THE SNOW MOLE!

Taking advantage of the winter season and the fact that this could well be the one and only occasion we can get on the slopes this year, we headed to Ohakune for the weekend. We were real lucky with the weather, which afforded us great views from the top of mount Ruapehu looking over the uninterrupted panorama of Taranaki. Pretty interesting skiing on a volcano overlooking plains rather than other mountains formed in a tectonic range. The volcano is active and has had a few rumbles over past decades but nothing too serious. The only danger to locals this time round was me belting down the slopes full bifta.

The weekend also included a crazy party with loads of cool people and further proof that seven degrees of separation is a wildly over exaggerated statistic. We went with a mate from my work and expected to do the pleasantries all evening to combat eating peanuts in the corner of the kitchen, alone, nursing an endless beverage, hiding yawns with sycophantic smiles, obstructing cool people from the beer fridge and forming an uncomfortable menage et trois with some vigorously necking party-goers. Thankfully everyone was super friendly with us interlopers and I met both a guy who I did three interviews for a job with eight months ago, and a kiwi guy called Ian who I worked with at Lotus in sunny Staines. Small world indeed - big up to the Staines Massiff, Oi oi!!

It was a well earned break for Lisa who had been locked up by the government to finish the youth parliament project. It went well but I am now re-acquainting myself with my girlfriend who had spent 14 hours a day, 7 days a week for the last month getting the show off the ground. The youths in question were both local and from neighboring pacific islands. Some of them were dragged from tropical paradise to midwinter Wellington. The poor buggers even had to suffer the indignity of hot water bottle lessons to stop them freezing to death. Funny that while we bemoan the cold and burn more energy to keep us warm that these guys, with no need for such necessities, will probably go back to find their homeland resembling another suburb of atlantis. Cause and effect - think it through.

A few more piccies!