Today began very early (5am) so we could get to Auckland airport for our flight to Brisbane, Australia. Air New Zealand have a really funky design for their aircraft. The three and a half hour flight was really good with an excellent in flight media centre.

At Brisbane we picked up our car and headed north along Bruce Highway to Kawana Waters and the Beachsde Resort apartment that our friend Nate of the Sunshine Coast Hockey Association (SCHA) had kindly provided for us, its lovely.

After a quick unpack we headed off to Buderim, home of the SCHA, and caught the end of a local match on their water based AstroTurf. Got chatting to a couple of locals and they were really keen on our Walking Hockey sport.

Today was our rest day so we decided to take a trip to one of the islands off Auckland, Waiheke. And as this was the day of the first British Lions match I thought I’d wear my Lions coat and see what happened. I have to say it caused quite a bit of banter with the locals, especially when I said I was actually here for hockey and was flying off to Australia in the morning.

Waiheke is a beautiful island that is full of gorgeous beaches and wineries (where they had the cheek to charge for wine tasting so we drank the free water instead).

After our media duties were over we met up with Lynne, an old school friend, who we hadn’t seen for over forty years. She lives just outside Auckland and took us on a tour of the coastal suburbs, and a very nice time we had too.

Lynne dropped us off at Hockey NZ’s offices where we met up with Ken, Rachel and Jack again. Rachel is responsible, amongst other things, for growing Adult Participation in NZ whilst Jack does a similar role for juniors and young people. We also met Ken again, who is their boss.

We then went to the local pub for a meeting, yes really, with Manoj and Callum. Manoj is Head of Auckland Hockey, the largest Association in NZ with over 10,000 players. Manoj is a very senior figure in hockey and has excellent contacts across the world. He was really excited by Walking Hockey and has recommended us to the FIH, hockey’s world governing body. He has also put us in contact with senior figures in Spain and another contact in NZ. Another excellent day in the crazy world of Walking Hockey. We even treated ourselves to a drink 😉

A quick early update for you. We were woken in the middle of the night by Free Radio who wanted to have a chat there and then about our trip. I think we managed to do Walking Hockey justice at 02.30 am. But seriuosly it’s brilliant to have so much interest from the UK whilst we are away and thank you Free Radio.

At a much more civilised breakfast time it was great to chat to Trevor Owen, the main Sports man, from BBC Hereford & Worcester. The station have been great supporters of Walking Hockey from the start and we can’t thank them enough.

Day 6 dawned with a sunny Auckland morning and an email request for another BBC Radio interview, this time with the Saturday Sports Show.

After a quick hotel room change due to local noise (which got us a free breakfast) we headed by taxi to meet with two members of the Hockey NZ staff, Jack and Rachel. We handed them their limited edition number 2 signed Walking Hockey shirt and pennant which they seemed impressed with.

We then spent the whole day talking hockey matters including of course Walking Hockey. There are a lot of similarities with the way hockey is run and organised in NZ but also some significant differences so it was a great learning process for all of us. Jack and Rachel are really great folks which made the meeting even better.

The Walking Hockey part of our presentation went very well and Rachel is looking to get it going in NZ which is brilliant so thanks everyone back in the U.K. for your part in making it a success with your support and participation.

We also learned about Renegade Hockey (you’re going to love this in the U.K.) and the NZ version of Beach Hockey so we’ve lots to share when we get back. They also have a really great process for getting schools to play more hockey.

Tuesday morning saw us waving goodbye to the amazing new hockey friends we have made in Dubai. They want us to send a team over so get saving, juniors and walkers.

Our flight to Auckland took just over fifteen hours, quite a challenge that was, made easier by meeting up with some New Zealand sports stars – a team from the men’s 7 a side rugby tournament who had been playing in France and the ladies World Cup kayak team who had been out in Portugal. Of course I managed to tell them all about Walking Hockey too!

After settling into the hotel and grabbbing a bite to eat we were just settling down to sleep (been up for 30 hours) when my mobile rang. And a minute later I found myself talking live to BBC Hereford & Worcester who wanted an update on the trip. They are absolutely brilliant the way they keep checking in to see how things are going. I think that’s the seventh time now.

Tomorrow promises to be very interesting as we are spending it talking to people at the HQ of Hockey New Zealand, but more of that tomorrow.

Even our Emirates plane had a sporty theme with footballers from Paris St German featured on the fuselage.

Today was our first chance to Walk the Walk with the Dubai Hockey family.

After a 52nd floor lunch at the Marriott Observatory restaurant as a thank you to our host Annie ( ex England Ladies) we went off to Kent College, a twin of Kent School, Canterbury. Our talk was given in a huge auditorium and after some technical hiccups we were able to present to them a feel of how our club is growing and how it is becoming more successful using the Golden Thread coaching ideals of England Hockey. We also showed them Ann’s Walking Hockey video by way of introduction.

Then it was outside to give a coaching session in the 35 degree Dubai evening.

We began with some small sided games which they loved then split the juniors off from the adult group. The juniors played more small sided games and the adults got to grips with Walking Hockey. And they all loved it.

There is a now a determination to launch Walking Hockey here and significant interest from South Africa, Belgium and India too.

Sarah is feeling rightly proud of herself having played tonight with ex England and ex Belgium international players!

Walking Hockey – who’d have imagined it!

Day 4 of the blog will take a while to appear as we will be flying to Auckland tomorrow, a 17 hour flight, but we will update you when we get there.

As today is Sarah’s birthday we had planned for some social time and made the most of it including a ‘getting to know you’ meeting with one of the Dubai hockey family in the well known Atlantis Hotel on the end of the Palm. Also saw the evening fountain show in the city centre.

Tomorrow is ‘Hockey Day’ with both a presentation and coaching session to give.

Had the most amazing evening with members of the Dubai hockey family from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Ukraine and Australia – and Bromsgrove too lol.

Lots of interesting discussions particularly about Walking Hockey and its potential over here.

BBC Radio phoned 10 minutes before we were due to leave for the airport. They are really great in the way they’ve adopted Walking Hockey. Interviewed live for Drive and they want more when we return.

Traffic jams circumnavigated to arrive on time only to find flight to Dubai delayed. Oh well, no rush. Time to chill out and relax.