I'm fast running out of weekends before I go home, but Ken was insistent on a trip down to Mount Ruapehu for some snowboarding. Obviously I had to keep him company, so I agreed to go too.
Sophie and I had visited the Turoa ski area in October last year, so this time we headed to Whakapapa, on the other side of the volcano. I'm not sure how fair the comparison is, but Ken's and my impressions were that it's nowhere near as good as the stuff around Queenstown. It's certainly a lot bigger, with 10+ lifts instead of 2-3, but the snow quality wasn't as good and it was packed with too many people. We spent a lot of time queueing for aged and slow lifts, and then avoiding others on the slopes.
Mount Ruapehu
Still, we had a really good time. It wasn't busy the whole time and when the clouds cleared the views of the surroundings and Ngauruhoe in particular were fantastic. Skiing on an active volcano also adds a certain something to the day!
Ngauruhoe, from the road to Whakapapa
On Saturday night we headed to a busy bar to watch the Tri Nations All Blacks-Wallabies game. It turned out to be a bit of a thriller which the Kiwis won 19-18 with a last-minute penalty. I've definitely become a bit of an All Blacks fan since coming here: the locals take it so seriously it's hard not to get dragged in. Was it inevitable?
