Days 228 - 230: Tramp to Welcome Flat

I got three days off work for a tramping trip this week. I've pretty much been looking forward to this trip since deciding to head to the South Island and my friend Holly said we should do something fun when she came down for her annual leave. So the plan was a three day tramp to Welcome Flat, which is over on the west coast, near the town of Franz Josef.

My day at work on Tuesday passed pretty quickly, despite my excitement for the day to end, and then directly after work I headed straight to Christchurch and met Jenna at my friend Emma's flat. I had a quick shower and put my pajamas on (since it was already after 7 pm and we had a three hour drive ahead of us.) But first we had to wait for Rob and Holly to come in. They didn't arrive until 9pm, and we weren't on the road until about 10 or even afterwards. Then we drove west into the mountains and up and over Arthur's Pass. We got treated to a moonlit view of some beautiful snow-covered mountains and had a good drive overall, catching up with each other and enjoying each other's company. We arrived in the west coast town of Hokitika about 2am and moved all of our stuff inside, then went directly to bed, since we had to be up at 6 the next morning.

After some porridge and final packing we loaded back in the car and headed farther south. It was a clear morning and we could see Mt. Cook (also called Mt. Aoraki), NZ's highest peak, straight ahead in the distance. We had a yum stop for some pies and sausage rolls, and arrived at the trailhead by about 10:30. The tramp in was lovely, beautiful weather and wandered its way through some beautiful New Zealand native bush, with the Copeland River and the lovely glacial Karangarua River flowing below us. We had lots of swing bridges to cross and some avalanche danger areas to get past (the signs said, “No stopping next 300 meters.”) We made it to the hut (which was lovely) by about 5, just before it started to get dark, which gave me and Jenna and Holly just enough time to put our togs on and jump in the hot springs which are a short way from the hut. They were so nice. Everybody was pretty tired though, so after some tea and meeting the two guys who arrived after dark and Rob and Holly kicking my butt at cards, we retired upstairs for a well earned sleep.

The next day was pouring with rain, but Rob and Holly and I ventured out to “take the rifle for a walk.” We continued farther down the track and turned up Scott's Creek for a while. Rob continued on up to the next hut but Holly and I walked back to Jenna and the hot springs at Welcome Flat. We spend a good two hours sitting in the pools, getting rained on. It was great! That night two different trampers showed up to replace the two guys from the night before, but we built the fire up and dried everyone's clothes and it got rather cozy and warm in the hut.

The next day we retraced our steps to hike back to the car. It had been predicted to rain but the skies didn't open up until after we'd gotten back in the car, and then it started to pour! So the weather cooperated with us fairly nicely. On the way home we swung into the Franz Josef glacier to have a squiz at that and since it was tea time when we pulled back into Hokitika, we found a fish and chip shop and feasted on fish, hot chips, NZ style hot dogs (battered and deep fried on a stick), tomato sauce, vinegar and Lemon & Paeroa to drink. Mmmm. It was delish. After our tea stop we hit up the grocery store for some lollies and the headed out of town. About 10 minutes outside of Hoki, Holly realized that we'd forgotten to fill the tank, but Rob reckoned it would be okay for us to get to the next petrol station. So off we went. On the drive back over the pass there was lots of singing, and also a fun game invented by me which we played after dark where you put a giant jellybean in your mouth and try to guess what color you are chewing on, then shine a headtorch at your mouth so someone can check if you were right. But unfortunately the petrol light came on before we were even over the pass and we were beginning to worry that we might not make it when we kept passing petrol stations and they were already closed for the night. So we pressed on. I'd had a text from my boss saying I was on early so I needed to be at work the next day at 5:45. I was kind of wondering if we'd get stranded along the side of the road, but we made it into the city without running out of petrol. Back at Emma's I grabbed my stuff and had a quick shower, then jumped in my car and drove home, getting into bed at midnight to be ready for work early the next day.

The tramp was so fun, and beautiful country, but the best part was spending time with Rob and Holly and Jenna. We had lots of laughs and the only downside was that the trip was over too soon.

