All in a Days Work

Finally, Chantal had a chance to get onto the slopes!As the weather forecast was good, both of us had warned our respective managers that we might not be in on Tuesday. A day up in mountains seemed a much better place to spend the day rather than being cooped up in an office, all dayAs usual, we woke up early and rang the snowline for the latest update (6am that morning) and were both very pleased to hear that Mt Hutt was open. After breakfast, we set off from Christchurch. We stopped briefly at Gnomes Ski Shop, in Darfield (a small country town), for some much needed equipment (goggles for Chantal and wrist guards for Pete). We then continued our journey, past Kirwee, where the pub still serves “a pie and pint” for $6! Must stop off there, one day! Anyway, we drove to and up the winding, unsealed mountain road without a problem. We followed others, and stopped at the ‘Canterbury View’ pullover, 5km up the access road. There, after some fiddling and use of Saxon language, Pete managed to put the snow chains on. These were needed, as there was still a bit of ice on the road. Approximately two hours after leaving our house, we finally arrived at Mt Hutt!

We both got kitted up quickly and hit the slopes. Well, the learner slope first! I had not been skiing for a year, so needed to get used to it again. Mt Hutt now has a Magic Carpet, which is great as you do not get sore arms anymore from hanging on to tow rope! As we were not in NZ last year, we had not seen the new set-up at Mt Hutt and were very surprised and impressed with the new green and blue runs that have been created. We both had a few good runs, before stopping for lunch. It was lovely, to relax and sit on top of a snowy mountain, in the sunshine! My rolls tasted absolutely wonderful!

After lunch, Pete ventured to the very top of the mountain on the new Magic 6 Chairlift, and admired the beautiful scenery, before boarding down.

Chantal joined a ski class for the afternoon. As there were only two in the class, the lesson was cut to 1 hour (instead of 2 hours), as it was almost one to one tuition. It was good to have that lesson, just to get the basics right again. I am pleased to say that I survived the whole day without falling over once! Probably does have something to do with the lack of speed!

Around 3.30pm we both called it a day, and started our journey back to Christchurch. Both felt really fulfilled and did not really want to go back tho work the following day. We are now busy planning a weekend away at a club field (Mt Cheeseman or Mt Olympus) so that we can stay overnight and have a few runs before breakfast! Like my ski instructor said: A great day in his office, today!

Blogging Problems!

Sorry for the lack of new articles but, believe it or not, we are still trying to update this blog, at least once a week. The novelty of maintaining it has not worn off …yet! However, we are experiencing a problem posting some of our photos. This is made more difficult by the fact that currently we do not have a computer so have to use an internet café. Anyway, keep looking and hopefully there will be something new to look at soon! One more thing: don’t forget to leave comments by clicking on the comment icon at the bottom of each article. We are happy to receive any interesting, funny or smart comments.

Adieu to the Chappells

This morning we waved goodbye to the Chappells. They are back in Kangaroo country now. We hope they had a nice time in New Zealand, although their skiing experience was not as good as they had hoped for.Not only did the Chappells arrive at some anti-social hour, but their leaving time was not much better either! The flight departed at 6am, which required getting up at 3.30am, to ensure being at the airport 90 minutes before take off.

"What's going on?"

Luckily the author of this piece did not fit into the car (not enough seatbelts) and could stay in bed! Pete drove the Chappells to the airport, returned to St Albans, jumped back into bed and had a few more hours kip before arising or another day at the office.

P & C Tours Present...

By now, some of you may be forming an idea of where you may be taken if you ever come to visit us. Yes, on a fine sunny day, P & C Taxis will take you up to the 'Sign of the Kiwi' in the Port Hills, where you can slurp on an ice cream whilst enjoying the vistas of Christchurch and the distant Southern Alps. Yes, you will be taken out to sample and enjoy (YOU WILL ENJOY. I REPEAT. YOU WILL ENJOY) beers at 'The Twisted Hop' and 'Dux de Lux' microbreweries. And, yes, if you really must, you will visit the cathedral before going punting on the Avon. But where else could you expect to be taken?

Well, one such place that the Chappells (Chris, Tina, Jessica & Alex) were told was a 'must see' was the Antarctic Centre. So last Monday morning, after the postponement of a day's skiing, at Mt Hutt due to poor weather, we duly went along. Now, I have always been sceptical of this place, as I thought it was just a draughty, overpriced hangar containing stuffed penguins; fake snow and old, rusty crampons. Yes! There were stuffed penguins and rusty pieces of metal on display, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by the exhibits and, more importantly, the Chappells seemed to enjoy it too. However, I do have to question my intellect when I consider the best bit to be the simulated Antarctic storm (otherwise known as standing in a fridge and having cold air blown towards your face). Apparently, the wind chill took the temperature down to -25 degrees so it was just as well we were provided with warm coats. I don't think my 'Element' hoody would have been sufficiently warm! Anyway, we all (kids and kidults) enjoyed the fridge as it had real snow, a snow hole shelter and an ice slide amongst other things. Talking of real snow (nice link there, Pete), the next day we managed, after some quick thinking and alteration of plans to go skiing at Porter Heights. Originally, Plan A was to go to Mt Hutt, as it has more facilities for intermediates and has buses running there. Plan A consisted of me driving the Chappells up Mt Hutt with Chantal taking the bus and joining us there. However, an early morning call on the Snow Phone revealed that, due to high winds, Mt Hutt was closed again but that Porter Heights was open, although conditions were windy. Plan B was quickly formulated. This enabled the Chappells to sneak in a quick morning visit to the kiwi house in the Square, before another Snow Phone check suggested improving conditions at Porter Heights. Unfortunately, Chantal was unable to come, as there was a lack of room in the car so had to make do with working instead! (Not a bad thing as it means the money she earned can pay for me to go snowboarding again next week). Anyway, we eventually made it on to the slopes and all experienced varying amounts of success. I was very impressed with Alex, considering he has only had two lessons, but Chris was not so satisfied with his backwards progress. Though, I must admit skiing with ‘clowns’ skis (the last pair left in the rental shop) must have made things difficult. I certainly enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did, particularly considering it was packed due to the school holidays and Mt Hutt being closed.

