Rain. Really very truly soaking wet rain. The skies opened this morning and it hasn't stopped since then, therefore the day has been spent unashamedly lazing around in bed. It's probably beneficial though, to be honest, as after 4 big nights in a row in the pub, pretty much all week on the hill taking some serious beats, and a good bout of Cardrona-Bottom (not completely disassociated with the pub, I have to admit), I felt this morning as though my bones were mad...

Evening everybody, how the devil are we? Have taken loads of photos both on and off the hill recently so have added them on here into various albums. So check'em out alright? Spent the last 2 days riding Snowpark, awesome place. Some of the world's best riders are here in preparation for the Burton Open next week, so if you see a photo of someone jumping 40-odd feet, it's not me, it's them. If I try and do anything like them, my face ends up meeting sharply...

Right, I've looked into it and it only takes about 60 grand. I'm going to buy a helicopter and train to fly the thing. What a day yesterday - Saturday. After being bumped by the weather (this cold rainy island is more temperamental than ours) for 3 days, eventually woke up to a bluebird morning and got the call from the lovely Teagan down at Harris Mountains Heli. "Hey Christiaaaaaaan, you wanna go in the heli today huh?" she drawls in her Texan way. "Sure ...

Day off today - Friday - too windy up top. Me, Alex (Vancouver) and Dyfed (Cardiff) went up to a local attraction, Puzzling World, which is a sort of Ripley's Believe It Or Not... place. There's a maze outside, and inside there's all kinds of holograms and illusions and rooms which have water flowing up hill and pictures which make you want to vomit because your eyes are vibrating. I tried to take some photos of the holograms but they didn't come out at all. ...

Evn'n all. Sunday night now, 4 days riding this week and a few nights on the soider makes for a pretty fine first week in NZ methinks. Took about 3 days to get over the serious jetlag but all sorted now; weird thing, your head feels like it's spinning on your neck, you have absolutely no idea what day it is, 4am is the best time to have to resort to going through your phone's menu and finding you have Tetris (and you enjoy it), 8pm is time for Weetabix and 12 noo...