The Ski Goddess has landed

What a mammoth effort it is to make the trip across the ditch. Not a simple affair like the east coasters, it's a good 36 hour trip from regional WA.

First a bus ride down to Perth. This is a nice relaxing way to begin the long haul trip, and saves a considerable amount of money. Short regional flights are expensive! This is the second year that I've taken the trip, and it really is a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

By mid afternoon I find myself in Perth. Having failed to catch up with my mate Naomi last week (some labouring woman got in the way of a leisurely lunch) and with the kids on school holidays, we spent a few hours having fun together before the inevitable schlepp out to the airport for the red eye to Sydney.

An eyepad and earplugs, add a neck cushion, and an overnight flight isn't too bad. Ignore stupid food offers (who eats at 2am??) and get some snooze time. Only woke up once!

In Sydney the changeover was a little hectic. Not only did we have to wait to disembark due to a plane still in our landing bay, but we had to transfer to the international terminal, all in less than an hour. Turns out that half the passengers on the Christchurch flight had also transferred with me from Perth meaning we all made a mad rush to board, then had a half hour delay whilst our baggage caught up. So all my worries were allayed, and the luggage arrived intact.

Next step was picking up the cheapy hire car, complete with snow chains and roof racks, then supermarket shopping and an hour drive up the Arthurs Pass road to Springfield and my accommodation for the next 3 days. A quick dinner and crash for the night. Jet lagged and down for the count!

This morning the ski goddess actually feels human. I even got up early, cooked porridge and headed off  early up the hill. An attempt to fit the snow chains became an impossible task and back down the mountain went I. Back at the hire car place the chains fitted perfectly - guess who's a little red faced now? Back up the mountain again, now 3 hours behind schedule. A stop at Sheffield for their "famous pies" then up the snow covered road to Porters for my first day back on skis. And yes, the chains fit fine! Duh!!!

Porters was cloud enshrouded with poor visibility, something this ski goddess finds rather challenging. At the bottom of my first run I did the whole dizzy spell fall over routine then hopped back on the T-Bar for another go. After a few runs the cloud began to clear. Luckily this coincided with my legs getting back into gear, so I braved the second T-Bar up a little higher. I found a lovely little bowl full of nice snow, even carved a few freshlines given today was Porters opening day and discovered I can still ski. A little wobbly, a little weakly, but still with a little style.

And then I called it a day!

So just a short sweet 2.5 hours on the legs today - they need a little getting used to this ski palaver.

But tomorrow the sun comes out and I'll be able to see where I'm going. Wonder where I'll go.....

More on the wall

The epic saga of my wall continues. I've done all I can for now, as I'm soon off to New Zealand for 3 months, meaning garden activities are all in maintenance and clean up mode prior to leaving.

The second tier structure is up, including a massive set of steps, 8 in total, from the lower terrace up to the level near the chook enclosure. It's hard to appreciate the grandeur of these steps at present, but once they are fleshed out with rocks, cans, bottles and chicken wire - then rendered - they'll be magnificent. That's a job for later in the year, or even next year. I'm still in the process of collecting enough cans and bottles for the job, so a bit more time for friends to consume liquid refreshments is fine by me!

I've incorporated another level for the water feature/ waterfall which again can't be appreciated whilst in it's basic structural form. I hope to find a nice flat rock that I can use as a lip for the top waterfall. Once I've cleared more vegetation above - more work for the chainsaw - I plan on a babbling stream type arrangement. Why not dream grand hey?

The final stretch over to the right is causing me a bit of a dilemma as there's a large black wattle in the way. My current plan, which is a lot of work, is to build the wall behind it. But this may just destabilise the wattle's roots and bring it down, which isn't a problem, as it will need to go at some stage anyway. It's a job I'll leave to ponder on my return.

I've begun to dig the foundations for the pizza oven, but again, won't be pouring concrete till my return.  There's a lot more work to be done in this backyard before it's ready for entertaining.

Meanwhile, in the vege patch, I've got winter greens coming on as well as lots of tomatoes ripening. Lettuce is everywhere and I've even managed to propagate some coriander. The heat here tends to force coriander to bolt to seed pretty quickly, so it's very much a winter crop in this climate.

Eggplant have begun to fruit and the broccoli are just beginning to set flower, so my house sitter will be reaping the rewards not me. Lucky her. Never mind, I shall be planting a few seeds just before I leave, for her to nurture till my return.

We've at last had some decent rainfall, so I'm topping up the extra water tanks to get maximal storage for the summer. Last year I did the same thing: filling the two extra tanks and then everything else works straight off the main tank, the one connected to the downpipes as well as the pump and plumbing. Keeping it simple for my house sitter so the garden gets watered!

Ah yes, packing for the trip.... I'm taking the SLR this year, which means a bit more paraphernalia to schlepp around, but as I'm hiring a car for the first couple of weeks down to Wanaka it won't be much of a hassle. Travelling with ski gear puts you over the 23kg airline luggage limit pretty quickly, so with an extra 23kg purchased, and transport sorted, why not pack a little more? But the real reason I want to take the SLR is I'm hoping to get some Aurora Australis shots at Tekapo. And to muck around with a bit of time lapse photography. July should have some clear night skies and it's a peak year for solar flares, so here's hoping.

One week to go!!