Snowboarding and other such stuff

Where to begin? It has been a busy few days, we've had two new cars, been snowboarding, bought a new mountain bike, discovered the funniest sounding food on the planet and picked a name for a dog that we haven't even bought yet (and probably not going to buy).

So, i think i shall start with the non-dog. It kind of coincides with the snowboarding trip. We decided to go with some friends up to Mount Ruapehu and to get good parking we had to leave at 6am. On route we stopped off for some petrol (the kiwis complain with the price being 66p/litre...they don't know they are born....) and being in dire need of coffee i wandered in for a quick 'flat white', not fancying a cheese and meat pie for breakfast, i looked at the chocolate selection. A bar a Cadburys starred back at me, and i had to do a double take to ensure i had read the name correctly. Yes i had. The name of this fine bar of chocolate was Scroggin. Maybe because it was so early i found this very funny, and the rest of the journey assed with various conversation centered around the word Scroggin. Jocelyn is now referred to as "..the wee Scroggin", and this is the name that we have decided to give to our next dog. What a combo they would have been...Muppet and Scroggin. Just to prove this to be fact -

http://www.cadbury.co.nz/Products/Blocks-of-Chocolate/Energy-Scroggin.aspx

So onto the snowboarding itself. Mount Ruapehu is a small resort, built on the side of a volcano. We are coming to the end of the season over here, and the snow was not great. It was however good enough! There is a huge amount of off-piste (or 'track' as the call it) and that is where the enjoyment really lies. The photos of steep drops, and wide open mountain that i had seen previously were done justice to what we experienced. It was brilliant. The wee Scroggin had her first snow experience, and loved it. Liz and i took it in turns to go and board, whilst Jocelyn crawled in the snow and did some elementary sledging. I am afraid to report, however, that the European influence of poor taste all-in-one ski suits has manifested itself over here...it is not a good look. The 2 1/2 hour drive to the mountain was thoroughly worth it, and we will be investing in a season pass for next year, no doubt at all!

At the bottom of the Mountain

The off-piste was simply brilliant

The "Wee Scroggin" enjoying the snow!

Now onto the car saga....after careful consideration, and pre-purchase tests, we purchased a Toyota Harrier from a dealer. 2 days later, on flashes the engine warning lights and traction control switches off....hmmmm....not too good i thought. Off we trot to the Toyota garage and ask their opinion...the mechanic looked slightly surprised when i told him the problem, when i asked why the surprise he told me that a car dealer had brought in a Toyota Harrier the morning that we bought the car with exactly the same problem....yes you guessed it, it was the same car. $300 to fix.....understandably, i was less than amused so went and had a very closed door chat with old Luke at 'Adopt-a-Car'. Liz was told to wait outside. We now have a second 'new' car whilst our other one is being fixed and warranties written. I was very close to doing some proper English style "Tramping"...

So finally onto the new bike. Liz's bike made it through customs in one piece, and we have quickly realised that a good way to see a lot of the country is by bike. So I bought a bike and a seat for Scroggin Jnr. The seat was brilliant fun. The shop sold it to us and offered to fix it to the bike for a nominal fee of $25. Being all manly, i said to the man "...how hard can it be?" he looked at me and said "...you will find out...and if you want to bring it back, then feel free." Well this was like a red rag to a bull. My manly-ness was on the line, failure was not an option. The instructions were in Chinese, and soon got binned. All it took was 3 hours, a huge amount of bad language, 16 different screw drivers, a chisel, several bastardised nuts and bolts and a power drill. It looked just like the picture on the box. I was so glad when we managesd a 20km cycle without it falling apart! McScroggin enjoyed it as well!

A well engineered bike seat indeed!

And that, folks, is all for now!