Update from Cathie - BEFORE the curling started

Cathie sent an email last night about their last few days of sightseeing before heading back to Dunedin for the World Championships.

I last wrote from Balcutha. We were on our way up to Nazby so that we could practice before coming back to Dunedin. We got in sort of late, but ended up staying at the Royal Hotel which is over 200 years old! the next day we had two practice sessions on the ice. We ate lunch in the restaurant owned by the NZ skip. Oh, before all that, we were still in the Caitlands and went on 3 hikes. Two were up to waterfalls and the 3rd was to Nugget Point Light House. Nugget Point was gorgeous. Absolutely spectacular vistas. There we saw seals and penquins and shags (birds).

It felt like home getting back to Dunedin. the rooms here at this hotel are really nice. they are quite European looking. Murphy took Aija back out fishing (the way we had come in), but she did not catch anything. She was after the elusive brown trout. Joan, Emily, Sharon & I went to the farmer's market. The vegetables were all huge! Everything is organic too. We ate food there and some treats. Later, Joan and I went to the Cadbury factory and had a tour and bought some chocolate. Yesterday was a holiday here: Anzac Day. It's like Memorial Day in USA. Every town here has a memorial to WWI & WWII. Most everything was closed until 1:oo p.m.

I've been trying to get to the library because there is free internet there, but it's been closed both times I've gone. I finally had to bite the bullet and buy time at the
hotel. It's really not bad. $8 NZ for an hour. it's convenient.

We had our practice session today at the arena. there are five sheets of ice. the circles are black and silver! Those are NZ colours. We did great. Murphy is so proud of us. He says we look like winners! I sure hope so. We were all very steady today. tomorrow is the opening ceremony at 10:00 and our first game is against NZ on center ice. We have a second game tomorrow too, but I can't remember who it is against. Tuesday we have 1 game and the other days are all 2 games until the round robin is finished. I must say our uniforms look very smart. Tonight is the meet & greet party. This after noon I signed my first autograph for the Japanese, who were running around collecting them!

It sounds like they had a fabulous time touring around and "training" for the competition. I hope they bring back some treats from the Cadbury factory! Now it is down to business, and they are off to a great start with their first win today! Keep on rocking ladies!!!