An End to a Great Season

After our awesome weekend away at Skye it was time to get back into rugby.

This weekend we found out about how our play-offs for Caledonia 1 would be structured. It was to be a 3-way playoff between us, Glenrothes and Ellon (who came 3^rd from bottom in the league above us this season). The Scottish Rugby Union apparently change the league structures each year. This year they decided that two teams from the National League would drop down into Caledonia 1, having a flow on effect down the leagues which is why we had to play the 3^rd from bottom Ellon.

Our first match was to be at home against Ellon on the 20^th of April, which I had heard was quite a local derby. Some of the older members of the club were saying that it would be great to beat them. After the sevens it was back to some hard work at training. We had a good turnout on Tuesday and because we knew Ellon had a solid forward pack we focused on tackling and taking the ball into contact. The boys were buzzing after training and there was a good feeling going around the club. Thursdays training was even better, and we had about 30 boys down – by far the most for a long time apparently. Because of the good turnout we were able to have an opposed session with both the backs & the forwards. The clubhouse was full for the team announcement after training and it was pretty exciting stuff before the big game on Saturday.

After a good warm-up on Saturday the boys were ready to go. We had said that we needed an 80min performance and had to play hard for each other. We had the wind in the first half and after we let in a soft try at the start of the game, we dominated the rest of the half with some classic fast-paced Garioch attack. From every kick-off we were threatening, taking the ball in safely, getting a couple of good forward runs in and then spreading it to the backs where Raeper (first 5), Chris (second 5) and Martin McRobbie (centre) were carving it up. We scored 3 great tries in the first half to be leading 27-7 at the break. The second half was a different story with Ellon (with the wind) pinning us down in our own half and using their forwards to dominate more than the first half. They clawed their way back and it was an intense final 10mins with them sitting at 25-27 behind us. We put out some great defence and with a couple of calls going our way managed to win the derby match! What a day for the club, as not only did we beat Ellon, but we were also awarded our cup for winning the Caledonia 2 North League. In the after match speeches it was a pleasant surprise to be awarded man-of-the-match by the Ellon teams captain. Spirits were high and we had a great night out with players and supporters alike.

A great end to a great day - beating Ellon & getting presented with our trophy!

Peter (forwards coach) & myself - Proud coaches!

The following week was away to Glenrothes, a 2.5 hour bus journey to a place just north of Edinburgh. The lead-up was good with another good week of training, and we were keen to win to get guaranteed promotion for next season. We were missing a couple of key players from the week before but still managed to put out a fairly competitive team on the day. We didn’t start very well and let in two pretty soft tries in the first 10 minutes of the game. We got back on track and started playing our fast-paced game, managing to take the lead by halftime 14-10. We extended this out to 21-10 just after the break after a great charge-down try to the Aussie, but things didn’t go our way after this. Simple mistakes let us down a bit and their forwards really started to dominate us towards the end of the game. They got two tries in quick succession (giving them a 22-21 lead) before we scored again to re-take the lead 27-22. They got yet another try to take the lead with about 10 minutes to go. It was a credit to our team that we battled right to the end but unfortunately couldn’t get the win. If we had played the way we had the week before it would have been an easy win, but that is just rugby I guess.

Club dinner/prizegiving was the last event on the Garioch calendar for the 2012/2013 season. It was a formal occasion so I decided to wear a kilt to get into the Scottish spirit. It was a great evening with a meal, speakers and presentation of awards. I had a bit of a speech to thank the club for everything they had done for me this year, and presented the club president (Colin McRobbie) with a pounamu necklace to thank him personally.

Cant get this up the right way but you get the picture..

What a season it was in my first proper coaching role.. Couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of lads to work with. Hopefully Peter and I have taught them a thing or two and I have definitely learned a lot myself! I would say one of the best things I have brought to the team has been the BROTHERS call, which was done before we went out to the field. The idea is that we play like brothers, support each other like brothers, and enjoy our rugby together out on the field. I find it gets you fired up before you play and think the boys have really taken in the call as their own. I have no doubt that the call will stay with the team in years to come.

