Tuesday - it came and went. Mind you, I am glad I am not in Ops anymore as Microsoft did have a global outage. Lasted quite a while too. Would have made yesterday hectic. As it was, I barely noticed anything.
Good morning Wellington - Wednesday looking good
Wednesday harbour sunrise
Mojo iced latte with Andrew
Wednesday morning I pinged Andrew to see if we could meet for a spontaneous iced latte date @ Mojos. And it was actually possible. Woot.
Lunch iced latte with Barb and Juliet yesterday
I went out for lunch with Barb and Juliet - we went to Funicular. Hadn't been there for a long while. The two men serving were run off their feet - but they were quite relaxed about it all. When I went up to ask further about my iced latte, the chap said: oh yes, I have that out the back.
Why? Why was it out the back?
I went back to our table and we came up with all sorts of theories as to why the iced latte would be out the back. I think Barb's idea was they were leaving it to get cold naturally.
Hahahah.
Caught the 14 bus home with Mike - there were 5 people with masks on. Two men around 30 years old (if I had to guess - masks make that tricky), two men in their 40s (Mike and another chap) and me. Loads of others just not masked up.
Guess we have no sign of community transmission. But I am happy to keep wearing my mask.
Mike went up Mt Kau Kau with Janine and I chilled at home. Toby got home from his friend's house just after Mike left and had a bit of a headache and went to his room.
Yesterday was fierce in Wellington. Mike and I both worked from home and I almost woke Toby up at 7am only to have Mike remind me it was school holidays.
Home made Monday morning iced latte
I was sitting at my desk looking out the window and watched a huge gust of wind take down a ponga next to our big ponga. Snapped it off and threw the bulk of it into the trees.
Our ponga fell in a huge gust
So sad
I love our ponga so I was a bit sad to see it destroyed. I hope the big one stays where it is for years yet. I can't imagine our view without it in the foreground.
Toby had his mates around for a WWE event but I hardly noticed. They all headed home and I cooked tea for Toby and Tessa while Mike went into town for a leadership session.
Dinner - Mmmmmm
Store bought iced latte on Tuesday morning
Off to bed when Mike got home. Had a good sleep and woke up to find sunshine. Weird. Went to the gym and had a great PT session with Quentin. Dead lifts for the first time since March. Woot.
Wee Moxley is so cute. When I was working from home on Friday, she got into Smudge's crate (the two crates are in the room next to our desk) and was happily grooming herself in there for a few hours.
I am completely smitten with our two cats.
Moxley grooming in Smudge's crate during Friday
Mike pinged me at 5pm just as I was about to order an Uber to say he would take me to the airport. So I drove down to work and he got in, we zipped past Maccas on Manners and collected Andrew. Then the three of us had dinner at the airport.
When it was close to our flights, Mike headed home (via takeaways for Toby) and Andrew and I waited at our gate lounge area. Jose from Habit gym came over (she is ground staff for Air NZ) and we hugged and caught up. I wasn't sure it was her as she had a face mask on. Hahah.
Andrew left 10 minutes before me on a bigger Air NZ flight. I was on a Cessna with Sounds Air. The pilot said it wasn't as windy as earlier but might still be a bit bumpy. Phew! Glad I wasn't flying earlier because it was a lumpy takeoff.
The flight was fine and I was at Blenheim airport by 8pm. Iona was there having just found Andrew and she took us home. :-)
Andrew slept on the pullout bed in the lounge and I was in the back room. Iona was so busy with her weaving work that her flax efforts were scattered through the house. But it did make the house smell lovely. Some spicy, earthy smell. Mmmmm.
Had a great sleep. Andrew was up early and away for his tramp into the Richmond Ranges. I went back to bed for a bit. Sue was around at 7.45am to take us to Nelson for the day to see Otago versus Makos at Trafalgar Park.
We had a lovely drive there - but no music as Sue didn't have a phono aux in plug and my spare one was back in Wellington (I left my handbaglet behind and decanted into a zip lock bag for the weekend). But we chatted away. Discovered the Pelorus cafe on;y opens at 9am - so we continued to Nelson. Sue was hanging out for a coffee by then.
