Netball and Snowstorms in New Zealand

by Paige Diller, CCI/Greenheart Travel High School Abroad Participant in New Zealand

This is Yuna, Amy and Clea (The twins), Catherine and Kieron, and I the first night it snowed

It’s been over 30 years since the Hutt Valley has seen snow like this in New Zealand! It’s gotten so bad that they cancelled school today. (Hooray!) It’s been raining and hailing off and on for the past 2 and a half days. It’s crazy! Yesterday, toward the end of school most of my class went outside to have a snowball fight. For a lot of the kids here, this is the first time they’ve experienced real snow. And for me, this is the first time I’ve experienced snow in August!

Even without the snow, I‘ve had a very exciting week. Last Friday night was my debut as a netball player. I played in a social league with Yuna, Amy, Clea, Catherine, and Keiron, so there wasn’t too much pressure if I messed up… But I had a great time! I actually scored twice! Netball is similar to basketball, but still very different. It’s a 40 minute game with 4 quarters. After the game, we all headed back to Keiron, Clea, and Amy’s house to watch movies and play Guitar Hero. We made some dinner and snacked on lollies (New Zealand’s way of saying ‘candy’ or ‘sweets’). We only had time to watch one movie, Knight and Day, and you’re very right mom, it was ridiculous.

The next day, the Youth Group participated in a volleyball tournament against other youth groups. Amy, Clea, Yuna, and I were slightly worried about the well-being of our arms by the end, but I ended up having a great time; I really got the hang of it and was able to score a few points with my serves.

The street I live on in New Zealand.

Sunday night, when the snow first started, we drove up to Kieron’s house to visit Amy and Clea; we only had time for a quick picture though (no time for snow fights) because the snow was coming down so fast that Dad was worried about driving back down the hill. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to visit them again, or have any snowball fights with them because the drive up to there house is much too dangerous.

This morning Yuna and I woke up to a nice surprise, as Mum told us that school was canceled. I went back to bed for another 4 hours. Later today was the first time that I went into town by myself. I was able to maneuver around the buses and find the stores I was looking for just fine. Though, getting on the bus the first time, I almost fell over because the bus driver didn’t wait for me to sit down.

An intense game of Scrabble.

Later in the day Dad and I played a ravishing game of Scrabble; he won. But! I put up a good fight and racked up a solid 248 points. He topped me with 288 though. Sean, you would have been proud of my creativity with the words. After the Scrabble game, Mum, Yuna and I went outside to build our snow men, complete with ball caps, raisin eyes, and sprinkles for mouths. If I was too make a prediction, based on the snow falling outside right now, we won’t have school tomorrow either.