Rest of the Holiday

The visit to Te Porere was actually on the way home from a week in the snow. This was my wife's birthday present, and it was the first time the kids had been in snow in their lives. It was also my first time in New Zealand snow - I had previously only experienced snow in Europe. We stayed in Ohakune which is very close to the Turoa ski field on Mt Ruapehu - a volcano next to Mt Ngaruhoe, better known as Mt Doom from the lord of the Rings films.

While there we were only 20 minutes from the Waiouru army museum, and we managed a visit there on Wednesday morning.

Liv on top of the Centurion tank outside the army museum

The gremlins and their cousins climbing all over a Scorpion tank.

No pictures from inside the museum. there had been a few changes since I was last there 9 years ago but my eldest daughter was freaked out by the wax works and the dark Western Front exhibit. She is such a wuss. The other two charged through doing their treasure hunt so didn't spend very long looking at anything.

On the way back from Waiouru we stopped at the Tangiwai memorial. This was a train crash on Christmas Eve 1953 caused by a lahar wiping out a rail bridge.151 out of 285 passengers died.

The bridge as it is today.

The memorial

My poor kids. This is what happens when your father is a historian - no vacation is complete without some history thrown in.

Next we went to Whakapapa ski field to do the sightseeing chairlift ride. There was an option to do this at Turoa, but the chairlift for this particular activity was broken. Never mind - the Whakapapa views were spectacular.

Your author, somewhere up a volcano - Mt Doom in the background.

Views down...

...and views up

I don't ski, so while my wife went up the mountain, the kids and I did some tobogganing. It was all great fun, except I had what I thought was a migraine the whole time. I went to the quack yesterday after we got back and discovered I have a sinus infection. This morning I awoke without nausea for the first time in a week! Now I can get back to the brushes.

This morning I watched England defeated by Australia in their Rugby World Cup match. They now have no way of making the finals stage, and are the first ever tournament hosts not to make it out of their pool. Despite my support for the Welsh, who are definitely through to the quarter-finals as a result of this morning's result, I feel a bit sad for the English. I think the tournament will lose something for not having them in it for the last few weeks.

Nate