Category Archives: Travel

To the Viaduct!

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At one end of Ohakune is the Old Coach Road. This was a road built in the early 1900s to facilitate transit, especially via horse. The road was made using cobblestone and crossed in front of Mt. Ruapehu.

The Old Coach Road has a pretty amusing history – it was completed in 1906…and pretty much made obsolete in 1908 when the railway was finished nearby. Freight was no longer taken via horse through the area, it all moved with trains. The nice thing is, to build the railroad through this area, a large viaduct was required. That was my goal for the hike, the Hapuawhenua Viaduct, a major engineering feat in 1908. The entire Old Coach Road hike is about 5 hours, one way. I just did the viaduct and back, about a 3 hour round trip.

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Fantastic!

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After over 3 weeks of waiting, FINALLY a truly fantastic day arrived here in Ohakune.

By the time I got to the top of the lifts, the last remaining clouds had disappeared and nothing but blue skies and sunshine remained. Very little wind made this a perfect snowboarding day. The owner of the motel I’m working at, Donald, came up with me to offer some pointers for the first little bit of the day before going off to the advanced stuff. His advice was very good – lots of improvement today!

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Champions!

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After 24 long years, New Zealand is once again Rugby World Champions! It was an extremely close game, with the All Blacks beating France 8-7, hanging on for the last 10 minutes with a stout defense. New Zealand is in a state of euphoria, and likely will be for weeks and months. Parades are planned all around the country over the coming week, I’m thinking not much work will be done at businesses around the country. Today (Monday) is a day off at least, everyone will need it to recover from the all-night celebrations last night!

Perks of the job

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Probably my favourite thing about my current job is when I first get into a room to clean it, I do a quick walk around and check for left behind items. They are set aside for a couple days in the event that the person comes back to claim them, but most time they are left for good so the motel owners/me get to keep them. So far, I have found:

  • Money (10 and 20 cent pieces, nothing special).
  • Freezer bricks / ice bricks – probably the most commonly left thing. Easily forgotten once you put them in the fridge. I’ve found about a dozen so far! I’ve kept the two largest for myself, useful things if I ever get a cooler
  • Feminine Hygiene products
  • Butter/Margarine (probably don’t need to buy any for the next 9 months)
  • Cheese
  • Crackers
  • Canned fruit
  • Bread
  • Movie pass
  • And my favourite…ice cream bars! I’ve found these twice now, and they are always a treat. YUM!

Much Better!

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After far too many days of rain, the last 2 days saw….well more rain. BUT, Ruapehu was open for skiing/snowboarding. The conditions weren’t great, but the winds were calm and it had decent visibility. And best of all for me, being middle of the week there were very few people.

Yesterday was my 3rd (half) day on the slopes, and I FINALLY got over the barrier of doing proper turns (rather just going via heels or toes) and navigating slopes in the green areas. Such a good feeling to be able to make full turns and not just go down hills via digging my heels in. Proper snowboarding, here I come!

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It’s a beautiful mornin’

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Unfortunately, I was inside working. Clear blue skies were spotted for the first time in 2 weeks, so the owners of the motel took off for the mountain (both are avid snowboarders) shortly after the slopes opened at 9am, leaving me in charge. Being a Monday, the motel was quiet, with only 2 rooms needing work. Since I had all morning to myself, I decided to take my camera along on the journey.

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Snowboarding is fun!

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I didn’t realize it at the time, but October the 10th was Thanksgiving back in Canada. So a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all those that celebrated over the weekend! This is where I spent my Monday:

I had the day off from work. The weather was decent (not raining) and I had the entire day, so I headed straight for Mt. Ruapehu. Except this time I wore proper attire.

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