For the past week or so I've had the cough/cold from hell; I've been very worried that it was going to develop into bronchitis like in Banff but I think - hope? - that today I'm over the worst. However, I did have today off work due to 3 nights in a row with hardly any sleep due to constant hacking. I did actually get up this morning and put my uniform on, but when Isaac came into the bedroom to find me sat on the bed crying due to sheer exhaustion, he wisely advised me that I probably wasn't going to be much use at work. I called in sick, which I hate doing because I'm always paranoid that they'll think I'm lying, and then tried to go back to sleep for a bit, which I managed to do, albeit on and off, till nearly 1pm. A day sat on the sofa watching Amelie and playing on the internet ensued and I definitely noticed that my cough has decreased in its ferocity a little, so I'm hoping tonight won't be so bad.
Tuesday and Wednesday are our days off, and this Tuesday, as I was feeling very rough, we spent the day at home doing much needed things like washing and cleaning. Whoop de doo. Come Wednesday, one more sleepless night down, I really wanted to just take it easy again but it was a bluebird day, I hadn't been on my board for 2 weeks, the NZ Freeski competition was on at Cardrona AND I didn't want to cheat Isaac out of a day on the snow, so come late morning I dosed myself up, and sucked it up Buttercup.
I had been flicking through a book a couple of days before in the bookshop called "Great Outdoor Adventures: An Extreme Guide to the Best Outdoor Pursuits" by the fabulous Bear Grylls. In it, whilst talking about skiing, he advises against being over-cautious, since this tends to over-ride the natural instincts and abilities that confidence affords you. Certainly in both skiing and snowboarding I've found that whenever I think 'Uh-oh, I don't think I'm going to make this!', invariably I don't. So with this in mind, and boyed by a dream I'd had the night before in which I was a really good snowboarder, I decided that today, I could do this. Sure enough, I found myself following Isaac onto terrain that previously I'd have avoided - too steep, too bumpy - and killing it. I threw yet more caution to the wind and upped my speed and realised it had all clicked! In sheer joy I followed Isaac off a small jump and landed it!* By the end of the day I found myself on our mini-bordercross course** riding the rollers and banked corners with ease. Hurray! Now I can't wait to get on my board again. My pesky coffee hand still waves around like crazy without my knowledge or permission, but at least I feel like I can now get to work on such small things. I may only have achieved mediocrity, but I embrace it like an old friend.
*it was a very small jump. And I got a very small amount of air. But still.
**okay okay it's called the Family Fun Park or something and I know 10 year olds are probably therefore supposed to be able to do it but I would still have avoided it on a board in the past...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Two planks and Jaffa with no juice
Isaac didn't win anything at the party - our friend Pat won a go at parasailing and Naomi won a heli skiing trip, which would be absolutely super if Naomi could ski well enough (she's a newbie) - and he came home complaining that he didn't like alcohol after all, but I think he had a good enough time.
I went skiing today with Isaac and Pat! Well they were snowboarding, but the visibility was virtually nil and I didn't want to spend the day falling over so I hired some nice skis - K2 Silencers - from our rentals department and had a brilliant day. It felt so good to get some speed up without panicking, so nice to be able to absorb whatever came up underfoot, even if I couldn't see it, and amazing to be able to rip down the blacks. It reminded me just how much I loved being on the snow, and how much fun it can be. I will carry on with my snowboarding, and I know I'll get better the more miles I do, but it's nice to know I can take time out of being a rookie and feel confident again.
We've had a bit of a run of bad luck with Jaffa though - the other night we went to start her up and she was dead as a dodo. Fortunately our friend Mark was over so he gave us a jump start and we drove around for half an hour or so before returning to our flat, switched it off and went to start it again - dead again. So yesterday morning I called the AA* - this being a small town, it was the same (English) guy who 'jumped me' a few weeks ago, as it were, when I had to replace one of the battery terminals. We got her started and we drove around for half an hour or so before going down to the AA garage to have the battery tested. It hadn't been doing its homework. We paid for a new battery to be fitted and went off, broke but happy.
Today she started first time and Isaac, Pat & I drove up to Cardrona. We parked at the bottom of the access road and hitched up with a crazy British lady who drove like The Stig. We had our stella afternoon and hitched back down the hill. I got a ride first, with a father & daughter from Brisbane, leaving Isaac & Pat to find another ride, and when I reached the bottom I went to get into Jaffa - there was a funny buzzing noise coming from the dashboard. I turned the key and there was nothing. Not a sausage, though the buzzing noise stopped. I turned the key back, the buzzing noise came back. Damn! I thought I'd call the AA again quickly, because the sooner I called the sooner they'd be there. I made the call but as I was talking to the woman who answered, I saw that by some bizarre coincidence, the AA van, with the same guy driving, was coming down the hill - I literally ran out in front of his car to get him to stop, and told the woman that the AA man was already there! He gave us another jump (I'm exhausted) and told us that the buzzing noise was one of the relays, which might need some attention, and might be what was draining the battery. I called up to work and told them I wouldn't be in early because I had to take Jaffa to the doctor's and got back in to drive off. I looked down and realised that the lights were on....yes I'd left the bloody lights on. What an idiot. Thank goodness for the AA! So hopefully she'll behave from now on.
