Archive: Month: June 2009

I didn’t actually get to hear it before it was recorded.. but below you can listen to the first ever radio advertisement for Snowpool. Quite exciting on the whole :)

http://static.odeo.com/flash/player_audio_embed_v2.swf

Determined to get away, Neil & Ruth & Maaike and I headed to Mt. Lyford for the weekend.

The highlight of the weekend, unfortunately really, was the lodge that Ruth booked for us. It was completely awesome. At $125 a night (split 4 ways) it was excellent value.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV7uL8xwUtg]

We played continuo and cluedo (Mrs. Peacock in the Hall with the revolver) and had a yum roast lamb dinner (with delicious Brussel Sprouts – if you like them – which Maaike and I do, and Neil and Ruth don’t – leaving all the more to us)

The actual snowboarding was awful though. In flat light (clouds) it’s impossible to see what the ground is doing, therefore impossible to know which way is up or down – and where the bumps and hollows are.

Did get a lot of tantrix played and hot chocolate drunk though, so that was good!

Thanks to Neil, Ruth and Maaike for a great trip. Roll on the next one (no clouds this time please)

Neil & Ruth organised a weekend down in Dobson – as the field was giving free passes for their opening day. Maaike unfortunately had to work in the Polytech, so a doubly good reason to go down (jealousy ;)

Ehem.

So left at 6am ish – and headed down with Neil and Ruth. It was a great day’s boarding, though I did take things pretty easy.

Possibly the most exciting though, was being informed by Nick – that Heidi’s boot – if in white (instead of red) was the same one that Luke Skywalker used in The Empire Strikes Back. Wow.. Jedi ski-boots.. no wonder Heidi is so good :) .

Also just watched the video from the last post – the Home Project. I think I will have to buy a copy… it was beautiful and scary / sad in equal measure. Hmmmm

It’s a video by Jann Arthus-Bertrand… the guy who made “The Earth From Above” Stunning stunning photography..

It’s about (not that I have finished watching yet) how we’re badly messing things up.

It’s an hour and a half long, and free to watch (until 14th I believe)

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

Well, apologies for the paucity of blog posts :) Life has been quite interesting this side of world as my work is going through a review – and it’s uncertain what is going to happen to me. That said, if it all does happen to head into unemployementville then I am hoping to try and promote Snowpool by way of scoring free passes, accommodation and food in return for an awesome blog post (on snowpool) showcasing the facilities and how to get there by sharing your vehicle. We’ll see. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Anyways, that aside – had a good tramp on the West Coast this weekend. I am woefully out of shape.. I was really quite tired by the time we reached the hut – and it was only about 900m of climb.

The area once figured large in Gold Mining activity. In fact, mining is still done today (but not on the track!). There were tunnels dug to divert water around and about..

The track ambles steadily upwards from the start to the hut – pretty much. We met two lots of mountainbikers (the track is open for that use).. one of them cheated by getting helicoptered to the top though. Cheats. Dirty cheating lilly-livered no good two faced cheats. ;)

We arrived at the hut after 5 hours of walking, flaked for about half an hour while Maria thrashed me at Speed (Spit).. which hasn’t happened in a while. The water tank outside the hut was frozen – so we couldn’t fill up our bottles. Trusting to luck (and the fact that we could melt snow if needed) we (Maaike, Berit, Maria and I) headed up the nearby Kirwans Hill (1297m – but a pimple on the flesh of NZ, but still higher than Carrauntuhil (1041m) and way higher than Vaalserberg (322m) – The Netherlands’ highest point. But then, who’s counting. I am, and it’s way higher ;)

Ehem.

Lovely views from the top though, and in the morning we could see Mt. Cook away down south.

Then back down to the hut, where it was discovered that pouring hot water on the tap to the tank meant we could get water out again. Phew. Wouldn’t have been that fun only having 1L of water or so for the night. Then cards, and bed, I would say it was exciting to go to bed with Maaike, Maria and Berit, but what with the snoring that comes out of the diminutive creatures….

The next morning we had a quick look around the mine before heading back down through the beech forest. They built a 1.5 km aerial ropeway. Metal rope. One continuous strand. Poor packhorses.

Ore buckets were fixed to the an endless wire rope which passed around return wheels at both the mine and battery. The ropeway worked by gravity – the weight of the full buckets going down one side of the ropeway brought the empty buckets back up the other side. A braking mechanism operated on the return wheels to control the ropeway’s speed. Full buckets emptied their loads automatically into an ore bin above the battery.

So yes, all in all an excellent weekend, though I’m sure my thighs don’t thank me for it. Thanks to Berit, Maria and Maaike for an excellent Queens Birthday Weekend.