The weekend skiing at Turoa

Hi,

What a great weekend - so busy.  Mike left Friday to drive up to the mountain.  I caught an Uber from my work to his at 4pm, and he finished packing and collected his punters.  There was a crash on SH1 at Paekakariki so there was no rush.  In the end, he went to Ruapehu via SH2 and Masterton.  Wow!

Meanwhile, I caught up with Christine and not-so-wee Tom for burgers at our house.  It was so good to chat to her again - she is very well and hitting some pretty awesome goals.

She headed away and I went grocery shopping with Toby before heading to bed.  Up at 3.30am to shower and get ready for our day trip to Turoa.

Automat with Sally

Jo picked up Momo and then me.  She would have been at my place around 4.30am I guess.  From there, we collected Andrew and headed  over Haywards back to SH1.  An episode with some tea that spilled out of Jo's cup was unfortunate.

Mike and Jo

Anyway, Mike was up at Turoa ahead of us.  He drove there from Whakapapa.  And our trip up was slow - we did buy some stuff from the outdoor shop in Taihape and that delayed us a wee bit.

But I was skiing by 10am.  Andrew - not so much.  He had to queue to get a lift ticket and then his gear.  Mike got him a cheap ticket though - and then we found Mike and I enjoyed skiing with him.

Jo and Momo

Once we all got together, it was the last time we saw Andrew.  I think he skied High Noon the entire time.  The snow was good and the weather superb.  The team tried to get me to ski into a gully with sheet ice on my side and it took a while for me to go and try that as they shouted at me from the other side.  Helpful things like "You can do it".  And when the person in front of me fell and slid into the gully, shouts came "Not like that!".  Advice to sidle to my left was ignored as it was sheet ice that way too.  After the fallen comrades cleared from the bottom of the gully, I actually went down.  And although I lacked the grace of my companions, I didn't fall.  Phew.  They had mostly given up waiting by then though.  Story of my day - playing catch up.

But - I was using my new skis for the first time.  And possibly I needed to tighten my boots a bit more.  But the skis were awesome!  They just want to go fast.  I loved them.

And the mountain as we come onto the plateau

Ok - daylight now for the drive up

Dawn on the drive up Saturday

An offline guide to how to use Google.  What?  Can't you Google that?

I think I've died and gone to Lewis Road Creamery iced coffee heaven

City Gallery - kiwiana

Sally (from work) took me to see the City gallery exhibition on Friday at lunchtime.  An excellent use of my lunch break.

With Celia at Machete

With Reimer at Verve

The skiing was so good.  I followed Mike, Momo and Jo most of the day.  We didn't stop for lunch and I think we got pretty good value for our ten hour driving effort for the day.  Enjoyed Nga Wai Heke a lot - the black run wasn't too icy and my skis are so good at gripping.

Mike actually said I was skiing better than I normally do.  Said he recalls watching me ski a gully and being aggressive enough to make it all work.  Hopefully my first day rustiness goes away for the rest of the season.  And I tighten those boots a tad more.

Andrew had sussed out there was an option to stay with Mike at Whakapapa - Mike had a spare seat back in his car and space at Grads.  A blanket and Mike's sleeping bag inner ensured Andrew was good to go.

I lost everyone on the last run and headed back down to base on my own.  Found everyone there and I caught a lift down the hill with Mike in our car and met everyone else at the Powder Keg.  They had my shoes, so I had to wear Mike's huge shoes to the pub from our car.  That was funny.  Fortunately they had the foresight to bring my sneakers to the pub from the car.  After a few drinks we headed home.  Andrew with Mike to Whakapapa and a roast pork meal at Grads.  And me in the back seat and Momo driving.

I drove from Levin (or was it Foxton - wherever that cheap petrol station is that Jo knows about) and enjoyed Jo's slightly old, but very capable Mazda station wagon.  Back home by 9.30pm and had the best sleep in ages.

Up at 7.30am and got ready to meet Sally for brunch at Automat.  Enjoyed their food and Sally came over to meet Moxley (and cuddle with Smudge).

Dropped Jase at work at 3pm and took Toby over to see Aunty Sally and enjoy a Zany Zeus thickshake.  Checked out Sally's new sideboard (very nice) and the filing she had done while Andrew was gallivanting around Ruapehu.

Back home and cooked tea (butter chicken) and timed it perfectly for Mike's arrival back.  Yum!  I cooked mine with paneer from Zany Zeus.  It was so good.

And now I am at work.  The bus timetables and routes all changed yesterday so this morning was the first time in the new regime.  Our driver was happy until he took a wrong turn and we ended up in Kelburn.  He  negotiated some tight roads and got us back on track - just made us a wee bit late.  We applauded when he got us back to the right road.

Spin after work.  And lots more this week to make up for 2 weeks of not very much.  Hope you have a good week ahead.  Toby is off for another week with school hols.

Love,
Angela