Volcano hat trick

Having scaled both Mt Ngaurahoe and Mt Ruapehu with mum, I figured a gorgeous, crisp day off could be best spent nabbing the third one, Mt Tongariro.

It's a great walk, mainly a repeat of the first half of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing then branching off to the top of Tongariro. I set off a bit later in the morning to avoid the Tongariro Crossing rush hour and had the place practically to myself (or so it felt). Just brilliant.

So that's it, I've climbed all three and there are no major peaks left on the North Island for me to 'conquer'.

Well, that's not strictly true. It would be good to climb Mt Taranaki so I'd have ticketd off the four volcanoes I can see from this house. However, after the ordeal that was Ngaurahoe - on which I saw for the first time my mum throw a tantrum, albeit a very very brief one - and having been assured Taranaki is a very similar experience, I'm quite content to let it remain the pretty Mt Fuji lookalike in the distance.

Homes in the country and the city (group email)

Only a couple of weeks left on the mountain before properly relocating to Wellington for Winter. I've been down there a couple of times already to suss out the flat and for a job interview. The flat's gorgeous. I seem to do particularly well at finding winter accommodation with a view. The wee farmhous at Ruapehu has stunning views of the three volcanoes. The Wellington flat and particularly 'my' bedroom has incredible vistas over the city and the harbour. Plus great flatmates and a friendly cat. I will miss living with Bex, who is quite honestly the best housemate I have ever had. But I'm looking forward to city life again. Oh, and I didn't get the job, by the way.

Work on Ruapehu at the moment is mainly processing the thousands of season passes ordered in April. The mountain computer database system has not improved since last year. If anything, various upgrades and 'improvements' have made it worse. There is now no one computer of the 9 we work on that can do all the different tasks we need to do. Nothing like an unnecessary challenge. I'm working with fab people though, so that more than makes up for it.

Manually processing, printing and packing 20,000 passes with photos is arduous to say the least, but it does give you the odd giggle at the poser pictures you get sent, and the downright silly. There are also some pretty crazy names, some so nutty I've had to ask them to produce formal ID as proof because I didn't believe them.

Outside work I've been ticking off all the short walks in the area, catching up with pals, enjoying the hot pools I can't believe I didn't discover last time, fretting over soaring petrol and food prices, watching Shortland Street and looking forward to Wellington and travel after New Zealand.

Dead-end pavement

One of the sheer delights of moving back to city life is being able to walk most places. But an oddity, at least in Wellington streets, is that many footpaths suddenly come to an unexpected, abrupt end. No warning. No 'cross over now because I'll soon vanish at a point that's particularly dangerous for pedestrians to cross at'. Nope, they just stop.

Curse of the dilemma

Dilemmas are the curse of those who seek change. Particularly to someone like me who over-analyses and has difficulty with medium to major decisions. I've not even got to the point of the current dilemma actually being a dilemma, but the thought of its potential of being one is enough to turn my brain to jelly. Ridiculous. I've got an interview for a great job in a little theatre in Wellington. They're looking for someone to start 2 weeks before my job on the mountain ends. I don't want to miss out on the job because of it, nor do I want to bail on the current job early. And I've not even had the interview yet.

As I said, ridiculous.

Tempted

It is tempting to stay, so very very tempting. I love the people I work with, I have a fab housemate, they've offered me really god jobs and are clearly keen to have me here for winter. But there's still the lifestyle problem. It didn't take too long last season for me to find it just that bit too isolating. It's work and then either home for TV or out for drinks with people who work on the mountain. It's not enough for me.

I've got a weekend trip to Wellington coming up, it'll do my head some good.

Winter's coming

My car was covered in a sheet of ice this morning, both on the outside and on the inside. The yellow smiley face windscreen scraper was unearthed from its summer home with the spare tyre. Just to spite me, the windscreen blowers cleared the passenger side first and I was reminded that only4 of the stripey heat thingies across the rear windscreen work, and it's not the middle 4. My feet are rarely out of socks. I wear thermals as pyjama bottoms. Neither my towel nor my hair dry naturally anymore and the tan is turning more jaundiced by the day.

Another NZ winter is coming...