I rode in a Heli bopper

I will translate. A friend of ours, Sacha, works for a heli-copter repair company. He promised us, that when one comes in for repair he would get us a ride in it to Queenstown. That happened on Thursday. Let me tell it was amazing. Myself and Orla were a bunch of giggling girls. In true style, we laughed, squealed and giggled all the way to Queenstown. The sensation of hovering is odd. One minute we were staying in the hanger getting a pret talk on heli-coptor saftey, then next we are ducking under the propellors and boarding the craft. Safety belts locked, headset on and we were hovering above Wanaka airport. We flew out of Wanaka, through the crown range, over the Cardrona Saddle, into Arrowtown and down into Queenstown airport. It was amazing.







Back in Queenstown that evening, I met up with Glynn and Patrick for a couple of drinks. It was great to see them and catch up with them. Even though they are both living in different parts of New Zealand, I haven't managed to spend alot of time with them which is a shame. But it was great to see them. We met up again for a little while boarding in Cardrona the next day.

After a rather miserable day yesterday, myself and Orla headed up to TC today. It was a glorious day. Sun shining, blue skies and powder. Ok lets not get carried away, it was only pretend powder. At least it was one of the better days here.

My enthuasiasm is fading..

Overcast, icy, slush and then more ice. No sun and yet no snow. Today my enthusiasm faded. Snowboarding across chunks of ice down towards the icy base of white star, I thought to myself, oh my god - this is going to be a long day and so it was. My two ride breaks were short lived and lunch was spent in the staff room and not ripping it up on the hill. My heart just wasn't in it today. However, a text from Patrick and Glynn soon cheered me up when I realised that one was here and the other on route. I can't wait to spend some of the weekend boarding with them and catching up on old times.

The joys of 630 :)

Ok, so its a pain to get up at 630 in the morning for work, but when you get views and sunrises like this - it certainly makes things a whole lot nicer.

Woheeee - look at me!!

See what happens when you drop your goggles down the stairs!!

What a week?

Two days on the bottom of Captains, one day at the bottom of Mc Dougals and a day at the bottom of Captains. Four 630 morning starts and four 530 evening finishes - by the end of the week I was shattered. Today myself and Orla spent the afternoon hanging out with Neal, Chris, Sean and Julie-ann at the Albert town lodge. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shinning - a gentle breeze. We spent the afternoon sitting on bean bags, reading, doddling, kicking a football, a rugby ball, a frisbee... it was a summers day. Hard to believe. The weather this week has been amazing. I was working in a t-shirt yesterday.

Met up with James and Michael yesterday. They came up to Cardrona for the day and found me on my lift station. It was great to see them. However, it was a bit surreal - meeting on a ski slope half across the work. The amount of irish climbers I have met on this trip is rather outrageous. Is there anyone at home?

Sunset at the Lake

After a great day in Treble Cone we spent a while at the Glendhu boulders taking in the wonderful light as the sunset over Lake Wanaka.