Isle of Skye & Getting Engaged

We decided to head to Isle of Skye on the weekend of the 6^th April as soon as we found out there was not going to be a rugby game that weekend. This was the last of the places we really wanted to visit while in Scotland and was probably the last chance we were going to have to get there. 

We headed off on Friday afternoon (after we finished work) and it was quite good to have use of the car for the weekend. We didn’t have much of a plan when we set off, so we came prepared with a mattress and bedding so we could sleep in the car. We got to Inverness as the sun was going down and managed to get some pictures of an awesome sunset. From here it was an interesting trip to get there as the GPS we had to use took us around some single track roads. On some of these back roads we came across about 5 deer sitting in the middle of the road – it was quite surprising that they just stood there as we drove past. Was thinking that I wish I had a gun as they would have been the easiest deer to shoot. We finally got to our destination at around 11pm, and parked up just off the road to camp for the night a few minutes from the main town of Portree.

After some breakfast in the morning we headed into Portree and went to the visitors centre. From here we decided to the northern part of the Isle for the day, where there are quite a few scenic spots worth visiting. Our first stop was the Old Man of Storr, which is one of many amazing rock structures which have been formed by the erosion of volcanic rock over time. It was a solid hour walk up some steep hills but was well worth it once we got there with some decent views of the rocks up close and out to the coast. After getting back down to the car we drove a small way and stopped in to see Kilt Rock and the waterfall which falls off a massive cliff into the sea.

Nice spot on the side of the road

Kilt Rock

After this we were both getting hungry so found a nice spot (Staffin Bay) to stop and have something to eat, this was also not a bad spot to ask my girl Haylee to marry me..

I had been planning this for a while now and had got the ring a couple of weeks before in Aberdeen. I knew this weekend in Skye would probably be the best choice for popping the question, so on the Thursday before we left I gave Haylee’s Dad Al a call to ask him if he would mind (which I was pretty nervous about). He seemed quite chuffed that I rang which settled the nerves a bit. The weather was forecast to be nice on Saturday so I knew Saturday would be the day. I didn’t have anything planned, but when we stopped into Staffin Bay there was no better place really. Nice scenery and no one around (except for a few sheep). As expected Haylee was quite surprised and when I said I had something for her she thought it was an Easter egg. I am happy to say she said yes and am one happy man now!

Staffin Bay - the spot!

In the afternoon we visited the famous Talisker whiskey distillery, had a tour and tasted some of the product. This was quite a different whiskey to any of the others that we had tasted due to the water used in the distilling process. The highlands of Scotland have a lot of peaty ground and the fresh water flowing through streams develops a peaty/smoky taste which transfers to whisky during the distillation process. Talisker also burn peat in their kilns when they malt the barley (which brings out the sugars), this gives even more of a smoky taste. We both quite liked the smoky Talisker 10 year old.

Later that night I had booked us in at the famous Harbourview Seafood Restaurant for dinner. As a fan of seafood I was quite looking forward to this meal. It is quite a small place and was really busy, it was quite lucky I had booked in advance! This was our night to celebrate so we started off with a nice Pinot Gris wine. I had a starter of Scallops, black pudding with a balsamic glaze. Haylee had the soup of the day. We shared a massive seafood platter for our main, it had; oysters, scallops, cold smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, langoustines (like big prawns), and mussels. For dessert I had a Gaelic Coffee and Haylee had a Crème Brulee. Was a really nice meal with great company! Even though it was good, Haylee and I both agree that NZ seafood is still 10 times better!

The plan for the next day was to see some of the western side of the island. We visited Dunevegan first and then headed out to Neist Point (which we had heard had some decent views). The weather was a bit colder today so we rugged up and got our walk on. We had to go down quite a steep hill and then up another to get out to the point, but was well worth it with some awesome views on the way! I don’t think anywhere in the world would look similar to this. After getting back it was around lunchtime so we headed to the local Red Roof Café for some food and a hot drink. This was out in the wops a bit but was a cool little café which is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. I had a massive savoury scone with red onion chutney and cream cheese. Just what we needed before the big drive back home!

Neist Point - a unique landscape!

As we were driving out of Skye we were lucky to come across Haylees favourite animal (the Highland Cow). We stopped on the side of the road for about half an hour, took photos and fed it by hand. Was a good end to the trip and Haylee loved it.

