Before I start to ramble on about my fantastic trip I would just like to thank the board for giving me the opportunity to go on such an amazing trip.

Earlier this year I traveled to Narrabri, NSW on my scholarship. I stayed with Jane, Loch, Sara, Joe and Jess Melbourne. This family is now my second family. They were amazing and cannot wait to see them again. While at their place I rode many horses and meet so many new people. My first carnival was in Tamworth. It was a bit of a culture shock for me. When we arrived I immediately noticed the huge contingent of gooseneck trucks. I played in the Galloping Gully junior team with Joe, Sara, PJ and Clark. PJ and I toke turns at doubling up. We played against Gyra and Bunnan both really strong teams. As there were only three teams in the competition we played both teams twice. This was another I had to adjust to, every weekend we played four games as there were about 30 odd teams turning up to the carnivals. Much to our surprise we won 3 out of the 4 games and won the whole grade.

During the week the kids got to choose a day each that they wanted to have of school so that they could spend some time with me and I could get to know them. On the days that they were all at school I rode plenty of horses. I also got a taste of Aussie style hunting. This consists of an old jeep, a spot light and some dame fast grey hounds. During this week I also got to catch up with Ginny Tapp, the scholarship girl from a few years ago. This was really cool and we went on a neat bush ride where we saw many kangaroos. My next carnival was at Moree, where once again I received a huge shock…. The fields were DIRT! It was crazy and I didn’t understand how you could play on dirt fields I mean wouldn’t the dirt go all through your racquet?? But much to my surprise it didn’t effect how you played at all. This weekend I played in a mixed team with Sara and a few others from Galloping Gully. Something that truly surprised me was the fact that every one has dinners in their camps and then sometime goes over to the clubrooms for a drink and dance, not like us kiwis.

The following week was school holidays! You cannot imagine the crazy things we got up to. We went to Sawn Rocks, a really neat rock formation amongst some great Aussie wildlife. We went on another hunt with PJ and his family where we caught many roo’s, foxes and rabbits. We also managed to get a huge chunk of wire stuck under the Ute. I also went into an Australian bakery. They are huge and have any type of bakery item you can think of. My last weekend with the Melbourne’s was spent at Bunnan carnival where I played for the NZ Juniors. It was great fun and I managed to get to spend the whole weekend playing with Carey and PJ. I also managed to win Best International number 2! It was a great weekend and really neat getting to know all the Maitland kids.

It was a teary goodbye when I had to see the Melbourne’s leave and unfortunately for me my Maitland host family decided they wanted to leave before prize giving so Flo had to be a stand in Kyla and get my prize for me. This was truly an amazing trip and recommend that any young hopefuls apply; it’s worth the shot. I am hoping to see the Melbourne’s again soon as they are wanting to travel over here and Sara has told me she doesn’t care if the rest are coming or not but she is! The Maitland kids are coming over on their tour soon so I can’t wait to see all them again. Once again thanks so much to NZ polocrosse for giving such a great opportunity and I am very excited about the upcoming season to try out my new skills and test my new found knowledge.