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Click here if you found our web site but actually wanted to know about the public swimming at the Hydro.
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Reflection on the experiences:-
Tash says I have had an amazing time out here training with the T.A.S swim school and I learnt a lot from Michael he was a great man. I loved every minute at the c-me swim school with the little children it was great fun to be seeing them smiling and enjoying themselves as well as myself enjoying it. It was great I also enjoyed meeting bills family they are bubbly people and always smiling and were a good laugh. I can’t say how lucky I am to have being on this trip and how much fun I have had. I am really sad to be going home and don’t want to leave L. I enjoyed the reef as we went scuba diving and saw some huge fish which was an experience for me and we had a wonderful experience I don’t want my time to end here and I don’t want to say goodbye to it all.
Joe says This whole trip has been an awesome experience! Training with Michael at TAS was a real eye opener, it was great seeing how people train and perform over here. Also Michael gave us all some really good advice and showed us that how you feel mentally has a huge effect on how you perform. I also thought it was great how we managed to see a lot of the surrounding area, rather than just swimming, I especially enjoyed the day we spent on the reef, which was one of the main highlights of the trip for me… working at the C-me Swim school with Heath, Hayley and the crew was amazing, it was great seeing the children improve, giving a real sense of pride to know you have helped to make them better. I never really understood just how lucky I was until now, when it’s all coming to an end. I hate to even think about having to leave, as we were all just getting settled into the Aussie lifestyle!!
Alice says: In our trip to Australia I have loved every part of the trip and everything we have done. I think that my favourite part of it was going to the swim school and helping all the younger children try and swim. I also liked being in control and trying to teach the little kids on your own. I think this was a great experience and something that I will probably never have the chance to do again. It was also nice how the children looked up to you and how they were so nice and friendly towards you. I also really enjoyed going out to the reef and going scuba diving because that is another thing that I will never have the chance to do again, I think it was amazing how you could get so close to the fish and all the coral and it just was an unreal feeling. Then today I have just realised how much I am going to miss all the Australian lifestyle and how layed back it is and it can be nice and warm when you get out the pool and just go home as soon as u are out the pool. I have also like swimming with Michael and I have learnt so much from him and I have really enjoyed meeting all the swimmers there and they were all so friendly and smiley people.
Adam says- The last 2 weeks have been amazing. I have enjoyed all of my time here and everything that we have done. I think the one of the things that we have done, that I have benefited most from, is working at the swim school. This was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed it. It was a completely different way of teaching to how young children are taught in England and I think that there are many things that we can take back to England to help the younger swimmers to learn to swim. I also enjoyed being able to teach the children on my own as I felt like I had achieved something as they all enjoyed it at the same time as learning different things. Another thing that I enjoyed was going out in the daytime to the beaches, creeks and the different parts of the rainforest. On all of these different trips I learnt a lot about the Australian culture and how different it is to the culture in England. The trip to the Great Barrier Reef was also really good and the dive that we did is something that I would definitely love to do again in the future. While we have been in Australia we have also done a lot of training at T.A.S. At first I didn’t really enjoy the training but then I found that I began to enjoy it and by the end of the training I felt that I had benefited from it in many ways. Our coach, Michael, was also an amazing person, even though he could be a bit tough at times. Lastly I found that everyone in Australia are so friendly and laid back. I am going to miss the time we spent in Australia.
Their daily blogs:-
Wednesday 24th October
Day 12 final day Today has being a great last day we went training this morning for our last morning session. Joe got to show another aussi boy how good he was at 50m fly as he could do it better and did it in a time of 29.8 p.b for him. After training we had 2 hours to ourselves then we went to see shelly bills sister she gave us advice on personalities and gave us an idea of what type we are as we learnt there are different types. This was really good to know and will help us use the skills in our swimming. We are very sad to be going home !!
Tuesday 23rd October (received Wednesday)
Day 11 Today we got up at normal time for us to go training this morning was easy as the swimmers are now on recovery as they have a big gala this weekend. After training Michel did some 50m time trails with us were we were on our p.b or we got a p.b. After training we got free time to rest , we then had our final time at the swim school we were helping with the pre school children we had really god fun and enjoyed our last day with the children we also were very sad to be leaving and didn’t want to say goodbye. We went training for the afternoon session we met the mayor of Cairns and had a chat with him about our swimming. We then got ready and went out for another enjoyable meal. Another enjoyable day and only 1 more day left to go L
Monday 22nd October
Day 10 Today has probably been the best day so far. We got to have a lye in again because we didn’t have to train this morning. Instead we had planned to go out to the Great Barrier Reef. We were taken out on a big boat which took about 45 minutes to get out to a pontoon which we spent the day on. When we got there the 4 of us did an introductory scuba dive. We went down to 12 metres with our instructor and we were down there for around 30 minutes. We learnt about the basic skills of scuba diving including the different hand signals, how to clean your mask underwater and how to equalise the different pressures in your body. After that we had a buffet lunch on the pontoon and then we were straight back in the water to do some more snorkelling. We saw loads of different fish like clown fish, coral trout and we even saw a fish, which was 3 metres long and about 1 metre wide, which was huge! Our day on the Reef was an amazing experience and we really enjoyed it. When we got back to our apartments we all got ready to go out for a meal with our coach Michael and his wife, which we have just got back from. Its 10.30 now and we have to get up early for swimming in the morning so we are all off to bed.
