Ski trip

We have just got back from our annual snow weekend. It was a wonderful weekend out of town with about forty of us staying close to Mt Ruapehu and spending a couple of days skiing and relaxing. I had my first ever skiing lesson along with a few others from our group. I won't pretend I enjoyed it; not only was it incredibly hard, but our instructor seemed to omit many of the fundamentals, like how we should be standing/leaning, how to stop sliding sideways down the mountain, what to do with our arms, and, most importantly, how to get up every time we fell down. I have a ski pass for two more lessons before the end of the season but will have to psyche myself up to try again. I'll give it a month or so and then see.

Here's a run down of our weekend away.

• The public toilets in Levin are positively weird. Not only do they talk to you, but the voice informs you have you have a ten minute time limit!
• The Whanganui River looks deceptively beautiful as it reflects the street lights on a clear, dark night.
• Penny Arcade is an unusual, but not unpleasant, earworm to have on a night time road trip.
• Driving up a mountain with three passengers and into sunstrike is kind of freaky.
• Apparently there is a ski boot for everyone. I'm not sure mine was up the mountain on Saturday but apparently we were 'getting closer'.
• Make sure your merino top tucks all the way into your ski pants. Gaps = cold.
• Get up the mountain early. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get everybody's passes and ski gear sorted.
• Ski staff are incredibly helpful. It also seems compulsory for them all to have a deliciously exotic accent.
• Wearing too many layers is just as bad as wearing not enough when skiing. I never thought I'd be sweating on a snowy mountain.
• Ski instructors are an endlessly patient and encouraging breed of person. Even when I fell over just by standing still, I was assured just how well I was doing. Bless.
• Despite trying really hard to not be paranoid about reinjuring the ankle which boasts a reconstructed ligament, I couldn't relax on the mountain and really struggle during the lesson. :-(
• Skis are not a natural extension of my feet.
• Bruises are unfortunately inevitable.
• Trying to put a baby goat into someone's room after midnight is not a good idea. Oh wait - that sounds dodgier than it actually was, but I'll explain another time.