Monday, June 9, 2008

I Ride a Wooly White Mamooth

Winter officially arrived on the first of June. It unofficially arrived here early last month. I'm an Aucklander, I come from the warm north. We have cold winters but its nothing compared to Taumarunui winters. Its already been colder here at the start of winter then it ever gets in the dark of winter in Auckland. We live 45 minutes away from Mt. Ruapehu. An active volcano, its also the site of one of the biggest ski fields in New Zealand. Snow started falling on it last month and on Sunday the snow went to the foot of the mountain. The mountains due to open to skiers and snowboarders in three weeks. Reports are that this winter is going to be earlier, colder and longer then other years. It would happen the year I move down. I didn't get much of a chance to acclimatise. At least the skiing is going to be awesome, not that I can afford to go skiing with the petrol and feed prices the way they are.

Toby's coat has grown full pelt even though I've had him well covered since last April. Hes become a shaggy mammoth and I've affectionately dubbed him Wilbur the Woolly Mammoth. Hopefully I'll get him clipped soon.

Somehow he got the memo about the harsh winter before I did.

5 comments:

Misha said...

Aw he sounds so cute with his big furry coat ! I saw the pic in the post below this one -- Toby is really a beautiful horse!

Pony Tail Club said...

I can't believe Winter is starting for you! It's the beginning of summer for us, but this week we woke up to snow one morning. Maybe it will be a nice , cool summer!

Katie said...

Oh Maddie! Wouldn't that just be great? A cool summer... sigh lol. I was trying to figure out yesterday whether I liked Summer or Winter better. Cuz Summer saps your energy on a really hot day but Winter is just so cold and sometimes you don't even want to leave your warm bed lol.

Thanks Mitzi! I think hes gorgeous!

Mrs. Mom said...

Hi- I found you through Anne's LifePundit blog, after you posted about no guns in NZ... This is way OT for here (sorry!) but I wanted to ask, can you have pepper spray? (The bear grade stuff is fantastic.) What type of self defense items ARE you allowed there?

Be safe, and be aware. Most of the bad stuff can be warded off by keeping your eyes open, and being VERY aware of the situations around you!

Katie said...

Hey Mrs Mom.

Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately (as far as I can tell) Pepper Spray is only allowed to be used by the NZ Police. Thankfully, we live in a pretty safe country but again there are still attacks on people and they are seeming to become more regular.

Basically, our only self defence weapons that are allowed to the general public are ourselves. If we want to be trained in self defence we can but the majority of people I know are not (myself included).

I am not oblivious to the dangers and I do all I can to stay safe i.e not walking by myself at night, locking my doors whenever I'm in the car etc but theres only so much you can do I guess.

Thanks,

Katie