*the Automobile Association, a breakdown service. Not Alcoholics Anonymous, who wouldn't necessarily know to bring jump leads.
I went skiing today with Isaac and Pat! Well they were snowboarding, but the visibility was virtually nil and I didn't want to spend the day falling over so I hired some nice skis - K2 Silencers - from our rentals department and had a brilliant day. It felt so good to get some speed up without panicking, so nice to be able to absorb whatever came up underfoot, even if I couldn't see it, and amazing to be able to rip down the blacks. It reminded me just how much I loved being on the snow, and how much fun it can be. I will carry on with my snowboarding, and I know I'll get better the more miles I do, but it's nice to know I can take time out of being a rookie and feel confident again.
We've had a bit of a run of bad luck with Jaffa though - the other night we went to start her up and she was dead as a dodo. Fortunately our friend Mark was over so he gave us a jump start and we drove around for half an hour or so before returning to our flat, switched it off and went to start it again - dead again. So yesterday morning I called the AA* - this being a small town, it was the same (English) guy who 'jumped me' a few weeks ago, as it were, when I had to replace one of the battery terminals. We got her started and we drove around for half an hour or so before going down to the AA garage to have the battery tested. It hadn't been doing its homework. We paid for a new battery to be fitted and went off, broke but happy.
Today she started first time and Isaac, Pat & I drove up to Cardrona. We parked at the bottom of the access road and hitched up with a crazy British lady who drove like The Stig. We had our stella afternoon and hitched back down the hill. I got a ride first, with a father & daughter from Brisbane, leaving Isaac & Pat to find another ride, and when I reached the bottom I went to get into Jaffa - there was a funny buzzing noise coming from the dashboard. I turned the key and there was nothing. Not a sausage, though the buzzing noise stopped. I turned the key back, the buzzing noise came back. Damn! I thought I'd call the AA again quickly, because the sooner I called the sooner they'd be there. I made the call but as I was talking to the woman who answered, I saw that by some bizarre coincidence, the AA van, with the same guy driving, was coming down the hill - I literally ran out in front of his car to get him to stop, and told the woman that the AA man was already there! He gave us another jump (I'm exhausted) and told us that the buzzing noise was one of the relays, which might need some attention, and might be what was draining the battery. I called up to work and told them I wouldn't be in early because I had to take Jaffa to the doctor's and got back in to drive off. I looked down and realised that the lights were on....yes I'd left the bloody lights on. What an idiot. Thank goodness for the AA! So hopefully she'll behave from now on.
*the Automobile Association, a breakdown service. Not Alcoholics Anonymous, who wouldn't necessarily know to bring jump leads.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Visitors, good times & good food.
Well the evening is my own - Isaac has gone to the Treble Cone staff do and I feel rather at a loss to be honest, so I'm choosing to share it with you, gentle reader, in preference to the High School Musical 1 AND 2 extravaganza over on channel 2. I hope you appreciate it. It does feel very odd actually, since this is the first time one of us has gone out without the other in...well the whole time we've been in NZ in fact. To be fair, Isaac didn't actually want to go, but since he was awarded the 'Exceptional Employee of the Fortnight'* award at work recently, he has been entered in a draw to win some supposedly fabulous prizes (last year a brand new pair of skis and a heli-skiing trip were up for grabs) so he had to go along to be eligible. They had a Mexican theme, so Isaac, with a somewhat loose interpretation, went wearing a plaid shirt and a bandana tied at the front, but accidentally left his giant handmade cardboard moustache at home sadly. I'm wearing it as I type, just to add some rich imagery for you. I'm waiting for the call to say he's won something fantastic and can I come and pick him up please?
