Unicon day 3 and 4

Hannah wasn't well yesterday and so had a morning back at the apartment resting. Jacqui took the opportunity to go to the Mounts workshop, and learnt some really impressive mounts (inlcuding a jump mount, where you hold the unicycle in your hands and then jump directly onto the pedals and seat - it looks very impressive). She is now teachng Hannah the mounts she learnt.

Australia then played in the hockey tournament. In the end Jacqui and Hannah weren't needed (although they'd brought their hockey sticksalong), as there were enough people to play. As a mum I was relieved as the games were pretty rough at times. We had great fun cheering on the Aussie team, who didn't do so well (they only had 1/2 their regular players, as many couldn't make it to unicon).

Steve had to stay behind at the apartment to finish the conference paper he is giving three days after we get back to Australia. He has finally finished it (at 2am).

This morning was a marathon, which the girls weren't competing in, so we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing. We took a canal boat tour of the city & saw some beautiful areas and got a glimpse of the little mermaid.

This evening we all attended a workshop run by a lady who is doing her PhD on Unicycling as a motivator of young people in the education system, which was very interesting. We also watched the expert level freestyle single routines, which were amazing (but not as much fun as the pairs routines).

We also got to chat to the Israeli team, who swapped shirts with us. So far we've swapped shirts with the Korean, Swiss, Hong Kong, German, UK & USA teams. The Australian shirts have been very popular.

Tomorrow will be another practice day for Hannah & Jacqui, as the competition will be mainly uni-basketball, hockey, flatland & group routines.

Photo 1 - this is the Australian Team (without Steve who was working at the apartment). Hannah & Jacqui are the only freestyle competitors, with the rest of the team mainly being into Hockey, distance events, races & trials (jumping on and off things).

Photo 2 - us on the canal trip around Copenhagen.

Unicon Day 2

Yesterday Hannah & Jacqui took part in a Wheel Walking workshop (where you take your feet off the pedals and move the unicycle with your feet directly on the wheel. They have been wanting to learn this for quite some time, so were quite excited to be able to have a go. In the end they learnt wheel walking, 1 footed wheel walking, riding with the seat on your stomach, and standing up on the frame one footed wheel walking. They will have to practice these skills at home to perfect them, but it was a great thrill to be able to learn these new skills.

In the evening we enjoyed watchng the junior pairs expert and pairs expert routines. They were amazing, with some flawless, high energy routines with amazing tricks. Our favourite was the Swiss pairs routine (see the photo) where one unicyclist jumped up onto the shoulders of ther other unicyclist, without touching the ground. Although the Swiss routine was a lot of fun and very entertaining, we were surprised the Japanese team didn't win, as they were technically more proficient (from our point of view anyway - the 15 judges obviously disagreed).

Yesterday was the 10k race (which the girls didn't take part in). Ashley (from Sydney) came 3rd, and David (from Canberra) did a personal best time (but I can't remember his position).

Tomorrow will be the hockey competition - we aren't sure if the girls will play at this stage (they are the subs for the team, as hockey really isn't their thing).

Left Photo - Jacqui at the wheelwalking workshop (doing standing up one footed wheelwalking - with a bit of assistance). Right photo - The Swiss Expert Pairs Routine (who came first).

Opening Ceremony and Parade

We had a wonderful day yesterday with the opening ceremony and parade. The opening ceremony had a large choir and percussionist (playing all sorts of instruments, some of them made from unicycle parts) performing a piece of music composed especially for Unicon 14. There was a fantastic routine by the Danish team which included a guy playing a guitar along to the music whilst riding a unicycle - very inspiring stuff. It was a great atmosphere with 1000 competitors and 500 family & friends as well as a large number of volunteers.

After the opening ceremony there was a parade (complete with a police escort at the front and an ambulance at the rear ). The Australian team (those that had made it here already) lined up and were cheered along (with a number of people calling out Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi - as they rode along). The parade itself was quite long (we aren't sure how far, but between 8 - 10km), which presented a challenge for many riders. (Nikki & the two other Australian supporters stayed behind at unicon whilst they went on the parade).

The day was a lesson in stereotypes - from the Japanese team riding in precise lines, and the competitoris from Puerto Rico partying on, managing to sing, dance, play a drum and ride all at the same time. (we are REALLY glad that we are staying in an apartment as the other Australians are sleeping on a school floor, with the Puerto Rican team in the classroom above them).

The Australian team t-shirts have been a hit, with a number of countries asking to swap shirts with us (thankfully we brought along shirts to swap - thanks to David who told us about doing this).

