Click here to sign the guestbook
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July 15, 2005 - 08:07 AM
Lena
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Thank you for creating such a beautiful website, where I always find something interesting and useful. I wish you success in everything you do!
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42
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July 07, 2005 - 04:55 AM
Mike Fitzmaurice
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We went July 2 and 3 (2005). Spent Sat at Turoa, good snow on open runs and almost enough to ski out. It fact a couple of people were skiing the movenpick.
Sunday went to Whakapapa, Rock garden was excellent, heaps of man made snow, no problems with rocks at all.
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43
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May 01, 2005 - 08:36 PM
Steve and Edith Chaney
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ANZAC Weekend 23/24/25 April - Tongariro Crossing.
We drove down Friday night and stayed at National Park. When we arrived the team had come via Miranda Springs and had a swim in the hot pools. They were over the road at BaseKamp restaurant enjoying the afterglow, some wood fired pizza and beer. They now have sky TV and we watched Otago beat the Hurricanes. The team was made up of the Manukau City Sunrise Rotary Club and 6 Canadians from a GSE team (Group Study Exchange). The Canadians were so excited, they had done so much research on the internet about the National Park and the Tongariro Crossing. Put us Kiwis to shame.
The bus from Howard's lodge picked us up at 7am on Saturday, $16 for the return trip. There were 18 hearty souls attempting the crossing. 3 pikers..their loss.
The terrain and fauna on the walk were so diverse. We started by following a stream up this valley in a mountain meadow to the first toilet stop...as expected there was a queue....of women. Then up the devil's staircase thru the snowline..just volcanic rock. Over the saddle into the crater and here was this alpine wetland and a long boardwalk. Then acoss the crater to stand below the perfect volcanic cone and watchful eye of Mount Ngauruhoe. At this point we had gale force winds and sleet.
Onwards and upwards went the intrepid team to the red crater over the ridge and down a scree slope to the emerald lakes for lunch. The smell of sulphur was strong and there were steam vents acoss the ridge from where we were sitting. It was like Queen Street there were over 500 people walking the track that day. The cloud had cleared and we could see Taupo and another large lake.
We then walked across the crater again to the blue lake then over and down below the snowline into a different kind of alpine meadowland.
We stopped for aftern0on tea at Ketetahi hut. The hut and toilets were guy roped to the ground with steel ropes..must get a bit of wind around here. There is another geothermal spring area just above the hut. Steam and the inevitable smell of sulphur on the wind. A reminder that this is an active volcanoe.
We walked on down into the scrubland where we saw these amazing rainbows, which have turned out in my photos. The scrub became trees and then forest. Thru the forest we walked beside these picturesque mountain streams with special mosses and rapids. Then to the car park after 7 hours and 15 minutes of walking. We were acosted by DOC doing market research on the track... "how many more walkers can we load onto the track without spoiling your experience ??" There were more toilets and another long queue of women and kids. The bus arrived not much later and we slept all the way back to National Park.
Some went for a Hot Spa Bath at the Ski Haus. Dinner was a bar meal at Schnapps...they gave us the back room to ourselves. We watched an exciting game of rugby on sky TV: Canterbury play the Cats.
The next morning we booked the station cafe out for ourselves for brunch...the 16 that were left. Everyone headed off to the Kiwi House at Otorohanga..they did see some Kiwis.
The weather turned cold to 1C and then it snowed.
Regards
Steve and Edith
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March 31, 2005 - 10:46 AM
Libby
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This is a wonderful site. Our season in the Northest is winding down, but if anyone is interested in skiing next season, check out our club site.
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March 05, 2005 - 06:34 AM
James Chambers
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Just a quick hello to old friends from a kiwi across the Tasman. Site looks great and the photos of the Whaka lodge brings back old memories
Hope to catch up with a few old faces later this year
Cheers
James
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January 31, 2005 - 06:51 PM
Cris Hatton-Carr
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1st working party of the year went quite well, I thought; hopefully our work will be up to Ross' stringent QC. If the roof or the sth side dropper leaks, Bernie & I know nothing about it... Hopefully, we'll get some photos on the web-sit, too. Oh, BIIIIG holla to my peeps Darren & Caroline Sharp; thanks for your help, & to Grant McTavish, for being the "kitchen bitch"..., but what happened to the Apricot Surprise??? Chicken bones don't count...!!!
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January 30, 2005 - 05:46 PM
Janne
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Hi, your homepage is really great. It looks good and is easy to navigate. Keep up the good work.
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48
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January 20, 2005 - 07:02 PM
Steve and Edith Chaney
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20th January from Rome
Buongiuno,
The skiing in the Dolomites was fantastic. We had 3 days of blue skies and sunshine. Can you ring Ron Brodie for me the Hotel Marilena was excellent. EU68 per night is our cheapest hotel on the holiday. Walk out the door and onto the 50 person gondola. The Marmalouda was not too good because of high winds. We did the Selaronda clockwise (Orange) and anticlockwise (Green)The snow was a bit sparse. Snow making everywhere. They had a big snow storm they day we left.
Ski hire was EU41 for 3 days and the ski pass was EU79 for 3days for the Super Dolomiti pass, seven ski fields ...the fourth day would have been free. It was -4C to -12C during the day but did not feel that cold.
We are home on the 25th see you all then
Steve and Edith
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January 11, 2005 - 02:59 PM
Steve and Edith Chaney
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Guten Tag,
We spent the 8th and 9th January skiing at Jung-Frau under the Eiger. Only 30cm of snow. I can now ski over mountain grass but stones bring you to sudden stop. We had 2 fine sunny days. It is below freezing at night but we have had 9-13C during the day which is exceptional for mid winter in Switzerland. We also went on the train inside the Eiger that goes to the summit. Fantastic. Ski rentals 41EU per day and the ski pass 34EU per day.
Today 11th we are at Zermatt under the shadow of the Matterhorn. There are 2 ski fields 9one ski pass) with the Swiss/Italy border in between. The Swiss field is called Klein Matterhorn (Matterhorn Glacier), the Italian field is Cervinia. The Swiss side gets the morning sun the Italian side the afternoon sun. The skiing was fantastic. Just so much powder.
You go up from Zermatt in a 6 person gondola then a 100 person gondola, and a third 100 person gondola to get over to Italy.
The chair lifts take 6 people and have padded seats and plastic weather covers you can bring down if it is windy.
Edith is skiing so fast now. We skied all the way down to the town at the end of the day.
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January 04, 2005 - 03:20 PM
Chris Hatton-Carr
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Well, spent my 1st New Years' Eve down @ National Park...! Great way to end the year by going snowboarding with friends, & then having a good sauna & spa @ Skotel. Unfortunately, 1 Jan 2005, the weather was back to normal...RAIN!!! Never mind, as we went boarding again on the 2nd; snow was really good, & had better riding on those 2 days than I did in November, & the Summer riding NOW closes on the 9th Jan...! C u @ the working bees, mtn biking/hiking, &/or during the '05 snow season...Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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