Found Deville's on New St and parked on New St outside. But I found out that you need to pay for the first hour despite it being free. Weird. So I downloaded the app from our table and entered Sue's number plate and paid from there. Awesome!
Iced coffee @ Deville's in Nelson
After a quick wander to the market (okay - we didn't have long enough and Sue loved it - so we have to go back) we drove to the park and found a car park right outside. Free too!
In position for the Farah Palmer Cup
The women's game started at 11.35am and only a few spectators were around so we sat right on the halfway line. Had an awesome view.
Accidental selfie
Sue liked this picture of her - so even though I am issuing instructions, I have to show it
Second half kick off
It was so sunny and I had anticipated rain. So my face, head and forearms copped a lot of sun. Like - a lot. As I type this, I look a little like Rudolph.
For you, Mike
Otago did well - beat the Makos handily. We decided to stay for the curtain swan song game. Makos versus Waikato. Found our allotted seats in the family zone and enjoyed the Makos smashing Waikato. Yay!
Took Sue to see the houses. :-)
Hello house
Back home in Blenheim - this time with music for the trip. I bought all the aux cords necessary as Sue's birthday present from Nelson. Hope the present wasn't too boring. Totally practical - well, maybe practical. Given Sue didn't have one, maybe it was only practical for me. Oh dear.
Windswept beach
Sue headed home and Iona and Col took me to a beach. Which was not far from Rarangi. It was windy - but not too cold.
Then into town for Thai food for tea. Mmmmmm. Back home and a movie night. A star is born. And off to bed.
I read until 1am, which was silly. The clocks went forward for daylight savings so I ended up with less sleep than usual. Plus a storm was swirling outside. I left the window open and at one point my bedroom door slammed. Then the blind clanged around.
I had to get up and sort it all out. Hahah.
Up for Sunday at 9am. Groan. That was hard.
Another day, another iced coffee. This one has maple syrup - Herb and Olive did well
Sunday was Sue's birthday so we tootled out to Olive for brekkie (Iona had work to do for her exhibition so did a shop at Bunnings and worked on her art work). You can see in the pic above that I really did get a bit of sunburn yesterday. I am an idiot.
Had a nice brekkie there. Then got ice cream from the strawberry place. I got a punnet of strawberries. Tried to watch rugby live streamed from my phone to the TV. Was a bit hopeless. And eventually the live stream stopped. But at least they tried.
Andrew got back from his tramp. The road out had a tree across it and he had to find reception and call the council to come saw it up. They did get there fairly quickly and made short work of it. He got back to us around 4pm. We went for a quick walk while he showered. Then he volunteered to drive me to Picton.
Col and Sue compete. Always.
Got on the Bluebridge ferry at 6.30pm and they left early. Maybe 6.50pm. The strait was not bad given the storms. Just a gentle rolling swell. I got luckly.
Home by 11pm. Bit tired. Up for online PT session.
Monday morning looking good in Wellington. But it is supposed to rain with gales later
Looking back at my day yesterday I have nothing to show for it. Guess I really was busy all day. No cats. No iced coffees. Just work.
Mike and I bussed home together, with our face masks on, and caught the 13 home from Lambton Quay. I must remember that bus stop picks up the 13. Further south they miss out on that one. It was relatively empty despite it being rush hour. Winning!
Covid has reared its head with a potential outbreak again. So when I travel this weekend, I will wear masks and use my hand sanitiser liberally.
Home made iced latte Friday morning. I nailed this. Drank it down like a person that really needed it.
Off to Blenheim this weekend. Kinda with Andrew - but not. We are taking different transport across the Strait and coming back different days. Probably see him at the airport when Iona collects us. Hahah. But I am heading to Nelson Saturday with Sue to watch the rugby. With tickets and everything. Level 1 - woot!
I have a ferry crossing back to Wellington Sunday night. But apparently the lowest low is on its way. Southerlies make the Strait a different prospect. I best be prepared to lose my dinner. Hahah.
Mike is off to see a Springsteen tribute bank Saturday night. He will enjoy that. And he has boot camp tomorrow, of course.
