Mascara Massacres!

This weekend was the debut bout for the Mascara Massacres who I was playing for. We were playing up against Dead Wreckoning and Im pretty sure most people thought that they were absolutely going to destroy us. To be honest, in the first period, they kinda did. But after that, we scored 24 points in the second period and then actually beat them in the third period! We just kept getting better and better whilst wearing their players out! I got to play quite a bit as a doubled as a jammer and blocker throughout the bout. I dont think there is anything else in the world that is like an arena full of fans cheering at the top of your lungs for you... its an insane rush! I ended up getting 3 major penalties (meaning 3 times in the penalty box...) but also managed to score a few points for our team when I was out jamming.
Our next bout is on November 10th and its Mascara Massacres versus the Blackheart Bruisers which should be an insanely intense game! The Bruisers lost to Dead Wreckoning by more than we did so I think we have a chance to win....
Im in the middle of finals week here so everyday is marked mostly by 5-8 hours of independent study as I prep for my four finals. Today I managed to go outside to study and my friend from Cali convinced me to study in my swimsuit since it was so hot out! Definitely not something I would ever do in MN but it seems ok here!
Derby pics...

In the dressing room.

Bunch a girly girls! Gotta love our uniforms, eh?

Raglan!

This weekend myself, Eva, Leigh, and Christophe went down to a little surf town on the west coast called Raglan. Its actually a world famous little surf town, so if your into surfing, you probably know it! We left on Saturday morning and spent forever trying to find somewhere to sleep! The entire town was booked but we finally found this place were we had our own bathroom and sink and it was only $25/person/night. Not bad at all if I do say so myself. We attempted swimming but it was so cold it was more of a polar bear dive than anything else.
On Sunday morning we found a place that rented surfboards and full length wetsuits and hit up Ngaranui Beach. It was quite possibly the windiest day I have ever spent outdoors but still a heck of a lot of fun! When we arrived at the beach, there was nobody else there so we just headed out and surfed for 2 hours. When we came in for a lunch break, the lifeguards kindly told us the beach was closed due to dangerous weather! Whoops!
Monday was relatively uneventful due to poor weather again. We did hit up our favorite cafe again, The Tongue and Groove, and studied for a couple more hours. I think we got in about 6 hours of studying this weekend on top of surfing, swimming and exploring the town.
Some friends of mine may be heading up to Piha beach this week for some more surfing and I think I am going to try to tag along! I'm absolutely horrible at it, but its so much fun that I have to do it a couple more times before I head out of this crazy awesome country! Pictures...

Surfboards hanging off the front of the car!

Christophe, Myself, and Eva all lookin sweet!


Ngaranui Beach

Leigh shocked that they beach we were surfing at was closed!

They didn't have this sign up when we got there!

See the perfectly crashing waves? This is the world famous Manu Bay.

More of Manu Bay

Pinnacles at Coromandel

I went out for a real short tramp this weekend. It was only about 2 hours of actual tramping each day but it was definitely nice to be outside for a couple of days. We went out to the Coromandel region and hiked up to the Pinnacles. It used to be a huge kauri tree logging area and so throughout the whole tramp there were little remnants of the massive logging operations that were running in the early 1900s. The hut up at the top slept 80 people but there were two classes of schoolkids coming through so we opted to tent outside of the hut despite the massive rainstorm. It was the first time I have slept in a tent in New Zealand and unfortunately, the last as well. We got to talk to the hut warden for a bit and I discovered that he is a little bit crazy but also incredibly friendly.
This was my last tramp in the North Island; kinda a scary thought. That being said, I do have several non-tramping excursions planned for my last month in the Auckland region. This coming weekend, Leigh, Eva, Riley and myself are going down to Raglan on the west coast in a van and spending 3.5 days figuring out how to surf. Then, about 10 days later, we are heading up to 90-mile beach for 4 days and surfing a little bit more before we all have to leave and go on our respective adventures.
My future adventure is going to include Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Barrytown, Franz Josef Glacier, Mt Cook, Kepler Track, Te Anau, Queenstown, and Christchurch.... Should be interesting!
Here are some pictures from the Pinnacles! Lots of green...

More NZ landscape..

One of the old dams

The ~600 stairs up to the top. Yes, stairs in the middle of nowhere...

Part of the Pinnacles

The "hut" which is larger and nicer than any house any of us will probably live in ever.

Waterfall...

The river that we did a proper crossing on and then ate lunch on the other side.

2 Minutes of Fame

Click on the link to watch the video!

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/497100/1394058

Its pretty sweet!

A Few More Derby Pictures

Posing with some friends after the bout!

Friends outside the rink before the bout

Me Jamming!

Jamming, Im the front white helmet in a black uniform

Huddle!

First Bout Action!

Last night was the first bout of the season and my debut bout. It was Dead Wreckoning versus the Blackheart Bruisers; I was with Dead Wreckoning. I dont even know where to begin with describing the bout! We sold out all 400 seats a week in advance and sorta snuck some more people in illegally so that we could fill up the rink completely. When we came out of the our locker rooms, the music was blasting and they announced up individually while the crowd was going crazy. The Blackheart Bruisers all wear little plastic blue brass knuckles so one of my teammates got her hands on some real brass knuckles and wore them are around her neck! The refs made her take it off during equipment inspection. Anyway, long story short, we won! We had over 90 points and they only had about 48 points so we really won! It was a good clean bout, no fights, just a couple of major penalties. At the end of the bout, the referees and score keepers named me Player of the Bout! It was so cool! They said it was because I was skating hard the whole game and playing cleanly.
20/20 New Zealand has been videotaping us and they are making a show that will be on this Thursday night. We should have a youtube copy up as soon as it airs so keep an eye out for it if you want to see a little snippet of the bout! It was absolutely amazing! Our next one is on October 27th and I cant hardly wait! Here are some pictures in the locker room. I will put some more up when I get them from my friends.

Stace (Pieces of Hate), our captain, gearing up

RG Bargee helping Bonnie Blaggard tape down here guards (we have to for bouts)

Skate the Muss just posing!

Working on painting her face!

Helmets on our beautiful new benches! (notice the beautiful green one?!)

Me (L'exi-cuter) all decked out!