Ski Week - Part 3

The girls returned to Wellington on Friday, just as the weather finally cleared. Friday afternoon was a lucky break in the weather. Huge tracks of virgin untracked snow lying in bowl after bowl out into the western glacier.  A quick 15 min skin above the Jumbo was all it took to access the goods. Luckily the was nobody else interested in putting the work in so it was just left to me to take care of the business of making first tracks. There I was out west again with the first big bowl in Solitude all to myself. The sweet first tracks of Tuesday were repeated in perfect Turoa fresh cold new snow.  Afterwards at dusk the mountain set itself off in a great display of alpenglow.

Mt Ruapehu in alpenglow.

On Saturday I had to return home, however the weather dawned bright, clear and perfect. I knew it was all on today in term of the perfect waiting fresh snow and the competition to get at it with the weekend hordes. The High Noon Express was still out of action which once again turned out to be a mixed blessing. Almost the same untracked snow was accessible via a 15 min skin above the Jumbo and again nobody could be bothered with putting the effort in the morning. So I added to my first tracks in Solitude, making 3 perfect sets of fresh tracks that were just mine alone. Eventually the rest cottoned on on what they where missing and a few started to venture out at about lunch time. Too late.

After lunch I made another climb and a trip out to then next smaller bowl over in Solitude. Not many people go there as it requires such a traverse but its one most perfect bowls on the Turoa side for holding great snow, with a perfect westerly aspect to gain the sun and remote enough to make it isolated from attention. The hour that I spent in the bowl was some of the most memorable skiing I've had in Turoa for many a season. The snow was so light, fresh and perfect that it was impossible to leave. I made three runs, twice skinning up to the top of the bowl again leaving my pack below so I could climb quicker and hungrily repeat the sweet gliding turns over and over in the untracked silken snow pack. The feeling of the skis was sensationless, just floating over an untracked alpine bowl. Sadly I had to leave the bowl behind; only with three sets of beautiful symmetric round tracks sitting nicely nestled along aside one another.

Ski Week - Part 2

Wednesday and Thursday the weather returned to storms again. We amused ourselves with trips around the area. Below is a shot of Amelia skipping down the Raetihi main street.  Raetihi looks down on its luck but has a great little cafe that makes it worth a visit, even if to inject a few dollars into its local economy. I like this shot even if its not technically that great as the shutter speed needed to be much higher. It shows a spark of happiness in a place that seems to be missing it.

To fill in the days I took Amelia to the new local climbing wall in Ohakune. Its perfectly set up for kids.  Amelia was terrified when she first saw the walls. She was adamant that she was not going to do it, could not do it and it was too hard. After some convincing to "just give it a try and after a try if you still don't like it then that's ok …" I finally managed to get a harness on her. After about 15 seconds on the first beginner wall she was grinning ear to ear smiles. She was in love with climbing. Dad just smiled knowingly. After scaling up and down the walls madly she was rapt with herself and her new found abilities and demanded to return the next day. So we did and she went even more ballistic up and down the walls and ropes. The staff were amazed at the transformation in her. Dad just smiled knowingly. She's the sort of kid that loves activity but just a bit shy to start with. Amelia has found a new sport.

Ski Week - Part 1

Last week was ski week. It's the time of year when we take a week off and head up to Ohakune for some quality snow time. Usually the first week of September has been the time do this as the weather typically starts to settle while there is still a decent snow pack. However this year we are locked into school holidays so it was a few weeks later.  The winter weather has been so difficult this year. The few weeks before we left has consistent storm cycles passing overhead. More spring snow had fallen on the mountain than I could ever remember, which meant a big fresh spring dump was on the cards. Trouble was the storm cycles were still passing through the week we where there. So there was a lot of frustrated staring at clouds.

For the first few days the Cakebreads joined up. The weather was still terrible but just ok for the girls to learn on the Turoa Alpine Meadow. So we took them up for a few hours and quickly came down again once everybody was wet.

On the Sunday the weather was worse so instead we drove over to the Chateau at Whakapapa. The girls were fascinated with the place and amused themselves staring out the windows and eating scones.

 We drove up the ski field road to let them play in the snow, rain and mist. Lucy wonders what on earth the deal is with this cold wet stuff that she's never seen before.