Day 227: My life as a liftie

Hey everyone!  Sorry it has been so long since my last update.  I've been working at Mt. Hutt Ski Field for about a month now, in the lifts department.  So I thought I'd tell you a bit about what a day in the life of a liftie looks like.


Most days, I get up at 6:30 to get to the town office of the ski company by 7:20.  (If I'm on early I have to be there anywhere between 5:15 and 5:45, depending on what's happening on the mountain that day - it could be a race start or deicing of the lifts.)  Then I jump in a staff bus and get a ride up the hill.  The ride takes about 45 minutes or so, and we wind our way up a steep, curvy unsealed road with quite severe drops on the sides in places and minimal guardrails.  Sometimes we have to stop the bus and put chains on, depending on the state of the road and what the weather is doing at the time.  The mountain is very barren (no trees) so the wind can get quite strong in exposed places and this means at times the road is closed to traffic going up and sometimes, coming down, as we found out during my second week when all the staff and 1,000 guests got trapped up the mountain overnight by excessive winds (I slept on the floor in the retail store next to the ski socks!).

 Once I get to work, at about 8, I have a look at the roster to see where I am working.  The lift department covers all lift operations, as well as the carpark and road patrol (helping people who get stuck on the road) and chains.  Depending on road conditions chains may be required to travel the road, and the mountain hires them out and fits them to cars for a fee.  As a chainy your job is to crawl around under cars fitting chains.  Fun stuff. 

By 8:15 I am at my morning station, with a radio and a drill with an enormous bit for drilling holes in the icy snow. We set up the gates and the queue lines and get the top operator up to the top and do stop checks on the lift (checking that all the controls are working properly.) Once the stop checks are finished and we have maintenance clearance (and okay from ski patrol if there has been new snow) a radio call goes in to Admin saying the lift is ready to load at 9am. When 9'o'clock comes along we unsuspend the gates and start to load people. If I'm working a base station we usually do half hour rotations in three different positions: controls (stopping/slowing the lift), tickets (checking that people aren't cheating on their tickets or helping them out if the gates won't let them through) and ramp maintenance (shoveling and raking the ramp to keep it smooth and safe so people's skis don't get caught in the snow and the don't get pulled off the chair – I've seen it happen more than once!) At about 10:30 or so there is usually someone around to give us each a 10 minute break and then at 11:30 people start showing up to break us out for lunch. We get an hour for lunch which is nice if you want to go riding or skiing on your break. After lunch you are generally rostered onto a different position, so I will head out to wherever my afternoon station is to give them a lunch break. Then we get another 10 minute break at some point during the afternoon and next it's time to pack up at 4pm when the lifts close. We put everything away and help each other out on the stations that take more time. Then all the liftys gather in the staff room for a quick meeting and then it's out the door and down the mountain. We are the last people to leave the hill every day, and sometimes we have to wait to make sure any leftover guests get down safely. And then we do it all over again the next day!
 

Day 213: Rach has gone to buy me lollies

Hi, It's Jenna here (aka Pip) my household servant (aka Rachel) has gone to buy us some lollies (aka Candy) so we can eat them while we play on the playground. It has been great having Rachel around the place, when I was working I would come home to a nice home cooked meal and a warm house. Now that I am unemployed (for a short time) we hang out together, fight over doing puzzles, eat tim-tams and thismorning we even went for a run. Somehow I even managed to not die! Now that rachel is working we can only hang out on her days off (Monday and Tuesday) or when the mountain is closed like it has been the last two Sundays. I love spending time with Rachel, it reminds me of the great time I had in America and the amount she talks about NECC and the amaizing people there, really shows me her love for others and for the burden God has placed on her heart about spreading his word. I don't want her to leave us so I am eagerly searching out a suitable husband for her to marry so she can stay here forever! I have also enjoyed getting to know MiniWati and we have become very close friends.

It is time that we carry on our adventure for today
(This photo is from the other day when we tried to go swimming in the FREEZING cold)