Oh my God it is Sunday 31st August!Where has the time gone? Very short season! July was a complete white out up Cardrona and Treble Cone didnt have enough snow. Got the odd good day though. August has been great just enough snow and clear sunny days with the odd white out. Now though it seems like Spring has come already, it is roasting outside and all the snow is melting! We sold our car today, sold it for $1300, only paid $1,00 for it so great! Free car for the season! We also sold our bikes for an $80 dollar profit! So we have no transport now, we will have to hitch up the mountain! Kev go's up most days though so will prob go with him. He has a sore bottom at the moment though so is not going up for a bit. We all went snowpark the other day which was good. I took a lesson so spent $175 altogether for 2 day passess and a lesson ouch! alot of money for over here as everyone in Wanaka is skint because its sooo expensive to live here! The lesson was great though 2 hours and there was just me and an 8 year old kid! Both at the same lesson learning to go onto the box 50/50 and come out boardslide. Thats where you go onto the box / rail straight on nose forward and slide your board round on the box. Fell on my bum every single time. You have to lean forward but it all happens so fast you forget! I have lots of dark purple bruises all on my bum which is quite funny! I went over the humps getting very slight airs and pooing my pants! I fell so much that day! Me, Kev, James and Mike went up and got loads of video footage of us all doing boxes, jumps, rails as James is going to do a video of us all which is looking pretty good! The snow was quite slushy and wet but I didnt mind that as it meant a lighter landing, My snowboarding has really improved since doing the park which is great. I just want to get up there now but its too hot and we dont have transport, its going to be weired hitching! We also went heli skiing which was an experience! We got it half price for locals should have been $750 but was actually $450. It hadnt snowed for a while so there was not heaps of snow as expected. We went with Back Country Heli Skiing. BCH. They were very respectable and the everything was spot on. The Chopper was small and fit 5 people in. I got to sit in the front cuz I was the smallest which was great right next to the pilot. I wouldnt recommend heli skiing for those who arent fully confident snowboarders. It says any level but I put Intermediate and it was defo advanced! They dropped you at the top of Mount Constitution in Mount Aspiring National Park. Very scary, they just said pick your route and go down. But there was huge rocks and cliffs and I was petrified! I got stuck a few times with no-one about behind cliff edges and rock faces. I was very close to tears but when I got back on route I was buzzing off it. Gliding through the snow as though you were on air it was amazing. There was a crust on the top of the snow which hadnt melted yet as it was morning, only thin and you broke through it pretty quickly. Mike and James went down a vertical long shoot / drop with big mountain rocks either side, no room even to calve just nose down and picking up monsterous speeds. I could have gone down that route as you dont know whats coming up, thanks the lucky stars I went a different way as I would have screamed and bailed down it! Plus it was really icey so you couldnt stop as you would just fall, the edge of your board wouldnt stick through the ice to stop you. My route only by luck was really good, long, spacious and not steep at all. I think I went round the mountain and they went straight down it. Very scary but when on a good spot at your level very good! Getting in the chopper and seeing it land and take off was exhilarating aswell, we've never been in a chopper before and it is surprisingly calming, the landing and taking off is like you havent left the ground its so smooth! If we had gone a week before the snow would have been amazing but it was still a great day. I would prob go Mount Hut for the heli skiing if i were to do it again and check how long the runs were as these were pretty short. We went to James's house last night and Maw (sorry dont know how to spell the name its Taiwanise) Made us all a hot pot delicasy. She made a real effort and we were really impressed, you had all raw food all round the table and you would just put in the hotpot of soup what you wanted to cook, rice rolls, crabsticks, cabbage, mince and prawn rolls, dumplins, thin strips of beef etc. It wasnt to my taste but was an experience! Maw, James, me and Kev all went out afterI and all bought her drinks to say thanks. Dom and Shaz stayed in as they were too stuffed to move. Stewey gave us a lift into town and got breathalized on the way! They had cornered the main road in Wanaka off and were testing everyone and stopping them. They are really reallly strict about speeding and drink driving in Wanaka. EVERYONE gets fined and cought all the time. Prob cuz they dont have any crime to deal with they concentrate on that. Its good in a way as you WILL get fined if you speed its a matter of when not if. Drink driving you will get cought, the police are everywhere as its such a small town. He had had two beers but that was after a 2 hour food sess, so he was under the limit, it was very tense in the car though! We looked into sending our boards, boots, bindings and clothes back to the Uk. Its going to cost us $515 for both our board bags and a laptop which is good. This is air frieghted aswell. It was actually cheaper than sea freighting the items for some reason! We are sending them from a Christchurch Company called S.B logistics. Much Much cheaper than the quoted $2,000 from wanaka! Although I will have to ask my Grandad to pick the items up from Manchester Airport! Ooops i'm sure he wont mind, I can always rely on my beloved Grandad! James leaves the day after tomorrow, cant believe it, he has been our best friend since coming to Wanaka. We practically met him the first time we went out in Wanaka and we have all had a right laugh together, sharing lifts, petrol costs, going out on the lash, heli skiing etc. We will keep in touch and maybe meet in Canada for 2009/2010 season depending on what our plans are. Shelly and Cairns are coming to ours tomorrow and staying over which will be good. We are all having a meal at Oakridge as we get 50% off. Me, Mike and Cairns are all ordering the lamb which has to be ordered 5 hours in advance. It comes on a huge platter on the bone and they calve it for you. Shelly doesnt like meat off the bone, but I think she will be very jealous when she see's it!Bye for now, Mikes back from work, got a lift of this dude so didnt have to walk luckily!