Walking in a winter wonderland

A forecast of snow showers and a down time day equaled a sleep in for the girls and Larry and Jenny going to town - literally!  We let the girls wake up when they wanted to this morning as we have been on the go and we thought they needed the downtime and a day off from us nagging them to get up and get ready.  After all, they are on holiday!  Jenny and Larry headed off about 10ish and wandered around the shops together and separately, which was enjoyable as we were not rushing around and could look at what we wanted at our leisure. Stopped at The Ballarat Trading Co for lunch as they had a $15 lunch menu and it looked (and was) a warm and cosy pub.   Larry an open style steak sandwich and Jenny a yummy home made beef and ale pie washed down with a cider (Jenny) and a lager (Larry). The girls tracked us down just as we were finishing and, after us exchanging NZ dollars for their Aussie dollars, they wandered off shopping and we kept meandering around until Larry decided he had had enough and headed back to the unit whilst Jenny did some more browsing. Jenny found a gorgeous poncho which was what she was after to keep warm at hockey training nights so she was happy as she achieved her aim of a momento from the NZ that is not a 'souvenir' as such.   Not long after Larry and the two girls got back to the apartment it started to snow!  Cameras came out and Jenny walked back in the snow. Wasn't a lot but it was special.   We stood in our open balcony and tried to catch floating snow flakes which was fun.

The snow flurries kept coming so Jenny and Larry decided to go for a walk in the snow as it was too good an opportunity to to experience something different. Had a good walk around Queenstown Gardens and the snow showers came and went, nothing very heavy and the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground.  We were amused to see a few groups of young people doing some sort of treasure hunt which required a member of each team to strip down to the their jocks (one of them was extra fool hardy and fully stripped!) and swim out to the pontoon in the lake - probably a 20 metre swim - to retrieve a clue.  Brrrr!!

After the walk we thought we would undo the good of fresh air and exercise by stopping off at Koko Black for a hot chocolate - yum!  We then headed back to the unit to relax for a while and then headed back out for dinner. It was cold but not snowing and we found a pizza restuarant that was warm but not too crowded even though they were busy. After a very nice dinner and a (another) pint of golden ale and a really delicious cocktail for Jenny. we headed outside and discovered it was snowing quite heavily.  In addition, as the temperature had dropped a little bit more the snow was no longer melting as soon as it touched the ground and started to dust the cars, park benches etc.  This was awesome.   Jenny and Kate went to a lolly shop and Chloe and Larry headed back to the apartment but as it was still snowing we didn't want to go in and started playing in the snow.  Jenny and Kate were walking back so they joined us we all had a play like big kids. The fresh snow was very light and fluffy so it was good to see what real snow was like and not just the older, icy, slushy stuff.

After a while, as we had not taken ski gloves to dinner but just our woolen gloves, our hands got a bit cold and wet so we decided to head in.   Larry listened to the last quarter of the footy through the AFL website and we were glad to hear that the Eagles had defied Collingwood and shockingly biased umpiring and scored a win!

  

Did a little packing as we head off tomorrow for Mt Cook.   Although it's technically only a 2 to 3 hour drive away we'll probably take all day to get there as we'll leave here late and take it very slowly so, if necessary, the roads have been cleared of snow and ice.