Sunday 21st October
Day 9 We had a bit of a lye in this morning because we didn’t have to get up for anything, but Bill and Alana managed to get up at about 6 to go canoeing cos this was the best time to find the platypuses. They said they saw about 30 which was really good because they are quite rare. We woke up with the bad news about the rugby L we were gonna get up to watch it but it was on at 4 o clock here and we were all too tired. At about 10 we set off in the car for a long journey through the outback and in the Daintree rainforest. It was a bumpy ride and we even drove through some creeks in the 4X4. The drive was about three hours but we stopped every so often to look at the beaches which were amazing. The girls did a bit of sunbathing which the boys went in the sea again but they didn’t stay in for long because there were crocodiles in the water. After stopping a few times at the different beaches, we found out that bill and Alana had a surprise for us. They had booked for us to all go up in the rainforest while we are all harnessed up and flying down different ropes. We were about 30 metres high which was pretty good fun. After flying through the rainforest we set off back to Cairns which was about a 2 hour drive. It was then about 7 so we spent the evening having a meal with all of Bills family, each week they all meet up and have a meal was its called tribal Sunday. The meal was really nice. We are all off to bed now so see ya.
Saturday 20th October
Day 8 Today we all got up at about 8.30 because we got a nice long lie in we were goin to go and look for platypus but we were up to late. So after breakfast Tash and I went and sat down and looked threw cookery books because we wanted to do some cooking for tribal Sunday (where the whole family get together and have a big Sunday lunch together) in the end we decided to make a toffee crisp and a strawberry cheesecake. After that we went for a short drive across the mountains and went to look at a lot of different lakes and trees what was cool. We then went to go and get our ingredients for our cookery we got home and got started cooking and Joe and Adam went out to the lake and went canoeing and as usual they got back to the house and they were wet hehe they had tipped not just 1 of the canoes but both of then. After we had don’t out morning activities we all went onto the road again and went to see where bill and Alana are getting married it was amazing with a big water fall and it was just picture perfect and bill Joe and Adam decided to go for a swim in it but us 3 decided we would pass on that one and they said it was freezing. We then came back and it was raining and cold and bill decided he wanted us all to out onto the lake and try and find some platypus’s so we all scrambled back into the canoe and went and sat in the middle of this lake for about 10 mins but it wasn’t very successful because Tash and I kept laughing because we were sat in the middle of a lake in the poring rain and it was pitch black and we were soaked. So we all came back into our house and all got dry and had tea.
Friday 19th October
Day 7 All got up early to go swimming again today. It was a skills session with a bit of threshold work so it was all quite easy. After that we went back to our apartments and had a short rest. Then we went go carting which was really good fun, Bill won but he was pushing his way past all of us. It was really sunny so we decided to go to a beach called Yorkeys Knob where the girls did some sun bathing while the boys went in the waves. After spending some time at the beach we travelled into the rainforest to a creek which bill used to go to when he was younger. There was only one way to get into the creek which was to jump off a really high rock into the cold water. Bill showed us an even higher rock with only a rope to help you get up which the boys had a go at. While we were in the rainforest it was pouring down with rain. In the evening we drove up to Bills mum and dads which is a lot higher up. We have our own little house to stay in so we’re off to watch a film now.
Thursday 18th October
Day 6 No swimming this morning!!! Our first sleep-in since we got here last week. We had a lot of plans for today, crocodile park in the morning, then out to the surf lifesaving club. Hartleys crocodile park had a wide range of Australian animals, such as crocodiles ( obviously!) koala bears, snakes, fish and birds. We went out on a boat around the park which showed some of the parks largest crocodiles. We then went on to the surf lifesaving club, we learned some basic lifesaving skills and how to read the different types of waves. But we were all eager to get out on the boards while the waves were good. It was fantastic, except for the board-rash, which is still sore now!! To finish off the day we went to Smithfield long course pool to train with the Marlin Coast team.
Wednesday 17th October (received Thursday)
Day 5 Up again for training, it was pretty tough, and Michael, the coach, had a chat with us about how hard his swimmers all work, then he pulled Danika out of the pool and told her to do a 200m backstroke time trial. Without complaining she got in and swam a two second pb (2.18!!) shes only just 13… After a short rest we drove up to skyrail, which takes you up through the rainforest in a gondola. We stopped at various places and were shown the various different trees and wildlife around. At the top was a small village called Kuranda, which we stopped at for a while and had some lunch. We looked around a few shops and set off again towards civilisation. Bill also drove us up to the Barron River for a dip. We rode down some of the rapids and jumped of a couple of rocks, which was great. Later on that evening, we went out to the night markets on the esplanade for some dinner and for a look round the shops.