The day ended with a new challenge for us - because the girls tyres are black we were told they would have to get new white tyres, so that they don't mark the wooden floor (we haven't had any problems with this in Australia, but they have the rule so that the floor can be 100% protected). This meant we had to get new tyres for the girls uni's. Thankfully unicycle.com has a stall at unicon, but EVERYONE was lining up to buy tyres at the same time. We didn't stress about the wait, but took the opportunity to talk to all the different riders in the line (especially from the USA team who were very friendly). Jacqui & Hannah smiled nicely at Nicolai (the guy manning the stall), who put the new tyres on for us. That was when the real drama started, as we discovered that Hannah's wheel had been damaged in the hold of the plane, and so we needed a new wheel. When they had put the new tyre on the new wheel (after having already put it on the old wheel), we discovered that the wheel was the wrong size for the frame. This required us getting a new frame - basically she has a whole new unicycle (but has kept her pedals and seat) - all because we needed white tyres!!! Apparently it will ride much better, but the girls are concerned the bikes won't ride in sync now. All up it took 2 hours to get to the bottom of the story with the girls uni's, and we ended up leaving them at unicon to be picked up today, as Nikki really needed to get back to the apartment to rest.

The next few days are quiet for the girls, as most of their competition starts on Thursday when they will do their pairs routine (Saturday will be the mountain unicycling and Sunday will be athletics). We are taking the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing in the morning, and the girls are attending unicycling workshops & practicing in the afternoon.

We hope you are all well back home.

Cheers

Nikki

(a very proud Mum)

The photo's are of t

The top left photo is of Kisako & Fusako, the top right is of Fusako with her ventriloquist's doll, the bottom left is of Hannah & Jacqui looking at a Japanese restaurant menu (and yes, that is an inflatable whale behind them - we think there was whale on the menu, but can't be sure), and the bottom right is of us trying gelato in the main square in Mainz.

Mainz is wonderful!!

We are really enjoying Mainz. We are staying in a hotel for disabled people, so it is perfect for us all (especially Nikki). We have enjoyed taking it easy here, to recover from our Jetlag. We are enjoying strolling down the Schillerplatz with the locals´- trying out all the different flavours of gelato (so far nutella seems to be the favourite).

Today we got to see two of the original Guttenberg bibles, which was a bit of a thrill (we really are nerds at heart).

The girls have been able to do a little bit of unicycling here, although they are very tired from the travelling.

We will tell you more of our journey from Copenhagen.

Auf wiedersehen

In Japan

We only had a day to relax in Japan on our way to Fankfurt, but we had a wonderful time. We met up with Steve's sister Robyn's host family from when she was an exchange student (it sounds complicated, but it really isn't). They were very excited to see photos of Robyn & her family. Fusako and her mother Kisako came to our hotel and we had a wonderful Japanese dinner together. Between Fusako's English, Nikki's Japanese and a great electronic dictionary we were able to chat together. Both Fusako and Kisako are priestesses at a Buddhist temple in Japan, so it was interesting to see the similarities they had.

Fusako also brought her ventriloquist's doll (which gave us all a fright because it looked so life like and she didn't tell us she was pulling out the doll). Hannah and Jacqui had a go at being a ventriloquist.

Other highlights were seeing the smoking booths in Japan (you can't smoke outside, you have to go into a small booth to smoke, and it has air filters to make life more pleasant for everyone outside the booth), the automatic toilets (complete with bidet, which gave us a bit of a shock), and seeing all the strange things you can get in vending machines.

We will try and post some photos when we have better internet access in Copenhagen.

Ja Ne

Here are the unicycling Colemans - Steve, Hannah, Jacqui & Nikki (actually I don't unicycle, but it makes a great photo).

The girls have been madly training, the team t-shirts have finally arrived, Steve is frantically trying to finish work before we go & the bags are almost packed. Denmark (and Germany, and Sweden and Japan) HERE WE COME!

We look forward to letting you know how the trip goes. See you when we get back

This is a more up-to-date photo of the girls riding together. They are practicing a lot, and are getting happy with their routine (they decided to totally change the whole routine last week).

Our big news is that there is a change in our travel plans. We are sad that Steve's Mum Patsy won't be travelling with us, but this is because Steve will now be able to travel to Denmark (they just employed a new philosopher to teach ethics at ADFA, so there is someone to cover Steve's classes - YAY).

This is a more up-to-date photo of the girls unicycling together taken by our friend Michael. Hannah & Jacqui are practicing hard for Unicon and are getting more happy with their routine (which they decided to totally change last week).