Hi there,
What a lovely morning here in Wellington - gorgeous conditions. Clear blue skies with no wind. Perfect. And I took the bus! Oh dear.
Well, in my defense, we only got to bed at about 2130 last night after driving back from Ruapehu so I couldn't be bothered getting bike gear ready on top of the other tasks involved with getting home late after a weekend away.
We had a fantastic weekend with Benjamin up at the snow. We left Friday evening and we were driving out of town by about 1730. Not too bad I guess. We ate yucky McDonalds at Paraparaumu and continued on. I guess we fell into our beds at the lodge by about 2230. It was funny walking up the path from the carpark to the lodge. Wee Toby loved it. He had no purchase on the slippery icy snow and his wee feet were going flat out and he just got hauled up by me or Mike at various stages. He loved it!
Mike's dizziness came right - so much so that he even drove up for the last part of the drive. That was good as he is more experienced than me at driving in snow and ice and the mountain was quite murky and foggy coming up. Mike even found a car park very close to the lodge and everything. He is very good. Every now and then he'll feel lightheaded and everything will spin briefly.
Our bunkroom had sprung a leak - not too bad and not over any beds. I found another one the next day too. Some detective work will be needed by someone to find the source of the leak.
Next morning we ... slept in. Only one lift was working and it was windy and clagged in. We got our gear on at about 10am and wandered out for about 1.5 hours to play in the snow. Toby absolutely loved it. We slid down hills, played in old snow caves, threw snowballs and generally had fun. By this time Toby and I had wet, cold feet as we were only in sneakers. Brrrr. Mike had borrowed Murray's boots (Murray was the trip leader and a very capable chap) so he was fine. We popped into the cafe at the base and squashed into a corner to have a hot chocolate.
We went back to the lodge after that and I read my book on our bed for quite a few hours. How pleasant. Toby spent the afternoon with Lucy (a twin - she is also 6 years old) and her sisters and he is now smitten with Lucy and asked Mike to get her phone number. How funny. Lucy's twin sister is called Lily but she was a bit more shy. Benjamin also had fun as he had a good friend there too - Daniel.
Sunday we got up to glorious weather and we went out skiing. Wee Toby took a few runs to get the hang of it again and by the end of the day he was great. We avoided many beginners cutting across him easily and he was really stable in his snowplough. He was cute too. A snowboarder crashed into him from behind and Toby managed to stay upright as the snowboarder tried to untangle himself. Toby said "Don't worry, you were doing quite well until you crashed into me". How thoughtful.
We went in for a snack at one point and Toby sat with Benjamin for a while. I was keen to go back out but Toby said he'd stay there. So I left and did one run. While I was coming back up on the chairlift Toby was running over to say he wanted to come skiing with me. This is when he made the best progress as we went up and down many times. I had the best time with him!
Eventually we left at about 1530. The drive back to Wellington went well. Mike introduced us all to kebabs at Bulls. They were good too. We dropped Benjamin off at home for him to sort out the next part of his adventurous week.
What a great time! Let's not mention any rugby. Poor Otago. Poor All Blacks. Shhhh.
Love,
Angela
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