Welcome abroad, Fred

Just a quick note to welcome Fred to the Chalet Raurimu team, specifically the Grounds Maintenance Team…he’s just new to the job but has already made significant inroads to the grass that is growing so quickly with the alternating rain/sun cycle this time of year…

Brrrrr

This was the scene this morning after a second dump of snow last night…most of the snow is gone now as we’re just below the normal snow line…but the rabbits must have been out partying as the sun came up…

Wascally wabbits

Clearing

Just had a little hail storm and it’s cold enough for hail to sit on the ground – got to be a good sign…there are blue skies over the Plateau for the first time in weeks…maybe one more night of dodgy weather tonight and then steadily clearing for a great week next week…

Still stormy but looking good for the weekend…

Waiouru Traffic Cam courtesy of AA RoadWatch

Turoa – closed but there has been at least another 10cm’s of fresh snow overnight…
Whakapapa – closed but 30cms of fresh snow on the Upper Mountain overnight!!

The forecast if for skies clearing on Saturday and brilliant for Sunday…

It’s definitely snowing up there

Bitterly cold here tonight – all fires burning…I came through National Park around 3 this afternoon and the Mountain was hidden under big black clouds…both fields are closed but there’s snow falling on both sides…

Here’s the (much more positive) snow report…

And now for the weather…

Brrrrr….it’s damn cold but that’s a good sign for the winter season…heavy frosts every morning for the last week…booking requests for the Chalet starting to roll on in…

Looking good on the Mt Ruapehu Snow Report with both Whakapapa and Turoa now open…

Turoa: The Alpine Meadow Beginners area, The Parklane, Movenpick and Giant Chairs are OPEN today. There are limited trails on these lifts. Sightseeing is available on the Parklane chair. Great weather for the weekend then more snow into next week!!!

Whakapapa:  Happy Valley beginners area will be OPEN from 9am this morning. We will not be running sightseeing midweek. More snow is required for other facilities to open. Staying fine through Monday, a small period of rain on Tuesday then several days of snow!

Hmmm…where’s the snow?

Well, it hasn’t been much of a winter so far…lots of rain, not very cold and we’ve had more snow on the mountain some summers! Still, we’ve had belated starts to the winter season before so no point getting all doomy and gloomy about it yet…

At least WHEN the snow does come, everything around the Plateau will be ready for it: the Kune Mardi Gras is still on for tomorrow; the eclair shop has already opened for business and the Chalet’s all ready and waiting…

C’mon, Jim Hickey, where’s our snow???

Open for business

Hi…Just a quick note to confirm that the Chalet is open for business this winter…we had some interest in a long term tenancy on the property but that has fallen through and so we are back to business as usual for the 2011 winter season…looks like it may be a ripper as it’s sure been cold enough…

Things about eggs

Those sneaky chickens have been hiding their eggs!! We found this stash under layers of blackberry in a corner of their run…not being too sure how long they had been laying there (which came first the chicken or the blackberry?) we wanted to check that they were OK to use.

We found this neat little poem to show the four stages of a post-chicken egg…

Can you eat that egg?

If not sure you ought-ter,
then place it in water.
If it lies on its side,
then it’s fresh; eat with pride.

After three or four days,
at an angle it lays.
But, it still is a treat,
so go on and eat.

Ten days, stands on end,
in your baking ’twill blend.
‘Cause it’s definitely edible,
in your baking, incredible.

But, if it floats on the surface,
that egg serves no purpose.
‘Cause a floater’s a stinker!
Out the back door best fling ‘er!

As it turned out, they were all OK and we now know how to select the older eggs that are best for pavlovas…

Cool outlook for the weekend…

…but not necessarily a bad thing for those those doing the Traverse…got the lawns and edges done tonight before the rain arrived…miraculously some of the pitas we planted along the fence have survived both winter and my careless wielding of the weedeater…am back on top of the surrounds again which is really satisfying…most of our new flax seems to have survived as well so I think we’ll slip some more in along the fence lines, as well as more pitas and Horopito peppers…