Party Season

SO recently things have been getting a bit quieter over here.  Especially at work the hours are dropping down so that means my money is dropping down.  So currently living off plain white rice, some thing that I'm more than familiar with, and also the free wine gums we give out at work.  A friend from Verbier, Chris is having his belated birthday celebrations at work so I managed to get the night off for the festivities and join in the fun on the other side of the bar.  It was a great gathering of people with a large number of crew from Verbier which was nice.  It escalated from a civilised evening with nibbles to a rumpus party with yards of ale and vomit very quickly.  Chris himself being the main contributor.  Repeatedly trying to down his birthday yard stopping more than occasionally to deposit vomit into the provided bucket next to him.  I was later told that the party also was entertained shortly by me and brad wrestling on the floor in front of everyone.  Neither I nor him can remember this even slightly however so I think I will choose not to be embarrassed by it.  As there has been little work my activities have been pretty limited to riding and frisbee golf.  This is far from disappointing and has been going great.  We have had pretty good weather and the more snowboarding the better!  

As planned for a while we had a staff party looming on the horizon.  The theme being come dressed as your favourite music artist.  Many ideas being thrown around but eventually it was only a fur coat and some gold jewellery needed to turn me quite remarkably into Macklemore.  So this was my outfit of choice.  This evening although it started late for me, as I had 40 stuck up twats to attend to until 12 at night meanwhile everyone else had finished, it was a fantastic one costumes always seem to make a night so much more fun!  Unfortunately it did not end well for my friend Dave.  He had come dressed as Miley Cyrus M.T.V awards style.  Not only did this stop him entering all but one establishments but once inside he caused absolute havoc and it wasn't long before he was dragged kicking and screaming from the bar in a truly slutty fashion.  Not before both our intoxication levels had resulted in me sipping from a beer that was neatly tucked between his bum cheeks!  Great! Dave I must point out is a man!  The rest of the evening I spent with Liz and her mate aiding them in losing at pool. 

A few days after that we had the privilege of hosting the Burton High Fives up at Cardrona mountain.  This is a globally renowned snowboard competition between the best in the world.  Me and Bridget and Kyle managed to make it up there for the half pipe final.  Such a spectacle to behold!  The weather was freezing but it was worth it to watch these pros throw them selves around in directions I can't even begin to comprehend.  I tried climbing up the side of the pipe to get better shot however it was so icy that after about 20 meters I came violently sliding down ripping cables with me as I fell and my snowboard went flying.  I got a stern telling off from some one in a high vis jacket and sheepishly took my seat to watch from a distance.  After a bit longer I decided to make another attempt at getting a better spot.  So I took a B line up to where I could see better and after hacking at the snow for a while made myself a tiny patch to stand on.  I couldn't move though because everywhere was a solid ice cube so one step and I would career down the slope again.  So there I stood for nearly 2 hours watching the final.  It was so worth it.  Amazing to watch live what I so often see online or on the T.V.  But to have it right in front of your face is an awesome spectacle.

Our house is called the "Stone House."  While this name was not chosen by us, it is what the sign says by chance and has aptly been renowned for being such a house due to a large percentage of the house residents living up to the name.  So the stone house decided to host a BBQ.  Me and Brad and Cam went on a little shopping mish once Facebook had made the event official.  We were very determined that it was to be a light, day time BBQ.  Not a party!  So we stocked up on meat and nibbles and tidied the house ready for the guests.  It was not till about 5 or 6 that people started to arrive.  The BBQ got going and it was looking great.  We had the tunes on, the sun was out it was a great vibe.  Unfortunately we very quickly regretted our decision to not get beer as we realised who the hell were we trying to kid.  It was almost immediately a party.  So a quick mish back to the super market to stock up and then back to what was quite firmly a party by now.  It was great having a full house.  Everyone was just chatting and laughing and really enjoying themselves.  A great evening had by all and rounded off nicely by about 30 people in the living room all sitting down to watch Space jam together!  What a movie.  The next day was a great one too.  A couple of girls had stayed over at ours from Auckland, Zoe and Zoe so we all went for a little play around on the hill that day and then that evening the girls bless them cooked us a stone house family meal with all the left overs from the BBQ and a few more steaks thrown in for good measure.  A wonderful evening. And by far the best I had eaten in weeks! 

