A weekend with the Relies in New Forest

Just back from a fantastic weekend in New Forest with various relations ranging from great aunts, aunts and uncles, cousins, cousins once removed, second cousins and the family of my great grandfather's brother.

It was a fantastic weekend and thank you to Kirsty for organising it. Kirsty had discovered the hotel, the Bramble Hill Hotel, on a cycling trip in New Forest and it suited the purpose perfectly.

The food was good, very solid English fare, including Rabbit Pie (see photo of Beau Maurice about to tuck into his). The chef assured us that he hadn't just gone out and shot one of the many rabbits frolicking on the front lawn.

Eating was certainly one of the most common activities of the weekend - a full lunch and then just a few hours later, dinner!

We had a few more guests at lunchtime on Saturday, taking our numbers to 16 for lunch. Guests included Roger and Anne (Bryan's sister) who took on the challenge of meeting so many "Maurice" family at once! We were also joined by a 92 year old retired (obviously) Lieutenant Colonel who was related somehow - he was very spritely and had made the trip from the Isle of Wight for the day to meet us all.

I went for a long walk early one morning and encountered many of the free ranging New Forest ponies, and of course took lots of photos of them. There were a lot of foals, and three of them put on a great display of foal frolics. There's something about watching foals experimenting and practising their turns, bucks, paces and kicks that makes me relish life - I seem to resolve to enjoy life like the foals were.

There's photos of all the various people attending (New Forest Social), photos of the lovely New Forest Ponies and New Forest scenery, and also photos of Winchester, where Vivienne and John Allan, Sarah Bannister and I spent some time on the way back to London.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/NewForestSocial

http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/NewForest

http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/Winchester

New Zealand Olympic EVENTING Team

The NZ Olympic eventing team has been announced and well done to Mark Todd, Andrew Nicholson, Joe Meyer, Caroline Powell and Heelan Tompkins. It's a strong team and hopefully they will do well in Hong Kong.

Commiserations to Annabel Wigley and Emily Butcher, the two Canterbury girls who missed out. They put in a good effort and certainly would have given the selectors something to think about. 2012 perhaps. I'm sure Dan Jocelyn will be back for those Olympics as well.

As to the announcement of the team - well what the hell went on there? I heard via NZ that the team was announced (and who they were) a whole day before the official announcement. While I kept hush, having realised that the official NZOC announcement hadn't been released, the Horse & Hound didn't, putting it up on their website and even getting a quote from Toddy.

By the time the official press release was put out, all the major NZ media outlets were covering it on the basis of the H & H story.

Yep, having worked at NZEF covering the last Olympics, I realise that the co-ordination of the team announcement has to be carefully orchestrated and has to work in with the NZOC. It can be a bit tricky but obviously this year it seemed to have been more than tricky - impossible. What's the story there then? Where was the communications plan for the announcement?

The other big question I have is "what about the NZ Olympic showjumping team???" When is this being announced? All the media seem to be covering the eventing team announcement as the "New Zealand equestrian team" but there's no mention of the showjumpers. Perhaps a little note, even on the NZEF website, to tell us when this team will be announced, may clear things up a bit. It gives the impression that the showjumpers don't count, and that its all about eventing, eventing, eventing.

More musings and questions I have include:

• Are we getting an email newsletter from the event this year or do you have to be a paid up member?
• Is the NZEF website going to be the place to visit to find out all the news about the NZ riders this time or will we have to rely on the usual media sources which only have limited information?
• Where do we send our good luck messages to?

Longleat Horse Trials

Time to do some more horse trials - and with Tim and Jonelle competing at Longleat, it was the perfect opportunity. Longleat is an amazing estate. As well as having a huge house / castle, it also has a game park complete with lions, tigers, monkeys and sea lions. The day I was there was for horses however, and there certainly were plenty of them. The novice horses all competed on the Saturday and Sunday was for the intermediate grades, as well as the 2 star.

