I love today's date. 17/7/17. That's pretty cool. Even better if you had a birthday today. :-)
We had an unusual but fantastic weekend. After Mike called the van trip off around midday, we settled into a weekend of not really knowing what we would do. At 5pm, the roads all opened again, but Mike decided it was too late to re-organise the van trip. Instead, we decided to leave around 8am on Saturday in our own car - just the three of us.
What a great idea that was. We ate brekkie at Paraparaumu Maccas and made fairly good time after that up SH1.
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| Captivated by the snow on the way up |
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| The mountain looms over Waiouru |
From Hunterville we saw a fair bit of snow lying on the high hills as we drove through the farmland. Obvious why they had to shut the road. The snow lay deep on the roadside in many places. By Taihape, there was snow everywhere.
We decided against lunch in Ohakune, but made our way directly to Whakapapa. However, even the storm hadn't made a huge dint in the snow depth there. A lot of bare rock still. And only the beginners slopes were open. With a lot of people on them. I decided against skiing.
We did see a black ute up-ended in the ditch on the way up. We suspect a bit of speed may have contributed to that. It must have been scary for the occupants.
But we went down to get the food from the food depot. And Toby and I went for a walk and a sled. Mike joined us after his chores.
We had a lot of fun playing in the fresh snow. Snowball fights. I laughed and laughed when Toby sledded down a hill and put the brakes on and a fine plume of powder drenched him completely. He needed brakes as there were bare rocks at the bottom of the hill. He looked like a snowman.
The sun started to set, so we wandered back to the lodge and ate a yummy tea. But not befire I took a photo of Mike and Toby - and when I looked at it, it really looks like Toby is taller than Mike now. Pretty sure Mike has conceded the height advantage. A family from Auckland was there with us - the Givenders. Well, two families from Auckland, really. And a German from Karori. And it meant there were three 14 year old boys. How unusual!
Sunday saw Mike doing a bit of chores around the place. He painted and sanded and got more food up. I cooked a chicken curry lunch with Patricia and her and her mother in law taught me how to make roti. Mmmmm. Best lunch!
We finally headed away at 3pm and there was still a lot of snow on the way back to Taihape.
The traffic was awful into town from the expressway. But we got unpacked (mostly) and into bed at a reasonable time. We got home just after 7.30pm.
Smudge was happy to see us. And now the countdown is on for Mt Hutt this weekend for me and Toby. Yay! Can't wait!
Love,
Angela
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| Busy day in the carpark |
We had a lot of fun playing in the fresh snow. Snowball fights. I laughed and laughed when Toby sledded down a hill and put the brakes on and a fine plume of powder drenched him completely. He needed brakes as there were bare rocks at the bottom of the hill. He looked like a snowman.
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| Gilbert selfie |
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| Sunset |
Sunday saw Mike doing a bit of chores around the place. He painted and sanded and got more food up. I cooked a chicken curry lunch with Patricia and her and her mother in law taught me how to make roti. Mmmmm. Best lunch!
We finally headed away at 3pm and there was still a lot of snow on the way back to Taihape.
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| Lots of snow still on the way home |
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| View from the front windscreen |
The traffic was awful into town from the expressway. But we got unpacked (mostly) and into bed at a reasonable time. We got home just after 7.30pm.
Smudge was happy to see us. And now the countdown is on for Mt Hutt this weekend for me and Toby. Yay! Can't wait!
Love,
Angela
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