The other day Bridget gave me a text seeing if I was up for hiking to the summit of Mount Roy with Ace.  Ace is one of the photographers that we met from the hell challenge crew.  Mount roy overlooks Wanaka and is about 1580 meters high so its no stroll in the park.  I told ruth at work we were going to do it and she put a little bit of fear in me when she asked if I had done it before or if anyone we were going with had previously done it.  Had we prepared properly etc.  She made it sound very serious.  however early next morning the three of us set off.  I didn't exactly look the part dressed in a t-shirt, vans and some skinny jeans.  But we marched on I had brought a sausage sandwich, some chocolate, crisps and beers for the summit.  These I thought were reasonable provisions for such an adventure.  It was a really great walk with jaw dropping views the whole way up.  We regularly stopped to take in the view and possibly a little to catch our breath.  After a while we thought perhaps it would be fun to take a bit of an A line up the mountain.  Off the beaten track and make our own way for a bit.  We did and although treacherous it was pretty fun.  So when the opportunity came to scramble up the ridge line instead of the path I jumped at it and was soon followed by Bridge and Ace.  A hell of a lot harder but it was well fun a bit dangerous and just better ya know.  We reached the top which was still covered in snow in 2 hrs 40.  I thought this quite impressive. There we chilled for many an astounding photo opportunity as the peak gives you a 360 degree view for miles.  Its beautiful.  Something perhaps not quite as breath taking was the massive poo that some one had left at the top.  Very kind of them.  I can see their thinking that it would be great to shit on the top of a mountain never the less not impressed. Slightly away from you human excretion we chilled for a couple beers and my provisions.  The beers went straight to my head as we were up so high and the scramble down was slightly more fun and a little more dangerous than before.  Walking down was much easier so we were able to chat, and with a few beers in us to lubricate our chatter we nattered on about religion, time travel, aliens and all the interesting things we could fathom.  Eventually reaching the car exhausted but satisfied.  I have always loved the phrase "The power of good".  Often used by slightly older people.  "that walk did me the power of good!"  I felt it appropriate to use this phrase now so I did.   

Here in New Zealand an important day approaches national Pirate day.  And of course in aid of this very special day a party is being thrown.  This party had been on everyones lips for a few weeks now so a greatly anticipated party must be a good one!  It has much to live up to.  Costume is of course of dyer import so a healthy 8 bucks in waste busters was more than enough to secure me what although not planned was the gayest pirate outfit you have ever seen!  Once I had finished at work I got dressed an proceeded to tattoo myself in a pirate fashion all over using what was clearly marked as a permanent pen. It didn't seem quite that worrying at the time.  So once my tattoos and eyeliner had been applied with this pen I set off to join the party.  Everyone had made a fantastic effort and the evening was a huge success.  Pirate games to fill the evening, anchors hanging from the balcony.  Cannons on the terrace next to the roaring fire and of course like every ye olde pirate party, a beer bong.  The night was a great laugh and although my throat payed the price, everyone talking in a pirate accent was immensely entertaining.  The party was in a flat just behind a popular drinking establishment called Water Bar.  It some how came about that the back door was often left open to this bar so we all decided that a pirate raid of this bar was of course some thing that should be done.  Brad mounted a table in the flat and proposed the plan then 40 or so pirates proceeded to creep to the back door of the bar and on the count of 3 we rushed in screaming and yelling brandishing swords and scaring the life out of people.  In through the back and in no less than 30 seconds we ran out the front all terribly pleased with ourselves at being an absolute public menace in a true pirate fashion.  the night went on from there progressing in violence and intoxication.  Fortunately unlike Cam and Brad I didn't stay long enough to get punched in the face as I was more interested in pie and bed.  The highlight of the evening for me aside from the bar raid was the fact that Jack had found an article in the paper describing how one of our previous house mates had been arresting for urinating in front of a police officer.  This was news to us and funny news at that!

