Keeping amused

The great thing this year so far has been the mild winter and toasty apartment. This has gone a long way to making the winter tolerable here in Hawkes Bay. Also, its been a really good snow season so far and this has meant a couple of trips up to the local ski fields for North Island at Mt Ruapehu. There are two fields, Turoa and Whakapapa. So far have tried only Turoa and the last time I went up was to try snowboarding for the first time. Bruising. But anyone who has done it knows that. Easier to pick up than skiing but a lot harder on the bum and lower spine! Also not so good for hard packed pistes, since you only have one edge to rely on! Still, its worth pursuing simply to have more winter sport options when conditions allow. Can't wait to try boarding on soft off piste snow. Must be the best. Also, got called 'dude' by a 14 year old girl which made feel old and young at the same time.

Also recently went down to Wellington to catch as much of the international film festival there as is humanly possible - which I think I acheived by viewing 10 full length films in 2.5 days. The festival now comes to Napier and I have only seen 3 of the films that will be shown so it's gonna be a slob fest all over again. Bring it on. Cultural diversity can be a little lacking at these latitudes sometimes.