Ohakune: Slow Finish

13th -28th October 2014

The last two weeks of work were nowhere near as good as the rest of the season had been with everything that made it great slowly slipping away. The number of customers had dramatically reduced after the school holidays making the work largely boring, the snowflake cafe had closed so no more awesome burgers on my days off and my favourite riding buddy left town!

Making sad face

On a more positive note though I moved out of the Lodge into the house on Maire Way. There was a spare room going and its a much nicer place to live than the lodge. I would be living with Rachel, Vicky and Sarah which would be fun. There were a lot of people moving out of the lodge that day including Wannes and Nele who helped me move before staying the night on the drive and leaving the next day. Not gonna lie it was a sad moment.

Glacier

I went out riding on the Wednesday with Alex and Courtney. I thought it might be the last time so I did the glacier again which was as epic as always. There was still a surprising amount of snow up there despite it looking pretty bare at base.

Wooo

Epic Walk

The good weather continued so I persuaded Courtney to do my shift for me so I could do something I've been wanting to do since September last year, the Tongariro Crossing. I had tried to do this twice already. The first time was with the Kiwi Experience but the visibility was about 50 metres. The second time I had planned on doing it whilst I was in Ohakune for interviews but I had broken my foot so it got cancelled again. This time everything worked out great!

Mount Doom!

Lava flows

I think this time might have actually been more epic than if I'd managed either of the previous attempts. The snow that was still around made the place look even more spectacular. After the Devils Staircase (which is a killer) it opens out into the South Crater which is just ridiculously amazing.

Up the Devils Staircase

Mt Doom!

South Crater

My spot for a break

You can't quite get the scale in these photos or in the video at the bottom but believe me it was epic! I stopped for a break before heading to the top of the track where the red crater is. This bit was like trying to walk up a sand dune and it was the same going down the other side. In the red crater there is an old lave cone that's been worn down at the sides to look like what can only be described as a vagina!

Tongariro Vagina

Main Crater

Emerald Lakes

I stopped at the Emerald Lakes for lunch which is when the clouds started to role in. The way down was largely in the clouds so I didn't see much but I don't think there was much to see after that. I'd seen the best of the crossing and I cannot recommend it more. It was incredible.

Very bright

Main Crater

Blue Lake

Cloudy

Snowy path

Windy path down

I did the crossing quite slowly as I knew I would be waiting a while at the bottom but we had to wait even longer as the three girls from Korea that were on our bus got lost somehow! We ended up leaving them behind and they had to pay for another shuttle when they finally made it off the track.

Finished!

Back at work we had a weekend of rain that had washed away the Alpine Meadow meaning we had no beginner facilities left. The snowschool got some hours though by litter picking.

As you couldn't ski down to base anymore it made ticket checking extremely dull so I learnt to be a lifty instead. Con taught me how to speed up/slow down, stop and start the lift. I wasn't exactly exciting work but it was something to do!

No more snow

The rest of the time was really uneventful. I made a quiz on Monday night as we were missing quiz night which went down well. It even had a music round and a physical challenge which was how many marshmallows can you fit in your mouth. Kirsten did really well at that!

It was finally time to pack up and leave. The season would actually continue into November with the top lift staying open but I was definitely ready to leave by now. I was quite sad handing my snowboard back in to rentals though. It was the board I learnt on and will always be my first board. Whether or not I ever get a second remains to be seen!

BBQ

There was a last minute staff BBQ arranged on the penultimate day of the season and it was quite nice to see everyone that was still there together one last time. My last day was a closed day so I had plenty of time to gather all my crap which seems to have multiplied again. I walked through the torrential rain to hand my uniform back in at the workshop. As I was walking back I managed to get trapped by the river as it had burst its banks. I had to take my shoes off and wade through it!

After I'd dried myself off and had one last curry we had one last quiz night at our house with the rest of our department before the goodbyes began.

Goodbye Ruapehu

The last two weeks really did drag but it doesn't take away from what has been a fantastic season. Work is always work but the benefits of working here make it possibly my favourite ever job. The snow, the mountain and the people were all amazing and I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity. I was ready to leave by this point but I look back on my time on Mt Ruapehu with a lot of fond memories.