Just chillin'

Having a tug-o-war with some hay.

What an awesome weekend! Skye has to be my new favourite spot over here now, I don’t think there is anywhere else like it to be honest..

Garioch Winning the League

On the last weekend of March we had our final league game against Moray away up in Elgin. If we won this game it meant we would win the Caledonia 2 North League. We had a bit of a setback in the week leading up to the game, losing five of the Army boys who play for our team. On Thursday/Friday Peter and I managed to rally the troops and get a decent enough team to put out for Saturday.

We got up to Elgin early and had a good intense warm-up. This seems to be important for our team as it usually means we start the game well. We dominated the first 20mins before letting them back into the game before half time. We then played pretty well in the second half to close out the game 24-10 and win the league!! Continuing the trend we had another average ref for this game who seemed to be a lot harsher on our team than the other. It was like he was evening things out a bit as we were clearly better than the opposition. But in saying that, at least he wasn’t deaf/speech impaired like the one we had the week previous.

After the game we had a court session planned for back at the clubhouse in Inverurie. The Scottish boys had not had a proper court session before so Neil/Peter & had a good one planned. It was a pretty good night, having a few beers with the whole team and some good banter with them as well. I think everyone enjoyed themselves which was good to see.

Champagne flowing after winning the league.

As we have now won the league, we now have a three-way playoff to get into the next division for next year. We will play the top team from the Caledonia 2 Midlands league and one team from the Caledonia 1 league. These playoffs are scheduled  for the 20^th and 27^th of April (after our Sevens tournament on the 14^th).

Isle of Arran

One of the many places Haylee and I had on our wishlist to visit when we came to Scotland was Arran. So on the weekend of the 16^th of March we made the trip down past Glasgow to visit ‘Scotland in Miniature’. We arrived on Friday afternoon and put our stuff away at the b&b we were staying at, and headed out to check out the town of Brodick & the Brodick Castle (which was getting renovated). After some fish & chips for dinner we had quite an early night ready for an early start in the morning.

Nice spot for fish & chips - was a bit cold though!

We caught the 8am bus and went up to Lochranza (on the very tip of Arran). The northern part of the Island is very rugged and made up mainly of mountains. Lochranza didn’t have much more than a castle so we walked around the island a bit before catching a bus to Blackwaterfoot on the western side. From here we walked quite a way around to see the Kings Caves, which had drawings inside from over 2000 years ago. We carried on along the track and down the road to go and see the impressive Machrie Moor stone circles (dating back to 1800BC). Some of the rocks were about 8m tall, I don’t know how they managed to get them up there back in the bronze age! After we got back on the road we decided to hitch a ride back to Lochranza as the bus was still another 2 hours away and it was freezing.. We watched a rugby game over a pint at the local pub, then saw an awesome sunset before bussing back to Brodick.

Got to be up there with one of the best sunsets I have seen

On Sunday we planned to visit the Glenashee waterfalls in the morning before we caught our ferry back to the mainland. We hitched again from Brodick to Whiting Bay with a nice local who gave Haylee some hand cream from Arran Aromatics as a souvenir. This saved us quite a bit of time so we took our time walking up to the waterfalls (which were alright without being spectacular). We got back to Whiting Bay and caught the earlier bus back to Brodick – giving us time for a hot drink before getting on the ferry.

Giants Graveyard - some of the many stone circle remains on Arran

 We managed to spend a bit of time in Glasgow in the afternoon before getting our bus back to Aberdeen. It was very busy on the streets due to St Patricks Day, was cool watching all the street performers and checking out a few shops while we had the chance. We definitely chose the right weekend to go as Arran had a really bad snow storm the week after and had no power for a week – we were quite lucky! The trip was definitely worth it, and although it would have been better visiting in summer, Arran lived up to expectations.

Planning Our Big Trip

We have started booking a few flights & planning our travels a bit more now that we have a few dates locked in. We are leaving Aberdeen for Madrid on the 14th of May, leaving Europe for Brazil on 12th of August and leaving Chile for NZ on the 2nd of October. Both Haylee and I are really looking forward to it after what has been a long rugby season here in Scotland.

