Boarding at Mount Hutt

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Astrid was taking a first responders course this weekend in Westport, so the kids and I decided to try out the New Zealand ski slopes. After much soul searcher and internet browsing, we elected to head for Mt. Hutt in Cantebury (a couple of hours south west of Christchurch). We headed out Friday morning, with a quick stop in Christchurch to affect a repair to Adrianne's new braces. She had been picking at them and pulled the top wire loose. I tried to fix them with a pair of needle nose pilers, but evidentally this orthodontic stuff is a bit more complicated.

We had a couple of hours to kill so we strolled through Cathedral Square where the Christchurch Arts Festival was in full swing. In the middle of the square was a giant inflatable orchid. A "Futuro" UFO house was also on display. This "building" which is shaped like a UFO was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968, with only 96 built world-wide - no wonder. A fairly goofy idea.

Across the square was a minature house occupied by the builder/artist? Stephen Bain. The house is no more than a couple of feet high. Mr. Bain sits (hunched) inside playing a child's xylophone. There is a "mailbox" outside the house where one can leave messages for the occupant. He was also prepared to engage in conversation through one of the minature windows. The kids were sorted of freaked out by him and were not anxious to speak to him. Adrianne did leave him a message asking about his washroom situation. Need more info? He has a blog too: http://www.wherearethefinethings.blogspot.com/

Later that afternoon we headed out of Christchurch, rented some boarding gear in Darfield, and travelled on to Methven, the town closet to Mount Hutt. We stayed at the Mount Hutt Motel which was more than adequate. It was quite warm outside and Avery and Joshua took some time to play tennis on the grass court at the motel. The game quickly devolved into some sort of a bizarre race which involved rolling on the ground under the net. Adrianne was completely engrossed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which we picked up in Christchurch. We had dinner with a pair of locals at "the Lodge". They were kind enough to share their table on a particularly busy Friday night. Unfortunately the combination of the noise in the restaurant together with the Kiwi accent made it difficult to have a conversation.

We spent Saturday and Sunday on the slopes of Mt. Hutt. The snow cover was lacking. The main runs were open covered with adequate man made snow. However, many of the runs had bare spots were the rocks protruded. I was grateful that I rented a board rather than risking our own equipment. The view from the mountain was excellent. On Saturday the sky was relatively clear and we could see the pacfic ocean from the chairlift. On Sunday, the clouds came in and we spent much of the day skiing through the clouds - always an interesting experience. The facilities were relatively spartan by North Americian standards, but it was nice to get away from the commercialism on the slopes back home. The road up to the mountain was scarry crazy. This narrow road runs more than 10km up to the edge of the mountain. On one side was the mountain and the other was a preciptious drop, which Josh pointed out would result in certain death if one slid off. It got quite harried whenever it become necessary to pass another vehicle. Happily the road conditions were not bad - we did not need chains on the tyres, which was good, since I did not have any.

The truck has been acting up lately. The starter seems to be gradually failing. When leaving the mountain for our 4.5 hour return trip through Arthur's Pass, it took about 10 minutes of gentle coaxing together with prayer, to get the truck to turn over. Once started, I kept it running all the way back to Reefton where Astrid had a welcome meal and we had a small celebration for Josh's birthday.

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Photos

Springfield, New Zealand
The folks in Springfield New Zealand erect a donunt in honour of the Simpson's movie release. Needless to say, we had to take a picture.

Comments

[junior]

Chains on Tyres.
I am curious. You mentioned that you didn't need any chains on the tyres, since you didn't have any. How does your vehicle go without tyres? Hovercraft? I have heard that hovercrafts often develope starter problems. I believe there is a recall. Happy B-B-day to Josh. (B-B-day = belate birthday). I commend him on his choice of birthday month, as I too am a connoisseur of July.

[junior]

Dough
Not me again! Not you again! (pronounced 'Not yer-gen'). Was that doughnut made from 'doh!'?