"Ski" weekend...

We headed up north to Ohakune, the gateway town to the mountain/volcano, where you can ski/board in the North Island. There are two other ski fields/resorts around as well, but we have only ever been to this one, called Turoa. WE were invited by our friends Nichola and Duncan, who have just moved back from England to settle in New Zealand, and wanted a ski weekend away. Here's a pic of them (taken on my new camera/phone/coolest thing I have ever owned). A nice pic of them, but not the clearest image ever. However, it's still great to have a camera with me most of the time now.

Bryce was super keen to get some boarding done, since he got so buzzed up about it from the boarding done in Canada at Christmas, especially with Robyn and Lawrence in the Rockies, at Lake Louise. So we drove up Friday night and moved into our cute little chalet that we had rented: Nichola, Duncan, Nichola's sister Gemma, their 14 month old son William and us. It was a fun group to hang out with and in the morning, Gemma, Duncan and Bryce headed up the mountain. WE had been warned that the weather was not going to be great, but had woken up with a great clear view of the volcano, and figured it was worth a shot. (On another note, I am training for a half marathon and decided it was better to get a training run in, than stress myself out with a day of "learning" to ski for the 15th time. Nichola was going to take William up later in the day to play in the snow.)
Before I went for my run, Nichola and I noticed a weird sound coming from the lounge floor. Turns out, a pipe from the water cylinder burst, probably from serious cold and lack of use, and water was rushing out (like a full-on turned on hose!) from underneath the house. We called the lady who owned the place, who in turn apologized and just said, don't worry, a plumber will check it out tomorrow. Regardless of how we explained, "uh, it's A LOT of water coming out!", she reiterated that we should not worry and if we wanted to have hot showers, to find a place to have them and she would reimburse us the cost. WOw.
Meanwhile, the boys and Gemma got one run in before the weather turned horrible (it actually turned into a blizzard while they were riding the chair lift, and the chair they were on was blown out to one side from the insane wind!). The mountain was officially closed, and they all got their money back. So they came back, we poured some wine and played board games inside, while it poured rain from the sky, and poured water from the foundation of the house. WE all felt weird sitting around not doing anything to help the problem with the house, but the women assured us that we should just leave it be, and enjoy ourselves. Plus, none of us were volunteering to lie down in a massive freezing cold mud puddle, underneath the rotted poles holding the house off the ground, to slide under the house to "check out the sitch". It sure was nice merlot....
WE played this funny board game called SMuggle where one person is the customs officer and the rest of the players try to lie/or tell the truth about what cards they are holding and therefore what "they have to declare". The customs officer has to decide whether to take the money for the items declared, or call the person's bluff and hopefully fine them more money. It's pretty amazing how people you think can be so honest, lie to you without "blinking an eye". Shocking, yet very entertaining.
However, not as oddly interesting as what happened today. We went to an indoor climbing wall and played around on the walls, which was something we haven't done in a long time. Good fun and amazing to find out how fast your arms can become entirely exhausted. Mine felt like sacks of potatoes, trying to get to the floor before my feet could!. Here are some pics of the boys climbing.


Nice calves, eh?

THAT'S NOT THE INTERESTING BIT THOUGH.....

On our way back through town, some teens were crossing the road, but one misjudged that we were driving through (he was walking out onto a busy highway, in town, while two other mates were patiently waiting for traffic to clear). Bryce stopped the car/slammed the brakes and raised his finger to his head, as if to say "Use your brain" to the kid. His other friends took exception to Bryce's gesture, and banged/spanked? the back of our car as they crossed behind our car. They obviously has forgotten to read the rules of ski town etiquette and did not know it is extremely offensive to touch someone's car, especially someone's SUBARU. Bryce stopped the car in the middle of the road, and jumped out, upset that these kids were just going to act like that was okay. Bryce said, "what was that all about?" and two of the kids approached Bryce (hoodies over their heads, looking quite tough) and got real close to Bryce's face. I was not pleased at this at all, as you can imagine and fearing for the unpredictability of teenagers and Bryce's safety. The one kid then headbutts Bryce (like goat does to establish territory), so Bryce yells to me to call the police. I do so, and as I am getting the phone sorted, the kid pushes Bryce twice but backs away when he sees that I am on the phone. The whole posse walk away to the other side of the road and into the adjacent park to scatter like the vermin they represented. Keep in mind, I think teenagers are awesome and spend time with great kids everyday. These kids were not representative of teens and I don't think all teenagers are vermin. These ones were though.
So police were there within 2 minutes, caught up with a few of the "slower mice" and eventually got the "king rodent" with the "goat tactics" and locked them up until their parents came to the station to get them. Bryce and I had to give statements and it was all quite an interesting (and no longer scary, once Bryce - I felt - was no longer in danger) and educational event. The extra interesting bit of this was when the cop explained to us, after our description of what the person looked like and what they were wearing, that the king rodent was actually a 14 yr old female, Bryce was like, "uh, no. It was a guy". The cop assured us that others have mistaken her for a male before, we were shocked.
So, as I sit here, with a warm fire cranking, a hot chocolate, a pile of graded homework from lovely teenagers who will make the world a better place, and solid pipes in the foundation of our house (at least that's what we hope....), I reflect on how lucky we are and how others are less fortunate. When I told the policeman who was taking my statement that I felt sad for this girl who "assaulted" Bryce, the cop said, "Why do you feel sad? Those specific kids know exactly what they are doing. And they know that we can't do much to them." I still thinks it's a sad state though. Makes me feel like at least I hope I am helping other teens make better decisions than that chicky did today.
SO, was it a good "ski" weekend? Damn straight it was! No skiiing, burst pipes, customs smuggling, and a head butt to boot. But it was a great chance to get away, and also, I had been complaining that I needed some good stories to put on my blog, so "it's all good".

