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| Mt Hutt ski field |
The snow fall was slow coming and the ski fields struggled to keep snow from blowing away, however, we managed an awesome season learning at Mount Hutt. Only 50min drive to the field, most weekends were spent there. Paul learnt to snowboard and I got on some skis, which culminated in a double black diamond run on our last day of the season, on our first and only powder day. Awesome! We are both totally addicted! I then followed it with the Peak to Pub race, which involved 2km slalom skiing in a white out, 16km mountain biking, 11km cross country run and 10m river swim! All to meet Paul and friends in the pub!!
View from Mt Hutt accross the Canterbury plaines
View from Mt Hutt over the Alps
Cheaky Kea enjoying lunch!
Skiing with friends at Cheeseman club field
So between skiing and calving cows at over 100 farms, the winter flew by! We took a week off in July to enjoy the ski fields in Queenstown and an awe-inspiring overnight trip on Doubtful Sound. Amazingly we were the only passengers, so with a young skipper and first mate we had quite the luxury party. We cruised into the sounds with champaign and enjoyed the mystical feel of the place as the rain clouds blew in. The crew dived for lobster for our dinner and we fished for perch in the evening. The following morning we kayaked around one arm of the sounds surrounded by high mountians, totally alone, listening to tree avalanches falling after the rain. It was a truely unique experience.
Southern albatross, the petrel infront is the size of a gull!!
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| Paul kayaking in Doubtful sound |
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| Pictures can't capture the atmosphere. |
Rugby World Cup fever took over in September, even not being a mad fan you couldn't escape it, and it was a really fun and social time. Sadly no matches were played at Christchurch, but we enjoyed the atmosphere at the big screens they set up in the central park, and numerous house parties. We took a trip to Duneden to see England play Georgia and were lucky enough to get ring-side seats and very close to Johnny!
A long weekend at the end of the winter was spent in Wanaka and Queenstown, enjoying some fantastic skiing and beautiful mountains.
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| Tosting the season with Jagermeister shots from the Ice Bar at the top of Coronet peak ski field |
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| Views accross the lake from Queenstown |
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| Lake Wanaka from Treblecone ski field guarded by the cheaky Kea |
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| The drive back over to Canterbury |
After waiting a month of weekends to get some settled weather in the mountains, after the ski fields closed, our landlord took us flying. The northwestily winds still kept us on our toes as the cloud rolled in over the alps and blocked the view of Mt Cook. We got to take over the controls at times and miraculously stayed in the air, flew over the foothills and Canterbury plaines for some beautiful views. It was a great end to our 8 months in Canterbury. Although I wasn't sad to finish working, I will miss this place and all the friends we have made here.
Now we are packing up ready for our next adventure, over to the west coast and up towards Nelson. We plan to spend a couple of months travelling and enjoying all our outdoor activities through the first part of the summer, then who knows?! We have extended our working holiday visas for another year, so plenty of time to enjoy ourselves!!
Views from above!Our four seater plane
Spring is here! The not so snowy alps.We will not have easy access to the internet for a while, however I will try not to leave my next update this long, to fill you in on the next leg of our adventures!