Take care. Stay warm and dry (in NZ - in Aus you already have good weather I have noticed).
Mike worked from home because the gale force winds meant his "all weather" Zealandia volunteer day was cancelled due to an exceptional day with a storm so fierce the CEO of our insurance company texted Mike to ask if we were weathering the storm just fine.
Or maybe it was just an automated text to all their insurance customers. Anyway - that was a bit weird. The weather didn't seem any worse than many of the other days we've had so far in September.
Moxley joins Mike while he works
Mike made an amazing dinner - that is scrambled tofu!
I got home after work and Mike was just cooking tea. And it was scrumptious. Wow!
Meet the candidates last night - this guy was very entertaining
After that we sat on the couch and watched our electorate's Meet the Candidates session. We usually go along in person, but given the covid and the CEO of our house insurance company's concern, we decided to watch it live streamed on You Tube.
It worked great. I could make commentary as I went (mostly when the New Conservative chap spoke), which I can't do in person. There is a chap from the "No Party" whose only stand is: don't vote for anyone, even me, because they cannot represent you at all. His 5 minutes was a poem about the other candidates.
It was a good session. Well done to the organisers. Well done to the candidates.
Then off to bed. I did get a huge fright around midnight when the cat knocked the plastic Earth globe off our bed head onto my head. I wondered what on earth was happening. I shouted out my surprise and I think I recall the cat fleeing in terror. It certainly woke Mike up too. My head was sore for a bit. It did bear the brunt of the weight of the world for a split second. So I guess it was entitled to smart a little.
:-p
Huge day at work today. Oossh. Had boxing with Quentin early and my arms are a bit floppy like a T-Rex. And Mike did a PB in bench with Quentin - 60kg. Wow.
Wow - the weather has changed this morning (Wed morning) to be very wet and windy. I also neglected to consider that and left home without a rain jacket. Doh!
Tuesday was much nicer however. After work, Mike took me to Higher Taste in a spontaneous dinner out. Mmmmm. We also went to New World to grab milk - we had run out.
Home to watch the leaders' debate ahead of the election. Mike summed it up: boring, can I turn it off?
Off to bed and a good sleep. Yay!
Early Wed morning iced latte @ The Lab
Up early to catch Andrew at The Lab before work went into overdrive mode. I got my rings back - I had taken them off for tramping and left them in the car. Oops. Hahah.
Mike was supposed to be volunteering at Zealandia today but the galeforce winds and rain meant they cancelled. And they usually run that as an all-weather event. All weather - except this weather! Hahahah.
Sorry the blog was late. Roz - you know I mean you here. Apologies for the disruption to your day.
We have all moved back to level 1 - except for Auckland who remain at level 2 for a bit longer. But the bus driver was stull asking people if they had a mask this morning. I wore mine anyway.
Hahahah - I love you too, Alain. But this didn't work.
PB with Quentin this morning in bench. 40kg like a boss. But he bumped it up to 42 and my boss-like muscles disappeared.
At work and my usual seat had a post it note from Alain (in my team) on it claiming that seat. Hahahah. I moved the chair to another location and sat in my usual spot. It made me laugh. I think today might be his last day here - and that is a shame.
Friday night I went out for drinks to Dockside after work with some work mates. Went to Willis St New World before I Ubered home. So I was a bit late starting my packing for the tramping weekend. After some hassles I had gathered most of my gear and fell into bed.
I was up super early Saturday morning (5.20am) and away by 6.30am. At Sally and Andrew's place just before 7am and swapped my gear to the Corolla and they kindly let me park the Focus in their garage. Left my keys with Sally in case she wanted to drive the fast car. :-)
Then we were off. Stopped at the French bakery for brekkie (Pain au Chocolat for me, some hideous raisin thing for Andrew) and got to Holdsworth car park at 8.30am. Ate our pastries there and then kitted up for the trap monitoring morning.
Tararuas at 8.15am looking like a winter wonderland
The recent snow had left the park looking like a magical place - the tops were covered in a decent amount of snow.
