Wakeboarding

Last weekend the forecast was for light winds so we decided to head out for a wakeboard early on Sunday morning.  The lake was absolutely dead flat for the first of each of our runs, although unfortunately we only have photos of Andrea.  We weren't sure which photos to add, so here are all of them!

Glenorchy Deer Hunt

This morning Greg went into a new hunting area out the back of Glenorchy.  It turned out to be one of the most promising places we've been into as far as access, distance from home and sheer stunningness (in Greg's words!) are concerned.  

Greg's truck at 7:30am (sun rises early here at this time of year!)

A waterfall half way up - this one was 100ft high and quite a large volume of water too.  Greg said it reminded him a lot of Hunua Falls (near Auckland).

Something you don't get at Hunua Falls - a big grassy plateau opening up onto snow and ice fields!
Greg busted out on this plateau just in time to see 3 deer disappearing up to the right of the picture (much to his disgust).  Maybe next time!

Cecil Peak DoC Goat Shoot

Last weekend the local DeerStalkers branch was invited by DoC to carry out a bit of pest control for them.  The only catch was that it was over at Cecil Peak Station (on the other side of the lake) and we had to get ourselves there.  Thankfully, it turns out enough people in DeerStalkers had a boat of some description so we signed up.
We arrived at the boat ramp bright and early on Saturday morning and waited for the strange assortment of boats (jet boats, ski boats, little boats, our boat...) and people in hi-visibility gear to turn up.  We thought we'd done pretty well with a hi-vis boat as well!

The country was pretty hard and although as a group we only shot about 25 goats, we also saw chamois and deer (although unfortunately they were off the menu).  The original plan was to stay the night, but with a really bad front arriving late afternoon we all decided to high tail it back to civilisation.  Although unfortunately high tailing it didn't work so well with one of the jet boats breaking down before we even left the far side of the lake.  After attempting to get it started for half an hour and with rapidly deteriorating weather, eventually everyone gave up and decided that our boat was the best one to tow it back with.  All of the other boats left at that stage were better suited for flat water (ski boats and jet boats) so our "deep V" came in handy for the slow trudge back across the lake with a good 2 foot chop.  So yet again our old "dunger" turned out to be a gem!  We only wished it was the alloy jet boat and not the 2 tonne all steel one that had broken down....

Here's a shot of the remaining boats lined up on the beach just before the weather turned.  Hopefully at the next meeting on Thursday night we might be able to get copies of some of the other photos taken - but no promises!

Snow in November

Over the last couple of days we've experienced snow to lake level, cold temperatures and a brisk wind.  There have been a lot of people talking about it being unseasonal, but Greg and I can't remember a November in our last 4 that hasn't had at least one bout of winter in it.  Apparently it almost always coincides with the tour of Southland - like it did yesterday!  But regardless of whether it's unseasonal or not, it's still very pretty to wake up to everything dusted in icing sugar snow.

Taken from the front door, looking towards Cecil Peak (that's a bit of ice on the table and seats)

 The boat, still with some slushy ice/snow remaining

The gondola, with Ben Lomond in behind it - the other direction from the deck by the front door.

Looking back towards our driveway from the road, up at the Remarkables

Top of the drive, looking towards Halfway Bay, where you can see the snow is quite thick right down to lake level

For all we love seeing snow on the hills, we're hoping it warms up quite considerably by the time Ken and Barbara (Greg's Parents) arrive next Friday.  These temperatures might be a bit of a shock to the system for the Aucklanders!  :-)

Curio Bay Wildlife

This weekend, we decided to head down to the Catlins, to Curio Bay to get away to the coast for a bit and take a surfing lesson.  It was a great weekend - Saturday dawned bright and clear with a slight offshore breeze, apparently perfect for learning to surf.  We drove South and set up our tents and then relaxed for a couple of hours waiting for our lesson.

 The lesson was loads of fun.  All 4 of us (Greg, Andrea and our two flatmates Mark and Stu) got up surfing more than once and rode waves in to shore.  3 of us had never surfed before so we were very pleased with our efforts!  Unfortunately we were all having far too much fun to take photos or videos.

At dusk we headed along to the petrified forest to watch the Yellow Eyed Penguins (Hoiho) come in to their nests.  We stood in the cold southerly that had just arrived for 45 minutes and were rewarded with two Penguins hopping their way across the rocks.  The closest they got to us was about 150m away, but we managed to get a few photos:

The following morning we sat down to a lateish breakfast (after the overnight rain cleared):

We were all busily eating when Andrea looked up just as a Hoiho hopped out of the flaxes 4m away behind our tent! We'd been told they weren't normally anywhere near the camp ground but we were entertained for the next half hour as he hopped around having a good look at everything.  Needless to say, we took more photos!

