Two weeks in NZ

Turin, Italy

Some pictures from Turin.

Skiing in Val d’ Isere, France: 30th December – 3rd January 2010

Our favourite Bar for Grand Marnier hot chocolate after skiing

Just after leaving Val d' Isere

Snowing in Val d' Isere.

Larissa and I after she had given me the lesson.

Val d' Isere

Ready for action. Nursary Slope

Check out the snow on the car!

The infamous chains.

Josh waiting to go on the nursary slope for a practice run.

My first day skiing.

Breakfast in the hotel.

Check out the snow! This was at the snow show.

The holiday did not start well – it took us 8 hours to drive from Turin, Italy to Val d’Isere! We started out great – had purchased a Tom Tom that included Europe and it told us 2.5hrs – no problems! After 1.5 hours we realized that the little Fiat Punto was struggle on the treacherous icy roads – eventually we arrived at a snow blocked road – no way around it so we searched on Tom Tom for another route – we drove back the way we had come for an hour then drove all the way around! Lets not forget the amount of toll roads – first one 1.20 the second 3.6 and the third 41.2 euros! On the ascent up to the resort the police where pulling cars over to put chains on – us included – lets just note we have never done this before, no one was there to help – so 40 min later in the hail Josh had them on – who knows if they where correct so we continued up the hill at a crawl. When we finally arrived – it was now dark and we circled the buildings 5 times (for an hour) before we where able to find the hotel! This was a result of a diversion and contradictory directions from 4 different police officers and the hotel! The hotel was nice and we checked in and went out for a meal After walking for about an hour (because everywhere was booked out) we found a lovely place and had beef fondue so much fun – hot oil to cook your beef in and lovely sauces and salad. We collapsed into bed finally! The following day we hired skis and I had my first ski lesson on day two! Josh practiced with the snowboard. We had another great meal with a group of friends (Steve, Larissa, Tim, Simon) for New Years, at a very French restaurant where you cooked your beef on a mini coal BBQ on your table. We welcomed in the New Year at the restaurant before heading to a pub for a few hours of live music and dancing. Skiing continued the next day, Josh up on the mountain and me practicing with Larissa. In the evening we saw a freestyle ski show and the ski instructors skied down the Olympic slope with fire lanterns (over 100 of them) it looked amazing – it was also snowing the pictures don’t do the beauty justice. Despite the effort to get here the place is beautiful and it’s full of French culture which is so very interesting (although a significant amount language difficulty for us has been experienced)! Also on the plus side is how mostly it’s only been – 5C so it feels so much warmer than Lapland! I had my second official ski lesson on the second – it was excellent, I went down my first Piste with the instructor! Josh was up on the mountain boarding – I went up for my first Piste and it was freezing with a wind chill of -27C – the instructor had to stop and get me to rub my nose as it had gone all white and started to freeze! We left at 11am on the 3rd and had a quick and easy trip back which meant we spent a lovely few hours looking around Turin before heading back to the UK! What an amazing break!

Husky Sledding and the Ice hotel: Swedish Lapland: 26th – 29th December 2009

The Church at the end of the street where the ice hotel is located.

The trees with all the snow on them was so beautiful.

The icebar.

The corridors all made of ice and snow.

Ice hotel reception area - check out the ice chandelier in the background.

The main door have reindeer skin and antlers as handles. Ice hotel Chappel - there where 5 weddings the night we stayed!

Inside the Chapel.

Check out the snow fakes so amazing!

Entrance to the ice hotel

Yet another snow suit!

Ice hotel Reception - the poor girl stands there all day - she must be freezing!

Pictures from the Wildnerness camp:

Our Sleds in the morning.

The Dog Kennels

The Wilderness Lodge.

Inside having afternoon tea by candlight and fire to try and warm up - notice the ski jacket didn't come off inside just the snow suit.

Holding the lead dogs while Josh harnesses the other two on.

The big sled.

These dogs are tied to their kennels for sleeping out in the snow when they are not running - check it out!

Check out the plane and the snow on the runway.

In the sleeping bag in the ice room!

Our ice room design - this went down one side of the wall, along the ground and up the other side.

Ice Bar.

Some of the other rooms:

Gotham City

Birds Nest

Snowmobile - this is actually Josh on it - he has a blaclava over his face.

Lunch at the Mushers lodge.

Harnessing the dogs before we set off.

Josh on the run.

Me riding the sled.

Picture from the front of the big sled.

Crossing the lake.

Through the forest.

We saw a Reindeer! They are very scared and run away so we tried to get closer but this is all we got!

Dog Kennels at the Wilderness camp.

The Sleds parked up for the night.

Our lead dog with breakfast - its warm and heated up for them.

All the dogs getting ready to be harnessed up again for the second day.

Lighting fires in the sauna.

Check out the iceicles on the dogs whiskers.

Lodge we had lunch in - no fire even - so cold!

Dogs on the big sled.

The Mushers Lodge where we spent the first night.

Kennels where the 200 dogs are kept - 2 per kennel - look at the little hole for their head that breakfast and dinner and supper goes in!

All suited up!

Inside the lodge.

Our room on the first night.

I think I’ll start by saying it was cold! -17 to -21C depending on the day! We flew SAS direct to Kruna, Swedish Lapland. We where met by the guide who took us back to the musher’s lodge (which had broken central heating)!! Not a good start! We where kitted out with these fantastic snow suits, boots, mittens, balaclavas and hats – boy did you need it all! We actually wore our ski jackets and pants, thermals and a fleece underneath! And still our fingers and toes froze. We where then left to our own devices in this cold lodge (with 2 other couples) where fed an atrocious meal with nothing but Logan beery juice to drink! We where cold, unhappy campers. But I am pleased to say it all went uphill. After a pitiful breakfast of bread, cheese and ham we set too about learning about mushing, how to harness the dogs, how to ride, how to stop them and how to steer - which by the way is yelling left and right and stop in Swedish. The lodge we stayed at has 200 dogs! By the time we where ready to set off we where frozen. We shared a sled one between two so Josh took the reigns first and I rode on the large sled. That was the last we saw of electricity and a shower for couple of days. We stopped for lunch in a wood cabin and had soup before swapping over and heading out to our ‘wilderness lodge’ for the night. ‘Wilderness’ is not an understatement. Everybody got a job – fetching water from the stream, cutting firewood and lighting fires – this was Josh and my job – we got the best one I reckon. We lit a fire in the hut and in the sauna – which meant that later on we had a lovely sauna all heated up from the fire under the coals and by heating up a pot of hot water. Josh did it Swedish style and took his clothes off and jumped into the snow – no photo sorry. We had reindeer for dinner and crashed out. In the morning again we had jobs – dog feeding, poo scooping, wood cutting and washing dishes – again Josh and I got the best job - dish washing – any job inside was my idea of a good job because it was so cold. We harnessed the dogs and headed off again. The dogs are all kennelled outside, they are specially bred huskies, a cross between Alaskan husky’s and greyhounds for speed. You should have heard them bark and yelp when they saw the sledge and/or harnesses coming out! