Life is not measured ....

The snow has arrived

Last Saturday we were sat on the balcony 18degC, enjoying a beer with friends from across the road. On Monday Ben came home from work with two inches of snow on the car. Lyttelton is a good few degrees warmer than the city so we only had a few flakes but the port hills surrounding us got a good dusting. On Wednesday we jumped in the car and went up the gondola to watch a beautiful sunset over the port and the city.



The ski field closest to us, Mt Hutt, opened last weekend so we bought snow chains and headed for the mountains yesterday. Less than two hours from Christchurch and a fairly scary steep drive for the last 10kms and there we were on the slopes. The sun was shining, there was loads of snow and we all remembered how to ski – you don’t get better than this. Back in town after a great afternoon, we pitched up at the Mexican restaurant, South of the Border, that we discovered a few weeks ago and finished of the day treating ourselves to a nice big glass of Sangria and the kids charmed the waitresses and enjoyed quesadillas followed by ice cream.

photos - fun in the snow

This past week in Lyttelton has been the Festival of Lights, all the public buildings and many of the houses are all lit up and there are various events on through the week and it finished off on Friday with a street party. The main street in town was pedestrianised and filled with stalls. We watched the parade of the snow queen, listened to the live music and watched some amazing acts of juggling, fire breathing and gymnastics. It was bitterly cold but dry and mulled wine kept us adults warm. We walked back up the road and watched the fireworks from the balcony.

Since starting this blog entry, we've had another weekend where we've been able to get out into the mountains - this time for some sledging, snowmen making and a picnic! Photos included in the link above.

posted by Sharon, Ben, Louise and Daniel @ 11:37 pm