Snowboarding and other random pictures

I am happy to report that after being employed at a ski field for the better part of three months, dating a ski instructor for the same amount of time, and taking two lessons, I have reached one of my goals for the year.  I can finally say I'm comfortable skiing down some of the blue runs at Treble Cone (which would be considered black runs anywhere else. That mountain be STEEP).


Woohoo!


And, as of Tuesday, I acheived another goal -- I tried snowboarding.


Dave very kindly took time out of his work day up at the Cardrona ski resort where he works to show me how to board.  We went there cause it's a much easier mountain on which to learn anything thanks to its mercifully flat beginners' area and actual green runs (as mentioned above blue runs at Treble Cone = black elsewhere.  Same goes for the green run.  Green at TC = blue anywhere else).


It was a lot of fun, despite the multiple painful and embarassing spills and the inevitable mocking from my oh-so-helpful instructor (anyone who's ever tried to learn a new skill or teach a new skill to a romantic partner knows what I'm talking about). By late afternoon I managed to make it down the oh-so-flat slope once or twice without falling!  Go me!  Dave had to (begrudgingly) admit that I "turned out to be pretty average" after all.  Yay!  Mediocrity!


Though I am devastatingly without a camera at the moment, luckily Dave has one and has been very generous about my borowing it.  So, I have pictures!


Heading up the "magic carpet" (basically like an escalator in the snow).

After one of my many spills.



Still smiling though.  I'm a trouper.

We have motion! Look up Nadine.  Look up! 


I'm planning on taking another lesson on Monday or Tuesday up at Treble Cone, so hopefully I'll be able to actually make it down a run or two by then. 


In the meantime, I'm nursing sore muscles, limping, and groaning like an old lady.


Let's see, what else has been going on lately?


Dave and I went down to Invercargill again last week to watch a Rugby World Cup game between Scotland and Georgia.  It was fun, though expensive and the game itself was rather a snoozefest since not a single try (goal) was scored.  All the points were made thanks to penalty kicks.  Yawn.


Here are some photos.




Some sheep bedecked in the flags of the four nations that played games down in Invercargill.

A dude in a jaunty Scotish cap watches as the national anthems are sung before the match.

Heineken is sponsoring the RWC, so they're the only beer you can buy on the spot.  They come in these awful four packs, with environmentally unfriendly rings from which the beer is hard to extract (especially since they open the cans before selling them to you).  We ended up spending $72 on beer between the two of us.  That's for 12 beers.  Damn it.  As a result, I don't remember much of the second half of the match.

Unflattering shot of moi during the match.  Notice the be-mulleted man to my left (your right)?  He made a point of giving the finger to the TV camera every time it was pointed in his general direction.  Classy.  Also, it was raining, thus the hood.

Have I mentioned that Dave is also a volunteer fireman?  Pretty sweet eh?  Well two Saturdays ago there was an event to hand out plaques and stripes and pins and medals and such to various members of the Wanaka, Luggate and Hawea (three regions near here) fire brigade to recognize their years of service, and I got to go as Dave's date.


Not going to lie, the night was interminibly long what with the pomp and circumstance and the speaches and the awkward conversations.  It was like being at a high school graduation and a wedding where you know nobody all rolled into one.  On the plus side, I got to dress up and go somewhere with a man in uniform (awwwwww yeah!) and there was an open bar.  And you know I availed myself of that.




Me in a dress for the first time in months, and Dave in his fancy fireman suit for the first time ever.




Dave and some fellow brigaderes (not sure if that's a word, but I like it anyway) line up for some official welcome thing.  He's the fourth from the left.

 And I've had a few fun nights out with people from work.  Often I don't have a camera with me, but this particular night I did.


Me and the blondies: Jade, Jenny and Amber at Amber's house.



Amber and I looking as happy as we were (notice the glass).

 And Dave and I went to the old mining town of Arrowtown one day last week too.  He used to work at one of the resorts there and brought me on a little tour. It was quaint.



Me near the waterfall beside the Millbrook Resort.



Very likely the highlight of the week -- This is around where they filmed the Ford of Bruinen scenes in Fellowship of the Ring.  You know, the scene with the horses and the river.  I annoyed Dave with quotes from the movie for a good ten minutes after this ("Give us the halfling She Elf!"  "If you want him, come and claim him!").  Ahhhhh. Now that I look at it though, I think I should have gone another few hundred metres upriver.  Oh well.  Close enough.

And of course, in my jobless state, I've been spending a lot of time with a furry and barky creature.  He's taken to following me around wherever I go during the day on the off-chance that I might bring him for a walk (I do take him out once or twice a day).  Poor Scruff.




Scruffle Ruffle!  Happy to be out on a walk.



Speaking of Scruff, I really should bring him out.  He's been ever so patient all morning. Toodleloo!

Recapping Northland the lazy way: with photos.

As I mentioned in my last post, I headed up to the top of the North Island with a very nice girl by the name of Julia that I met at the hostel here in Auckland. 

It was a great three days and I am very proud to say I successfully managed to drive on the left-hand side of the road for the first time since 2004.  Once I turned right into the wrong lane, but other than that, I was golden.  Go me!

I could spend paragraphs describing the verdant hills, the sparkling bays, the misty horizon, the majestic trees and dunes and the gently swaying palm fronds that I enjoyed on my travels. But I’ll just show you what it looked like, yeah?

The route we took 



We spnt our first night in the very small town of Pukenui at a hostel that overlooked this beautiful bay. We were the only people in the place save for this German guy who was at the beginning of a five month biking trip up and down the country.  Crazy.

The three of us drove over to Ninely Mile Beach, which is, confusingly, a 64-mile stretch of uninterupted beach along the wesst coast of the top of the North Island. It's officially a highway, though you're not advised to drive on it.  Go figure.

There we watched the sun go down in a spectacular fashion.

The next day we went to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost point of New Zealand.  The Maoris believe that the spirits of the dead reach the underworld from this point.

Here the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet and make this funny wave. It's pretty cool.  

We also headed out to the Te Paki sand dunes where you can rent a board and, after a strenuous climb, slide down on your stomach like a tobbogan.

Te Matua Ngahere is the oldest and biggest tree in NZ.  This kauri is an estimated 2,000 years old and is six metres wide and has a girth of 16 metres!

This was the view from my room at the hostel in Whangaroa.  The town was laughably small, but the hostel was pretty sweet.  We were the only people in it, and it had a hot tub!

This awesome dog greeted us at the Ngwha Springs hot pools.  It layed on its back invitingly for at least five minutes after I stopped rubbing its belly.  It then refused to move when I needed to back the car up.

The Ngawha Springs hot pools.  They don't look like much, and smelled aweful, but my skin has rarely felt so nice.  Unfortunately, three days and three showers later, I still smell a little like sulphur.

Toi Toi grass is something you see nearly everywhere in NZ and it's awesome.

So that was Northland.  Now I'm back in Auckland and am back at square one.  What to do, what to do?  I applied for a job here, but haven't heard anything yet, and should likely continue looking for a car.  I just need to get motivated!