I had a magic weekend of kitesurfing after a windless 3 weeks or so! It felt good to get out again and I did feel quite unfit as it seems I've just been sitting around for the last 3 weeks just eating and drinking.

Anyway, here's some photos of the blowcarts that were shooting up and down the beach. I thought they were pretty cool and they don't half move! They reckon they can get upto 60kmh and I believe them!

Jen and I have been making regular Snowplanet trips on a Tuesday night as it's a great place to learn and practice any new tricks you might want to attempt.
Jen was good enough to bring her camera last night and managed to take this photo of me. By coincidence, this was also the first time I'd landed correctly off this particular rail.
 *note to self* Don't cover your face with your arm when having your photo taken.

We went to a James Bond party on Saturday that had been organised by the Biology Dept of the university. Jen managed to get us all tickets and Jen, Jez, Emma, Emma's boyfriend and myself all wandered in. Now normally I wouldn't protest about going to a party surrounded by young 19yr old girls but it was a free bar and as such the place was heaving with students overdosing on cocktails.
Luckily the d.j. was playing 80's music all night and after a couple of red bull and vodkas, I was finally coaxed out to play. Then Sunday was spent recovering, thankfully the wind never came in so I had the whole day to pull myself together.

Jen as Elektra King



Jen requests Wham. Again.

I travelled down to the snow again, and the Saturday was amazing. Blue skies, no wind and plenty of snow. Yay!
Sadly I didn't take my camera until the Sunday when it was cloudy, snowing and with the occasional white out. Here's the best photo I took all day which speaks volumes for my photographic ability.
Time to invest in some evening courses I guess!



It wasn't cold at all, as you can see from Tracy's outfit.

I took a week off work during my birthday week and had a trip to good old Rotorua. Kim came to visit on her way back from Hawaii, so it was good timing really and we had a fantastic time.
Rotorua is one of the main tourist attractions on the north island, it's home to several geothermal attractions and is a traditionally Maori area with lots of attractions to visit. Oh, and it just happens to be one of the centres for extreme sports in New Zealand  :o)

Kim and I rented a Motel room just outside of town which came with a big spa pool that could have easily fitted 8 or so people. Amazing.

Our first destination was to the Hell's Gate spa and geothermal pools for a bit of a relaxing day. The pools between 50 and 100 degrees centigrade and bubble like mad. Good fun but not really that exciting so we booked ourselves in for a mud bath followed by a soak in a sulphur pool and a massage. Nice

Kim in front of the only steaming waterfall in the world. Apparently.

The next day we went to Agrodome, an adventure park outside or Rotorua. We caught a sheep show (well, it had to be done) and learnt all about the different breeds of sheep as well as watching one being shorn and then the highlight was watching a sheepdog heard up some ducks. Sounds lame but it was actually quite fun and the host was awesome.

Lots and lots of sheep.

Saying hello to the sheep

Finally, I spent the rest of the day trawling through the various adventure activities. (Where it was just generally me and a heap of 11 year olds)



Kim and I on a jetboat

"Swoop"

Zorbing down a hill.


Then it was back to Auckland for drinks before Kim flew back to Oz.

Now if I can just get the smell of sulphur out of my clothes I'd be a happy man.

The snow in New Zealand has landed and they're already calling it the best season in years, in fact more snow fell last week than in all of last year (apparently)

On Friday one of the girls at work, Tracy, invited me along with her pals to their chalet in Ohakune on Sunday. Tracy is my boss and the best thing about going away with your boss is that when you ask for a day off next week, they tend to say yes. On On Saturday morning the roads to the mountain were still closed but we raced up Saturday night and I had Sunday and Monday in "epic" conditions.
My housemate Mike and his friend Francis came along for the Sunday as well, which made a total of 5 of us. Tracy and Toni have skiied for years and Mike and Francis are snowboard instructors, so I was in good company! Luckily I could just about keep up with everyone but by the end of Monday I was feeling like an old man with aches and pains all over the shop.

Ruapehu is the North Islands main snow mountain and we were on the Turoa side which, of the two resorts, had the most lifts open.



Saturday night in Ohakune, eagerly anticipating the snow in the morning.



Group photo!



Top of the mounain

I finally picked up a new car! Yes, the fag mobile has returned and I'm the proud owner of a new Suzuki 4wd. It's yet to be named so suggestions on a postcard and I'll pick the best. Or ignore them all and call it Suze II.

Jen turned ** years old on Tuesday, we celebrated with a night out in the pub and managed to win the local pub quiz! Having 15 biologists on hand may have been an advantage for the "Animal Kingdom" category but sadly we struggled through Sports and TV. Still, we won a $50 bar tab which may come in useful!

Once again I forgot to take a camera to the beach with me this weekend, but sadly the wind failed to come in for a change! We've had weeks of continuous wind and for 2 days it stopped completely. Oh well, it's a little bit cold now.
Instead I went to snowplanet to get my "fix" and spent a good hour falling on my face trying out the large ramp they have in the middle of the slope! I left the sliders well alone as I think they're just a little to hard for even my head to land on safely!





In other news I'm still looking for a car, although I found 3 promising cars over the weeekend, all Suzukis of course  ;o)

Athena and I went to Omaha beach today, it was 20 knots and we were the only 2 kiters around. Yay for us!
Note the blue sky in the background, the clouds do occasionally part in New Zealand!


Here's me at Omaha