We had a superb weekend away to St Arnaud and the Rainbow skifield. This was my first time skiing at Rainbow - and if one day it is the closest field to me (when I live in Nelson) I will not be unhappy. It is fine for a day skiing with good snow cover.
[Mike is here as editor and he'll be adding his adventures in the third person, not that he is awkward about talking about Mike like that. He will also be translating the Football talk.]
Punters for the weekend were: me, Mike, Andrew, Jenny, Jacqui and Ken.
Right. How did we kick off this wonderful weekend? Mike worked Friday morning and Jenny came to our place to get a lift to the ferry with us. Bluebridge sailing at 1.30pm. We had to get there early as there was a QF [Womens' football world cup quarter final game] on at the stadium and people everywhere and road closures around the train station.
Andrew caught the train from home with his gear - alongside all the crowd for the football. The train was heaving at 11am on a Friday coming in from the Hutt. The Bluebridge were their usual efficient, pleasant selves and we boarded quickly. Jacqui and Ken in Jacqui's car not far behind us in the queue.
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Leaving Wellington harbour on Friday
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| Cars and cows |
Mike had booked a cabin - twin beds. So Andrew and I got into that fairly quickly. And I lost reception as we had no outside view. I was keen to watch the QF [Womens' world cup quarter final, being played in Wellington] - Spain v Netherlands - so I wandered out to the deck to get the last bit of cellular coverage as we went through the heads.
Spain prevailed. [2-1 and Angela cheers for anyone but Spain because she believes they threw the pool game against Japan to get an easier path through the knockout rounds]
Arrived in Picton and the two cars headed to St Arnaud. Our car went via Blenheim to call in on Iona and Col and Helen was there too. We had a cup of tea and then left to do a somewhat over-catered shopping at Countdown and continue on.
We got to the pub in St Arnaud and the others had secured a table. Lovely customer service at the Alpine Lodge. Same as always. You feel so welcome there, whether you are smartly dressed or you've just dragged yourself in from the tramping tracks and haven't washed for four days.
I ordered putine and baba ghanosh. Mike couldn't go past the rib-eye steak with a cauliflour side. It was all delicious. Mike's cauliflour arrived as a starter, and there was a mountain of cauliflour with a delicious cheese sauce. He heroically got through it all. The steak was perfect. But he had no room for any dessert. Neither did I. Neither did anyone else.
Left there and headed to our house for the weekend. It was a crib on Korere-Tophouse Road - out of St Arnaud a wee bit. Closer to the Rainbow turn off. And it was such a nice place. Ken had started the fire earlier in the day, so the house was starting to warm up. Andrew had the double bedroom to the left of the downstairs bathroom, and Mike had I had the double bedroom past the laundry area. Our room was cold that first night - but I was perfectly warm when I snuggled into my tramping sleeping bag.
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Kitchen dining area
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Our room - an icebox on the first night
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Slept so well.
Up for brekkie - Mike and Andrew made the three of us scrambled eggs. Delicious. And then we were all off up the hill to Rainbow. We left the house at 8.10am and we were in the car park at 9.15am. The road wanders through fords from the main highway towards Hanmer - but the car park for Rainbow is reasonably close in. All cars, even 4WD, had to fit chains.
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Cold morning!
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Mike took a while to figure out our plastic special chains. But once he did they worked really well. And the icy road needed chains. Wow!
Up to the carpark - which was fairly high up the valley. Maybe 8km or so? Andrew got into the queue for his ticket and ski hire and that took him a while.
Mike and I eventually got onto the field and did a run. One t-bar up to the top. The snow was lovely. Crisp but plenty of grip. I managed to get 13 runs in. At $110 for the ski pass, that was just under $10 a run. Nice. I would have paid $10 for any of those runs!
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| Sibling Foresters |
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| Mike gets ready |
We heard from various t-bar riders that the snow coverage was lower this year than most years. It meant there was only one face we could ski down from the main t-bar. There is another bowl that is usually accessible. And we could see terrain off to the skier's true left that looked fun with better snow coverage.
