This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
3 - 6 SEPTEMBER 1993 By Angela Hawes
YES! The first weekend of Spring! What a great time to go skiing at Mt. Ruapehu...... NOT}! Joseph Afamasaga did a great job of organising accommodation and high speed transportation, BUT forgot to organise great skiing weather. (Sorry Joe - someone has to take the blame!) So when a lodge-full of keen ski bunnies woke early on Saturday morning, they were understandably disappointed to discover rotten weather and a half closed mountain.
However, not even the bad weather could dampen the enthusiasm of first-time-skier "Woody. He trundled off to Happy Valley in his new skiing attire. Following close behind were his faithful supporters - hoping for a bit of comedy! Within seconds, even the ski instructors at his beginner's lesson were calling him ‘Woody’. It wasn't long before Woody's supporters got tired of watching Woody's ski lesson. (Pushing himself along with only one ski on was not sufficient to get action photos of him doing spectacular uncontrollable crashes). So they killed a bit of time body sliding down hills and tandem skiing. Back at the Lodge on Saturday afternoon, it was a snowball war against our neighbours in the Graduates Ski Lodge. WT&MC was dearly superior. After being consistently battered by snowballs, our opposition saw the inevitable defeat . and retreated indoors. Now that the ‘curtain raiser’ was over, the true war could begin - where the WT&MC army all tured on each other!! Great entertainment!
The five (very well behaved - might I add) children at our Lodge kept us entertained too. Two year old Toby did a great dance to Queen's "We Will Rock You’; Nicola did some lovely portraits of PK and Angela; Brian attempted to win Snakes & Ladders by going up the snakes; and all five sproggs had fun with Cathy's Baking Soda explosives. The three oldest boys (no - not Woody, Bruce, and Wayne) also had a strange infatuation with Woody and Joe - using them as punch bags and trampolines whenever they had the urge to burn off some of their endless kinetic energy. Sue, in her ever so slightly tiddly state, baked a Ruapehu chocolate cake. Its sunken centre resembled the Ruapehu crater, dripping with chocolate icing lava. Sue, a little less Port might help it resemble a cake next time - but it still tasted great!
The midnight oil was bumt playing Trivial Pursuits. In fact very few people hit the hay early on Saturday night. Maybe this was an indication of their low hope for improved skiing weather on Sunday.
It was strangely calm at sunrise on Sunday, but the tranquillity didn't last long. No sooner had we geared up to hit the slopes than the wind, snow, and sleet set in again. The really frustrated ski bunnies amongst us headed for Happy Valley - the only facility remaining open. But when winds started blowing people off the pomas, it was time to call it quits.
Then the real action started! Digging out cars, trying to fit chains, hearing of numerous car crashes on the Bruce Road, and then finally hearing that the Bruce Road was closed. Nobody was goin' nowhere in no hurry!!
Here beginnith the trek back up to the Lodge, the unpacking, and the phone calling of bosses to let them know that we wouldn't be making it to work on Monday! Even the Thompson family (who had been sitting in their car most of the aftemoon, hoping their four wheel drive with chains would be allowed down the Bruce Road) reappeared at the Lodge.
So it was time to knock off another batch of scones, a few more chapters of "The Power of One’ a few more board (or was it bored’) games, and a few rounds of Blinking Murder. By Monday morning, most of us just wanted to get off the @“#@! mountain, regardless of the improving weather. It was some time before the roads were cleared and the cars were dug out again. By midday, most of us were on the road home - at last! We arrived back in Wellington just as the working day was ending - suspiciously convenient timing, ay? So, although we were deprived of skiing, we were not deprived of good company. We all met a few new WT&MC characters, and had a relaxing 'couch potato’ weekend.
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