Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Mt Ruapehu, NZ)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Lucky husband and teenage son are headed off for a snowboarding weekend at one of New Zealand’s North Island mountains, Mt Ruapehu, on the Central Plateau, so this afternoon I’m tagging along vicariously…

Highlights:
Gorgeous mountains. Mt Ruapehu is the biggest, but its sister mountains, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe are equally impressive. Mt Ngauruhoe was as a stand in for Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie.

Snow. Love the snow! So pretty. Not so keen on it when it’s shoved down my back.

Skiing/Snowboarding. Like watching other people do it, but I have no desire to repeat my one klutzy experience at skiing seventeen years ago. My bones are a lot more fragile now and I no longer have to impress my then boyfriend, now husband, with my athletic prowess…

Waiouru. One of New Zealand’s little army towns, with a very cool army museum. Not to mention the opportunity to see some hot military men cruising past…

End of season solitude. My favorite experience at Mt Ruapehu’s Whakapapa ski-field was in 2008 on the last day of the ski season. We pretty much had the whole toboggan run to ourselves (great fun) and because there was hardly anyone else around we were allowed to park our 5th wheel trailer in the top parking lot over night – usually a big no-no. It was incredible sitting in our fold out chairs, drinking really good coffee and having a million dollar view of the sun setting on the mountain.

There’s something about mountains, don’t you think?  I love ‘em!

Tracey.