Monday 15 Sept - More snow ....

On Monday we returned for the kids to attend 'discover snowboarding'.


Tony and I headed up the mountain on the several ski lifts to the Alpine Lodge at the top for a hot chocolate.!!



The highest Cafe in NZ..... Look at the icicles! And loads of posters letting you know the route out if Mt Ruapehu erupts.



Some scenic pictures......




Then we headed back down to catch up with the kids..



Louise.......



Messing around in the snow, using the snowboard as a sledge!




More fun in the snow!




Then 3hours after leaving the mountain resort we were back in Napier by the sea. Strange to experience two completely different climates in one day!

Sunday 14 Sept - Skiing at Whakapapa ski fields

Mt Ruapehu........


We'd booked ourselves on a 'discover ski package' which gave us all the gear, lift passes and a 2hr group lesson. By the end of the lesson the kids and I could manage (in a fashion!) to get down the nursery slope with out falling over. No pictures of Tony, as after having his feet jammed in ski boots for a couple of hours he was enjoying himself as much as (in his words!) "sticking pins in my eyes!!"

Luckily the weather was brilliant, not a cloud in the sky. Having arrived in our big winter coats, we were soon down to our T-shirts!

Louise's idea of skiing was to launch herself down the slope and ski until she felt she was going toooo fast and then throw herself to the ground!!





Some more pictures......

Saturday 13 Sept - Napier to Taupo...

We decided that we would head off to the ski fields at Mt Ruapehu. First we had to drop the dogs at the boarding kennels where they would stay for 3 days! We loaded them into their new travel cage, which would double as their sleeping area whilst they were in the kennels.



They breed Newfoundland's at the kennels, they are huuuge when they stand up!



Then we were off on our 2 hour drive to Taupo the home of New Zealand's largest lake called 'Lake Taupo'. Some interesting facts about Lake Taupo.....

Length 25 nautical miles (46 km)
Width 18 nautical miles
Perimeter 104 nautical miles
Area 60,000 ha (600km²)
Volume 59 km³




After a look around the Lake we headed off to do some touristy things!. First we headed to the Aratiatia Dam, the first of a series of hydroelectric stations on the Waikato River. The dam is opened several times a day to release the build up of water from Lake Aratiatia and creates the Aratiatia Rapids. 90,000 litres are released from the spillway per second when the gates are open.



Then we headed to the Craters of the Moon (but they don't look like moon craters!) There were a couple of mud pools and lots and lots of steam vents. It was a fast 30 mins walk around as we had to head to our next activity.




Then we headed to our prebooked jet boat ride!! which was fantastic. We all got wet which was expected! Thrilling 360° spins at very fast speeds! As the kiwis would say 'awesome'!!





And finally.......... McDonalds Taupo....