I was paired with Jackie and we did line 2. Up 3/4 of the way to Atiwhakatu Hut then into the bush. The river was up after the recent deluge so we couldn't do half our line. We rock hopped up the true right of the river to keep dry and then headed up, across the track to Atiwhakatu, and on up the bush. Did our 5 tunnels and back to the track.
Jackie and the snow
We were out by 12:05pm. We found Andrew already out after splitting his line up with someone. Eric took us back for a cuppa at his place before we devised a plan to have us lay out the monitoring pads for a few of the lines across the river.
We would get the warden's keys for Atiwhakatu hut and head up there for the night. Get away early and cross the river (which would have dropped level by then) and head up the spur to the top of Pinnacle ridge. From there we would lay out line 4 and line - the other number. Which I forget now.
Andrew and I in the warden's room
After having a lovely cup of tea courtesy of Eric and Deb we swapped out our gear for our overnight gear and left the car park at 1430. We got to Atiwhakatu by 1640 or so and settled into the tiny warden's room. Andrew made a space for us on the table by rearranging the cleaning products. There was a camping chair so I sat on the bottom bunk and Andrew used the chair and lit the candle he brought. After a bit he made dinner (boiled water on his penny stove for the dehy meals). I had chosen Malaysian curry and Andrew had vege stir fry. But after we tasted each others one, I asked him for his. It was good enough that I ate the whole meal. And Andrew also made dehy apple pie. He decanted into the billy for his portion and I ate my way down the remainder in the foil pack. And I discovered all the raisins. Yuck. Andrew got the last bit to eat. It was basically just raisins!
Into bed by 8pm and well asleep by 9pm I reckon. I was woken up by someone growling at a group of young people playing a game in the common area around 9.30pm. Ironic that the happy conversation from the group was fine but the single irate person woke me up!
Selfie time
Awake at 6am and after stuffing down muesli (okay - not the best for brekkie for me) we were away by 7am.
Immediately crossed the river but probably too far downstream. Had to wander through a low, slushy part before we got up onto a spur and eventually found a decent path up.
It took me 1.5 hours to climb up that spur. Phew! That tuckered me out a fair bit - bush bashing with a day pack and trekking sneakers is a different prospect to the overnight tramping backpack and proper boots. And the boots were quite wet after the river crossing - so heavy too. :-)
View point up to Jumbo
The Pinnacle ridge track was stunning. Goblin forest and not a breath of wind. Absolutely beautiful. The two monitoring lines were hard work. Tree fall and what not. The top line saw me constantly catching up with Andrew as he finished setting out the pads. Not sure why I was there really. :-p
At one point I walked downhill onto a stabby branch and jabbed a decent gouge out of my arm. That made me grunt a bit more than my usual clumping through the undergrowth grunt, so Andrew called out I should just wait there.
So I sat down and watched the blood dribble down my arm. Then I realised I should help clotting by holding it up, whereby I watched the blood up my arm. Made it look quite impressive by the time Andrew got back from the tunnels.
My stabby wound
He patched it up with a decent plaster that managed to stay on until we were almost done and it kept out the dirt I would have otherwise accumulated there.
Top of the spur on Pinnacle ridge
The next line was further down the Pinnacle ridge track and I had switched to my sneakers by then. But the gully partway through the line was hard work. Wet, soggy and I lot of scrambling. So I was basically done in by then. Trying to climb up banks of dirt with my fingers digging in to find any sort of handhold. I did slide down the bank a bit at one point, stopped by a handy ponga.
Andrew helped me back up to the "trail".
We finally popped back onto the track and headed down to the river. Eric waited with Chloe and Kona on the other side and I put my tramping boots back on for the crossing. It was easy by then though.
Back for a cuppa and to switch out for clean clothes. Then away by 2.30pm and into Everest cafe in Featherston for a quick late lunch.
Switched back to the Focus at 5pm at Sally and Andrew's place and home for a bath. Ahhhh. Emptied my gear and into bed very early.
Mike got home after 9pm but I was well asleep and didn't catch up with him until Monday morning. Busy week at work.