Tuesday 16th October 17.00
Its been a similar day to yesterday but the training has been pretty easy and we have just been out for a meal at Barnical Bills which was really nice. The boys both had kangaroo and crocodile. We’re not gonna write much more today cos we’re all cream-crackered and we’re off to bed.
Monday 15th October 19.30
We were all up bright ‘n’ early this morning at 4.45 for
training at TAS… We did 18X100’s at pb+10, some of the lads were holding around
60 for each one!!! We were absolutely knackered, and Joe was sick. After
training we went to the swim school to help out. We did the morning session
9-11am we had a really good time their helping out with all of the staff and
helping teaching the babies, toddlers and the 4 year olds. We helped them blow
bubbles and kick their legs as well as getting their arms to work at the same
time as their legs. We all had a go at working with each section the children
were all really cute. We had a shopping trip afterwards where we bought a few
things and had a look at all of the shops. We went training again for the
afternoon session this was an easy session. Apart from at the end we had to do
100 chin ups on the block. We had a really fun day !!!! Sunday 14th October 18.45
We all got up this morning at 6.45 to set of for the pool at 7.15. It took us about 1 hour to get to the Mossman pool. we put all of our bags down with the taz swimming club and went to have a club talk with their coach about how we should swim and what we should be thinking.
We all got in then warm up and found out that there was only like
3 people in each race what was ok and we had the fastest time!! We all did
pretty well and had a few pb’s and at the end of it we all got a little medal to
remember the carnival (gala) by. Afterwards we all came back and went to out
hotel and had a shower and a then went to dinner. Saturday 13th October, evening.
We got up this morning at about 6 and then went down to training with TAS swim Squad. Our coach is very nice but he’s pretty tough. We only trained for an hour and a half because we were all still tired from the journey. We did a threshold set of 8X200 free which was alright. Some of the swimmers that we were swimming with did a 25 seconds for 50m free and he has just turned 14 which is unbelievable. There was another girl who does a 55 for 100 free and she has just turned 13. After that we drove round for a bit and went to the beach and on the way we even saw some kangaroos which ran away when they saw our faces. Tomorrow we have entered to swim in a competition against some of the top age group swimmers in the world.
Saturday 13th October, morning. We have now finally arrived today it is amazing here better than we imagined we meet bills family they are all lovely and very cheerful and the apartments are unbelievable!!!! But the girl’s apartment beats the boys the tv’s are huge in both apartments and they are very very tidy ….. for now we have being for a swim in a little teaching pool this was weird as it was tiny and was a salt water pool. After bill took us for a drive around Cairns showing us the shopping malls and where he used to go to school and where he grew up. Then we came back to the boys apartment and were are about to have a nice pizza and then getting and early night. We have already realized that the traveling is the most boring and tiring experience ever but it was worth all the 35 hours traveling just to get here and see where we were staying. On the first day of been here the weather hasn’t been the best but its still to hot for us already but while it is hot it has been raining what was nice because it cooled us down after the flight. Well bye pizza has come Friday 12th October, 06.20. hello fellow swimmers we have been in Hong Kong for about 5 hours now and we are all just sat here waiting for our next flight. The flight, which lasted 15 hours down here was fine, we watched some films and slept for about 6 hours. Bill has just gone to get his hair cut and have a much needed shower, so we managed to get his laptop for a few hours. We have been round the shops but they are all shops like gucci and prada so none of us could afford anything but we were able to get a burger king and ben and jerrys ice cream about 5 hours ago. We have an extra member of the team, he goes by the name of Bruce and he's our little teddybear mascot man. Not much else to say really... because we've just been traveling for what feels like forever!!! And we're only half way!!! So far so good!!!! Luv alice,joe,tash and adam Last week the group said:-
We now have only a few days to go until we leave to go to Australia and we are all getting very exited about it. We decided to all get together to discuss what we all wanted to achieve from going on this trip and we came up with a few things.
We are firstly all looking forward to training with the Australian swimmers, in their program, as it will be a completely different experience to anything that we have ever done before. But as well as doing the swimming training, we will also be taking part in a range of different first aid and teaching training where we will all learn new skills which we will be able to use when we come back to England. Before we get back to England we all hope to have the skills needed to assist the teaching of the younger swimmers of Harrogate District Swimming Club. When we are 16 we will then be able to take the Assistant swimming teacher qualification.
While we are in Australia we will be attending lectures with one of Australia’s leading management coaches, learning new skills in Leadership and personal management. We are hoping to visit James Cook University where we will be able to get an insight into university life in Australia.
Lastly, we are all looking forward to meeting new people, taking part in all the activities, like going to the Great Barrier Reef and working together to have a great time as we go on this amazing experience.
We would like to thank everyone who has donated and helped us to get the money that we needed to travel to Australia.
We will be updating this each day while we are away so you can read about what we get up to. |
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