Volcano

Ruapehu against the sunset. It is amazing to think that I live this close to an active volcano. Far enough away to not be too worrying, but close enough that maybe one day I might see an eruption (as long as nobody gets hurt). Which according to the Geonet web site may be at any moment. Guess I will not be going skiing there this year.

Is it snow

I thought that there had been some early snow on Ruapehu this morning, until I looked closer at the pictures. There is just cloud around the mountain top.

Mount Ruapeho

Another picture of Ruapehu, just peeking out from the clouds.

Ruapehu in the Morning Sun.

Mount Ruapehu this morning, shining in the sunshine.

Ruapehu

Some more pictures from our skiing weekend. The first is looking down into the Happy Valley area, not enough snow for skiing, but great for sledgeing.

The second pic is looking up to one of the ski runs. It is called the Rock Garden run. You can see why.

Skiing

The reason for our holiday was to go skiing. My two oldest kids can ski, but Peter and I had only briefly tried it as teenagers and my youngest is also a beginner. At first it looked like the weather would be good. But as we drove further up towards Rauapehu the cloud cover got lower and lower and visibility got worse and worse. I had hoped to get lots of pictures of Ruapehu and the surrounding area. No chance, at one point we could not even see the other skiiers two feet in front of us! Out of three days there we only managed half a day on the slopes in almost white out conditions. On Sunday even the beginners area was closed.

Maybe next time the weather will be better and I will get the photos I would like.

The view down through Tanner Street reserve, over Havelock to the Ranges beyond. Unfortunatly my camera did not do the view justice. You can see Ruapehu in the distance. One day I will have a camera that will be able to capture what I can see.

Another daisy from my garden, this one is a little past its best (just like me).

And a picture of the mountains with snow from yesterday. If you look very carefully you can spot mount Ruapehu, one of the few active volcanoes in New Zealand) way in the distance looking like a fluffy white cloud.