On another note, here's the wicked ski suit Duncan bought for $25. None of us lost the bets bad enough this weekend to warrant having to wear it out anywhere though...

New nieces are still the most exciting news and still get top billing, but...

This is too funny.

Annalise Arden

Meet the newest addition to the Knight clan, Annalise Arden, born on Sunday July
20th to Rob and Kathy (and Asher and Abby). How exciting to have two new babies in the family in one weekend. My parents said it was pretty hectic, but great!
I imagine how it will be when Zoe, several years from now, can give digs to Annalise about being the older cousin (like twins do). It's pretty amazing how both of Tim and Rob's last 2 children were born within a few weeks (or in the recent case, days) of each other. Max and Abby, and now Zoe and Annalise.
I wonder if they will do a "three-peat"? We can only hope! They are both pretty good at making cute babies!

Zoe Claire Knight

A very proud "Gamma" holding Zoe. The newest addition to the Knight family has arrived. Zoe Claire was born to Tim and Kristie on Friday (saturday NZ time) at a massive 10 lbs 14 oz. Big baby! Can't wait to meet her.....
Awaiting the newest Rob and Kathy project anytime now as well. Watch this space.

Long weekend

So we headed off on Friday morning to check out the famed "Castlepoint" on the east coast of the north island. Whenever I ask anyone if they have been there, almost everyone has, and yet it is a pretty remote place. 2 1/2 hr drive from us and inland 1 hr from the closest town.
Castle point is a small little holiday surf destination with "lots" (like 30) of cottages all nestled around the little bay. It has some pretty mean wave action which has made some good rock formations from all the erosion. It was called Castlepoint because Captain Cook thought the rock formations looked like fortress walls, like a castle would have. In some of the pics we've taken you can see the neat views. The bay is protected by a big reef that curves out and rises up (like a castle wall). As you can also tell from the pics, it's not summer here. We have decided to rent a cottage/"bach" (pronounced "batch") in summer with some friends and do some better checking out of the place.




This was a creation on Castlepoint beach, called, "The Home of the Lost Soles", a memoriam to old flipflops/jandals and other sandals. On the bottom, there was even an old cast from someone's foot!

After the Castlepoint stop we drove backcountry Targa racing style until we happened upon the longest place name in the world.

This was the road sign that signalled to us to stop. The reason you might not stop is because the "place" is really not much of a place. Just a place where something did happen a long time ago, but with no substantial significant landmark left behind, just a story (see my previous blog entry for the story).
Needless to say, it was worth the drive. I love random stuff like this. And I would even like to brag to say, I can say the whole name by memory. I learnt it so that one day, when some quiz is on, or a crucial moment in a Trivial Pursuit game arises, I can let the geek within me shine and speak fluent Maori for that one moment in time!



Note the length of the car parked in front of the sign, and the sign still being longer than the car.
After the excitement of the longest place name in the world sign, we headed off to Napier to stay with Carl and Denise for the weekend. Rod and Donal had planned to join us there as well, so we had a great weekend hanging out with everyone. Bryce and the boys got lots of riding done and Denise and I got a tramp done at a place called "Blowhard Bush". You will notice in the pictures that the place is aptly named. It was a cool hike, with neat caves which the track was built around and through. Rumour has it that an outcasted family had escaped into this part of the bush back in the 1800's and lived in one of the caves; this made for some interesting discussion of what parts of which cave would have been suitable for living in and so on. We got right into one cave and just as I was checking out a very dark corner and hoping that the roof was high enough so that the weta's (yucky native insects with lots of legs, like a massive cricket) that love dark spaces would choose to remain on the rock and not on my hair......something tickled my neck. I let out a scream and a shiver, and then felt slightly embarrassed. C'mon, raindrops can be creepy..... when in a cave!!




After that walk, we checked out an old Maori pa ("pah") site, which is just a settlement on a hill, where they would have been able to check out to see if any enemies were coming close to attack them. Some of the old pallisades still remain, but the rest of the walk was a bit left to the imagination. Nevertheless, there is something great about finally stopping and checking out something you always say, "oh, we should stop there someday". Well, someday should sometimes be today!
Great weekend and a nice break from work and trying to keep busy during the holiday.
Hopefully we can keep doing interesting things and our camera stays nice to us so I can keep updating this. Till then, let me know how you are doing.


PS. Neat pic of the chickens at the maori pa site. I like chickens.

Taumatawhakatangi....

On school holidays and enjoying the lack of schedule. Been shopping a bunch, had a hair cut and colour and off to Napier tomorrow to play with friends. Tomorrow, we are going to see Castlepoint; a real pretty place with nice rock formations, a lighthouse and from what I hear pretty crazy mean waves. I think we will stay out of the water tomorrow though, more because its freezing, not so much for the water action! Then we hope to finally see the sign for the longest place name in the world.
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipuka
kapikimaungahorongukapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
It is Maori for "The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as landeater, played his flute to his loved one.” We should all have places like this named after us. I wonder what they would call mine. "The place where Canadian chick, known as clamato-lover, who bruises easily, once ate a whole packet of Toffee Pops, and then threw up." Yep, sounds like a name to go down in history. Now, if I could only get someone to translate it into Maori for me. They may struggle with the "clamato" conversion....

Watch this funny video called the Man song. I don't really think men should be put in their place, but its funny anyhow.