Had a rad day up at Cardies. And Louie made a friend...Pixie.
Erica charging through the very good powder snow. We hiked for this line. Not far and well worth it.

Howdy
The end of the season is upon us but as one door closes another opens eh... Its has been an unusual closing couple of weeks with cold nasty southerly conditions blasting the south island laying snow down to sea level and filling in the mountains around us. The farmers have been suffering with huge loss of early lambs, the worst in years. But the southerlys turned NW and had considerable strength allowing a couple of early season sessions out in the bay.Not really cold at all. Check the snow line.

View from the Cardrona summit. Lovely. Cold and crisp.
And Erica charging down the backside of the peak. Beautiful snow, light and dry. Nice turns there Wymore.

Snow soo dry it hangs in the air. Love this photo.

Louie protecting his mum from the big hairy bed invader called Charlie.
They are friends though.
More Erica on the steeps.

The Queenstown mountains in the background. Winter conditions in the middle of September. This was the clam before the storm. Now on day three of some cold southerly conditions here in Wanaka. Snow on the ground this morning with loads on the hills. Cold wind though causing havoc all around. Just bought a new windsurf board at the prospect of spring. Can't see me using it soon though. Too bleeding cold.

So as we approach the middle of August its time to recap on the winter so far. Its been fun for sure with some great days up the hill and good, busy times down at the lodge. We have had our friend Kate helping us out for the last 6 weeks taking some of the load of the cleaning schedule and keeping our moral up with her funniness and banter. We bought a new car. Subaru Forester which is awesome and fast and flys up the hill on rails. Almost lost it in the snow this day though.

Rime on Erica at Cardies on a cold and damp day.
Going up or down?

A much better day with some freshies still off piste. Kate and Erica.
One of our guests caught some trout and we had trout benedict fot breakfast.

Louie sleeps like a baby in Kate's lap.
He's a local now cus he's got a Chop tee.
Avalanche rescue doggy. D-fa.com if you want a jacket for your pooch.

But spring is in the air with some mild days down here and rain on the skifields.

Scored a skydive.
Erica under the pretty chute.
Landing smooth.
Zach and the family
Sunny Mt Iron

No post for a while. Its all been go here in sunny Wanaka with school holidays drawing to a close this weekend and all returning back to normal. We have had an unbroken run of beautiful, sunny and cold weather. No new snow since the dump 3 weeks ago but its been so calm and chilly that Cardrona has stayed in great condition despite the crowds. I have been up the hill a grand total of 10 times so far. Not bad and it looks like snow this week. Yeh. Zach left this morning and I think he had a good time. Plenty of skiing and riding his scooter and we had some good times on the climbing wall over the road. KB is here now helping us out and keeping our sanity too. And scored a 15000ft skydive. Amazing, cannot recommend it enough. Kinda scary sitting on the edge but once out the door it was unreal. 200km/h headwind, incredible views over the whole Wanaka basin, 60 seconds freefall, bloody freezing. And then with a gentle tug the parachute(thankfully)opening. Then just a cruise down to the landing with me going weeee like a kid. Very cool experience.

Lovely opening day up at Cardrona. Sun and freshies. No one about. I sometimes think that I am over snowboarding but every season as winter rolls around the old buzz comes back. Such fun out there cruising around the piste, bashing through the powder and scaring myself in the park. And the views are great.
Wanaka buried down in the cloud, not seeing the sun all day.
Me and Zach
Queenstown in the distance. Brett cruising round the back of Cardrona.

Tekapo Trip

Took a trip up to Tekapo. Pulled into the valley at Ohau just to show Linda and Zach where we used to live. Louie marked his territory.
Striking views and light up at Tekapo.
The Church of the Good Shepard. Woke in the morning to a massive dump of snow. 20cm down at lake level.
Dodgy old drive back to Wanaka.

4 death by sharks last year. 4from dogs in the US alone.
100000 sharks killed by humans mainly for soup.

The last leg of our travels took us back from Wellington on the ferry to Kaikoura. We camped at meatworks and woke to a cold and beautiful morning with snow on the seaward kaikoura range.


Bombed it down to Tekapo. Dog checked out the dog statue. Had a sniff. And then back to sunny Wanaka. Sounds like we missed all the crappy weather and its been great since we have been back. No inversion. Just cold and sunny with loads of snow already in place for the start of the season next week. Can't wait...


So New Zealand are pootling along in the World cup with an ever increasing wave of hysteria building behind them. The Italians have been doing their homework however. Here is some secret footage of them in training...