Thanks Paddlerzone

We popped into Paddlerzone and Dana kindly donated four tie downs and a bunch of nose plugs. It is great to have the tie downs to help cart the boats to and from the rivers. We are sure the girls will come across some rapids where the nose plugs will come in handy and for all times spent under the water perfecting their rolls.

Thanks Paddlerzone for your contribution and support.

Macpac keeping us warm

Macpac have made a sweet donation to the project, donating two tents which will be left to the Himalayan River Girls. Huge thanks to Macpac for their help with the project, to check out the Macpac website follow the link http://www.macpac.co.nz/

NAME CHANGE and SWEDES working hard

We heard from Inka the other day that the name Nepali Girls Kayak Club has been changed to the Himalayan River Girls. This has a nicer ring to it and also includes the girls who dont kayak but do raft. So Himalayan River Girls it is

We also heard from the Swedish girls who have been working hard to rasie more funds for the trip. They have been at a flee market in Uppsala, Sweden and managed to make some good money from it. Check out the links for more cool pics

http://www.upk.se/?p=61

http://picasaweb.google.se/UppsalaPaddlarklubb/200810LoppisVaksalatorg#


I can make out the words Nepal, thats about it.

Gear and Money update
After tearing my hair out a few times trying to be an accountant I think I have finally figured out how much we raised and what we spent it on so here it is.

Raffle - $2520
Sausage Sizzle by Western Heights Highschool year ten girls - $196
Edgecumbe Lions Club - $500
Methven Lions Club - $500
Emi Earle's Beanie knitting - $290
Donations: $600
- John Hooker
- Mike Ward
- John and Meagan Ward
- Greg and Hillary Turnbull
- Graham and Vivienne Campion
- Terry and Stephen Leggart
- Bronie Clayton

This is a total of $4606
so where did the money go ............................................................. read on to find out.

We have purchased the following items with the funds we have raised

- 4 Kayaks (Mini-mystic, method air, method, RPM)
- 3 x leader B.A's
- 3 x Hydraulics mumblies
- 7 x Day two neoprene wetsuit shorts
- 2 x kokotat semi dry tops
- 2 x rasdex semi dry tops
- 10 x nose plugs
- 3 x rescuebelt/towline/cowstail/biner
- 1 x second hand hydraulics race pro and 1 x second hand bomber dry tops (thanks to Ryan Hunt for the great deal on these two)
- 6 x sets of airbags
- 12 x river knives

We have a few hundred left, which we will give to Inka to put into the Himalayan River Girls fund for other expenses that may pop up for the Nepali girls

So if you have any questions about any of that, feel free to ask away. Thanks for keeping updated, Soph and the kiwi crew.

KEEN are keen as!!!

KEEN footwear are a company that make awesome shoes as well as having an awesome philosophy. They are committed to and support many social and environmental causes as well as being a company that actually care about the world we live in.

They are making a fantastic contribution towards this project by gifting a pair of KEEN footwear to every girl involved with the training programme. That's 34 pairs of KEEN shoes going to girls from Nepal, Sweden, the U.S.A, Wales, Australia and good old NZ. It's super exciting that we all get to sport the styley shoes during our adventure. A huge thanks goes out to KEEN for there amazing gift and help with this project.

Check out there very cool website at
http://www.keenfootwear.co.nz/

LOTS OF SUPPORT FROM NZ COMPANIES

Canoe and Kayak have been a huge help with this project, as was posted earlier in the blog they have donated 2 perception phats and all the gear to go with them. But also they have given us an amazing deal on a Method Air as well as a great prices on any other gear that needs to be purchased for the Nepali Girls.


Big Thanks to Mission Kayaking who have given us a fantastic discount on some styley B.A's here is a pic of what they look like.

Hydraulics have also given us a discount on some mumblies (3/4 fleece paddling pants), which will be great for keeping the girls nice and warm.

Hastings Great Outdoors have given us an awesome deal on 12 river knives to help keep everyone safe on the river .................. but mainly to cut tomatoes.

Girls can pee standing up too
Shewee are a company that makes a device for women that makes peeing in the outdoors a breeze. We are lucky enough to have had some 'shewee's' donated for the trip to Nepal and are we all excited and intrigued into seeing how these 'shewee's' work.

Thank you very much Shewee for your donation, to check out the Shewee website go to http://www.shewee.co.nz/

RAFFLE RESULTS
We have one week left till we head over to Nepal, yesterday the raffle was drawn and 5 lucky people won some awesome prizes. Thank you so much to everyone who helped out by buying tickets. Also a huge thanks to all who helped sell tickets.

We made a total of $2500 from the raffle, which is being used to purchase gear for the Nepali Girls.

An update will follow this week with what gear has been purchased and how the final preps are going.

Once again a huge thank you to all involved with this raffle, here are the results.

1st place: Jenny Neilson from Twyford - 2 nights accommodation at a beach front Bach in Ohope, thanks to the Lelievre family

2nd place: Daniel Bowie from Waipukurau - 2 nights accommodation at a lake front Bach in Taupo, thanks to the White family

3rd place: Brent Whibley from Rotorua - A trip for 2 white-water rafting down the Tongariro River, thanks to Garth at Tongariro River Rafting.

4th place: Steven from Rotorua - A trip for 2 White-water rafting down the Kaituna River, thanks to Noel at Wet n Wild Rafting.

5th place: Stefan Bennett from Rotorua - A double pass for the movies and rock-climbing, thanks to The Wall and The Basement Cinema' Rotorua.

More exciting news from Inka

Inka and Equators 2 first female river guide-trainees.

Here is an update on how things are going in Nepal for Inka

"I have now selected seven new girls to take part in the training program. Radha Tamang 23, Anita Sapkota 18, Sambhavi Karki 23, Hasila Shrestha 27, Pasang Sherpa 25, Rama Shrestha 18 and Kamala Chepang 17. At the selection I took the girls to a swimmingpool in Kathmandu to check their swimming skills and comfort with / love for water. Some of the girls selected are already good swimmers and speak very good English and some still need to practise swimming and work hard to get strong physically. After the selection day we spent a few days in a swimmingpool in Kathmandu to practise swimming and to learn the basics of kayaking. We had a few really fun days with western women teaching and supporting. One of the days Nepali TV came to interview us! Next we are starting on the river on the 11 November. Together with Sita, Susmita and Mona we now have 10 girls to jpin the training program. And from the 16th November 22 western female kayakers are joining us as we paddle down the Sun Kosi. Everything is going very well with equipment as we are getting lots of gear donated.


Cecelia from Sweden training the new girls how to swim

Two rafting companies have offered to employ ladies after the training program. All we really need now is some more help to finance the training. Keep your fingers crossed for us!"


Hassila is still learning to swim, but is a natural in the kayak.

These girls have a couple of weeks before the training programme starts to work on swimming and basic kayak skills, this will prepare them for the Sun-Kosi and the formal beginning of the training programme on the 16th of November.

CPIT helping us out!

All of the kiwi team have studied through the Christchurch Polytech gaining qualifications in the Bachelor of Adventure Recreation and Outdoor Education, and Diploma in Adventure Instruction and Guiding. CPIT was the hub for meeting each other and developing our outdoor skills, especially kayaking. Through Steve Chapman, CPIT have once again shown their support of us by donating pre loved kayaking goods for the Nepali ladies.

Check out the link for Outdoor Programmes held at CPIT.
http://www.cpit.ac.nz/subjects/adventure_recreation

Once again thank you to Steve Chapman and CPIT for your support.