So, on a cold, wet Saturday morning a large van arrived at our new home with 170 boxes!!! Where would it all fit???? As you'll see from the photos once the house was full we filled he garage!!!!
Now, 3 weeks later most of the boxes are empty and the place it looking pretty organised! Max's bed is still in pieces as that is a 'sizeable' project for which we haven't had time yet! It is really nice to be in a 'real' house though and I am sure we will enjoy living here once we are settled. We are a bit further away from the centre than we were before but still only 5 minutes walk to the beach. The boys can either cycle or catch the bus (they have a free bus pass) to school and there seems to be lots of their friends around here.
The weekend we moved in here was the start of the 2 week school holidays. The idea was to get organised the first week and then go skiing the second. Unfortunately, we were all attacked by some nasty NZ virus during the first week which laid us all low with temperatures, colds and coughs! Max was also violently sick for a full day...the joys!
Luckily, we were all pretty much recovered in time to ski. The mountains (3 rather large, but not too active!) volcanos are about 3 hours drive from here. We had booked a 2 bedroom apartment in a lodge in a village about 15 minutes drive from the ski fields. We drove down on the Monday, dumped our stuff and headed up the mountain to collect our skis and hit the slopes for an hour or so. We all quickly regained our ski/snowboard legs and came away ready for action the next day!
Our first full day back on the slopes was fantastic! Blue skies, sunshine and lots of fun. We were all soon speeding down the mountain with our usual elegance and flair!!! All except Neil that is who had bought some skis from a friend and soon discovered that although the ultimate 'bargain' they were too long for him. He entertained us with a mutitude of spins, backwards skiing and spectacular falls! What would we do without him?! He lasted 2 days before he finally gave in and opened his wallet to hire some other ones!
Max and Tom were soon speeding off and leaving Neil & I behind. Tom returned from one ski lesson and said 'c'mon mum follow me' and then tried to kill me by taking me off on trecherous paths and leaping off rock faces about 1 metre high. I won't be following him again!!
As you can see the views were spectacular and we had a great couple of days before the weather changed.
Then came the cold and wet! Visability was about 15 metres and the clouds closed in. It was much harder getting out of bed in the mornings knowing the weather wasn't too nice but once up on the slopes we still had a great time. The poor weather had scared off those not as hardy as us Northerners so the slopes were quiet. We donned our layers and off we went!
Then came the cold and wet! Visability was about 15 metres and the clouds closed in. It was much harder getting out of bed in the mornings knowing the weather wasn't too nice but once up on the slopes we still had a great time. The poor weather had scared off those not as hardy as us Northerners so the slopes were quiet. We donned our layers and off we went!
The boys not content with skiing from 8.30am until 4pm would ski back down to the car once the lifts had closed and unload the sledges. Needless to say 12 hours sleep a night just wasn't enough!!!
A great holiday was had by all and we are now planning our next ski trip for the next school holidays in September! The boys are now back in school and we are looking forward to heading down to Taupo this weekend for the Taupo half marathon. Won't that be fun in the rain and wind that is forecast!!!!!
Report of that event coming soon!
5 comments:
Looks like you all had a great time skiing - and the slopes look gentle enough to be tempting:)(although, obviously Tom found some gradients more tempting to boys!!)
Hope you are settling in the new house.
Good luck at Taupo ... hope it's not too WINDY!!!! There's a Great North Swim at Windermere in September - race info advises if the weather conditions are not suitable, the race will be postponed until the Sunday ... now where have I heard that before??
I hope Neil didn't ski into any concrete posts - do you know how much them things cost.
The skiing looks fab. The fit family go from strength to strength!!Don't believe you that you actually get wet and windy weather in NZ. Just to turn the tables we have just had a heat wave. Hurray!!
never mind the concrete posts, what you want to avoid is racing your 8 year old son in conditions with visability of just a few metres. Said 8 year old easing his father across the piste so that he could crash in a wall of snow travelling at 100 km / h!!!!
One recalls mis leading a certain Mr Woods in 1986, Ellmau, Austria.
Having skied down a narrow path around a bend only to find a snow wall, Mr Woods shouted from the top " is it clear?" to wit I replied "YES!" The said Mr Woods slammed into the snow wall! WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND!!!!
How much did you pay Tom for that?
Down to 7 lives now!
The skis were a fantastic investment! Clare and the boys had so many opportunities laughing at DAD as he twirled down the mountain! Only my fantastic balance saving me from certain death! (down to two lives!)
The instructions with the skis didn't mention needing as much distance as a SUPER TANKER to turn!
You deserved a holiday after sorting that lot out !!
Glad you had a great time ..
looks like you had loads of fun !!
By the way Jen says that she doesn`t tend to comment on your blog as she says everyone elses tends to be so witty and humorous !!
It doesn`t usually stop her !!
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