Rugby in Nagoya

cher.. well i forgot all about the rugby that i went to that was in the end of august... I went to nagoya which is about 2 hours away by train from where we live to watch Toyota vs Newcastle from England (Jonny Wilkinsons team) . I trooped up there by myself and hooked up with a mate whos a rugby writer and works for a the national english newspaper....well man did i get the hook ups (cheers Rich) he managed to get me a press pass and got in for free so that was sweet!!!
well one of the luxuaries of having a press pass is that you can get to go down to the field this was the miki as on the Newcastle team they had Mark Mayerhoffler, Matt Burke, Colin Charvis, and Owen Finnegan but there was no Jonny Wilkinson as he was in hospital.Toyota had a few kiwis with Filo Tiatia,Orene Aii and Troy Flavell.

The match was a miki game with Toyota taking it to Newcastle and ended up beating them in which they deserved.. Orene A ii was the man using his hot step to perfection...One of the perks of the press pass was going to the aftermatch fucntion which was cool, getting to meet some of the players was a buzz especially troy flavell hes the man!! just like one of the Bros...ended up taking about ta moko and turns out we got work done by same guy(Richie), so that was cool, but what topped the night off was the free beers that was on offer, im not shy, so indulged in a few quiets..

We rode back to nagoya from Toyota Stadium with the Newcastle team so that was cool.. Ended up having a chat with Rob Andrew coach of Newcaslte and former England international about rugby and it was quite informative geeting to understand the rugby knowledge of one of the top coaches of world rugby... All in all it was a top night and big thanks to Rich for hooking me up and sticking around and doing the all nighter..Yoroshiku..

Todaiji... Biggest Buddha Temple

Here we are at Todaiji Temple in Nara. This temple has the biggest bronze buddha in Japan inside it and it is also the biggest wooden building in the world... really cool place... Also the first bit of nice grass we have seen in a long time.... some cool wooden guardians at the gate... awesome... tumuch alright!

Whanau holiday in Japan!

A few pics to sum up chanel's whanau's holiday in Japan August 2005. Tarina, Aunty Marcia and elli. We all had a cool time together... good catch up and alot of hot memories...

Himeji worth a visit!!!

Himeji Castle, Himeji. This is Japan's number 1 castle. We were even able to go inside and reach the top level... and awesome castle, with beautiful gardens and surroundings. Sept 05.

Keepin in touch with the world!!!

Welcome to our blog... so we had a website with yahoo before but updating it everymonth became a bit of a drag... cause it usually took about an hours or so to figure what we did last time so we hooked up with this blog and its soo much easier so yeah... here it is..

So here we are..... two months and a bit later time has flown by. Hmmm what has happened? Ok... so summer holidays (july-sept) came and had about a month or so of no school. Most of the summer was spent playing tour guides to Chanel's whanau who arrived here about mid august. Told them not to come during summer cause its really hot... but coming from winter.. it was exactly the medicine the wanted and boy were they surprised hot, hot, hot! Overall we all enjoyed each others company and was cool to have a bit of home kai!!! Tui, cookie time, mallowpuffs..... Tiki toured around shiga and then ventured out to the bigger cities kyoto and Osaka where we saw some culture and of modern day japan. When asked what they enjoyed the most...it was the shopping and huge train station... well i guess everybody is different! Was awesome sharing japan with them and especially ellioup! (chanels brother elliott).

After recovering from having manuhiri here we slowly cruized back into mahi here, starting school off with sports day and cultural festival which meant the students spending the first week preparing, which meant no teaching for us. And more time in the art class for Paora finishing off some of his works.... which was part of the exhibition by the school. We even got invited to eat Octopus balls! with the art class as a way of saying thanks for all their hard work.

Now that summer is slowly passing we have regained a bit more motivation to get out and see some of the sites that weve been wanting to go to but its been either to hot...or not enough putea. so have this month ticked off Himeji Castle (Japans biggest and finest example of a traditional castle of old) and also Todaiji (The worlds biggest wooden building which houses japans biggest bronze buddha) both were really amazing constructions... and we have to say you have to see it to try and appreciate the effort that would have went into building them.

Back on the homefront we went and had our last dip in lake biwa befor the summer ended... cruized over to the west side of the lake to join some of the english teachers at a popular water sports centre where we chilled with kimi and jody and got the chance to try water skiing and wind surfing... our only advice it looks a hell of a lot easier than it is... trust us we spent most of the day falling off again and again. Choice day! and to top it off we drove home with kimi and jody around the top of the lake back towards the east side... and got to see a whole different aspect of nature in japan....... reminded us of home travelling around lake taupo... Awesome!!!

Have finally put our A's into G's and have started japanese classes... yep one year later..... better late than never! its awesome actually being able to have one on one time with a teacher. So here hoping were the Bomb when we get back!

Well best be off for now... well be keeping this blog updated pretty regular... so keep in touch.
Sweet
Paora & Chanel