Monday we had another crack at teaching the girls on he Turoa Alpine Meadow. The weather was worse but we got everyone up there for a play and came down soon after.

On Tuesday there was a gap in the storm cycles. Amelia had had enough of skiing for a while. Taking her up wet weather for desperation's sake had put her off going again. Lesson learned. I took advantage of the gap in the storms to get my first day in for the year.  The High Noon Express was still out of action with a broken cross head on tower 8 so it made for some creative trail finding. To get out west involved a quick climb up to the High Noon cat track. The run out west after a major spring dump was very memorable. I was the first out there to bag 'first tracks' in the bowl.  It was hard to remember better skiing in that bowl ever.   So while the weather has been appalling this year, when it cleared the quality of the skiing was brilliant. Low on quantity, high in quality. The Jumbo opened at  2:30 making for great afternoon over in the Slider and Branchline.

Spring, finally.

At last the sun. The weekend was forecasted for yet another wet storm but pleasantly we were surprised with a pair of sunny days.  Like the rest of Wellington we launched ourselves headlong into all the predictable outdoor jobs that had not had any attention paid to it since early autumn.  The air was thick with the sound of lawn mowers in full roar, eating grass not consumed for months of wet weekends. 

Despite all the activity it was also a nice opportunity to get some photos in. Spring is well established in the trees.

The girls had a good weekend running around the back lawn and generally getting some air in their lungs. It was the first time in months that the lawn had not been a muddy wet quagmire. Amelia enjoyed jumping off her balance boards.

And then started to teach Lucy the tricks.

Father's Day

For father's day I'd had a perfect mental image of taking the girls over to Eastbourne to relax in the spring sun shine and maybe catch a baitfish of the wharf with the kids. While Saturday was ideal weather for such plans regrettably Sunday, Father's day, was not to be. Blustery cold winds. Wellington had inevitably turned on its boring weekend weather yet again.

After a great breakfast we persisted with the plans of the day anyway. While the coffee was hot and good the weather was cold and bad. Here is a shot of Wellington harbour with an onshore wind on the east coast.

Never the less Amelia had a great time on the long slide. Her red coat and big smile made for a pretty contrast to a grey and drab playground.

Lucy had fun on the slides too and cracked a great grin.

Pink Camo

Last weekend we where in Ohakune, trying to find a gap in the weather to get some skiing in.  This snow season has been a shocker for weather. The weather on Saturday morning was just passable to get some time teaching Amelia on the beginners slope. After a few hours,  predictably, the wind soon picked up and the cloud  closed in and we came down early. Not before being hit up for some hot chips and snacks though.

To pass a bit of the afternoon I took Amelia outside to run around on the fields nearby. She took to playing hide and seek behind the trees, overlooking the farm land nearby. Being dressed in day-glow pink is not the ideal camouflage for farm land. However, Amelia found a solution. She was right I couldn't see her. Technically.

Entry Out of the Blue

It's been awhile. Writing a blog entry that is. It has been a very wet, dreary and long winter. The wet weekends have been ever so kindly queueing themselves back to back. That makes it hard to get outside and take decent photo's - hence nothing to really interesting to blog about.

This weekend, despite the weather forecast predictions, it was fine. Finally. We took the kids down to the water front for some air and exercise while we ran after them. 


Amelia has developed her scooting speed to something quite respectable now. So on wide open spaces like the Wellington water front she leaves wide open spaces behind her parents.

Below is a shot of Lucy enjoying some mid winter sun on the back lawn. She confidently navigates her way out of the back door and up the rear garden steps onto the lawn now.  So the back lawn is her oyster, if a little muddy currently.

Amelia was in prize possession of her school class teddy bear this weekend.  This is massive kudos for a five year old. So we spent considerable part of the weekend traveling with this promiscuous teddy bear like some abducted garden gnome on a student prank.

Ted get's some miles it would seem. And he went every where while requiring constant photo's as his weekend needed to be document for a school report. By Monday. Like a boring swank film star.  And just like a swank film star he seemed to have some designs on Amelia's other teddy bear, Pink. There is something sinister in Ted's eye and I'll leave it up to the reader to decide upon poor young Pink's reaction.