Skiing, Filming and Leaving

On our 2nd days skiing the sun came out again and as we were all a little more confident, we decided to venture further up the mountain to some better and tougher slopes. Laura and the girls took a more advanced lesson while I decided to wing it and just chuck myself down the hill hoping for the best. So glad I did as I had an amazing time despite the many falls. Was such a brilliant feeling to just hurl yourself down the slopes and stop whenever you wanted to just chill in the sun, absolute bliss and we wished we could've had a few more days up there.

On the way home to the cabin we stopped on the slopes of Mount Doom to continue our filming tribute to Lord of the Rings.
As there were only 7 of us remaining for the Tuesday night, the boys cooked dinner and we all polished off the cake. Fantastic. The next morning Rhys left early to get back to work and we took our time packing up and leaving the cabin.
In case you were wondering, the white shape above the cabin is indeed the mountain we skied, incredible view eh?

On the way home we stopped once more for some filming, this time at the point where Smeagol chases the fish down the river. I (Fred) re-enacted this but did not venture into the water, as i would get wet. There's suffering for your art, and then there's suffering for your art if you know what i mean. (That's Kt's finger on the pic by the way).

The trip back was quicker than the journey up and we were lucky to have good weather for it. Below is a pic of the Kapiti Coast from the van.

It was then bye bye to the Bongo and back to reality for the weary skiers. An excellent time had by all involved, and Laura and I can't wait to do it all again.

Happy Birthday Laura!

We awoke on Monday morning to glorious sunshine, cockerels crowing and news that the mountain was open to skiers again, result! As it was Laura's Birthday a relaxing morning was had by a few of us and we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of OJ and freshly made pancakes courtesy of chef Sked. Here is the birthday girl relaxing in the sun on our deck.


The mountains were looking amazing and we couldn't wait to get up there and throw ourselves down them.


Once the pancakes had been munched and ski attire organised, we ascended the slopes. The drive to the ski field was very picturesque and we got some nice snaps of the Tongariro national park and mountains that the Tongariro crossing is made up of. These were the mountains used to represent Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings!


















As we'd arrived at the ski field quite late, we took our free scenic trip up the mountain to get some more snaps and enjoy the views. What views they were!





Then it was onto our ski lesson and we did fantastically well considering Laura hadn't skied before and I hadn't been on ski's in 13 years. We loved the first day and couldn't wait to get back up there and hit some higher slopes. On return to the cabin we witnessed a beautiful sunset
















before we headed into town for Laura's Birthday meal at the Powderhorn, a brilliant recommendation by Rhys. The food was awesome and very much needed. After this feast the 10 of us ventured back to the cabin to continue the celebrations and tuck into the mammoth cake we'd bought.




Laura here now!....I just wanted to say that I had an amazing time and thank you to all who were there and helped to make it a memorable and special day! Also thanks so much to friends and family back home for their texts, presents and phonecalls!

The Journey North

On Sunday the 10th we set off in our Bongo van, nicknamed Bazzacacca by the girls, and headed for the slopes of Mount Ruapehu/Doom. We decided on the scenic route as the mountain had been closed for the day meaning no skiing could be done, and after roughly 6 hours and a few scenic stops, like this waterfall, we arrived at the cabin.

The setting for the cabin was absolutely perfect, we were in the middle of nowhere and were surrounded by woodland and, as you can see, some amazing views.



Once everyone had arrived we made a short trip into Ohakune to pick up some food and booze, and spent the rest of the evening cooking dinner and chilling out by the log fire (there was opportunity for us to chop our own wood, but after Fred nearly chopped the washing line in half with the axe during an almighty swing, this idea was swiftly abandoned!), all the while we were hoping the weather would improve so we could take to the slopes the next day.

Pearl Jam!

No idea how i forgot to mention this on the last post but somehow it slipped my memory. I now have my ticket to see Pearl Jam in Sydney on Saturday 18th November! Am so excited and cannae wait to go. Have been wanting to see them for about 10 years and now only have 2 months to wait! Just need to book my flights now and then it's all systems go.

The weeks that were

Life in Wellington is as great as ever and we've been real busy over the last couple of weeks. Laura had an interview with the Ministry of Education Special Needs section and......she got a job! She's working in a kindergarten 2 hours every morning with a young somalian boy and she says he is beautiful. It's really great that she has a job in this line of work as she needs experience working with kids to get onto a course when we return home so Well Done her, now she's just trying to find a job for the afternoon as well. My job at the Police is coming to an end on Friday and I've been looking for another job, although not too enthusiastically I must add.
Have decided to take the next week off and be a man of leisure as we're going skiing on Sunday. We booked a Log Cabin up north at Mount Ruapehu, or Mount Doom for you LOTR fans, and 9 of us will descend on the slopes for some not so graceful skiing and snowboarding. It's Laura's birthday on Monday so we have coincided the trip with that and are all looking forward to it so should have a rocking time. Kt has returned to Welli and we helped her move in to her new pad (which you can see if you visit her blog, the link is on the right) and it is great to have her back. We (Kt, Laura, Elaine, Rhys and I) finished 3rd and 4th in a couple of pub quizzes and scooped a $40 bar tab for 3rd spot, that got us a couple of bottles of wine and some sore heads. In other news, I caught a fever last week......a faver for karaoke that is! Had a leaving do for someone at work and it was at a karaoke joint, what a riot. Did 5 tunes in total; Maggie May, Raindrops keep Falling on my head, Hotel California, Leaving on a Jet plane and Suspicious Minds, i think i was pretty terrible but had a great time anyway.
We now have a nice, chilled Sunday routine of afternoon Jazz at the Hummingbird (accompanied by a couple of amazing vodkas for me) and, when she's on, seeing Elaine play in the evening. You can find a link to her site on the right as well, check it out as she has a couple of tunes uploaded and she is an amazing singer/songwriter.
Laura and Kt have Salsa dancing tonight so I've got the place to myself, an evening of junk food and Rockstar Supernova methinks, superb. We will try and email you all soon and are also in the process of getting a phoneline installed so will let you know the number when it's all done. Hope you're all well, bye for now!