But for my first ski day back after last August, it was fun. No crowds compared to where we usually ski. So I felt safe and gained confidence through the day.
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| Jacqui, Jenny and Ken |
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| Stunning view over Rotoiti and back to St Arnaud, from the top of the ridge |
I left early (3pm) with Jacqui and Ken. Andrew had decided he wanted to see how fast he could do each run and speed was essential. No turns. But I was tired enough by then. And happy to ride in the newer (2016 I think) Forester of Jacqui's to see how that handled the snow.
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Coming down from Rainbow - Jacqui expertly negotiates the icy road
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| View down the valley from Rainbow |
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| We unpack at the house |
Back for showers at the house. By now the house was keeping its warmth. I opened the curtains in our room to let the weak afternoon sunshine in.
The rest of the group went back to Alpine Lodge for tea - but the biggest game so far of the FIFA WWC was on and I did not want to miss any of it. Australia v France quarterfinal. And what a game. It was mighty.
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| Mike had Baba Ganoush (so yummy from last time) and Diablo pizza. YUM. |
It was still on when they all got back. But by then I was in bed. Mike joined me and when it was still nil-nil after full time, then extra time, and the penalty shoot-out started he was riveted to it too. And after penalty after penalty and it got to the 10th player to take a penalty, it was nail-biting.
Then Cortnee Vine stepped up, off the bench in her World Cup debut - and slotted it away for a historic Australia football win. First time in the semis. It was epic. Huge. I cried. Well done to them.
Up for a lazier start to the day. I was the only person expressing interest in a second ski day - but when Mike came in with breakfast in bed for me, I was sound asleep and it was already past leaving time. I discovered that drizzle showers and low cloud meant that it would have been a cold, damp claggy day on the mountain.
So up I got, helped clean up and off we went to find other things to do for the day. Went to DoC visitor centre for some ideas. And the rest of them secured a water taxi to Lakehead for the 3 hour walk back. Great idea! 10.40am they kitted up and left the jetty.
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Bye wee house
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I did not go. I only had my ski jacket and one pair of shoes/pants and did not fancy sitting in wet clothes for the ferry ride back. But the rest of them had a wonderful walk.
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| Here we all are |
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| Boarding |
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| Everyone fits under the canopy |
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| Off they head |
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| Snacks on the beachfront walking back |
Mike ran back - and he did so well. I was waiting for him when he got back around 1pm.
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| Here he comes! |
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| Selfie on the jetty |
Andrew solved the mystery of the "St Arnaud café" that was a wonderful stop last time we were here, but alas has gone broke and is now for lease. Andrew talked to the water taxi operator and apparently the lessor just wants too much money. Three operators have come and gone because the rent is just too high to be sustainable. So empty it sits.
Mike and I headed back to the ever wonderful Alpine Lodge - to see if he could have a shower there. Yes, they had showers available, for the princely sum of two dollars. He had to wait for them to be cleaned, so we had a bite of lunch. Including yummy iced latte, and Creme Brulee - since we had never ventured into desserts since were were always over-full after mains.
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| Alpine lodge iced latte |
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| Made with care |
The others returned and we met up for photos at the iconic jetty.
That second contingent left Blenheim at 1700 and found the others at 1730 at Cortado. They were just finishing delicious looking pizza. Mike and Andrew had time for a drink only.
Then off to join the Bluebridge queue. On the ferry on time. And after a quick chat to everyone in the main food area, Mike, Andrew and I slipped off to the cabin (B52 again - exact same one as the previous voyage) and fell into a coma. I was asleep by 7:30 I reckon. We were all dead to the world in minutes. And when we got the wake up call at 10:00pm, I could have sworn we only just shut our eyes.
We unthreaded the gear and people across the two cars and dropped Andrew and most of his stuff at platform 9 where Sally waited to whisk Andrew home. And we went home and Jenny got her gear and left in her car.
The cats were happy to see us. And we fell into bed just on midnight and slept very well.
What a weekend. Thank you to the company and such good accommodation choices. Rainbow was fun! Limited in snow and therefore terrain while we were there, but having Rainbow as my local field would be great.
