Working on the house...

The last few months we have started working our way through upstairs, repairing holes in walls, jib stopping, and painting. I don't think we realised what we had got ourselves into...     

 The study

 Master bedroom

Completed study 

Another of our projects was to complete the fence running up the boundary behind the kitchen. This gives us more privacy from the neighbours without losing our view. It will also be a great wind block when the new deck eventually gets built in this area. 

Now that it's spring....

Winter has arrived!  We've had a pretty lean winter, snow-wise, and to be honest we, along with most of the rest of the locals, had pretty much written the season off.  On Friday and Saturday, Coronet Peak was hit by large amounts of warm rain and had closed to "let the water drain out" with the rest of the season to be assessed in a day or so.

And then Saturday night, it finally snowed.  We both have season passes for Remarkables and Coronet Peak, and this year we also both purchased a "first tracks extension" which allows you to ski or snowboard on the main chairlift at Coronet Peak from 8am, when the lifts open for general business at 9am.  As you can imagine, an hour can make all the difference - especially considering how few people are there for that first hour.  On Sunday we got up bright and early and headed up to The Peak for first tracks.  Because the snow had come after 2-3 days of the mountain being closed, the fresh snow was completely untouched.  Perfect.  We were on the second chair up and had a great run down.  On our way up for the second and third runs we finally remembered about taking photos and took these ones:

Those two closest tracks are the ones we made the ride before this one.

 

Looking back down across towards Greengates (another chair lift)

 

This photo on the third ride up - or maybe the fourth.  At least 2 of the lines in this photo belong to each of us.

We came home reasonably early, after having definitely gotten the best of the day, thinking that was probably the best riding we would get all year.


It turns out we were wrong.  Metservice was forecasting this for Tuesday:

Metservice have been wrong before.  It's said around here you don't take the forecast with a grain of salt, you take it with a cup of salt.  A few flurries were falling as Andrea drove to work, and continued all morning in town, with nothing settling on the ground.  Greg rang to say it was snowing and settling in Kelvin Heights, which was thought to be maybe a bit of an exaggeration considering it usually settles in town much earlier than in Kelvin Heights.  Then he sent through this photo and Andrea headed home and worked remotely for the rest of the day!

This is what Peninsula Road looked like on the way home:

This morning dawned bright and clear and we again headed up for first tracks.  Days like today are why we bought the passes - Andrea has "flexitime" at work and can go up first thing and then work 10-6 or 11-7 or work a few hours in the evening to make up the time.  Great boss!  It was even better this morning.  We didn't take as many photos, but this gives you an idea of what the coverage was like (taken from halfway up the Coronet Peak Road).

Cold but Beautiful

We're currently experiencing our 5th day in a row of frosty overnight temperatures without it warming up enough during the day to fully melt the ice from the night before.  The highest temperature recorded over those days was 5 degrees, the lowest was -8.  We've heard of pipes freezing and splitting and toilet bowls freezing solid.  Thankfully we prioritise heating over most other things, unlike the flats of some of the local hospitality workers!  The next 10 days are forecast to be much the same, which will make for some very interesting driving conditions! 

Part of our section stays in the shade of the hedge all day at this time of year and so the frost is building up quite nicely into hoar frost on the grass and what's left of our vege garden.

The frost actually grows into what looks like little frost trees.  Ironically especially on the leaves that have recently fallen off the real trees.

More frost trees!  And grass that goes crunch when you walk on it, it's actually frozen and it snapping off when you walk on it.  So we're trying not to walk on it too much, considering it won't start growing again until spring.

One of the last remaining spinach plants in the background.  It's not dying, but it's certainly not growing either!

Watch your step!

This might look like a freshly groomed run up at Coronet Peak after a night of snowmaking...

But it's actually our new boat cover with half an inch of frost on it.

Christchurch

Last Wednesday I (Greg) was heading up to Christchurch for my most recent follow up with the surgeon about my shoulder.  The forecast was for snow but you never really know how accurate a forecast will be.... 

The plane managed to land at the airport just as the snow was really starting to fall. On the way to the doctors office the cab driver was struggling to see past the snow on the bonnet of the car...  

 

Arriving back at the airport a few hours later it was quite obvious that I was going nowhere fast... 

Gratefully, I was able to stay two nights with one of Andrea's workmates until I could fly out again. The next day dawned cold and clear, making for some great scenery... 

 And finally, the new bass guitar. Something I have always wanted to learn to play and now have the time to...  

The Daily Dozen

Now that my shoulder is finally starting to improve, I am able to get out and start exercising. Most days I walk around Kelvin Heights walking track which starts on the other side of town and makes its way around the lake edge and ends up at Jacks Point, taking a total of about 9 hours if you were to do the whole thing.

We only do about an hour of it in a rough circle around the house, starting by walking down towards Kelvin Grove where we do our wakeboarding. Looking back up towards our place... 

The scenery is amazing, but I think what I enjoy more than anything is the peace and quiet. This morning I only passed one other person, a lady walking her dog, and on weekdays I am often the only one out and about!

Heading down to the beach... 

Although it looks sunny it was only about 5 degrees this morning, and not swimming weather.  

 Around to the yacht club, which doesn't get a lot of use at this time of year.  

 Looking across to Queenstown with the gondola up behind. 

 The track goes through Kelvin Heights Golf Club and starts heading back towards the beach across the road from our old place.  

 The old stomping ground.

 This is where we leave the track in Jardine Park, which is just up the road behind our place. From here it's only 5 minutes back to home. 

 Home sweet home!

Scout Float

Last weekend for the annual Autumn Festival the Scout group put together a float for the parade.  We did really well and ended up winning the "Best community float" prize which gave us $500 towards the group's funds.

The float was based around a camp scene with a rock climbing wall at the back, which we had 2 kids "abseiling" off.  We borrowed the rocks for the climbing wall from our neighbour who is a set builder for movies etc.  The float was completed with a fake camp fire with a smoke machine and a flying fox across the top.  One of the hardest parts was choosing only 1 kid for the flying fox and 2 for the abseiling!  They all had their hands up!

Greg supervising the final touches:

About half of the group involved with the float (about 1/3 of the whole scout group):

Jamie and Jak proudly displaying their abseiling skills

The group starting to walk, in front of the spectacular autumn colours that are the reason behind the festival

The front of the float - we thought the big scarf was pretty awesome - made from a sheet wrapped around novacoil, then a sheet of building paper spray painted the right colours to make the scarf itself.

Isla was pretty pleased to be the one chosen to dangle off the flying fox but her arms must have been pretty sore by the end!

Autumn at the Grove

It's been a while since we last blogged, and a bit has been going on around here!  Greg had surgery on his shoulder on the Wednesday before Easter so things have been a bit quiet in terms of things worth photographing.  We went for a walk this evening (the second short walk Greg's been able to manage since the surgery) down to Kelvin Grove (our wakeboarding beach) and the golf course, and Autumn has definitely arrived.

(Photos taken on a camera phone so not quite as great as they usually are)

Autumn evenings are typically clear and still, and tonight was no different:

They say that when the Rowan trees are well laden with berries, that it will be a long winter.  As far as we can tell though, there's hardly any difference year to year... but the red, orange and yellow leaves look pretty with the red berries!

The quintessential South Island Autumn shot of poplar trees..

And up close:

Cecil Peak looks different every time you look at it.  On Autumn nights it's crisp and clear like the nights are!

And sunset - not blood red or orange like some of them but gorgeous all the same.  Taken from the golf course.