I know I have only just been on a skiing trip, but winter is nearly over here, and I wanted to get in one last holiday before the ski fields close. One of my friends at Coastguard is also 'ski-mad' and was keen to make use of her season pass for Mount Ruapehu. She also dragged her boyfriend along who had never actually been before, but wanted to give it a go.
We left Auckland at about 6am on Thursday morning. I was absolutely shattered as I had been up until 12am unpacking all my boxes from the house move in an attempt to find all my ski gear. Jess had just finished her 12 hour Coastguard night-shift, so it was left to Andrew to drive us down. Needless to say it was a pretty quiet car for the 5 hour journey!
Once we arrived we dropped off our kit in the bach (kind of like a holiday chalet) that we had rented. It was quite small, but plenty big enough for three. Apparently it was supposed to sleep seven people, although I'm not sure how that would have worked with one shower and one toilet! Actually, I tell a lie. There were two toilets, but I'm not sure anyone would have wanted to use option number two. It was a bit public for my liking, and perhaps a bit cold overnight!
Mount Ruapehu is actually an active volcano, and is apparently one of the most active in the world, with its most recent eruption in 2008. Luckily nothing happened while we were there.... but it is pretty cool to be able to say that I have been skiing on an active volcano!
Once we had dropped our kit off in the bach, we headed straight up to the ski field. We were all quite tired, but were keen to make good use of our limited time.
After we arrived Jess and I did a few practice runs on the beginners slope and then got on the ski lift to go up the mountain. We left Andrew to have a lesson from one of the instructors, and get to grips with the basics.
After day number one Jess and I were pretty tired, and we decided to 'beach' ourselves at the bottom of the mountain and send Andrew to get the car and pick us up instead of having to walk there!
We all slept very well that night, and despite a few bruises here and there, were looking forward to day number 2. Andrew on the other hand, wasn't so keen as his boots had been rubbing him the day before. He dropped off myself and Jess at the mountain and went to play golf!
Day 2 was beautiful weather again, and the lifts weren't busy as it was a weekday. Jess and I headed straight up to to the top of the mountain and decided to do some off-piste runs as the visibility was great, and the snow was perfect.
After a few runs we took a break at the cafe halfway down the mountain. We had hot chocolate, and then decided to get a couple of chocolate bars to dip in for extra energy! The view from the cafe was amazing, and it was warm enough to sit outside.
After another afternoon of skiing, we were both shattered, and called on our chauffeur to pick us up again. This time we managed to look slightly less 'beached' and didn't require the assistance of 'marine mammal rescue'!
Once back at the bach we got showered and had a few drinks out on the front deck in the evening sun. It was still really warm, and very peaceful. It was nice to get out of the city for a while! We then went out for dinner at one of the local bars, and had a few more drinks! Afterwards we headed back to the bach in preparation for our final day skiing.
Jess and I got up nice and early and were raring to go so Andrew offered to drop us off at the mountain and then return to the bach to pack the car. Needless to say, Jess and I jumped at the chance to get as much skiing in as possible! The weather was glorious again, and the snow was perfect. Unfortunately, this time as it was a Saturday, the lifts were much busier. We did work out that the further you went up the mountain though, the quieter the lifts, so we spent much of the day at the top. We did manage another hot chocolate and chocolate bar stop though :)
There was one hair-raising moment where Jess and I had a miscommunication, and she turned left to go traverse across the mountain and I went right and continued on down. We were heading towards the cafe so I said that we would just go our separate ways and meet there. I went a route that we hadn't yet been on, but I could see a couple of other people skiing in that direction, so I thought I would join them.... little did I know that I was about to go down a black run (the most difficult there is)! I did wonder at the time why there were so few people around, as from what I could see it looked like an intermediate run. I saw a half-pipe style run in the valley which I knew would be fun, so followed the other two skiers, and successfully negotiated it. The valley then ran on to the edge of a VERY steep slope, but knew by that point it was too late to turn back. I would either have to ski down or take off the skis and climb all the way back up the valley. I did quite well actually, and only fell over once. I was pretty pleased with myself, especially after I found out it was a black run. I can now officially say I have skied my first black run, and more importantly, survived it!
At 4pm the lifts closed and we packed our skis in the car and drove towards Rotorua. There was a Coastguard conference in Rotorua that evening and Jess wanted to see some of her old friends from the Canterbury team. We planned to stay overnight and then spend Sunday doing some sight seeing and touristy things.
I'll create a separate post for our day in Rotorua as I'm not sure how many photos a single post will take before the system crashes!
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