Snow and Helicopters

No, not together unfortunately (eg Heliskiing)!

Winter has finally made an appearance. Better late than never! Last week's snow continued into Saturday with snow to lake level almost all day (slightly unforecast... as per usual). We reached a high of 3°C on Saturday, which we would normally be delighted about - but as our chimney blocked up on Friday morning and we couldn't get it cleaned until Monday morning, we were a little on the chilly side. Lets just say that 5 heaters couldn't match the fire's warmth.

Burton was less than impressed and spent the weekend getting acquainted with an oil heater.

On Sunday we went for a walk towards Jacks Point and took these photos:

Ben Lomond, up above the Gondola and Bob's Peak:

The view towards Wye Creek and Kingston:

The Remarkables from Jardine Park:

This morning dawned fine and clear. And frosty - minus 1.5 in Frankton at 9am. We're not sure if we're looking forward to the minus 4 forecast overnight tonight. At least we'll get up to a massive high of 3 again though. It makes steel capped boots less than fun.

Greg's job is going well. The site has the lake on one side, the main road (complete with overhead power cables) on another and existing houses on the last two sides. So a crane to lift in the large steel beams simply wasn't going to work. Enter the helicopter - as seen below (photos taken on Greg's phone). Quite a sight with the flat lake and snow capped hills behind it. Apparently quite a crowd was gathered up on the road watching the goings on.

And last but not least, one of our favourite Queenstown views; The Remarkables at sunset, covered in snow. Snapped from Greg's phone as he walked home. It's a hard life.