July 2007 Wanaka

June drifted into July we are still skiing almost daily but in the back of our minds is that we don’t have long before we are on the move again.

It is quite sad really, we have got used to living here and just staring to meet people and feel settled and we have to pack our bags and move on. We won’t miss the freezing mornings with ice on the inside of the windows, where getting up is difficult as it is icy out of bed and you know the loo seat is going to be freezing! Not being able to do the washing for days on end as the pipes into the back of the washing machine are frozen solid, and being cloaked in a blanket of dense fog for days on end.

However the thick frosty mornings are really pretty, the log burner is brilliant once it warms up and it’s all worth while when the fog clears and the sky is brilliant blue and who wants to do the washing anyway?

We had an outing last week to Nasby. A small town about 2 hours away from here. They have an outdoor ice rink and an indoor Curling rink, and never having done Curling before we suggested to Peter (flight instructor) and his family that we give it a whirl. The journey there was an experience as we ran into a bad patch of ‘black ice’ Peter skidded and hit the bank, Greg swerved and managed o get past him without touching him but his daughter Jamie ran straight into the side of Peters car and now there is a huge dent in the front door, no glass in the door, smashed lights and bent dashboard! Fortunately no one was hurt, just a bit shaken. I ran up the hill to flag down a truck which we knew wasn’t far behind us before it came sliding down the hill and wiped us all out!!!

We decided to continue with the planned excursion which was great fun. The ice rink was small but empty. They had some metal chairs that the children sat on and we pushed them around the ice. Some hockey sticks which we all played chair hockey with and a great time and lots of laughter was had by all.

Next we had a go at Curling. After putting rubber soled overshoes on we had to push 20kg granite stones down the ice and try and get them to stop n a circle at the other end of the rink. Nice block of granite but apart from that Alistair & I thought it was rather like watching paint dry in a fridge! Greg enjoyed it and I have suggested that he join a bowls cub when we get home! Rowena was actually quite good and managed to get her stone in the correct place.

It’s Rowena’s birthday soon. She is very excited about it and has told almost everyone in Wanaka, we are now on a ‘count down’ which started at 43 days and is now down to 4!!

THE birthday dawned and after a best wishes announcement on the radio, (just to make sure that all of Wanaka knew it was her birthday) we headed once again to the slopes. Rowena and Alistair had decided to try snowboarding for her birthday, so Greg & I decided to have a refresher lesson. 15 mins. Into the lesson I noticed that there was a message to contact Ski Patrol about the children. I skied down the mountain at the speed of light, my best run so far, to find Alistair tucked up at the first aid post as he had been feeling ‘sick’!!!! Made a miraculous recovery once I got there I might add!!!

By the afternoon he was back to normal and while Rowena used his snowboard lesson I had my ski lesson.

All too soon it was time to pack up our things, ship off the excess to UK , say goodbye to all the fab people we had met over the last few months and head off to Christchurch.

We travelled up to Blenheim to visit the WWI fighter pilot museum and then down to Kaikora and took a helicopter trip out to see the Sperm whales out to sea.

Amazing creatures, then dive to 2000m and stay for up to 40mins and then surface and stay for 10mins before repeating the process.

Once backing Christchurch we stayed the night with Will, Julie and family, thanks very much, lovely dinner and comfy bed…Keep in touch

And then to Australia…..