“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels”

This New Year's Eve there wasn't an option to just pack the car with a tent, a sleeping bag, mozzie repellent and a few boxes of food from Pak'N'Save (unless we wanted to die of hypothermia somewhere in the British countryside) so an alternative form of entertainment was required. Despite the outrageous (insert high pitched sounds of disproval here) increase in cost between a NYE ski holiday and one later in the year, the timing was right.

After much miserly deliberation, we found a package holiday in La Plagne 1800 (France) for nine days including all accommodation, return travel, food, lift passes, ski hire, and 12 hours of guiding for about £600. While it is an horrendous amount once translated back into NZ$, in pounds it didn't seem too bad so we jumped at it. We convinced Lisa, Duncan and Devin (friends from NZ and Amelia's NSEP class) to come with and so on the 29th of December all met up at the Hatton Cross tube station just outside of Heathrow. Little did we know the horrors that awaited us... The 17 hour (no, that's not a typo) bus ride from London to the French Alps via a ferry over the Channel started off ok, but after several hours without heating and absolutely freezing our bollocks off while our crazy drivers got lost trying to find our accommodation, the fun had somewhat worn off.

But, onwards and upwards. We were in France! The sun was shining, the birds were singing and Amelia got brand new rental boots and a practically new board to play with so it was all good. The place we were staying (UCPA) was extremely generous with the food (I reckon we all put on weight despite the constant activity!), and despite the tiny rooms, it was great fun to people watch the other (French) group there - particularly when some of them decided to strip down to their undies for a particularly raucous demonstration of the Macarena!! We also played several (read, A LOT) of games of 500, which Devin took to like a duck to water. Just as long as Duncan didn't play too many hands of misere!



But, onto the most important part - the skiing/snowboarding! Lisa and Duncan were tentative, in the advanced beginners group, and fortunately only ended the week with a cracked rib and massively bruised elbow between them. Devin and I were in the advanced snowboarding group and Adrian was in the expert ski group. Fortunately, I still remembered enough of what to do to go exploring with Adrian after our guiding, although I had to leave him and Devin to the rope tows which were at crazy vicious angles and would have only ended in total and utter disaster (not to mention tantrums) had I tried to partake!


We had lovely sunny weather for the whole trip, apart from NYE itself where it snowed pretty heavily all day and night, meaning New Year's Day itself was stunning with blue sky and between 5-10cm of fresh powder. Devin and my guide was qualified to take us off-piste and we spent the whole morning just carving fresh tracks through the pow-pow. It was well worth the 8am wake-up after the night before!

Speaking of the night before, NYE night itself was unexpectedly great fun. We went to Belle Plagne where they had cleared an area at the bottom of the chair lifts and in front of the shops/hotels for a big outdoor nightclub. They had a DJ/VJ set-up with fireworks and an ice bar and there were thousands of people partying the night away while the fresh snow rained on down. It was quite surreal being outside dancing while it was snowing and definitely made it a memorable evening.



Later in the holiday Adrian tried his luck at a slalom event - it took a bit of persuading for him to take part, but my (increasingly rusty) French came in handy and he got a number in the end and raced down the hill in a very respectable time of 51.17 seconds, earning him 103rd place out of nearly 200 and a 'bronze' level qualification (whatever that means!). We also went and checked out the Olympic bobsleigh course. Adrian unfortunately missed out on having a go due to a booking error, but we still got an up-close-and-personal look at what it would be like to race down an ice track at speeds approaching 100km/hr.

And then it was over. We somehow survived the return bus journey (again with the dodgy heating!) and made it back to Oxford for a well deserved sleep and a chance to rest our aching bones. Seven days straight snowboarding without hot pool access (France really doesn't know what it's missing on that front) isn't something I think I could do again without a bit of training first that's for sure!

Lots more photos here.

Christmas 2008

Both being orphans this Christmas, we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with our (very short in terms of daylight hours) day. The main option for expat NZers over here seems to be to head round to someone's house for Christmas lunch, descending into drunkenness as the afternoon wears on. But considering we were about to head off for a strenuous week's skiing and snowboarding, we needed to keep our bodies in tip-top condition! So another solution was necessary...

That's when Adrian has his brainwave: volunteering! We looked around and found a really good option, the Rotary Club of Battersea Park Christmas Party. Battersea Park is in London, just on the south side of the Thames and they have a huge Christmas lunch for the elderly residents of the area.

We started the day with an early morning walk from Chelsea where we were staying (thanks to Jeff and Sara for the generous use of their flat!) across the Thames to the park. It was all decorated according to a Russian theme and looked incredible. First task was a quick stint in the kitchen making fruit salad for several hundred before the guests started arriving and we had to take care of the people on our allocated table. My table had a few dramas, mostly induced by too much sherry, but all in all it went really well. The guests ranged from a 94 year old gentleman at my table (although I'm sure he wasn't the oldest there!) to some quite sprightly people who must have only been in their 60s.


