At part of the International Aikido Federation conference, each country has a chance to give a short demonstration. Andrew and Shane represented New Zealand, and we have been lucky enough to get a copy from the audience perspective, shown below.

We had another great morning sunrise for our dawn training class.

It's always fun to get to the beach early and try something different. It was warm when we arrived, making it easy to enjoy the fresh air, the sand, the waves, and the rising sun.

The dawn trainings classes are always easy going, about an hour of stretching techniques, weapons practice, and some breathing. The class was followed with breakfast, coffee, and chatting in town, before some of us made it into the regular Saturday morning class.

There are some photos below, and more in the gallery.

Well done to everyone that graded on the weekend - it's over for at least another 6 months!

As usual, the grading day was long, exhausting, and a lot of fun. It's a great opportunity to train at a higher intensity than usual - and to look ahead at the grades above your own, to see where things are heading.

A very big thank you to Takase Sensei and Andrew Williamson for officiating. And, of course, a huge thank you to all those that took ukemi on the day (helping us look good) and to our instructors and everyone that continues to train with us.

There are a few highlight pictures below (including Logan and Colin's unofficial photo of the day), and more pictures in the gallery. There was a lot of video footage too, which should be compiled and uploaded over the next week.

Today we had our regular pre-grading seminar with Takase Sensei. We had a good turn out, great weather, and it was a real treat to again be taught by New Zealand's highest ranked aikido teacher.

We were constantly challenged to look differently at our regular techniques, with variations and training ideas to both apply and receive these techniques.

Thanks to Kevin and Deb for hosting the evening bbq.

Pictures from the first half of the seminar are available below.

The kids grading was held on the 23 November, with a little over 50 kids grading.

The standard was excellent and the examiners and instructors were very happy.

The grading results will be posted shortly, in the meantime, you can view the pictures below.

During the seminar with Yamashima Shihan we filmed almost all the demonstrations and Logan has kindly burnt the results to a DVD. These are now available at a small charge of $5 each. You can get copies of the DVD from the Burnside Dojo.