Roady

lucky me I have been given the rare treat of 2 days off in a row so it is time to take advantage of it pronto!  Queenstown beckoned.  Living there is Laura a great friend of mine from uni and Ange and Caitlin some more awesome pals from last season.  Wednesday afternoon and up Cardrona mountain the snow is starting to come down pretty hard.  Certainly the most I have seen it come down since I have been here.  Very excited about the next day I head off to work.  I was hoping to finish the night early and hitch over wednesday evening so I could have more time in Queenstown.  No luck as 4 gentlemen came into the bar just as I had closed up and finished mopping.  4 of your most complex and time consuming cocktails they may as well have asked for!  So I got on making them and in my anger as violently shaking the cocktail shaker I bludgeoned myself on the forehead with it!  So hard I stumbled back and went all dizzy.  The inch lump took less then a second to appear and I struggled half with dizziness and half with laughter to finish the order.  Thankfully by the morning the lump had gone down which was great as I didn't fancy explaining it to everyone!  

I was up bright and early, bag packed and hitching by 7.30am.  I quickly got a ride to Cardrona which is about a 3rd of the way to Queenstown.  Then starting walking the mountain pass from Wanaka to Queenstown.  It wasn't long before I was picked up by a lovely bloke who was actually rather irritated he was going over to QT.  It seemed he had promised he would ski with a friend of his today.  The first powder day in at least 8 weeks!  And his friend was more of a one run then cafe and beer kinda guy.  Not the kinda guy you want to be skiing with on a day like today.  Not to mention he was very annoyed that he had to go over to QT as the mountains weren't as good.  This worried me a bit but not enough to kill the excitement of going over to ride with my mates and play on a new mountain.  

I was up Remarkables by 9 am pretty impressive I think.  This was because in QT a nice chick offered me her bus pass up the mountain.  Seeing the fresh snow I was immediately so pumped to ride.  Laura had work till 11.30 and Caitlin was too lazy to be up this early so I went to enjoy some of it by myself.  I hiked for about 30 mins to find some amazing fresh lines, a feeling sorely missed though I hadn't noticed until the rush came to me gliding down the mountain turn after turn.  As i got to the bottom of the run buzzing with excitement I boosted off a cat track blind to the landing, in the air I saw nothing beneath me but a huge rock smiling at me from far below.  My thoughts were of broken bones boards and the end of the season for me.  My board hit the rock first thankfully and I bounced backwards off it missing the rest of the rock and landing in the soft snow.  I paused and felt myself and amazed I had some how escaped unscathed I thought well my board must be snapped thats that for sure.  Not too upset about the prospect as I was still thrilled to be in one piece.  My board was of course an utter mess.  Chunks out of the bottom, scratches everywhere plastic ripping out at all angles but it was in one piece too and very fixable. I took it straight to repairs and within 20 minutes a lot of P-tex and some TLC it was ready to roll again.  Thank god.  By this time Caitlin had appeared.  Always great to see her.  She introduced me to her friend Alice and we set off to enjoy the day and the fresh snow.  After a few hikes and a few amazing runs we got to the bottom of the mountain where the snow started to become grassy.  In a fun mood we tried to ride it anyway as far s we could this resulted in me being head first 3 inches deep in muddy water.  Very funny although this humour wasn't shared by the bus driver taking us back up the hill.  He took a bit of persuading but eventually I was allowed on.

