Finally I feel like I’ve done Matt’s overly generous GoPro justice. Damn it was fun fun and more fun.

Maaike did very well for her first time on powder… and last weekend at Olympus managed to get up on the nutcrackers – some excellent progress there!

Other than that, quite busy at work and looking forward to a proper holiday in a couple of weeks time! Need to get more exciting things happening on a blog. Oh, and Maaike and I bought a car from her boss who left the country – more to come on that later..

Had a great long weekend (my first day of holiday since Christmas! CHRISTMAS! something needs to be done about this). Anyway… had a great time with a huge bunch of friends down in Twizel. Michelle G did an excellent job of organising the (20?+) people. A big pot luck dinner was had on the Saturday, and much merriment was had by all.

Roundhill probably had the best skiing, unfortunately the day that I had my camera there is was cloudy – so you only get nice pics of Dobson (where we went on the way home).

Other than that, had the annual mulled wine & mince pie party. Next year we definitely have to tell people _not_ to bring wine. Or, at the very least, not encourage them to bring any. It’s slightly embarrassing to end up with slightly _more_ wine than you started the evening with. I mean, it’s a good problem to have, but still… it’s a problem.

Anyway.. here’s a quick run at Dobson. I’m unsure how to make videos in a way that doesn’t make you seasick watching them. Maybe I just need to get a lot better at pointing downhill. I thought I was getting better at that, but it seems perhaps not!

So.. this weekend off to Lyford (Maaike was away cross country skiing.. Michelle put a few pictures up on the snowpool photo competition page..

Anyway, while Maaike was off doing that – I got a days skiing in at Lyford. It was _OK_.. nice to be out I guess, but the conditions weren’t the best. Anyway, here’s a video of my first time this year on a nutcracker… definitely an efficient way of getting up the hill (and oh so much more comfortable on ski’s than a board)

Thanks to Can & Dan & Ian for a great trip!

This. Is. Cool.

It was our friend Kate’s birthday this weekend, and off we went to Tekapo for the weekend. Mark had booked out The Mt. John Homestead which was an excellent spot to stay in. There were 15 of us or something, and space enough for all.

On the Saturday it was off to Ohau for the day. Still definitely one of my favourite ski fields in New Zealand, slightly unfortunate that it’s not on the Chill Pass this year.

Still, the view is as great as ever, and the skiing is definitely improving. No, there’s no sound on it – it takes ages putting together a decent video, so I’m afraid I’m being lazy and simply chopping out the bits I want and putting it up!

Also, a pretty picture from Maaike.

A massive feed that evening (pot luck – everyone brings a dish… it was an absolute feast!).. it snowed over night so some high-jinks were had. I blame Dan.

If you listen carefully to that video there is a simply priceless comment from another families child who were staying in a different place.

Finally, some Philippinos invaded our group photo – lots of fun.

All in all an excellent weekend – Happy Birthday Kate :)