Home again

When we woke up I looked out the window hoping we would be able to see something but it was still misty, not as bad as yesterday but still no view. We went down for breakfast which was very good with some lovely fresh fruit.

We had a late check out but decided to check out as we were ready and go up the mountain again and if we couldn't see anything we could just head off home.

We went up the mountain again but could only get as far as car park 10 due to overnight snow they would only allow 4WD vehicles up or if you had chains. We got our togs on again and walked to car park 8 a little further up where a shuttle bus was waiting to take everyone up the rest of the way. It was a useful thing to go on as the driver told us about the temperature, the weather forecast and about the free chairlift to Happy Valley which we did not know about.

We got off the bus, which took a little time as we were packed in like sardines with skis, poles and snowboards but a good atmosphere. We walked a little way and the visibility was much the same as yesterday, maybe a bit better. We found the Happy Valley chairlift and so I said to Jon come on lets get on. Just as well I didn't look to see how high it was! I was on it and going down before I had time to think. At the bottom you could have a toboggan if you wanted but we just had a look around and watched the people coming off the higher chairlift and snowboarding.

It started to snow a lot and as the bus driver had said there would be snow down to 1100mts from lunchtime on, that was the level of the hotel, we decided we would go while we could get out. There was still no view so we went back on the chairlift and then back on bus to the car park.

The weather was getting worse by the minute and we were very wet by the time we got into the car. The drive back down was bad so I am glad we left when we did.

The start of the drive back was bad weather then it got a bit better and the sun came out.

We were getting a bit desperate for a place to stop for coffee as there was nothing along the road for miles. We finally found a place, which looked like an old petrol station. It was a pub and cafe and we had a good cup of coffee. Not sure how they make a living as it was so far away from any town. We did notice down at the pub end lots of photos on the wall and I went to look at them. they were of the local hunting and fishing club and were mostly of wild boar which had been shot. They were really big and the hunters were posing with them on their backs. The landlady told me they usually weigh about 200lbs. They had lots of skins, heads and bones hanging on the walls. We find some amazing places.

By now the sun had come out and by the time we got to Whakamura we were able to walk across the dam. Alison and her husband, Doug, told me that their parents lived out that way in the 1950s and worked on the many dams built around that area. We walked down to the viewing platform to look back up at the dam and you can see how big it is. It looks much bigger looking back up at it rather than from the top looking down.

We continued on and went to Tirau for lunch to a little bar we had seen last time we visited called Alley Cat. They had a lovely fire burning and we had some good soup.

We carried on and the rain started again and it was really bad by the time we got to the Kaimais
and as we came over the hill it looked really bad with black skies in Tauranga and we found out later on the weather forecast they had a lot of thunder and hail. Poor Totty in kennels.

We went to the kennels when they opened at 4.00 to pick Totty up and she was very glad to see us.

We got back and had a cup of tea and I spent ages trying to upload photos on FB. I get so cross with it as it only lets me put a few on at a time!!!

We have a local pizza place down the road and when it opened a few months ago we tried a pizza but were not impressed. Jon was going to get us one for dinner tonight which is about 15 minutes away but we decided to give our local man another chance. We were really glad we did as it was a yummy pizza so maybe he just had a few teething problems.

We had a call from Kirsty and James about their trip to Oz an here next March. We thought they had not got anything organised but James has done a spreadsheet with everything on and it is all looking good. He has sent me a copy and I can add things that they can do while down here. so we can now go ahead and book the trip to Melbourne for the Grand prix.

WEATHER
Started clearer than yesterday 2 degrees. Snow, mist. Rain. Sun and more rain then fine. 16 degrees