It's been a terrible year for Ruapehu, what with everything between no
international ski staff, fewer lifts running, lockdowns and distancing, car
parking woes, and dismal snowfalls. I thought that this would be the first
winter since I was 12 years old that I got zero snow days in. But lucky for
me, there was a work snow weekend that I said yes to. I'm so glad I did.
Friday night saw us off promptly at 4pm and straight into a particularly bad
Pukerau Bay traffic crawl. But strangely once we were past that we sped along
with no holdups whatsoever and made Taihape for dinner, 3/4 of the way there -
that's a first for me. We ate at Le Cafe Telephonique which was very pleasantly surprising (The
Brown Sugar Cafe
sets the Taihape bar pretty high). $20 for a very good chicken burger with
heaps of tender yummy chicken meat crammed into it. We all got interesting
sauces and condiments with our chips too, not just the standard ketchup or
aoli. Will return! Hopefully the new roads coming on stream let us make
Taihape every friday night.
Le Cafe Telephonique
Soon enough we were through Ohakune and into Ratehi. For the last drive I
could see the unique headlights of a WRX behind me and sure enough Ben and I
were driving in convoy.
The house was very strange with an odd layout, weird extra cavities built in,
and an incredibly eclectic set of artwork on every wall. Including a
spooky clown, watching every move in one of the bedrooms.
I was a late ring-in and the 'sleepout' was nowhere to be seen blundering
around in the dark. But I didn't try very hard because truth be told, I like
my sleeping bag and there was a perfectly good piece of carpet in the corner
of the oddly shaped dining room that I made my own. I think my workmates
thought this was quite weird, but just like the porch of a tramping hut, I
slept better there than I do at home.
Saturday dawned to clag, drizzle and low expectations. For the first time in
about five years I actually tried fitting my snow chains, just in case. The
instructions are all in Japanese but there is this handy and hilarious
video tutorial
on youtube. It was easier than it looks - and the three pictures amongst all
the japanese text are actually enough to get them on and off. They're way
easier than regular chains.
But our quick 30min drive to Whakapapa was uneventful and easy. Car park
system worked seamlessly with zero delay and no need for chains. It was gently
snowing when we arrived and we piled out of the car and on to our various
tasks - renting gear, getting lessons, down to Happy Valley or up the gondola.
I'd chosen skis for this weekend; I figured snow would be sparse,
terrain would be limited so I'd be riding T-bars, hopping over rocks, walking
around and over obstacles and negotiating traffic on lower cat tracks. It
wasn't nearly that bad but I think between the T bars, the interminable
traversing and the sparseness of lower mountain off-cat-track trails, I'd made
the right call.
Valley T was open so that's where we headed initially. Initially iwith Carlos
and Ben, later Liam came down. He really hated T-bars on his board! I rode
with him a bit, apart from one '80% success' ride we both did pretty well.
Carlos looking at the not-bad-at-all conditions
Near the end of the day I heard someone call 'Mike!' and there were none other
than Anita and Tim from our Nepal trip. It was great catching up with them and
fun skiing with them too. We did a few runs together from top of Knoll Ridge
T, all the way to the bottom. This seemed to be the run of the mountain with
the conditions as they were.
Anita and Tim
The day was really good, coming from low expectations. There's been just
enough snow to freshen up the whole mountain, and just as it was getting
slushy and wet around 2pm, we got a short snow shower blow through that nicely
crisped everything up. Having said that, I didn't find a single black run that
was open and/or easy to get to. I could have hiked further out west and picked
up some runs out there, and true the Pinnacles with their ice and frozen-in
ruts were accessible from Valley T, but conditions didn't inspire me to
try.
The mountain wasn't too crowded so even wading down Rockgarden and Tennants
Valley wasn't too bad. Though I picked up collateral damage; a bent pole where
I planted straight through the skiff of snow and jammed it between two rocks
(I was wondering what was going to give but eventually the pole did after it
bent itself into the right shape to release!).
Yeah, that was a good day
After a really, really good day it was back to Raetihi to freshen up. We were
hoping for a local dinner burt pickings were slim. The
Raetihi Cossie Club
could have been the go but that was about it, all the other cafes were closing
up or already closed. We decided to keep going back to Ohakune.
