The rest of October...

Hello. Sorry for the delay in the update. Here's a little teaser before the main November installment...

The weekend after the tyre blowout incident was Labour Day (Bank Holiday) so we had a 3 day weekend of hiking and snowboarding. Coincidentally, because of fortuitous weather conditions, Saturday happened to be the first day of summer for the Tongariro Crossing (meaning we could self-guide the hike instead of having to go with an alpine guided tour) and also the last weekend that the ski field would be open.
Friday night we drove 3 hours south to a tiny village in Tongariro National Park, and stayed at Howard's Lodge, which was owned and run by a guy called Grant, not Howard.
Anyway, early the following morning, we were shuttled to the start of the crossing. The driver muddled his way through a safety brief, which included false information about toilet locations and not much else, and we set off.

Nat at the start of the Tongariro Crossing - we traversed between the mountains (behind Nat's head).

The crossing was still covered in snow but was deemed suitable for self-guiding without crampons and ice axes.

A picture of me, just to prove I did it too, and Mt. Ruapehu, an active volcano, in the background.

Hundreds of people, from seasoned mountaineers to groups of sightseers, were doing the crossing that day, but not everyone took it as seriously as we did. There was one guy, wearing jeans, trainers and one of those tassley scarf fashion accessory things (you know the ones) who we saw at the top of the crossing where we, and loads of other people, had stopped to take in the stunning views and tranquility of the volcanic craters and snow capped mountains, when his mobile started ringing. It was that really annoying Nokia ring tone from Trigger Happy TV - dela-derr-derr, dela-derr-derr, dela-derr-derr-derr. Lots of tutting and head shaking from other walkers ensued. But when he answered it with 'Hi mum', everyone just fell about laughing. You probably had to be there but it was a brilliant moment.

Nat and I half way over the crossing, just before we stopped to have lunch overlooking Emerald Lakes.

It took us a little over 6 hours to complete the 17km crossing, and we were pretty shattered by the end of it. But during the walk we decided (think we might have been delirious from altitude or exhaustion or something) that it would be a good idea to come back and run it to raise money for Nat's mum's charity project, so watch this space.

We spent the next 2 days snowboarding on the mountains just the other side of Mt. Ruapehu. It was awesome.

Nat cruising down our favourite run, The Gut, and Mt. Ruapehu's summit poking through the cloud in the background.

My new car, a Toyota Hilux Surf - she's  a beast. Note the sign with the skiing kiwi, or skiwi!

We also started our introductory kayaking course in October. There's a 2 hour session every week for 4 weeks: 2 in the harbour and 2 in the sea. It's loads of fun and we're learning a lot.

Kayaking in the harbour. Our house is just out of shot to the left.

The whole group on the course. Some interesting characters - Kirsty (3rd from left) doesn't like getting wet.

That's it for now but I'll be posting another update soon...November's been busy. Hope this finds everyone well. We'd love to hear what you've all been up to.

Love Charlie & Nat x