So off for a fun, short, easy tramp to Lake Daniels… followed by a lazy in maruia hot springs. Good times. There were some oldies in the hut – Ian, Bruce and Bill. Ian was an excellent chef! cooked scones ‘n everything.
And taught us how to play Euka – a younger brother of 500, and a distant not so smart cousin of bridge! (I need to find a foursome ;)
On the way back to ChCh the sky was blue, the birds were singing, the motor was purring silently. And then stopped. Oh yes, I knew something was up when pressing the accelerator produced no increase in forward momentum.
It was time to pull over. Oh, and curse, did some of that too. AA Roadside assistance put me on hold for 3 mins (while my battery and credit diminished rapidly) and then wouldn’t let me sign up on the spot. Damn them to hell! Hehe. So, tried to hitch – with remarkable success (this is NZ after all). A nice man came and checked out the car for us. We tried to jump it but no joy. The battery is fine, but it’s just not causing a spark.. no idea why. It might be a quick fix though. Fingers crossed.
So then it was back to hitching again. Got a lift with a nice 70+ year old to Amberly, and then picked up by an English snowboarder (Dave) who dropped us all the way back home. Most kind.
Yeah, so that was really kind of him. Amazing though, didn’t have to wait more than 10 mins for a ride… love this place!
And then! Joy of Joys Graham and Myra arrived… really great to have them in the country. They are off to check out Wellington as a place to live.. It’s a cool city, but it’ll never match ChCh for the outdoors.
My body has been frustrating me lately! The back is still too sore to run / play squash with. I have been given intensive gluteus maximus (bottom) Strengthening exercises.. but it is still taking time.
So went climbing on Tuesday, and pulled a tendon on my right ring finger! gah. Of course it’s a good thing really.. it isn’t torn (thankfully) so will take a few weeks to get back up to strength.. but I will now be religious in my stretching exercises before and after climbing. Lucky in a way it wasn’t worse.
So that was the bad part to the week.. the good stuff – well that was heading up snowboarding at Mt. Cheeseman. Quite a small club field – but good times. Headed up in the oldest looking Bedford Van. Was a bit of a relief to get to the top!
Good times boarding. No nut-crackers this time – it’s all t-bars at Cheeseman. I wrapped a towel around my thigh for a bit of cushioning! (I’m so weak ;) but that’s ok!)
So a lovely day up there with Aroha, Tim, Michelle, Mark, Stefan, Kate, and Bevan. Most of them were telemarking (an even more purist? tricky? form of skiing).. but I’m sticking to the snowboarding for this season. Though, if I am still here next year I hope to get into skiing – so that I can get into some backcountry touring.
Then back with a short stop by this frozen lake on the way home. Yup, a good way to end a bad week.
Last week had a really delicious dinner over at Andreas place in Lyttelton. Really lovely house with views down over the harbour and out to the mountains.
Winn (who gave me the I’m Irish and I’m Damn Sexy t-shirt) was over with her husband Grant and their little one (Jasmine).
Course it makes me miss my nieces + nephews a little bit.. Still, I’m slowly working on getting all my family to move over here. Ok, logically I admit it’s never going to happen. But I live in hope. In fact two college friends arrive in the next few weeks – Graham and Myra.. and they’re here for a year (but I have plans for them too!) Muuuooahahhaa.
Sunday far less people were about and all the rope tows were working. I lost track of how many runs I got in.. but I was completely knackered by the end of the day and hardly able to stand up let alone make a turn. That’s the beauty of the club fields and rope tows (when they’re working) You can just ski all day without break (if you want to). There were probably 200 people on the field – quite a lot more enjoyable than the 3000+ at Mt. Hutt.
Anyway.. there had been quite lot of wind over night, and some of the slopes had become loaded with snow (which meant they were avalanche prone). I lent my camera to Richard – and most of these next shots were taken by him.
Above is Penny fixing up a bomb. The avalanche path map, and a closeup of the bomb. Basically there’s a fuse, a detonator (the most dangerous bit) and the explosive.. they wander up (purposefully!) find the spot to place it, and then let it off. You don’t actually need to be too far away (apparently)
The next two shots are a before and after sequence (though this one did not set off an avalanche).
Anyway, boarded until 4pm, read some more of my book (Life and Limb) and back to ChCh for fish and chips… tired but happy.
Recent Comments