Tim had four horses in, Jonelle gave Nimo a run and there was a strong contingent of other kiwis. Andrew Nicholson rode eight horses over the two days, for three wins, a fourth and a six (and some also rans). Joe Meyer had five in, with two being placed sixth. Dan Jocelyn also had five in, for one win. Bruce Haskell also had four competing but didn't place on any.

There were also a number of kiwi spectators there. Beanie and Michelle (both hailing from Southland) showed huge endurance and staying power, although you will see some photos of them catching up on a bit of sleep at odd times during the day. Those Southland girls certainly know how to party.

Full marks to Jonelle who not only rides so well and keeps Tim under control (sometimes), she also is the most amazing cook and hostess.

Hi also to Steve, co-owner of one of the horses Tim was competing on. Steve has this blog bookmarked on his computer!!!!

Of course the blog wouldn't be complete without a host of photos for you to view. These can be found on this link> http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/LongleatHorseTrials

Glenmark-Cheviot Rugby

While in NZ, I had the pleasure of attending a few games of club rugby. Having never photographed rugby, I gave it a try and you can see the results here. There are photos from both the first and second division games, at Cheviot and at Kaiapoi.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/CheviotGlenmarkRugby02

I was very saddened to hear of the deaths of Cole Higginson and Ponky (Nick Upritchard), two of the Division 2 players. My sympathy to their families and friends and their team members. There are a few photos of them in amongsts the ones I took. Feel free to download copies or email me and I can send through higher resolution ones (jane.thompsonuk@gmail.com).

Back in England

I'm back in England again. When I left, trees were bare, it was cold and the garden was semi-tidy. Now every tree is green and lush, it is warmer, and the garden looks like a tropical jungle. A few hours will need to be spent getting it back under control.

Once I had lunched with Kirsty in a pub, shopped in Oxford Street, jammed myself into a tube, heard lots of languages being spoken as I walked up the road, revelled in the fast broadband, reacquainted myself with my flatmate, walked to St John's Wood to drink wine with Vivienne, then I felt like I had made the transition from New Zealand back to England.

Also, must comment what great service I received from Air New Zealand on the two long flights London to NZ via LA. The food was first rate - the best I had ever eaten on an aeroplane! Didn't feel cramped at all, I seemed to have seats that had lots of leg room (helps to have short legs of course). Well done Air NZ.

I start work on Wednesday - just for ten days before I head off to Spain with Legs, Pat and the kids. So I should have lots of time for updating the photos. I will load up the ones taken in New Zealand for those interested - just click on the link through to the photo albums. http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/

Autotours Reunion - Updated with more photos

It seems to be reunion time. We have just got back from attending the Autotours reunion which was held in Christchurch over the weekend.

This involved a good number of the people I travelled around Europe with on the 10 week Autotours trip back on my very first OE. Our trip started in June 1981 and we certainly had an amazing time. Lifelong friendships were made, and two marriages (Lyn and Brad, Hutch & Janine) and four children have resulted! In fact, there are a couple of other marriages that occured through the connections made on that trip (Coot and Sue, Griff and Vicki).

This is the fourth reunion that has been held and the first in New Zealand. Jeff did a fantastic job of organising activities. Some of the punters did a bit of a trip around parts of the South Island first, whereas others arrived for the weekend. Christchurch put on a wide range of weather, from warm Friday night to snow on Saturday.

We had people coming from South Africa, Western Australia and New South Wales.

The few photos that I took can be viewed on this link http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.thompsonuk/AutotoursReunion
UPDATE: I've put on the photos received from Jeff and some of the others. As you can see, we had a lot of fun!!! What a great bunch of people.

Hopefully I will be able to get some more from some of the others - I think I was too busy talking and enjoying everyone's company to take photos! I have certainly missed a few of the others that were at the reunion, notably Hutch & Janine who were not able to make the dinner on the Saturday night.

It's back on the plane to the UK for me on Wednesday. I have had a fantastic time here in New Zealand, but wish that something could be done about improving the broadband here, working on a slow connection is SO frustrating! It's like going back into the dark ages. Grrr. I'll upload some of the photos I have taken once I get back to London.