Snowboarding Turoa

Ohakune sits at the bottom of Mt. Ruapehu and is a resort town, serving the snow-bunnies throughout the winter months. It has some great views of Mt. Ruapehu too. Mt. Ruapehu is an active volcano (I think. Vulcanology isn't my strong point), last erupting in 1995 and 1996, vastly altering the shape of the mountain and ruining the ski season for two years. That fact doesn't quite hit home until you see posters in the gents advising you on 'What to do in the event of an eruption' and so on. As if I didn't have enough to think about, what with trying to get my technique right and make sure that Em's not screaming at me too much on the slopes.

Anyway, we spent that day at Turoa, on the southern side of Ruapehu. It was a great day, sunny and bright, if a little on the icy side due to the strong winds over the previous few days. Luckily for us, we'd bought helmets in a sale in Mt. Manganui, and they came in very handy. Mam and Al joined us at lunchtime having taken the chairlift to the cafe halfway up.