After seeing flyers depicting smiley people immersed in pools with snowy mountains in the backdrop, and after consulting the 'bible' for the definitive opinion, a place the Chappells wanted to tick off was Hanmer Springs. So last Wednesday, they were duly packed off in the 'honky mobile' to spend their last day wallowing in the thermal pools. Basically, Hanmer Springs is a commercial complex of geothermally heated outdoor pools and private indoor ones... Obviously, the indoor ones are ideal for families! I'm not quite sure what the attraction of slowly cooking oneself in whiffy pools, of ever increasing temperatures is but it certainly attracts the crowds.

On the final evening we were treated to a lovely meal (and an interesting beer flavoured with a hint of blueberries) at the 'Dux de Lux'. Not sure if Chris fully appreciated his veggie curry but future visitors will be taken there for sure! After the meal, we went home and had a little night-cap before retiring relatively early for the night. Well, somebody had booked the flights for 6am, and required the services of a driver, so a late night was out of the question! We both really enjoyed having Chris, Tina, Jessica & Alex to stay and to take around and I'm sure they enjoyed themselves too. We look forward to receiving and entertaining more visitors, soon, but please consider your chauffeur when booking flight times!

A Slippery Surface

At this side of the world we are in ‘winter time’. Some of you might know that we recently had some heavy snow fall. Bad for some people (certain areas were without power for 3 weeks) but good for others, the ski slopes have had lots of snow so the snowboarding/skiing is great. As we have been experiencing some cold, freezing weather, too, some lakes have frozen over. This is great news to a cloggy, as this means one is able to go skating on natural ice! I did not ship my‘Noren’ (speed skates) to New Zealand for nothing! Last Sunday, we made the trip back to Lake Ida (we went skating in 2004, too). Driving through the Canterbury Plains, with the snow covered Southern Alps in front of us, made us think what a hardship it is living in Christchurch! I digress, so I shall continue. It takes just under 2 hours to reach Lake Ida, but the drive is well worth it. Seeing the beautiful frozen lake, with lots of people enjoying themselves makes you realise how lucky we are. Skating is something you never forget the basics of, so I was fine as soon as I stepped onto the ice. Pete however, has not been skating as much when he was younger so it took a little bit longer for him to gain confidence. Luckily, the owners of Ryton Station, the 37 000 acre farm, which includes Lake Ida, take good care of you. They provider Zimmer-like frames, where you can hold onto, or sit on and then get pushed around! There is a lodge, where you can warm up around the fire and have a hot drink. (Like the good old Koek 'n Zopie).

All in all it was a very enjoyable day and may the cold weather continue so we can go skating a few more times!

Pete did get the hang of it again, eventually!

The Chappells arrive in cold and wintry NZ

More visitors; this time from across the Tasman. The Chappells arrived at some ungodly hour (11.55pm on Sunday night). Normally, staying up for such an event is not much of a problem, but this time it was. Spending Saturday night in a pub watching the demise of England's World Cup dreams and hopes, coming home at 6am, sleeping for a few hours, playing hockey, doing the shopping (we had to feed the Chappells after all) and cleaning the house (visitors get special treatment!) prooved a bit too much for Chantal. Luckily, Driver Pete was capable of keeping his eyes open. Just as well, as he had to collect the Chappells from the airport.

When they arrived at `our home' in St Albans, Jessica and Alex went straight to bed. We stayed up a bit longer, had a cup of tea (those bloody English, all they want is cups of tea!), a piece of toast with real Marmite and a bit of a natter. Pete and I finally retired at 1.30am. Still very tired, we arose at 6am the following morning so that Pete could start work a bit earlier. He left work around midday so that he could give the Chappells a (dis)orientation tour of Christchurch and the Port Hills. The tour on offer was the tried and tested route up to the Sign of the Kiwi and along the Summit Road.

The ice-creams and views were still nice, and I have been told that decent lunches are served there, too! The trip today even included a free ride on the Gondola! Apparently,the trick is to board at the top and not disembark at the bottom thus returning to the top before casually stepping out.
Tuesday morning required an early wake-up call for our visitors. Today was the start of their road trip. The weather forecast was not that promising, as snow was falling in great quantities in parts of the South Island. Not quite sure why the Chappells complained about that: the whole reason for coming to NZ in winter was to see snow and ski! Anyway, Pete & I dropped them off at the car rental place where we found out one of the roads to Queenstown was closed due to snow. Backup plans were made and a quick lesson on how to attach snow chains was given. Once at work, we kept checking the AA Roadwatch to see the latest road news before being informed by a quick e-mail around midday that the Chappell's were stranded in Timaru. Felt sorry for them, Timaru is not really a tourist stop. Anyway, as it turned out the roads were cleared and they managed to leave unhurt before continuing their trip down to Queenstown.

Not quite sure why a picture of the Big Fruit has to be published on their Bog. Other than the Big Fruit, Cromwell is a lovely place. They seem to be enjoying their holiday. Hopefully, we can go skiing together next week when they return to Christchurch.