The other residents of the area also obliged, with sea lions and seals showing off in the sun (see photos below) and the Hector's Dolphins passing by a few times.

We finished up the weekend with a road trip back, taking in a few of the sights, and stumbled across rocky outcrops right on low tide, where we managed to gather some Paua that the boys are in the process of turning into patties for dinner.  All said and done, an awesome weekend!

Landscaping

We've been busy over the past few weeks sorting out the garden and landscaping, now that it's finally warm enough to plant things.

The vege garden is a work in progress - the bean rack will be going up this weekend along with the lettuces but the peas, spinach, spring onions and herbs are doing well and the rhubarb is growing like a weed.

We also planted two feijoa trees in the hope that some time in future we won't have to pay $30 a kilo for feijoas! We've been told that Kelvin Heights is the best place in Queenstown to grow feijoas but it's still a bit hit and miss here so fingers crossed!

In the background of this shot is another possible fruit tree that has produced a few white blossoms but we have no idea what it is or if it's actually even a fruit tree so I guess we'll just wait and see!

We also continued the pittisporum hedge around the outside of the property. Again, in 3-4 years time these should be around about the right height for complete privacy. They're fairly hardy though and we have about 30 others so we're pretty confident they will enjoy the conditions.

You might also notice the new rock borders and new paths - the paths were always sort of there but now you can see where they are, and the rock border continues the theme we started up by the road side.

Our other fruit tree is a cherry tree of some kind. Again we're not sure which variety or if it's ornamental or edible, but we'll find out in a few months! If the number of blossoms is anything to go by it should produce plenty of fruit - maybe for us and maybe just for the birds...

More of the rock borders, and some of our new tussocks. The last thing to do in here is to put down bark, which we'll do in a few weeks. The grass is also looking a lot greener than when we moved in - amazing what not driving on it, watering it and feeding it will do..... it was a complete dust bowl when we arrived.

A busy few weeks

Sorry to all that we've been a bit slack with the blogging for the past month or two.

Greg's back at work with a vengeance - extremely busy! And Andrea's been relatively busy too, with trips to Christchurch, Hamilton and Whangarei lately.

Weekends have been taken up in the last month with lots of gardening, rock collecting (for landscaping), tree planting and more! Photos to follow in the next month.

We have also been making the most of the end of the ski season and the beginning of the summer season - last weekend was Coronet Peak closing and we continued the tradition of snowboarding and wakeboarding on the same day. We've even managed to corrupt a few of the neighbours and their kids - it was great to have everyone out on the beach late into the afternoon.

This weekend we continued with more gardening and then went ice skating on Saturday afternoon with some friends. On Sunday morning we headed out to Coronet Peak where we went paragliding for the first time ever. We decided a few years ago that each year for our wedding anniversary we would try and sample one of the many activities Queenstown has to offer and this year it was paragliding. The two videos below are of each of us just after take off from Coronet Peak.

Club Field Holiday

Last weekend we took a couple of days off work and travelled up to Arthur's Pass, northwest of Christchurch to check out a few of the Canterbury club fields. These are small ski fields run by groups of like-minded people who found a good spot and decided to put in some rope tows. They vary from very basic rope tows with the notoriously difficult and well named "nutcrackers" to slightly more technologically advanced fields with t-bars. Even those with t-bars have limited grooming and therefore the snow can be a bit variable, but the atmosphere is great and queues are non-existent.

We stayed at Flock Hill Station, which is a working farm with a variety of different accommodation options including the self contained cottages we were in. Fantastic scenery and only 10 minutes drive to the bottom of the access roads for Mt Cheeseman, Craigieburn and Broken River, and just a few minutes more to Porters and Temple Basin.

On Saturday we went to the Mt Cheeseman club field. There had been some fresh snow on Thursday night/Friday morning but when we arrived on Saturday at 10am (to find a total of 20 other cars there), the soft snow had been replaced with sheet ice. So after an initial run we waited until after lunch for the sun to soften the snow. We had a few good runs in the afternoon including one into the back bowls where we found a few pockets of untouched powder. It was near vertical in places and a decent long run with only a couple of hundred metres vertical to hike back out.