In the next couple of months we will continue to work hard and save money for the big trip. We currently have a couple of weeks off rugby, which gives us a chance to see a bit of Scotland. Haylees good friend Emily has been up over the weekend from London, so we managed to get out and show her a few local attractions. We went over to Loch Ness on Saturday, visited the Urquart Castle and Culloden on the way home. Culloden is the site of the last battle between the Red Coats and Scottish Clansmen (fighting against English rule). This was apparently a bloody battle only lasting a couple of hours, and there are gravestones with clan names on them - marking mass graves where soldiers were buried. We found one with ‘Fraser’ (the clan of which Haylee descends from) on it. On Sunday we braved the snow and went over to see Dunnottar Castle. Even though we had already been there, it was still good to see it again.. We spent 2 hours there before getting a hot drink at Stonehaven on the way home.

Cottage at the famous battle site of Culloden

Haylee & Em & Nessie

Fastest town in Scotland... Nairn

This weekend Haylee and I are heading to the Isle of Arran, which is apparently like a mini version of Scotland. We are catching ua bus down to Glasgow, train to Ardrossan and ferry over to Arran. It was pretty cheap getting down and back as we booked nice and early, worked out at NZ $80 each return.

It seems like it has been a long season over here playing and coaching rugby. This may be because I have had back to back seasons and being new to coaching. The Scottish weather definitely hasn’t helped as quite a few games have been put off due to the weather. In saying that, it has been a great experience as we have learned to live in a different part of the world, seen some pretty cool places, met some nice people, and I have learned a lot about being a coach. I think living over here has made us appreciate home a bit more - especially the weather!

Two Days In Prague..

We got to Prague around 4pm on the 3rd of January and although we struggled with the language (not many people speak English here), found it really easy to get from the airport to our accommodation. We had booked a place to stay before our trip for NZ$60 a night and were happy to find a modern apartment when we arrived. We decided to check out the city the next day then go on a day trip somewhere if we had time the following day.

The underground tube system here is very good (and cheap) so we made good use when we went to look around the city on our first day. We started at the Old Town Square then headed over the river where we got a good view of Charles Bridge before catching the funicular up the Mala Strana. We got an even better view of the city when we climbed the Petrin tower (an old communist radio tower) at the top of Mala Strana - well worth the climb! By now it was a nice sunny day and the view down to the castle and across the river was stunning. Prague is a nice looking city with all the terracotta roofed old style buildings, the blue tops of the many synagogues, the river going through the middle and Charles Bridge make it look even better!

Stunning city of Prague

It was a good walk from here through the monastary to the castle grounds where we headed next. The castle was also well worth a look, is quite a large grounds surrounded by a stone wall with old buildings in the middle (including the impressive cathedral). The guards here seem so serious about their jobs, walking around with bayonets and looking like angry men. The walk down from the castle is awesome, a long narrow stone staircase going between tall buildings either side. Down the bottom we grabbed some lunch then went to the John Lennon Wall, where people have used graffiti to remember John Lennon and speak out against communism (they tried to cover it up but didn’t work!). We managed to see the famous copper pissing statues before crossing the Charles Bridge back to the Old Town Square.

John Lennon Wall - Prague

One day was definitely enough to check out the city of Prague, and although it sounds like we went to a lot of different places - everything is so close together making it easy to get more done. After a big day we headed back to our apartment then went to a local bar/restaurant to get dinner. This ended up being a very cheap meal, paying around NZ$7 for a good sized main and around NZ$2 for a 500ml stein of beer. I tried the traditional dish of beef goulash which was very filling and washed it down with a couple of Pilsners - good end to a good day!

Haylee had the idea of heading to see a bone cathedral (which she had read about) in a town about an hour out of Prague. We didn’t have a plan at all and headed to the train station which was a bit challenging as no one understood English. We managed to get a return trip to Hutna Kora for around NZ$8 each. Once we arrived at the station it was a 10 minute walk to one of the weirdest places I have ever been to, a Cathedral with stacks of human bones inside. Apparently the area was a very popular place to be buried back in the day, due to there being soil from Jerusalem on the site. When the plague hit and over 40,000 people needed to be buried, there was not enough room. So some crazy monks decided it would be a good idea to stack the bones up in neat piles and make things out of them (like a chandelier and family crest). This place is so unusual and definitely worth a visit if you go to Prague.

