Marika and I arrived in Aussie on the 28th of June. Ginny had told me to pack warm because it was cold. I chucked in a few extra trackies and a jumper thinking, it’s Australia, how cold could it be? Turns out very. I was living in Ginny’s thermals from that day on.

Apart from the icy weather and a bit of a fall, my time in Oz couldn’t have been better. I stayed with Virginia (Ginny) Tapp and her mum and sister Lyn and Alex. It worked out great as we hosted Ginny 2 years ago on her Scholarship over here, so we already knew each other well. Round about the same thing happened with Marika and Todd Melbourne (Marika’s host) who came over as the male representative with Virginia and is Ginny’s cousin. I played for Galloping Gully which is the most out-of-control, Australian club ever! Both Marika (Mudz) and I were with that club so we weren’t completely alone when Aussie beat us in the rugby. Thank god I was home when the netball was on. But really, we were only 10 minutes down the road from each other and we got to do heaps of stuff out side of Polocrosse as a group which was a bonus. We even got to experience kangaroo hunting or as they say it: ‘‘Roo Hun’in’’! I found it quite cruel and sad at first but by the end of it I was shouting “GO, GO, GO, GET HIM!” with everybody else.

Our first carnival was at Tamworth and Mudz and I played with Ginny, Todd, Todd’s Father Charlie and Ginny’s cousin Rachel. For some unforeseen reason we played in the A grade and got totally annihilated. It was the beginning of the trip and all our spirits were high so we just made the most of it and had fun.
The second carnival we went to was Bunnun, at Quirindi. In this Tournament I played in the Ladies team which was good fun. And what made it even more fun was winning. Not only did we win our grade but the team Mudz was in won theirs too as well as the D grade team AND the Sub Juniors team. Galloping Gully was defiantly one of the high light clubs that weekend and we even made it into the local paper!
After that Weekend Mudz and I were originally going to go home with our next host family but we were having such a great time with Gully and Ginny and Todd were such ideal host’s that we asked permission to stay on for another week with them. They agreed that was fine although that meant we missed one Carnival. But that wasn’t to big a sacrifice in order to have a bit more fun.

During that next week on the Tuesday we did a “Kiwi Swap”. Marika went with Ginny to Tamworth, 2 and a half hours away, to do some shopping. But I had already been and I didn’t need or want to go all that way so I went to Todd’s for the day to ride. But! The horse I was riding stumbled and fell and I hit the ground hard enough to knock myself out. I don’t remember anything from 2 until 6 that evening but ill never forget what Ginny said to Todd the moment she walk through the hospital door: “That’s the last time I leave my Kiwi with you.” And so, as you need someone to blame in every situation, we blame Todd for that one.

Unfortunately I couldn’t ride for the rest of the trip which was a huge bummer and I ended up staying with the Tapp’s for another week. We found there wasn’t much point in me going to the Thompson’s only to eat their food while the girls went to school.
Marika headed off to his next host family the following Monday as planned and I caught a train to Maitland on the Friday to spend my final weekend at Polocrosse with the Thompson’s. The Thompson’s were really great to me and their two daughters Sally and Brie are hugely talented Polocrosse players. I wish I had had more time with the sisters. Lucky for him, Marika played at the last carnival for Bunnun and we had a good time, despite me being dismounted.

We got back in NZ at 1am on Tuesday, only just surviving Customs. I know I was ready to be home but only because I couldn’t stand watching and not playing. I miss Australia already and Ginny and I have even started to arrange her coming back over here to stay again. I had the most fun filled, awesome time in Australia and it’s been a very worth while experience! I want to thank New Zealand Polocrosse for giving me this wonderful opportunity which both Marika and I were very fortunate to have gotten. I’m looking forward to the new season!