Week 8 - Term 3

This week was ski trip! I had so much fun and hope I can go again next year. On Sunday at lunch time we met at school to drive the three hours to the Whakapapa side of the mountain we went in cars and I had to go in the school van but that was okay because Keisha was in the van to. When we arrived at the mountain we had to carry our bags up to the lodge from the car park, it wasn't that far but it took awhile because of our heavy bags. When we got to the lodge the custodians told us the rules and we put our bags in our rooms and unpacked a bit. Since I had three friends with me on the trip but was only in a room with one, Keisha and I asked if we can move rooms to be with Delaney and Sam. Mrs Germann said it was okay and we choose our room and bunks and unpacked. After we had got settled in we dressed up in our warm clothes and went outside to have a snowball fight and slide down the mountain. We all had to come inside a have dinner, after dinner we all stayed in the lounge for a while but then had to go to our rooms before bed. We were allowed to leave our lights on and talk for awhile but at around 9:30 Mrs Germann came and told us to go to bed.

The next day was our first day skiing. It took awhile for all of us to hire skis, poles, boots and helmets and everyone got a little impatient as we were eager to learn to ski. When we had got our gear we took the chairlift down to happy valley. For the eight people that could ski this was just do Mrs Germann could see if they were good enough to go on the higher slopes. The other eight that couldn't ski [including me] had a chance to try to get to our feet before the lesson. Our lesson was around 11:00 so most of us beginners could ski down the valley. At our lesson we learnt how to go side to side and ski without poles. We spent the rest of the day in happy valley and when it was time to go back to the lodge we couldn't walk up the steep slope with our skis so we took the chairlift up to rock garden to ski down through rock garden to the lodge. Rock garden was harder then we thought it was and we crashed into each other as well as other people lots of times. We fell asleep quicker that night because we were all tired from a long day skiing.

Our second day skiing wasn't as clear so most of us wore extra scarfs over our mouth and nose. Today we had all mountain passes but Grace, and me were put in Mrs Germann's group who was looking after the less capable skiers. Even though Grace and me could ski well we had to spend the morning in happy valley because we were short a parent for the morning. After lunch I joined groups with one of my friends and we went up to the top of the mountain to the waterfall t-bar so we could ski in the valley there. This was challenging but I think I did well for only my second day skiing. On the way back down to the lodge we took quite a steep route and Etsko had to help Lolkje and me ski down it.

The next day we only got rock garden passes because it was very foggy and we couldn't see, our scarves got wet in minutes! Lolkje and me skied together again and there were some funny moments like when I took the wrong path and fell over because my skis got caught on some rocks. Since the visibility was poor and there were moments we couldn't see, when we went back to the lodge for a early lunch we all decided not to go skiing that afternoon but to stay at the lodge and get to know each other better.

Our last day was a little bit better than Wednesday but it still wasn't very good. We skied down from the lodge with our bags to put them in the van so we didn't have to go back to the lodge then spent the morning skiing at the waterfall t-bar. At morning tea time we went to the cafe to get hot chocolate and energy drinks to keep us going. We spent quite a while up there as there was a whiteout so there was no point trying to ski. We decided to take the chairlift back down to rock garden and ski there for awhile before giving back our gear. The last time I skied down rock garden I was with Keisha and Delaney. Keisha was videoing Delaney and me skiing from behind when Delaney lost control on a hill and fell of her skis! This was definitely one of the funniest moments of the trip but there were a couple others that would give Delaney a run for her money! We then handed our gear back in and got back in our vehicles to go home.

I really enjoyed this experience and I hope I can go again next year even though it won't be the same without the year eights of this year. I made many new friends as well as learning how to ski, and I would definitely recommend this to people.