14th September (Saturday)
We arrived at Wellington airport on Eva's 3rd birthday - Rich met us and transported us to his new place in Titahi Bay, Porirua. Eva's Party was already in full swing. Hannah gave out invitations she had made (although Mark's was empty...). A Piñata was bashed and pass the parcel was played - I gave up and left girls to clear up the associated meltdowns ('she got stickers, I didn't get stickers' etc). Nice barbie - Thanks Rich.
15th Sun
We went to Raumati where the girls had a go on a model train. We ate fush n' chups and went to the beach. In the evening we went to Mark, Annabel and Cian's. Got home and played Brutal Legend. It was pretty bad.
16th
Rich had work. I drove him to the station and borrowed his car. We drove into Wellington and went to the museum - saw a mashed up colossal squid and experienced an earthquake. Rich bought GTA5.
Mark, Annabel and Cian's for dinner. expertly cooked curry.
17th
Rich at work again (jesus). We went searching in rockpools at the local beach and found shiny Paua (abalone) shells. Got home and cooked a curry.
Vikki, Ben and Amelia came over for tea. Many popadoms were consumed. Kids played well together, apart from the device fight.
Hannah ate all the pies |
The girls
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18th
Drove from Welly to Ohakune. Great views of the 2 volcanos on the way, one of which we were planning to slide down the flanks of on small planks of polycarbonate the next day. Lovely clear day. Checked into the Rocky mountain Chalets. Saw a big carrot and a big snowman.
19th - Skiing!
Drove up mountain. collected gear. Nice image of Eva dancing in her all-in-one ski suit. Avoided the maths problem of firring 2 snowboards, 2 skis and 5 people in the car as ski technology has come on since we last did this and Kerry's skis were relatively short.
Dropped kids off at Yeti kids care - highly recommended. no fuss. We gave then money and they took the kids! Lynsey's clone was there. Easy get away and we were off. Stood up, fell on bottom, front and side on a number of different surfaces - ice, snow and rock many, many, many times. Went up to upper mountain and they promptly closed the lifts due to the weather. Now we had to get down!
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Being an absolute beginner on the board this posed to be a bit of a problem. I perfected a technique of sliding on my back with the board flat in front of me. Only problem was zero visibility. Other skiers weren't a problem at this stage as they had long skiied back down away from the weather. Rich carried on down and we managed to blag a lift on a snow plough.
Snow Ploughs from inside a snow plough |
Happy lift action |
Discovered I could now board (with proper turning and everything) on the green learning slope! In at the deep end works! Nice one Rich. By this time I was completely destroyed and could barely see.
Picked kids up. Lynsey has left for the day but we were told Hannah has apparently been skiing (was pretty good) and Eva danced in the snow (was also pretty good). Lost Evas goggles but managed to confuse the man in the shop so got away with it.
went to supermarket and found an incredibly expensive courgette.
Played GTA5. Much better than Brutal Legend
20th
Mountain closed. Went for a walk to the big carrot. Bought stickers.
Went in the spa, which was awesome.
21st - back to Welly
spend 3 hours deciding what to buy in the icebreker discount store.
bought zelfs for the kids.
22 - 24th
Shit happened. Kerry got a haircut.
25th - Hometime We had a fast tracked flight back to Sydney due to a medical emergency onboard. A very steep descent got us in 20mins or so before schedule. Home at last.
Rich has just shat himself. |
The big slide playground |
I did woodwork in improvised slippers |
The lads did party |
More photos here.
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