On Sunday we decided to take a trip through Arthur's Pass itself to Greymouth and back again as the previous day's high temperatures had not helped the snow conditions.

Arthur's Pass is spectacular. If you haven't done it yet, put it on your list. Here's a taste of the scenery:

One of the little lakes just past Flock Hill Station:

River Delta just before the middle of Arthur's Pass:

Only slightly less impressive than the scenery - the amazing feats of engineering. This is the world-famous-in-New-Zealand Otira Viaduct:

And while we were at the Otira look out we were greeted by a very photogenic Kea. We had to chase him away from the car a few times - we're pretty sure he was eyeing up the wiper blades 8888888888888888888888888888888888885 (the last intelligent contribution courtesy of Burton walking across the keyboard - maybe he was eyeing up the kea...)

On Monday due to the snow still being spring conditions we headed across to Mt Hutt (about an hour's drive away) for some great spring riding. We had a fantastic day experiencing the luxury of groomed slopes and high speed chair lifts, and again with no queues. It was a warm sunny day - no warm jackets required! One guy was even skiing in shorts and a singlet top but we weren't quite that keen.

Let the clean up begin...

A view from our side deck of the igloo we built at the neighbour's place yesterday:

A close up of the igloo:

The wind lip of snow built up overhanging the gutter. It's nearly a foot deep, which makes you a bit careful when you step out the front door as if you slammed the front door too hard you might end up with a bucket load of snow on your head. We've cleared it off with the rake 3 or 4 times in the last couple of days but this is what has built up again since last night. The house 2 doors along has lost it's gutter - it's sagged about half a metre and he's propping it up with long bits of timber. Possibly a bit late for that!

The vege garden. Nothing planted as yet.... Thankfully some good hardy snow tussocks

The driveway this morning. It was cleared of snow yesterday, so the 10cm on it now is from overnight.

And the down side of all the snow - shovelling!

We have between 30 and 60cm of snow right around the house. Although we've been clearing paths, there will be a good day or two's shovelling to go yet clearing the drive etc. It's warmed up a bit this morning to a tropical 3 degrees which is helping to melt a bit of the snow, but as we speak another wall of black is approaching from Kingston so we don't think it's quite over yet. On the bright side, we haven't lost power or phone and still have heaps of food for us and Burton. The roads are nearly clear now (Graded to only 2-3 cm deep, but that's sheet ice so chains are necessary) - council have been doing a fantastic job. We can get out to the supermarket and the gas station... both of which are running out of supplies very quickly due to panic buying.

We're delighted to hear there has been snow in Auckland too - must be pretty exciting!

Tobogganing..... poorly

We went to Mike's place next door, because he has a nice steep hill. Last time it snowed we were sliding down it on real estate signs and were getting halfway across his lawn. So we thought we'd try it again. Here's the video Greg took of Andrea's first run down the hill....

We also made an igloo with Alex and Molly, the neighbours from over the fence - here's a video halfway through construction. Photos to follow tomorrow! Due to Greg's shoulder he was firmly on camera duty.

Polar Blast part 2

We woke up this morning to far more snow - and blizzard conditions at times. This video is taken from the master bedroom again

And one taken from the lounge. Hopefully more photos tomorrow!

Polar Blast

We're hoping it will get "worse" later but here are a few videos to keep you all going! Since we've taken this video another 5cm or so has fallen, so we'll update these later...

Taken from the end guest bedroom looking into the neighbour's back yard

Taken from the master bedroom looking out towards the empty section next door

Snow again!

We woke up to a very light dusting of snow on the back lawn and gale force winds. Then the winds started to ease and the snow started to build up. And build up. And build up. So much so that we were able to do this:

That's Andrea sliding down our driveway on a real estate sign (Thanks Michelle!).

And this one is Greg skiing down the driveway! Much earlier in the day, before the second lot of snow.

It's still snowing so hopefully we'll be able to post some photos tomorrow...

Powder Day

This morning we got up bright and early after deciding last night that we were going to take a bit of a walk with our snowboards and avalanche kit (which includes a backpack that carries our snowboard, transceiver, shovel, probe and first aid kit). The avalanche danger had dropped and the forecast was for the freezing level to rise, which meant that for the low altitude snow, it was now or never. We voted now.

We parked one car at the bottom of the run and used a second car to drive us as far up towards the top as we could get. During summer there is a 4WD track right to the top of the hill we were climbing but after this much snow it's not accessible so we had to walk the last couple of hours.

