Esther's final week/1st trip to the mountain

Monday morning after sorting a few bits and bobs Esther and I headed out to the Coromandel peninsula. Unfortunately the weather was horrendous on the drive up so no pretty views to be seen. After grabbing a nice lunch in Whitianga we decided to take a scenic drive over to Coromandel town (as I had never been) really small little town with not a lot going on, but had a nice walk and it's a very quaint town. That evening we had lovely fish and chips and a few beers. The next day we awoke to beautiful day and after breakfast we headed over to Cathedral cove on Mercury bay. Took a nice picnic lunch and enjoyed several hours in the sun. That evening we headed back to Hamilton for Esther's final evening with us. Took her to one of our favourite restaurants for some posh nosh. The next morning Esther headed up to Auckland for her last few days in NZ before flying home. Been fantastic having her over here with me!

Wednesday to Friday I started my first few shifts in anaesthetics, very relaxed and dossy really which as much as it makes a nice change I will miss ICU. Friday evening Gem and James headed down here and we all took off for the opening weekend at the mountain. Saturday morning we were up at 6.30am to watch the England game. What an absolute waste of a lie in, they totally deserve to get knocked out. The opening of the mountain turned out to be a quiet one really, only the baby slope was open so we took the opportunity to learn to snowboard, not that easy really but had a great day. Followed our good day with some apres board drinks in the pub and headed back to cook some food. Some more friends joined us that evening and it turned out to be quite a drunken one (esp for Si and James!) The next day it was chucking it down with rain and the mountain was closed so we headed north in search of other activities, first we went to a white water rafting centre and after getting all kitted out it was cancelled as the river was too full, then we headed up to Taupo for a walk at the huka falls and a stop at the honey centre, then up to Rotorua for a soak in the polynesian spa geothermal hot pools followed up nicely by a lovely meal before heading home.