of the younger Cayman supporters... and future Swimmers!

Beer O'Clock

 Jake and Dave took some time between sessions to do the tourist thing. In Kingston, it's visit the Bob Marley Museum. Jake wasn't all that keen to start with, but soon warmed up when he heard about the bullet holes in the house where someone tried to shoot Mr Marley.

What else can you say?

Jake Bailey and the Wailers

Focus

Awwwww..... Sam n Ella are both so happy about their 1st and 2nd placing in the 200m Back prelims.

The crowd goes wild as Sam wins the bronze. Proud Mum and Dad are in the top just left of centre.
Dave holding the camera. Michelle creating some new dance move...

Special moment for Sam

On the last day Sam swam a lovely 200 Back heat and made the 200 back final, as second fastest qualifier. Her best friend was third fastest qualifier so we were hoping to have two swimmers on the dias. Sam swam an awesome race, taking the lead in the third 50 and storming home to win. The crowd (well, the Cayman supporters anyway) went nuts. Everyone was so pleased and excited that Sam had one the Gold. It was a Cayman record time as well. All the celebrations were short lived however, when the announcer said that Sam was disqualified. Everyone was stunned.  Saddened.  The mood suddenly went very quiet.  We soon found out that her finish was judged to be illegal in that she was fully submerged when she reached for the wall at the finish. Apparently 'some' part of your body needs to be above water.

It was a tough call, but the rules are the rules. Sam will learn from this and will only improve. Her disappointment was hard to watch but she's accepted the fact and has moved onward and upward. As the Coach said after the race "She was still the fastest swimmer in the pool on the night."

It must be pretty cool to know that you are one of the top swimmers in the region.

Great job Sam. We are so proud of you.

The Cayman team ended up coming home with 14 medals - 3 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze. This was the most since 2006, which was pretty awesome! Way to go Cayman!

Click here to see more Photos from Carifta

Click here to see the news clip on the Cayman Swim Team

 Camping!
Easter weekend is the only time throughout the year that camping is permitted in Cayman. We don't know why, but will try and find out.
We popped out to Spotts Beach on Good Friday, just to chill before heading off to Jamaica that night.

Jake might be trying to sneak a beer!

Some of the locals have set up camp just along the beach

More have moved in to Smith's Cove.

A lot of the campers hire Port-a-loos and rig up electricity and cart all sorts of things down to the beach for their camping weekend. Some just camp during the day and then go home to bed at night.
We reckon it's just a little bit hot to be camping in a tent around here. The occasional Mosquito and ant might also add to your woes.

OK, that's it for this month. We hope you enjoyed it.
Catch you at the end of April for what is shaping up to be an incredibly low-key and uneventful issue...
Hmmmm.... I'm sure something will come up. It always does!
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