Photos are being all grumpy with the Internet and not wanting to sync. Sigh. Let me recount and possibly my phone may decide to interact with the ether.
Or not.
Anyway, I had Thursday off work, and finished my packing in the morning, after watching the "Mike and Toby Morning Show" which I reckon I could sell tickets to, and market it as a comedy/drama. It consists of a lot of repetition and shouting. Kinda slapstick, I guess, if I had to choose a genre.
Mike shouts down the stairs. Often. The refrain is usually "Get up Toby!". And "Sorry Jase". Or "I want to see your head around the door!". This is from Mike, who is invariably not ready himself at this point. Possibly still only clothed in a towel.
Anyway, when I ask if they are aiming for the 7.46am bus, Mike says yes. I point out we haven't seen Toby and Mike is still in a towel and the bus is coming in 4 minutes. To which Mike replies: We're going for a later bus.
Well, wonders never cease. They do make a later bus - and when I suggest Toby will be late for his school on that later bus, Mike says he has science first thing and that teacher thinks the buses are all dysfunctional and Toby only needs to roll his eyes and mention dodgy buses and that teacher is ok with that excuse.
OMG. What are we teaching Toby???
Anyway, I call an Uber (after an issue briefly with my credit card - which was a sign of things to come) and get to the airport nice and early. I check our luggage (one suitcase and a ski bag) and wait for Andrew to arrive. Meanwhile I eat a sandwich at Wishbone.
We get on our flight and we touch down in Queenstown by 1.35pm. Collect our red shiny RAV4 and head to Arrowtown for a late lunch at the bakery there.
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| Car overlooks Andrew, overlooking the Crown Range Road and Queenstown |
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| View from Treble Cone |
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| Ski feet on fresh cord |
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| A selfie that is not quite as hapless as some |
We got a kebab (for me) and a burger (for Andrew) and ate it on the foreshore, watching the darkening lake and mountains and then we went back to get a good sleep ahead of the skiing the next day.
Up at 6.30am, and away by 7.40am. Not too shabby. We ate muesli and orange juice in the unit and that seemed to do the trick. Purchased our lift tickets online (and a lesson for me). Made wraps for lunch (cheese slices) and we were off. We were at the office getting our Treble Cone lift cards by 8.30am. Got a car park 10m from the office. And we were on the lift as it opened around 8.55am. Oosshh!
After a few runs, I went into the ski school and ended up in a lesson with Josh from Suffolk. He was lovely and as it was only me, the lesson was only an hour. According to Andrew, who saw me ski before and after the lesson, it made a big difference. Maybe I just need to ski with Josh all the time? Hahahah.
I had a lot of fun with Josh. Did Main Street. Then Sidewinder. Then he took me to the poma lift, and he taught me to ski backwards! I was so happy to finally do that.
Caught up with Andrew after about 40 mins of skiing on my own after the lesson. Andrew took me all over the place. We found fresh powder all around in various places. Even got a few runs in the saddle. Cloud Nine was fun - and South Ridge was my favourite over that side of the mountain.
We skied until late - the powder had made my legs a bit like rubber so I moved to groomed stuff before Andrew did. As we eventually packed our weary selves into the car and headed down the hill, the lure of the Mitukituki road proved so hard to resist and we turned left at the bottom of the hill and started to explore. We drove up to Raspberry Flat carpark and checked out the views there. Andrew talked to a possum hunter for quite a while. We saw a climber's rental car in the car park. He had been out since the Friday before and ended up in an epic climb and pulled his PLB. He got rescued the following Friday. Wow - he was lucky. Some Australian army chap.
We wondered if the lack of crowds on the skifield was due to poor weather and it being Friday.
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| Andrew captures the day! |
Next morning we were up early at the car park at Treble Cone by 8am. And we waited for the lift to open, jumped on and once again had the field to ourselves for a lot of the day. Ok - maybe we had to queue briefly for a few runs in the Saddle. But only twice. And hardly a queue as we know it at Ruapehu.
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| Fresh cord is all mine! |
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| We see some first tracks behind Andrew |
We did spend more time in the Saddle today than yesterday. The clag lifted and we enjoyed good viz for a lot of the day.
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| Selfie take #17 |
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| Wait. Selfie attempt take #23. Oh, I give up! |
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| Mind you, when Andrew takes my picture, I end up looking like a giant! See the tiny people? |
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| Picturesque |
Saturday saw us eating takeaways (Thai) in the unit before an early bed. Up later on Sunday and we checked out and headed over to Queenstown via the Fresh Choice supermarket to buy lunch provisions. We drove out 12 km south along the Glenorchy Road to the Mt Crichton Loop walk. The walk was an inspired option as we had no time for a ski morning and the olives we bought were perfect with the baguette and cheese.
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| Summers Hut on our Mt Crichton loop walk |
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| Andrew in the tunnel |
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| Andrew checking out the lake from the loop walk |
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| Me and my baguette (in my backpack) at Lake Dispute |
Headed back to the airport, popped the car back, checked in and headed back to Wellington with no bother (on a smaller plane this time).
Awesome long weekend - thank you Andrew. And thanks Sally and Mike for letting us run away and play.
Love,
Angela
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