Not long till we were joined by Laura.  Me and Caitlin were very keen to try our backflips and rodeos and as we hadn't yet this season so we spent our lift rides searching for a good spot to throw ourselves off.  We saw a few here and there but none turned out to be the one.  Never the less we found some fun. A cheeky little cliff drop into powder and one spectacular view as well.  No backflips though.  But still an amazing perfect day.  Me and Laura then headed back to hers with some supplies to intoxicate ourselves and a bit of grub.  The plan was to meet Caitlin Ange and Alice later but they ended up being too lazy.  So just me and Laura headed out for a night in Qt  we went to this club which had just opened.  I think it was called "The Viynal."  It was underground and dark but had a great vibe and some really good live music was going on all night.  Fuelled with booze we got our boogie on and had an awesome night.  Some of you may have noticed already but I have a slight resemblance to an american rapper called Macklemore.  This resemblance gets repeated to me about twice a day minimum out here and has now just become a part of my life.  So when a drunk Argentinean guy came up to me in the club asking if he could buy Maclklemore a drink there wasn't much of a morale struggle in my already tipsy brain to refuse. This was a fun 15 mins of pretending until his presence became annoying and we decided to go back to dancing.  Laura was great she was constantly introducing me to people it seemed she knew the whole town and then some.  Eventually due to too much drink it was time to call it a night.  Not  before having a Ferg bakery pie of course!  The morning came far too quickly and with it a horrendous hangover dulled slightly by the fact that I was clearly still very drunk.  Reaching for my phone I see its 11.30 am and Caitlin is about to board the last bus up the hill while I lay in a self pitying and loathing pit of headaches and sickness.  I decided I was not to be beaten by this as Laura had work anyway and I needed to be productive.  I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled a lot out of the door clutching all my belongings and my snowboard.  I made it just in time to get the last bus and sat on there thinking why I had wrenched myself from bed so prematurely because nothing could be worth the way I was currently feeling.  I crawled up the stairs once at the base building to be greater by laughs from Caitlin, Alice and Ange at my intensely hungover appearance.  A quick change in the loo and a lot of water and I was ready to roll.  

We had a few fun runs to get warmed up and then spotted the perfect backflip spot.  Given my current state it would have been wise to pass up this opportunity but the part of me that was still a bit drunk thought it a marvellous idea.  We went to the base building and collected shovels and our bags.  There we bumped into Gaz an employee of Les Elfe last season with us who told of of a great spot up over the top of one of the lifts.  This seemed like a much better idea as it was far less in view and Caitlin would rather not be seen at the mountain she works at doing what we were.  We found the spot as Gaz had said and got to building ourselves a whippy little kicker.  About half an hours hard work and we had ourselves a pretty well made jump.  I walked up to the top of the run in and had a look at it.  It looked a bit too whippy.  Crazy infact so we decided to shave a bit off the lip and give it a go.  i just popped off it first to see how it was and it felt great.  Next comes the backflip.  This didn't go quite as smoothly as before and I didn't have the commitment.  I chickened out mid air and first point of contact was my head and neck.  Not a fun fall!  But shockingly I was alive and could move.  Caitlin then followed with an equally failed attempt!  hers was a direct face plant which I must say looked hilarious!  After these 2 very painful and bad falls we decided that the jump perhaps did require the whip we had previously deemed too much.  So after a bit of a reshape we hit it again with more promising results and again and again.  Eventually it started becoming more controlled and composed in the air and then bang got it!  Caitlin kept stomping them and then falling over just after.  So so close.  She then decided to try "one more" never a good idea.  She spun it round but it was too slow and she ate the shit big time.  Her yelp of pain was pretty prolonged so I was worried as i rushed down to her and after a quick check over releavingly she was ok.  A bit of a messed up wrist and probably some internal bleeding but nothing to worry about.  At that point we decided to call it a day.  Met up with Ange and headed home.  

Back to where Caitlin and Ange were living.  Which happens to have the best man cave ever.  Playstation, wide screen t.v, pool table, bar, dart board, all the ingredients u need for a chilled night in and smoke.  So after stocking up on a lot of munchies thats what we did.  

In the morning we woke up bright and early to road trip back over to Wanaka.  All four of us Ange, Alice Caitlin and me rode Cardrona all day.  Messing around in the pipe and the park having a laugh then after lunch we took a little bit of a hike up to a great view point and stopped for another little smoke and a chill surrounded by one of the most jaw dropping views I have ever seen.  We took a little gnarly line down from the view point and boosted back to mine. I had work so I left the girls to themselves and after a quick shift came back to some merry girls who were keen to chill out and watch a movie so we stuck dumb and dumber on and had a nice chilled eve in .  Great to hang out with them and catch up. A tremendously fun filled bunch of days off and I got my rodeos down!  Sweet.