We were treated to Christmas lunch as well, before doing a bit of dancing (practising our ballroom dancing moves), bingo, and then escorting people back to their houses in minivans. We left at about 6pm and were absolutely exhausted! We went back on Boxing Day morning to help with the clean up and then ended up all having lunch at the pub (fish and chips with mushy peas!) to celebrate a successful event. There would have been about 350 guests and at least 150 volunteers on Christmas Day itself, but the next day was quite small with only about 40 or so people making lunch more manageable!


All in all it was a great experience and I'd definitely recommend it! The rest of the photos are here.

Miscellaneous events of November and December

Having been a bit slack on a) the uploading photos front and b) writing blog posts, here it all is in a big jumble to round out 2008.

We had visits from Bronwyn and Steve from London and Stina from Sweden. It's great having visits because we can do all the touristy things we've been saving up to do for ages! My number 1 favourite would have to be the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, it's a definite must-see if you come and visit.

I also went to London for a study day with my class to meet people from SustainAbility and the European Bank among others. Another trip to London happened because of a gathering of all the Commonwealth Scholars - it was so interesting to meet people from all around the world and see the flash insides of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - very swish although no photos allowed I'm afraid, you'll just have to get invited to something there yourself!

Christmas was a great time to spend in Oxford too. The covered market was absolutely bustling with Christmas trees, what seemed like thousands of turkeys and dead boars/deer hanging up most days too. The highlight though was the Mummers Play that we saw after an intense game of Risk at the Bookbinder's pub in Jericho. It's a tradition dating back to medieval times and was great fun.

The random collection of photos are here.

Weekend in Cardiff

A couple of months ago we went for a weekend visit to Cardiff to visit Adrian's friends John and Jen and to watch the All Blacks take on Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

We started off with a quick jaunt around Caerphilly Castle, home of the legendary leaning tower and where the grand hall was all set up for a wedding. Caerphilly cheese is pretty famous too (apparently) and succumbing to the temptation of buying something in the gift shop, I can now report that it is very delicious and highly recommend it to all!


We got back just in time to watch the England/South Africa over some pizza and beer in central Cardiff. It was very difficult to know who to cheer for - we couldn't cheer for England while in Wales, and it's always hard for a Kiwi to cheer for SA! But thankfully that was over quickly, and a quick spray paint on the cheek of a silver fern later, we were in our seats and cheering the All Blacks on. It's always great to see the haka live and this one was particularly good as there was a long stand-off between the two teams afterwards - who says it's meaningless these days?!


Wales started the game with a hiss and a roar, which was great for us as we'd been told that the Welsh fans only sing when they're winning - we got an earfull alright! But the boys did us proud, coming back to win 29-9.

And, as with all good Antipodean fixtures, it was a crazy small world as Lucy from school happened to be sitting on the very same row as us! Was great to catch up and marvel at how 'small world' it always is. A few celebratory drinks and a wander down Cardiff's infamous 'Chippy Alley' rounded off the night.


Home James the next day - but herein lies the cautionary message of this post. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT be tricked into getting the bus from Cardiff to London, then the train from London to Oxford to get home (instead of the train straight from Cardiff to Oxford). I don't care how expensive it is to get the single train, a two hour journey versus an eight hour marathon is definitely worth it!

The rest of the photos here.

Blenheim Palace

In early November, Adrian's brother Dominik and his fiancee Nikki came up and visited us in Oxford for the weekend. One of the things they had on their list to do was Blenheim Palace, which is about 30 minutes on the bus north of here. Unfortunately we visited on one of the worst days we'd had in a while so most of our outdoor exploring was limited! I also realised the negatives of my extremely cheap Primarni padded coat - rather than repel water it literally sucks it in through the seams, great.



But enough about my coat! Blenheim Palace is pretty incredible. It's a World Heritage Site and unlike most of the UK's stately homes, is not managed by the National Trust which makes it pretty different inside. Rather than preserve all the rooms as they would have been previously, they've created this incredibly high-tech and interactive tour that leads you through the house and gives you a brief history of its previous inhabitants. It's most recent (and probably most famous) was Sir Winston Churchill and there was another exhibition in another part of the house detailing his life.


The gardens were absolutely stunning as well and we will definitely be heading back there during summer for some picnics and exploring. We caught the last of the Autumn colours (through the rain)
although I know that all the North American students in my class would definitely look down their noses at it compared to what they get back home!


The link above (and again here) gives a hugely detailed run-down of the history, construction etc. of the palace and is well worth a look. The rest of our photos are here, so enjoy!