Netball and Whangamata

Hi again! (Monday, June 4)


I promised to show you the famous New Zealand Netball! So here it is:
It's an indoor sport that is a combination between basketball, soccer, and Ultimate Frisbee.  Players have to get the ball to the opposing end of the court, but players can only hold onto the ball for 3 seconds, and cannot move while they are holding the ball.


Hamilton's team is called The Magic - and here they are in red!!

 There are defenders, shooters, etc., and each position can only go into certain areas of the court. For example, in this next picture, you can see the two women at the forefront of the photo are stopped at the semi circle around the net.

 Once you have the ball in your hands, you cannot move. And, from what I watched, once someone has possession of the ball inside the smallest semi circle, no one can move (they can only try and block with their hands).  There is also a new technique that was just introduced to netball called "the lift", where a player can lift another player in order to get a basket or block a basket (we didn't get to see this in action unfortunately).

And that is netball at it's finest! The Magic won by about 20 points, which made the game that much more exciting!

The next weekend, Susan, Susan's friends Ruth and Jane, and I drove along the windy coastal route to Whangamata (F(ah)ng-ah-mah-tah) beach to Jane's "batch" (beach house).  Whangamata is on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand:

                                                HAMILTON                                        WHANGATAMA

We arrived at Ruth's batch quite late on the Friday night (June 8), so we just had some soup and went to bed.  In the morning after having some toast with jam and coffee, we all took a nice scenic walk on the beach:

Ruth, Susan, and Jane 

Looking out at Whangamata beach (entrance #10)

Susan, Ruth, and Jane

Me! at Whangamata

After our walk along the beach we walked into the little town of Whangamata and did a bit of window shopping (and shopping) before going for afternoon tea at a nice little cafe:

We saw a dog in a sports car...

 And then walked back along the beach to the batch...

Saw some Mussel Catchers...

And some people walking their dog along the beach...

Sailboats in the background!

Then we all went back to the batch for some yummy lunch! The famous New Zealand meat pies, with some Lemingtons (cakes)...

NZ Meat Pies

Lemingtons

With some fresh lemon water...(and black ladybugs to look at).

Lemon and Ladybugs

View of Susan's car and one of the batches in the background

The next morning I went for a peaceful run on the beach :)

Whangamata Sunrise

Add caption

Susan, Jane, and Ruth

Flower!

Freshly picked guava

One last entry to go and then I shall be on my way hooooommmme!!


See you all on the evening of June 20th (and my last blog still to come)!




Love,


Karen Trotter