More videos!

Third Video: Andrea getting REALLY first tracks on an untouched slope

Fourth Video: The Grin says it all - Greg getting knee-deep

Opening Day at The Remarkables

This morning we were lying in bed trying to decide whether or not we could be bothered with the icy conditions and long queues usually associated with opening morning. We'd seen on the website that all the lifts were due to open on the first day, which is quite unusual, so after some umming and ahhing we decided to haul ourselves out of bed and head up to catch up with our friends.

Well, it turned out to be a good idea. The snow was soft, the queues were non existent and we were once more up above the inversion layer - basically a bluebird day.

We hit some untracked snow on our first run off the lift (under Alta, Jen!) and decided pretty quickly that we should head further afield and do some hiking to get more of the fresh stuff. Watching the long "ant trail" of people heading across to "the chutes" we decided to go in the other direction, for our tried and true powder stash up the back of Sugar Bowl.

First Video: Greg getting fresh tracks

We spent the next 2 hours hiking and re-hiking all our various little spots we came to know last year and had loads of fun. Hopefully the videos will all download for you - if anyone (eg on dialup) has any problems let us know and we'll send you a CD.

2nd Video: Andrea getting some almost-fresh tracks (going over Greg's tracks from the previous video)

Ho Hum, just another Saturday....

Up above the inversion layer! Taken from Coronet Peak looking out over a sea of cloud across to the Remarkables ski area.

Looking towards Cecil Peak and down towards Kingston. Queenstown is down under the thick fog (that's Queenstown Hill you can see poking through in front of Cecil Peak) and stayed that way all day. The inversion layer is normally typical of Wanaka in winter, where it's quite often colder below the clouds than above, but is quite unusual in Queenstown. It was 3-4°C up at the ski field this morning but didn't get above 2°C in most of Queenstown all day.

Opening Day!!!!!

We weren't that excited about opening day at Coronet Peak really. Well, not until we woke up this morning anyway! It's been great to get back on our skis and boards again (without having the hard work of walking up first!).

The day dawned a little overcast, and forecast to get worse, so we headed up bright and early (which also had the added benefit of a free glass of bubbles on the first chairs). We're pleased we did - they opened the chairs ahead of time (which NEVER happens) to try and help with the lift queues - which it did. We never thought we'd say it but NZSki finally seems to have figured out how to make Opening Day a success. They had blown fresh man-made snow on all the trails overnight, but turned off the snowmakers on the main trails so that you didn't get covered in snow on every run. The snow quality was great, the queues were non existent until mid morning and the staff were friendly and well trained (which is not the norm). So we were well impressed.

Greg under Greengates chair:

Andrea on her board, also under Greengates chair. Note the powder snow - which is also unusual for this time of year at Coronet Peak... which is dubbed "Concrete Peak" by the locals.

Greg and Andrea up the top of the chair

Queen's Birthday Weekend

We've never looked forward to a long weekend quite so much! The past few weeks have been quite busy, with Andrea involved in the orchestra for the local production of Les Miserables and Greg's work having dramas all of it's own.

Queen's Birthday weekend rolled around and we largely spent the 3 days catching up on sleep and sitting as close to the log burner as we could get. Although we didn't get as much snow as was forecast (just a few snow showers on Sunday morning), the temperatures have been bitterly cold. Things finally cleared out and warmed up a little for Monday (this morning) - a balmy 3 degrees when we left home at 11am. We decided that since we hadn't actually done it yet, we'd take the walk around Lake Hayes, which is known for it's reflections (especially in Autumn). It's been so cold that parts of the lake have frozen. And were still frozen at midday when we walked through!

We took a few photos of the scenery - this one being the one that worked out the best due to passing cloud etc.

We headed home after the walk and had a bite to eat and then promptly headed out again. Greg has been hoping since we arrived here to be able to say he walked across the road from our house (to the beach) and caught a fish. Well today it finally happened..... twice!

The photos of the fish itself didn't come out very well due to it's wriggly nature and the fact that we try to get most fish back into the lake as quickly as possible when we're releasing them. We'd estimate both Rainbow trout at 4 lb. A good eating size, if you're that way inclined.

The first photo shows the first run just after hookup... which took out half the line on Greg's reel in about 20 seconds flat.

The second shot shows the splash just after the fish jumped out in an attempt to shake the hook free (a manouevre that often succeeds if there is any slack in the line).