Demand was reduced but so was supply; it was not straightforward to find
somewhere open and with space. Eventually we ended up at
The Mountain Rocks
bar, a trusty favourite on the main street. Covid complications meant that the
owner had to do a lot of rearranging to get us seated and still socially
distanced but he did a great job at sorting it. After a few minutes propped at
some bar tables a dining table came free and we were ordering and eating.
Lots of meat. Not bad.
This bar does the tried and true thing of furnishing the walls with art for
sale. It was eclectic and mostly a bit kitsch I thought. Including a painting
of a cow. We talked about that cow a lot. And drank beers. And talked about
the cow. By the end of the night we had all decided that she was beautiful,
and when Michal pointed out that we only needed $15 each to buy her - the deal
was done.
We left with a cow painting. And a 'prenup' for it. (It will live at work, and
the last person still working there gets to keep it when they leave).
Sunday dawned with me, and everyone else, stiff and sore and tired. Some
of us were hitting the slopes again, others checking out the sights and making
a leisurely trip home. We cleaned up and packed up and headed off.
It was a slower start to the day and I shed all the layers I could! Yesterday
I'd been far too hot, the trouble is that my ski jacket is also my handbag
with all my essentials in all its pockets.
Not as good a day today. The light was flat to whited out, and the snow was
initially icy and seemed to go straight to slushy without that nice spring
corn conditions in the middle. I rode Knoll Ridge to bottom 2-3 times.
On one run I came across a knot of people in an inconvenient spot on a fast
bit of the cat track... and discovered that they were treating an unconscious
snowboarder! He was found unconscious and by himself, he must have caught an
edge on the fastest bit where you need to hold speed to get up the uphill just
past it. By this time he was awake and an ED nurse was sorting him out. So no
chance to practice my first aid skills (thank goodness). I headed off and
found a snow patroller to get help send down to him.
By 2:30pm I called it. I was back to Valley T in whiteout, ice and slush
and it just wasn't fun anymore. On my way down for the last time I
managed to pre-release hitting the mogully sloppy mashed spud snow on Tennants
Valley. Not surprising, they're very old skis so I've got the DINs set quite
loose since who knows how the springs are now. Still, an embarrassing
place to fall over because you suddenly discover you're on a monoski.
That was our weekend! It was a tough drive home I found, my windscreen was
filthy and my ineffectual washer spray and old wipers couldn't clean it so lots
of glare to contend with when it got dark. First job the next day was to scrub
down the windscreen inside and out and try to fix the washer jets.
Well, that was a great weekend. With the tribulations of 2020 that was my only
two snow days for the whole season - and my low expectations were vastly
exceeded. Another bonus was, between the days I did and the buddy pass
discounts I gave away, I paid off my seasons pass in that weekend alone which
made me pretty happy and convinced me to buy a 2021 pass after all. Roll on
2021 with no pandemic, some foreign staff to run the place, more snow and a
nice Ohakune lodge to stay in.
Did I forget to blog yesterday? OMG. That's a sign of how crazy things are. Hey - how come no one called me to check I was okay?
:-p
Anyway, Toby had a migraine (and still has the after effects today too). So he stayed home in bed and I worked from home. Mike had stuff on so he went to work.
Thursday home made iced latte
Windy last night
Lying in the sun.
She's a perfect ball of cat
Moxley climbing through the pantry, hunting down her Fancy Feast
Yeah, Tenzing! You stay there!
So on guard
Not a lot else really. Got a sore behind from doing 60 sit ups with Quentin (I was online at home). Watched the cats lounge around the house while I worked. Smudge took my chair while I was at lunch. She looked so cute curled up in a wee ball that I just took Mike's chair.
Cooked tea for Toby after work. And waited for Mike to get home. Once he got home, he packed further for his adventures this weekend. He didn't go tramping Thurs night as it was howling a gale and raining. He did cover someone's back quarterlight window with plastic - which was good - as the rain and wind would have ruined the back seat.
Slept well despite the crazy weather. Up early to head into work. Mike is away skiing with work to Whakapapa and I am trap line monitoring and tramping with Andrew.