So the big news of course, is that Isaac's dad, Imo, and his brother Reilly came out to visit us. It's a long journey** for a short trip, but we managed to pack a lot in to the 9 days they were here and I think they were glad they came. We picked them up
from the little-more-than-a-shed that is Wanaka airport (one small room, which rather amusingly has a tannoy system for flight announcements, even though the man who runs it could probably whisper and you'd still hear him), got their bags from baggage reclaim (a patch of dirt outside the shed which has a sign saying 'Baggage Claim Area' written importantly on it) and drove home in the Nissan Terrano we'd hired for the week to out tiny flat built for 2, which was somewhat overwhelmed with the amount of bags/snowboards/sour cherry blasters*** that it now contained. After torturing Imo & Reilly with a continued lack of sleep to get them to conquer the jetlag quickly, Isaac took them all up to Treble Cone the very next day to go snowboarding while I went to work (SOMEONE'S got to earn the rent goddamnit). Tired and sore, we went out for New Culinary Experience for the Weinerts #1 that evening: Thai. One red curry, one pad thai, one garlic chicken and one mixed noodle stirfry later, we were all full and happy.
The following day we were both off work, but the weather wasn't great, so we gave Imo & Reilly's aching legs a break and drove off to Queenstown to show the the shops and grab ourselves a taste of the legend that is Fergburger. I also picked up a little something along the way - a brand new snowboard. Not just any snowboard - oh no. The Gnu B-Nice, the 
board I'd been swooning after ever since I first saw it. I'd made attempts to buy it at trade price through our rentals department but the board was sold out throughout NZ. In fact the one I'd seen in Queenstown was pretty much the last one left in the country...and I wanted it badly. Of COURSE I couldn't afford it and of COURSE I wasn't good enough yet to justify a new board really, but it has banana technology (it's a bit bent like a banana so you don't catch edges so much) and magnetraction (has wavy edges which help your edges grip in the snow better) and, far more importantly, it has graphics that looked it was designed by Habitat. I wanted it. I ummed. I ahhhed. I sodded it. I bought it. I love it. Now I just have to learn to ride it properly.
And on that note, the following day we all headed up to Cardrona where I took advantage of having a snowboard instructor (Imo) all to myself. He did his best to help me keep my back straight, my knees bent, my shoulders back, my head up, my confidence brimming and my right hand down at my side, rather than swung out in front of me like I'm carrying an imaginary cup of coffee, setting me off balance, as it invariably does if I don't concentrate on keeping it down. I never got all of these things right at the same time, sadly, but I definitely got better, so that's a step in the right direction. The new board made it easier for sure, and the fact that I was so proud to be riding it helped too, of that I have no doubt.
New Culinary Experience for the Weinerts #2 - Indian. Mmmmmmmm. "These are good - what are they?" "Onion bhajies". Bless.****
The Wanaka cinema was a must-do, naturally, so we booked tickets for Transformers 2, which Isaac had been looking forward to seeing. I'd fallen asleep during the first one so wasn't really that bothered about it, but I do like a comfy sofa and a delicious pizza so I was happy to go along. We got our pizza ordered for the interval, but as soon as I'd eaten it I thought it would be nice to have a bit of a lie down on the sofa - one of the benefits of the Wanaka cinema - and promptly fell asleep, despite the ridiculously loud explosions. Really says something about my less-than-enthusiastic response to the Transformers franchise I suppose.
Friday was the only day that both Isaac & I were due to work, so Imo & Reilly would have to entertain themselves. However, a stroke of good luck meant that the snow came in and the wind came up, closing both our resorts, so instead we had a lazy day of recovering our muscles, catching up on our facebook picture uploading, and watching my newly purchased Top Gear dvds; a new experience for the Weinerts and one I'm happy - and hardly surprised - to report has gone down exceedingly well. Jezza, the Hamster and Captain Slow are now firm favourites. More snowboarding did follow however, with Imo, Reilly & I on the Saturday while Isaac went to work and Isaac, Imo & Reilly on Sunday while I did the honours. I have no doubt with whom they had more fun, but hope that I didn't hold them up too much. Reilly cooked a fabulous stirfry for our last night together - I love having a chef in the house.
Monday came around too soon and we were back in the shed saying goodbye. Still at least it won't be too long till we see them again this time.
Imo's parting gift for us was to offer us one more day's rental on the Nissan, so we took off for Queentown to visit the Onsen Hot Pools, which has six private pools, the front of which opens up to reveal a spectacular view over the Shotover river and surrounding valley. 1 hour of absolute bliss.
Got the call to go and pick Isaac up, so let's go see if he won anything...
*for 'services to the manager in the form of copious amounts of photocopying', if Isaac is indeed to be believed...
**Toronto-Vancouver-Auckland-Christchurch-Wanaka
***Isaac's favourite sweets from back home
****For the Canadians amongst you: for us English, not knowing what an onion bhaji is, is like not knowing what poutine is for you - which most English people don't by the way.
