Road Tripping

This past week proved to the be the wettest yet. We had continuous rain in Dunedin from Tuesday until Saturday morning. There was times when the rain was driving but most of the time it was as if water decided it was going to hang out in the air. I went for a run a couple days in the air-rain and found that the front of my body was completely soaked, as if it had been raining, yet my back was as dry as if I had run on a perfectly sunny day. This depression causing weather pattern had us thinking about getting out of town, and since a paycheck had finally come through we decided it was time.

We are in the middle of winter so rain is more welcome than snow. Given the season, we planned on a ski weekend to Queenstown. Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of New Zealand. It is located in "central" which is the center of the South Island. This is about a 3.5 hour drive from Dunedin. There are several ski resorts in the area and we chose to visit Coronet Peak. This is the most popular ski resort near Queenstown and there seemed to be a lot to do in the city itself.


We got up very early on Saturday and headed out. Our drive started out in the dark but we were treated to nice weather and a very scenic trip along the Kawarau Gorge. The road winds next to the river yet the water is mostly out of sight as the cliff walls are straight down adjacent to the guard rail. The glimpses we were treated to of the water showed a bright green color to the water and narrow river bed. We arrived in Queenstown around 10, checked into the hotel, and caught the shuttle to Coronet Peak.


Skiing here is somewhat different than in the States. The "ski fields" do not have any trees, none. Basically the mountain is grass and rocks that you ski on. Also they receive very little snow. The base depth was 110 cm (3 feet). Most ski resorts at home wouldn't even open with this little snow. We found the trails to be relatively easy but the views were amazing. The slopes overlook Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. The mountains surrounding the lake and town descend down right to the lakes edge and there was a very distinct snow line on the upper half of the jagged mountains. We skied most of the day and headed into town for a dinner and to watch the rugby.


We are both becoming rugby fans. While neither of us really understand the sport, it is entertaining and a good excuse to head out to a pub along with the rest of the population. The All Blacks laid a whooping on the Aussies and a couple pints were enjoyed. It wasn't too cold so we wandered the streets for a while before heading to bed.

Sunday's plan was to check out the city some more and wander around the lake or any local short hikes we could find before heading back home. This was the plan. After checking out of the hotel we found out Shaggy had a flat. Fortunately, we had our AAA membership converted to New Zealand's AA and gave them a call. They put on our donut and organized for a garage to fix it for us, but this was an hours drive away. So much for our Sunday plans. We did not get to check out the city, but Shaggy got put back together again! No doubt, we will return to Queenstown.

Queenstown Pictures

Onto other good news, Katie got a job!! She will be working full time at the University as a research assistant in the Physiotherapy Department. Her job duties are not yet specified but she will be working with different physiotherapy research teams on various tasks. I know she will be glad to get out of the house and meet some people, plus it will be great experience on what is involved with research and academic jobs. I continue to like my job and am glad to be working directly with students more frequently.

As I write, the rain just resumed here in Dunedin. Hopefully the sun breaks through soon. Right now we're both wishing we were enjoying a North American summer.