Cuddling with Critters

Amanda here! We just finished up our fifth day in Australia, and it was definitely the funnest day I’ve had in a long time. Being in Australia is a bit like being in an alternate universe where cars drive on the wrong side of the road, people speak with amazing accents and colorful lingo, everyone is friendly, the weather is beautiful despite the fact that it is “winter,” and you might even find yourself cuddling with a koala or petting a kangaroo.

Today we spent the day at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. I held a koala. I repeat, I held at koala. The epicness of this experience was only surpassed by entering an open enclosure where kangaroos roamed free and let you pet them and even let you take “selfies” with them. Unreal. We also got to take on the Green Challenge ropes course where we were strapped onto high wires and set free to zip down zip lines, swing across ropes Tarzan style, and take on other various challenge obstacles. We couldn’t have stopped smiling if we wanted to.

Being in Australia is completely surreal, and everyday is a new adventure. I don’t think anything could top the fun I had today, but something tells me that there is a lot more fun in store 🙂

Free Day at Surfers’ Paradise

Hi All! It’s Ann here updating you all on our Monday funday (aka. free day). We started our day at with a morning climb up the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, Q1 in Surfers’ Paradise. I admit I was a bit nervous about the climb seeing as I have a fear of heights but I managed alright. The climb took about 90 minutes total but it was a lot of stopping and looking at the views…oh right, the views. WOW!!! We could see all the way to Victoria! The view of the ocean was amazing too; there is a reason they call it Surfers’ Paradise.

After our climb, we had a great lunch at Longboard’s Laid Back Eatery and Bar, which was just around the corner from Q1, and then walked down to the beach. Alexa and I took our obligatory sorority photos while Amanda and Reesie took photos of JAMBER (Janna and Amber) being twinsies. The water was amazingly warm for winter and I was dying to go in and play in the giant waves but I figured with jeans, high surf, and shark infested waters, it might not end up so well.

Once we got washed up, we took a stroll down the boardwalk, breathing in the fresh Australian air. Our ultimate destination, a chocolate cafe,  finally drew us always from the beautiful beach. Even though we all split our items, we still could hardly finish everything because the food and drinks were so rich. Alexa and my hot chocolate was to die for! As we were headed back to the bus stop, we passed a Zorbing attraction in a giant blow up pool and couldn’t resist. Each of us got blown up in our own giant ball and pushed into the pool where we proceeded to throw ourselves around until exhaustion. I think Reesie came as close as she’ll ever come to walking on water!

Tomorrow we head to see some wildlife!

The Fun Has Begun!

Ready for the races!

Hey there, Alexa checking in!  Since our last update, we have settled into a neat little cabin at the Runaway Bay Sports Centre, and our first big trip here near Brisbane was on Saturday.  All of the countries were asked to dress up in formal attire, and we took a bus to the Gold Coast Turf Club, a local racetrack that holds weekly Thoroughbred races.  What a great time!  We had lunch in “The Dome” and were just a short walk through a door from the paddock and racetrack.  We spent our entire afternoon ogling over cute Aussie Thoroughbred and eating delicious foods.  The best part of it all was being taken “behind the scenes”.  We were taken in small groups to either the starting gates, where we were able to see how the officials handled the start of every race, or we were taken to the tower above the racetrack, where officials stood and looked over the course.  On top of the tower, we were able to learn more about how they keep track of the leading horses, and we learned about how they place the horses. 

A pretty amazing view of the city from the track.

Ann handling her green horse’s spook with ease. The ended up having a very respectable test!

 

We left the races around three thirty in the afternoon, and had a few hours to play around in the Sports Centre before preparing for a barn dance that the Southport Pony Club hosted.  The “maxi taxi” was a bit late to pick us all up, but we somehow managed to arrive at their Pony Club grounds.  There was good music, great food, and even better people at the barn dance.  Everyone was so welcoming and they were more than happy to carry on a conversation with us.  All of the riders have been getting tired pretty early, especially those of us from North America, and by 9:45 p.m., we were practically ready to fight people for spots in the car to get a ride back to the Sports Centre.  We were all in bed as early as possible, and to speak for everyone… enjoyed a great night of sleep.

All of the IPE riders at the Kangaroo Cup!

Today, we all rose around 6:50 to get ready before breakfast.  I’m beginning to thoroughly enjoy vegemite, so toast with a little butter and vegemite was a must!  After breakfast all of our teams gathered our equipment, and we made our way to the Southport Pony Club Centre for the Kangaroo Cup.  The Kangaroo Cup is a competition where all of the countries are scrambled.  For example, my team was named the Koalas, and we were assigned the New Zealand coach.  Once we had arrived on the grounds, we met the horses that were drawn for our team, and were given an hour to ride the horses and sort out who was going to ride who.  After our given time, we enjoyed tea and prepared for our dressage test.  All of our US team riders, and actually, all of the riders in general did a wonderful job with the horses they were given.  We were all talking about how lucky we were to have been given the opportunity to ride such a wonderful group of quality horses.  The dressage tests finished up around lunchtime, and we enjoyed our food while waiting to walk our show jumping courses.  Shortly after walking, we hopped on our horses, and began warming up to jump.  Once again, our team really rode to the best of our abilities in the show jump ring.  We came home well placed individually, and we all formed great new friendships with our horse’s owners, Southport pony clubbers and riders from other countries. 

Go Koalas! Showing off our Koala pride at the mounted awards.