So the big news of course, is that Isaac's dad, Imo, and his brother Reilly came out to visit us. It's a long journey** for a short trip, but we managed to pack a lot in to the 9 days they were here and I think they were glad they came. We picked them up
from the little-more-than-a-shed that is Wanaka airport (one small room, which rather amusingly has a tannoy system for flight announcements, even though the man who runs it could probably whisper and you'd still hear him), got their bags from baggage reclaim (a patch of dirt outside the shed which has a sign saying 'Baggage Claim Area' written importantly on it) and drove home in the Nissan Terrano we'd hired for the week to out tiny flat built for 2, which was somewhat overwhelmed with the amount of bags/snowboards/sour cherry blasters*** that it now contained. After torturing Imo & Reilly with a continued lack of sleep to get them to conquer the jetlag quickly, Isaac took them all up to Treble Cone the very next day to go snowboarding while I went to work (SOMEONE'S got to earn the rent goddamnit). Tired and sore, we went out for New Culinary Experience for the Weinerts #1 that evening: Thai. One red curry, one pad thai, one garlic chicken and one mixed noodle stirfry later, we were all full and happy.
The following day we were both off work, but the weather wasn't great, so we gave Imo & Reilly's aching legs a break and drove off to Queenstown to show the the shops and grab ourselves a taste of the legend that is Fergburger. I also picked up a little something along the way - a brand new snowboard. Not just any snowboard - oh no. The Gnu B-Nice, the 
board I'd been swooning after ever since I first saw it. I'd made attempts to buy it at trade price through our rentals department but the board was sold out throughout NZ. In fact the one I'd seen in Queenstown was pretty much the last one left in the country...and I wanted it badly. Of COURSE I couldn't afford it and of COURSE I wasn't good enough yet to justify a new board really, but it has banana technology (it's a bit bent like a banana so you don't catch edges so much) and magnetraction (has wavy edges which help your edges grip in the snow better) and, far more importantly, it has graphics that looked it was designed by Habitat. I wanted it. I ummed. I ahhhed. I sodded it. I bought it. I love it. Now I just have to learn to ride it properly.And on that note, the following day we all headed up to Cardrona where I took advantage of having a snowboard instructor (Imo) all to myself. He did his best to help me keep my back straight, my knees bent, my shoulders back, my head up, my confidence brimming and my right hand down at my side, rather than swung out in front of me like I'm carrying an imaginary cup of coffee, setting me off balance, as it invariably does if I don't concentrate on keeping it down. I never got all of these things right at the same time, sadly, but I definitely got better, so that's a step in the right direction. The new board made it easier for sure, and the fact that I was so proud to be riding it helped too, of that I have no doubt.
New Culinary Experience for the Weinerts #2 - Indian. Mmmmmmmm. "These are good - what are they?" "Onion bhajies". Bless.****
The Wanaka cinema was a must-do, naturally, so we booked tickets for Transformers 2, which Isaac had been looking forward to seeing. I'd fallen asleep during the first one so wasn't really that bothered about it, but I do like a comfy sofa and a delicious pizza so I was happy to go along. We got our pizza ordered for the interval, but as soon as I'd eaten it I thought it would be nice to have a bit of a lie down on the sofa - one of the benefits of the Wanaka cinema - and promptly fell asleep, despite the ridiculously loud explosions. Really says something about my less-than-enthusiastic response to the Transformers franchise I suppose.
Friday was the only day that both Isaac & I were due to work, so Imo & Reilly would have to entertain themselves. However, a stroke of good luck meant that the snow came in and the wind came up, closing both our resorts, so instead we had a lazy day of recovering our muscles, catching up on our facebook picture uploading, and watching my newly purchased Top Gear dvds; a new experience for the Weinerts and one I'm happy - and hardly surprised - to report has gone down exceedingly well. Jezza, the Hamster and Captain Slow are now firm favourites. More snowboarding did follow however, with Imo, Reilly & I on the Saturday while Isaac went to work and Isaac, Imo & Reilly on Sunday while I did the honours. I have no doubt with whom they had more fun, but hope that I didn't hold them up too much. Reilly cooked a fabulous stirfry for our last night together - I love having a chef in the house.
Monday came around too soon and we were back in the shed saying goodbye. Still at least it won't be too long till we see them again this time.
Imo's parting gift for us was to offer us one more day's rental on the Nissan, so we took off for Queentown to visit the Onsen Hot Pools, which has six private pools, the front of which opens up to reveal a spectacular view over the Shotover river and surrounding valley. 1 hour of absolute bliss.Got the call to go and pick Isaac up, so let's go see if he won anything...
*for 'services to the manager in the form of copious amounts of photocopying', if Isaac is indeed to be believed...
**Toronto-Vancouver-Auckland-Christchurch-Wanaka
***Isaac's favourite sweets from back home
****For the Canadians amongst you: for us English, not knowing what an onion bhaji is, is like not knowing what poutine is for you - which most English people don't by the way.
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