6cm of clearance and an aluminium hull

Yesterday, the winds continued to confound our plans, as the North Westerlies continued to play havoc with the Mt Hutt Ski Area, keeping the place closed. After a lazy start to the day, Claire and I concluded that we really ought to do something constructive with our day, or risk killing each other just for the sake of something to do We headed into the centre of Methven (which takes approximately 2 minutes by car, it’s not a vast place) and made some enquiries as to what was reachable within an hour and a half drive.

First up we headed for Rakaia Gorge to go on a jet boat, courtesy of Ric at River Tours. I don’t think Claire was completely convinced at first, but then a jet boat came whizzing up the river and then spun a 180 on a dime, and she was more excited than me! Having strapped ourselves into life jackets, we hopped on board the jet boat, and before we knew it, we were flying upstream at 80 km/h gripping on for dear life as we bounced over the waves, nipping in between rocks and carving around the bends. The views from the river were absolutely stunning, as these photos show, and we had a great time. The sunlight bounced off the water, creating little rainbows as we flew over the water, the clear air blowing all the remaining cobwebs away from our lungs. The wind that had closed the mountain was whistling through the gorge, blowing sand over the river and water into our faces, and it was bloody brilliant.

After the jet boat, we decided that we would head off for Lake Coleridge, which looked like it shouldn’t take that long, and would take us to the source of the Rakaia Gorge. Unfortunately, yours truly got a bit muddled, and we went the *very* long way round. Claire assumed I knew what I was doing, and dutifully read the map to direct us along the route I had opted for. After stopping off at Sheffield for a tea, we eventually wound up at Lake Lydon, which is just round the corner from Porter Heights. This was going to be our backup skifield, however one look at the ford on the “good weather” road that we would need to take (if we wanted to get there in any less than 2 hours) has scratched that one from the list. It’s more of a ditch with boulders, and there’s no way the Nissan Sunny would take it!

It was a fun day, although I was knackered at the end of it from the endless driving. I was glad to wake up this morning to clear skies and very little wind, and head for Mt Hutt. The conditions are not as good as they were – the high winds of the last couple of days have taken their toll on and off the piste. However, it has meant that I am just concentrating on my technique, and getting a bit of fakie practice in. I tried to continue my teaching of Claire this morning, but we were making very little progress, and in the end concluded that a professional might be more appropriate. Which has turned out to be a good decision, as Claire made good progress again this afternoon, and is once more enthusiastic (there was a definite dip in the enjoyment coming up to lunchtime today!!). It’s clear that if I ever have plans to become a teacher, it’s going to take a lot more work