Ngaio Snow

Last week in snowed in Wellington, which is a very rare but welcome event.  The snow was only a few cms worth and very, very wet, almost slurry. However it was snow. It came on the Sunday, and snowed on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, each time in the evening.

I've included an few shots of the snow, just for the record. They are not terrific shots but never the less, here they are.

The first is looking from the back lawn, over the house and onto the Ngaio hills behind.

The second is over the lawn while the snow was heaviest, on Monday evening.

 Finally, overlooking the Ngaio hills on Tuesday morning, with the moon setting.

There are more photos of the snow around the house and hills are here.

Long Weekend at Ohakune

Last weekend we took off on Thursday evening for a long weekend at Ohakune with our friends the Cakebreads. Friday was cold and windy but Saturday was calm and clear so we took the girls up for a ski lesson. The lesson was a roaring success for Amelia and Lily and seemed to build quite well on their skills learnt to date.
More details are in a previous post.

However four kids take some entertaining when not on the snow.  Luckly there is a great climbing wall that has a perfect set up for kids in Ohakune. Here is a shot of Amelia getting into a new found sport she is really enthusiastically enjoying.

In a near by paddock to our house there are a herd of cows that are sometimes grazing. The girls, particularly the young ones, are fascinated by them; Lucy loves to practice her "mooing" on them. The livestock are pretty vocal back for a reason known only to themselves.

A major snow storm was forecast for the country on the Sunday. So we got out of Ohakune before we got snowed in. Here is a shot of the rain setting in before the snow hit. 

Cold Day on Turoa

Caught this shot while hanging out in at the High Noon cafe on Turoa last Friday. It was a cold blustery day, but with lots a fresh dry snow on the main trails.

It was a balance between enjoying the snow and tolerating the cold wind chill on the lifts.  As you can see by the shot, there were not many people up to tolerating the conditions, but when the sunlight managed to pierce the gloomy snow storm it produced a interesting ethereal light.  The tables look like they are lit artificially from above.

On Saturday I took the girls up for a lesson. To fill in time before getting in skis, Amelia decided to make a snow angel.

Amelia and Lily improved dramatically during the lesson. Now they can ski and navigate a way through the masses on the Alpine Meadow top to bottom unaided. Almost even better they load onto and unload from the ski lift by themselves.

Here is a shot of the girls enjoying themselves afterwards.

Winter Snow At Last

This weekend the family was packed up to get the first snow break of the season at Ohakune.


On Friday I spent the morning teaching Amelia on the Alpine Meadow beginners slope. Amelia jumped ahead in leaps for her first day of the season. She picked right up from where she left last year and then was confidently snow ploughing her way un-aided from top to bottom. No more clutching hold of Dad's poles. She also managed to clip into her bindings and exit the magic carpet by herself.  


Dad was pretty pleased with progress so the hot chocolate at the end of the morning was well earned. I caught these shots of her on my phone while I was packing up the car to go home.

Amelia was having a great time exploring the snow and view in the car park.

On the Saturday the weather was poor and not worth the trip, so we amused ourselves with a trip to the Waiouru War Museum and general odd jobs around the house.


On Sunday I had the morning to myself. It dawned bluebird clear and calm so I was up the mountain first thing and on the second chair up in the morning.  Good morning on the groomed making the most of a light overnight dusting of a few cm.  Firm and icy underneath.  Clays Leap had caught a fun dusting on the steep westerly face that just caught the morning sun. 


As it softened during the middle of the day I got stuck into a pair of brilliant runs out in the western backcountry in Solitude. The shots say it all really.

Autumn Leaves

Up the back of the lawn a particular tree drops its autumn leaves about this time each year.  The leaves produce great colours so this year I shot some pictures of the girls playing in the coloured leaves.

Of course a rack had to be introduced in the hope some lawn work might get done. Lucy, interested in the rake and leaves, not so interested in racking however.

Colours

Managed to get some work out of Amelia with the rake. The master plan worked.

Until, of course, Lucy found the urge to run through the attractively coloured piles.

More shots of the action are here.

Amelia Turns Six

On the weekend we threw Amelia her sixth birthday party. It was a brave move as she had decided to invite her whole classroom and a few extra's which brought it to 18 kids.

Holding out for fine weather so they could run around the back lawn proved futile. The rain descended on the day making us take up the challenge of entertaining the 18 six year olds indoors.

Lucky there was a great homemade cake.

And also a clown.

The clown was a hit with the kids. He certainly made them laugh and kept them almost in control for the better part of an hour.

Once the clown with his shoes, duck and trusty rabbit departed with the rest of his tricks we where left to our own devices to entertain.  After fulling them up on cake, cheerios and fizzy drink they turned Amelia's bedroom into a impromptu and completely unplanned rave. They pulled the curtains, pumped up the stereo and raided some toys with flashing lights to complete the scene. 18 six years olds in a mosh pit, hammering it out to pre-teen pop. Quite a sight.

Eventually they burned off their energy, just in time for their parents to collect them and marvel at the chaos. Next year I think we shall outsource this business process.

Bedtime Reading

Amelia's reading is improving well, to an extent that she now reads to Lucy. 

While Amelia was reading her book of the day, Lucy snuggled in to take enjoy the bed time story also.