We are about to head to bed, but we will wake up tomorrow for our free day.  As of now, our plan is to explore Surfers Paradise and we may even make it to the top of the Q1 tower, the highest tower in the Southern Hemisphere…. Our biggest worry is convincing Ann that the tower won’t fall over on our way up! 

 

            Until tomorrow!  

 

              Alexa & Team USA

We’ve arrived!

It is currently 9am on July 26th in Australia. We are in the future! After several long flights, the entire team has landed in Brisbane. Only a few mishaps along the way (Ann dropping her passport, Amber leaving her phone on the plane), but everything is sorted out and we are ready for an amazing first day on the exchange. 

 

We had an amazing time in San Diego, thanks to our hosts Crystal and Kiersti Wylie. We spent the day wandering around Belmont Park, riding an 88 year old wooden roller coaster, playing laser tag (and losing miserably to a group of 8 year old boys), and walking around on the beach. We were then hosted by Jeff and Marisa Kennedy for the night, and slept like rocks. We were spoiled by a lovely breakfast and a few hours of sun on the beach before heading to the airport later that afternoon. 

taking a break to sit down at belmont park

After a 15 hour flight, we are safe and sound in Australia! We are waiting in the airport for the rest of the teams, but it still feels surreal. Tonight we will having an opening ceremonies dinner, which will give us a chance to meet the rest of the teams. We couldn’t have asked for a better team, coach, or chaperone, so no matter what, it should be the trip of a lifetime!! 

Success at Training Camp!

          

This weekend our team (Ann, Amanda, and Reesie) met up with coach Janna Ritacco and chaperone Amber Henderson in Greenville, South Carolina for 2 days of pre-Australia training. On day one we got to practice jumping on 4 horses each. The course was similar to what we will see in Australia, involving riding horses we were unfamiliar with. This ranged from naughty 14.1 hand ponies, to big and buff 17 hand draft crosses. On day 2 we practiced our FEI dressage test, also on unfamiliar horses. Coach Janna had us working on accuracy and flow of the test. We are feeling great and confident as our adventure in Australia rapidly approaches!

We survived our tubing adventure!

This afternoon, we headed to the mountains for the ultimate team-building experience: tubing down the river. Along the ride, we almost lost Janna in a tree, narrowly avoided smacking into rocks and submerged debris, and nearly lost Ann down the river! However using teamwork, we escaped severe bodily harm 🙂 We definitely got a good dose of good ole American fun before we venture down under.

Tomorrow morning, we will board a plane headed for San Diego, California, where we will meet up with teammate Alexa Ehlers. She had a very successful weekend competing in Kentucky at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships CCI2*, placing 9th!! We daresay that she is pretty prepared for what lies ahead. We will spend a day and a half in California, before departing for Australia on the 25th. Lots of time in a plane to look forward to, but it will all be worth it when we land in Brisbane. Also lots of good team bonding time ahead!

We will keep you updated throughout the trip 🙂

Amazing team luggage

Ann rocking the C4 belt

Alexa clearly slacking off in her preparation. Does she look ready to you?

Ann’s Summer Fun

Hi all! To keep my butt in the saddle this summer I have been riding 3x/week at Marion Theros’ farm in Haymarket, VA. I have 6 regulars out there but occasionally add another one or two. I am having a great time with all the children as I like to call them, especially since they are all so different! My newest adventure is backing a 2 year old named Topper. He is a funny little guy but sweet as can be. But my

favorite one is the little pony Rose. I guess she is a dun but I call her camel colored. I wish I could take Rose to school with me and have her live in my house but I don’t think my roommates would be too fond of that idea. To the left is a picture of Dazzle, a 6 year old Thoroughbred who is learning to jump. To the right is Rose pony, a 6 year old Chincoteague cross.

Meet Ann

Well it’s a little late in the game to be posting my introduction but oh well! Hi, I’m Ann Bellinger; I’m an ‘HA’ from River Bend Pony Club in the Virginia Region. I am very excited to be a part of the 2013 Inter-Pacific Exchange Team headed to Australia this summer!

I started riding at the age of 4 with a family friend. My mom somehow convinced me that riding was a summer sport…that only lasted until I was 9 at which point mom realized that I wasn’t growing out of the “horse phase” so she leased me my first horse, Willie. After 3 years, it was time for me to move on to a horse that could do a little more so I started leasing Skyeler Voss’s old eventing partner, Savannah. Boy was that a step up from Willie!!!

Flash-forward a few years and I found myself back in Skyeler’s barn (a few leased horses later) with a young thoroughbred mare named Foggy. I took Foggy from Beginner Novice to Training but started having some issues with her. Right about that time, I received my acceptance to Tufts University but decided to defer for a year to be a working student. I looked at a few barns but the second I drove into Kelli Temple’s farm I knew that’s where I wanted to be.

I spent 11 amazing months working for Kelli but I feel like my riding progressed years under her watchful eye. Kelli gave me many opportunities that have shaped me into the rider and horsewoman I am now. With her help and Kurt Martin’s old horse, Woodwork, I made the jump from Training to Preliminary and finished my time with Kelli by representing the Virginia Region at the 2011 USPC Championships in Kentucky where Woody and I finished 2^nd individually and brought home a team gold.

I have been to USPC Championships every year since 2005 and will be sad to miss it this year but I know it is for greener pastures. Pony club has been an integral part of my riding career and I have met so many amazing friends through the organization.

Before I wrap up I would like to thank my parents, Dawn and John, my sister, Catharine, and all my friends and family who have supported me on my journey. I would also like to give a special thank you to Kelli Temple, who got me so far in such a short period of time. Thank you all and I look forward to keeping you all updated on our journey to Australia!