New Zealand 2015

July to December 2015 (Castle Hill & Wainui Beach (Gisborne), New Zealand) —

We returned to NZ in mid July, and it was good to be home. The Dicksons welcomed us back to Castle Hill with warmth, the usual grief, and tons of snow. It was the antithesis of last year — the mountains were open, the snow was plentiful, and it kept snowing fairly consistently.

After a few days, NZ Customs finally released the gear we shipped from the US and we could start skiing.

We spent only a few days skiing in bounds at the club fields this season, but skied far more than last season.

After attempting this ridge walk outside BR for about 5 minutes, we decided to deck ski and drink beer with friends instead.

We had some beautiful weather mid-winter and completed an overnight backcountry tour with our friend, Damien, traveling from Mt. Cockayne to Mt. Olympus, which had been on our list since last year.

While I was down with a cold, V and Damien also climbed and skied the highest mountain in the area, Mt. Enys, on a brilliant spring day with variable snow conditions.

And we had a couple of big weekends when an Aussie horde descended to ski/ride with us. Well, at least Clare visited. But I was so wrecked by the time she left that it felt like fighting off a horde. Plus the Kiwi Seagulls, who we first met in Japan, also visited for a weekend and cooked a beautiful lamb roast, which Clare (the sorta vegetarian) pretended to eat.

Baron von Davies slashing some good snow with a view

Back of Tarn — Tarn Basin with the Kiwi crew plus Clare

dho and vlc in crystal valley — Comedic exit from Crystal Valley. Photo by Clare Cartwright.

“Racing” up the access track to Temple Basin. Spring had sprung.

High-Five Rob, V, Clare, and Tim “No-Ceps” Mackenzie

No-Ceps carrying Clare’s splitboard along with his skis in an attempt to build muscle.

During the periods without new snow, we went for runs on the local trails, spent 4 days biking the Alps to Ocean trail (click to read), and took the Dickson kids bouldering at Cave Stream.

As ski season finished, we packed the car and headed north to our favorite surf spot in NZ: Wainui Beach near Gisborne. Renting the same house each year really makes it start to feel like home.

The surf here rarely disappoints.

We were lucky to have our good friends, the Hamilton McElligotts (minus son James), visit over Labor Day weekend for the Gisborne Food & Wine Festival. So many good laughs. We love the McElligotts.

PenultimateFullSizeRender — Photo by Leah McElligott

Our visit to a local winery even made the paper. In James’ absence, David became an honorary McElligott.

And Amy Smith came by for a couple of nights during her driving tour of NZ. Somehow we didn’t take any pictures of her, but she took this one of us on our back porch:

In early December, we traveled back to Christchurch to celebrate Mark Dickson’s 50th birthday. While I joined the mountain bike ride, V and Mark’s sister, Sally, built the shot skis and set up near the end of the trail for some surprise Tequila or Jager shots. The beach party at Taylor’s Mistake Surf Club lasted well into the night.

Sally biking up the trail with the shot skis on her pack.

Hungover a bit the next day, we headed down to Sumner beach for some cricket and a cookout.

It wasn’t very cricket to jump around and sing “We are the Champions” when V got the 11 year old out, but it sure was fun.

After that stellar last weekend in NZ with the amazing Dicksons, we packed up and headed to Japan for the winter.