It was definitely worth it. The run was a total of 700 vertical metres (about 4 times the height of One Tree Hill above sea level). It took us about 15-20 minutes to get down - with a few stops for photos etc... and to jump fences!

Our flatmate Mark took this video - it's a little jumpy at times as he was trying to snowboard and video at the same time (not overly successful!). The first person you see is Greg, the smaller person down the hill further is Andrea.

White Christmas part 2

Late last week, Greg went up to the top of the driveway and took a few photos of the Remarkables. Because it had finally started snowing up there, and things were looking pretty and white. You'll see in the photo that it's been so warm here that the rose hedge is in full bloom.

It turns out (as you have seen from the videos) that we were wrong. That wasn't snow. This was:

Our backyard covered in snow (while it's still falling)

The cars and boat

And last but not least, our new Christmas card house.

White Christmas

Saturday night we were talked into throwing a midwinter Christmas party by our neighbours, much to our delight. Afterall, everyone loves Christmas and it does only come... twice a year.

Turkey, Ham, Roast Veges, Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni (for the vegetarians), minted peas, chocolate Gateau, Tiramisu... complete with a Christmas Tree and outside fairy lights made for a perfect night - made just a bit more perfect by the snow that turned up halfway through dinner.

It continued to fall right through until mid morning on Sunday. We'll post some photos tomorrow but here are a few videos to keep you going until then!

Routeburn Christmas

In the weekend we were invited to a mid-winter Christmas dinner. However the catch was, it was at Routeburn Falls Hut, about a 3.5 hour walk in up the famous Routeburn Track. The Routeburn Track is one of the "Great Walks" spread throughout National Parks all over the country. Over summer you have to book in advance and a maximum of 100 overnighters a day are allowed on it (3 nights for the full track). Off peak (winter), however, bookings are not required and it's a bit more of a wilderness experience. The huts only have coal and cookers supplied in summer so we really had to rough it in the 48 bunk hut with built in washing up facilities.....

As we parked our car at the Routeburn carpark, it began to snow lightly. Much to our delight, this continued pretty much the whole time we were up the valley, with the flakes getting bigger and floatier as we got higher up.

It turns out that they are called "Great Walks" for a reason. The scenery was nothing short of breath-taking!

The Routeburn river:

A dusting of snow on the peaks across the valley:

Getting higher:

And higher still (this photo taken from Routeburn Falls, looking down the Routeburn Valley):

The following morning we decided that instead of just walking down and out, we'd start off with a bit of a walk up towards the saddle (the highest point on the Routeburn Track) so that we could play in the snow. The others with us learnt the lesson Andrea learnt a few years ago: never challenge Greg to a snowball fight!

Before we hit the snow, we found the icicles:

Up near the saddle, looking over Lake Harris. The dinner party numbers had dwindled at the last minute but the 4 of us left were still keen. The other 2 in the photo are Louise (Andrea's friend and Pilates instructor/Physio) and our flatmate Mark.

Easter

The first two days of Easter we were busy around here sorting out a few things around the house and helping the neighbours with a few things. When Sunday arrived the forecast was for showers with light winds, which wasn't ideal, but we thought we'd stick with our plan to go away camping for the night down at The Catlins. Afterall, what are a few showers?

On the way down we stopped off for Greg to do a spot of sea run trout fishing. After only 10-15 minutes of casting (much to Andrea's delight) he hooked up a brown trout which gave a bit of a fight on it's way in, including some tail thrashing:

It was about an 8 lb Brown Trout:

With that box ticked, we continued on down to Curio Bay, where we've been camping a few times before. We could see the showers following us so we set up the tent in record time and sat down inside to start cooking an early dinner and to watch the showers go by outside.

Only it turns out the showers weren't really passing through. And they weren't really what we'd class as showers. Overnight we had torrential rain, hail, gale force winds and sleet. We lay in bed listening to it all (not getting a lot of sleep!) but were grateful for our good tent. We heard car doors slamming in the middle of the night and when we got up the next morning we discovered of all the tents that started the night, ours was the only one that survived it.

We opened the tent to find the weather starting to clear - well, in between torrential showers - it was a tropical 5 degrees. We had a bit of breakfast and packed up the tent.... and decided that what with the temperature being so warm, we'd go for a swim. A handful of tourists stood by the campground shop and shook their heads in disbelief, but we're pretty sure it was actually warmer in the water. Refreshing though.

And really, with a sunrise like this one, it was definitely worth it (taken from the door of the tent).