We walked down to the town after to have a look around and get some lunch, but found not much going on. We didn’t see one local at all and when we finally managed to find a pizza place that was open (to get some lunch), we were told that everyone was on holiday. Thats about all we found out.Was a bit weird - especially how there was a church with 40,000 skulls in it just down the road!

After catching the 3pm train back to Prague, we decided to walk around the Christmas markets and use up our spare Krona before we headed home in the morning. We spent a bit of time here drinking honey mead and mulled wine, and buying a couple of souvenirs. On the way home we got a 1 litre of Pilsner from the supermarket for NZ$2 to enjoy back at the apartment - ready for our flight home in the morning.

Christmas & Sightseeing in London

Haylee and I headed down to London on 23 December for a couple of weeks away from rugby & Inverurie. We got our first taste of the famous London Underground tube on the 24th as we had to get to West Brompton before Christmas day (as all tubes were closed this day). I remember it was all a bit overwhelming at first, with so many different tube lines and so many people at the tube stations. We managed to find our way in the end and were quite amazed by the whole experience.

We caught up with Brendan and Scotty Wils for Christmas, along with a bunch of other kiwis (15 in total). It was quite a coincidence how I knew them both from different rugby teams, and they had since met while in London - shows how it is such a small world. It was my first Christmas away from the family, but had a good time in London with a good crowd. We had a proper kiwi meal with 3 chickens, 2 legs of NZ lamb and a 10kg ham, and pavlova for dessert. After the secret santa it ended up being a big night drinking, and got to know the group pretty well by the end of the night. We spent boxing day chilling out at Scotty Wils’s place and helped him clean up a solid mess from the night before.

Christmas in West Brompton

We started to properly check out London on the 27th, firstly picking up our London Passes (giving us 3 days of access to all of the sights for £66 each) then visiting the Buckingham Palace, Winter Wonderland & the Tate Modern Museum (which are all free to visit). After this we caught up for dinner with Gareth (Fonterra workmate) and his wife for dinner at the West End before heading to see the Wicked show at a theatre. This was something Haylee really wanted to do so I tagged along and ended up being better than I thought it would be.

Our first day using the London pass started on the 28th. We had quite a big day and were able to; see Big Ben, go into the Westminster Abbey, go on a Thames river cruise, visit the Tower of London, go up the Tower Bridge and see the Design Museum. I have always wanted to see Big Ben and it did not disappoint. The Thames River Cruise (with good commentary on the way) and views from the Tower Bridge were other highlights of the day.

Big Ross, Little Ben

We headed to Wimbledon the next day where we went on a guided tour around the Tennis Grounds, before catching up with another mate Joe for a beer at Shoreditch.

The final day using the London Pass saw us head to the Lords Cricket Ground for a guided tour around the Museum (with ’The Ashes’) and grounds which I really enjoyed. The guide was right into his cricket and took us through the pavilion, changing rooms and media centre - telling us stories throughout. I also picked up a pair of cricket pants from the Lords shop which I can proudly wear for Wellsford when we get home.

On New Years eve we spent the morning in busy town of Camden, checking out the markets and having some of the famous street food. We were back later that night to celebrate New Years at Koko with a few of Haylees friends, where a band and DJ’s welcomed in the new year.

Although we didn’t get up to much on New Years day, we were able to visit a few of places we hadn’t seen on the 2nd. We started off at St Pauls Cathedral, which was much bigger than I expected but just another cathedral really from the outside. From here we headed to Covent Garden, an area with lots of street performers and markets. We visited a pub once run by Haylee’s Uncle & Aunty (the Marquess of Anglesey) for a beer, before getting lunch in Trafalgar Square. After lunch we went to see Harrod’s (the famous luxury shopping centre) where there were things like signed Mohummad Ali boxing gloves on sale for £90,000

Although it was well worth a visit, I don’t think I could ever live in London as it is far too busy. By the end of our time here I was starting to get sick of the crowded underground tubes and engineering works which made our trips take quite a bit longer than planned.