Always the spaniards...

A bit of background to this post.... on the alpine slopes around here there are two main types of vegetation. The most common is the tussock plant. These grow like weeds and also form a large part of most people's gardens (because you don't have to feed or water them and they look great). The other plant is called a spaniard. Tussocks are soft, like tall grass, but with stronger blades. They are ideal for support when clambering around on the slopes. Spaniards are hard and spiky and hurt lots if you happen to grab onto one.

I (Andrea) had a site visit up at Treble Cone Ski Field on Monday. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the purpose of my visit was a good walk around on some of the lower slopes, taking GPS readings. I can now state with no doubt what-so-ever that EVERY time you lose your balance, you can be assured of landing on or in a spaniard. Or accidentally grabbing one to stop you falling.

The views, however, were spectacular. This first photo is looking out directly from the ski field over Lake Wanaka.

The second photo is of the Matukituki Valley. Rachael and Dave might recognise this as we drove up the valley to the start of the walk we did in February up to Rob Roy Glacier.

In other news, things have been really hectic. We have been out most nights collecting firewood for next winter (most of the firewood easily available is still pretty green - i.e. has just been chopped down - so we need to let it dry before we can burn it). Last night we headed out wakeboarding with 2 of Greg's workmates and an Intern currently working with Andrea. Was lots of fun, but the muscles are complaining a little today.

The weather continues to be schizophrenic. Today we got to 32 degrees. We are sleeping with windows open at night - compared to last week when we had 3 days of snow to lake level, with early morning frosts and VERY cold overnight temperatures. Last week Greg was suffering from wind burn and this week we have both gotten sunburnt - we just can't win.

Work for both of us is entering the silly season and we will be putting in long hours in the lead up to Christmas - so these updates may not be as frequent, but we will try our hardest!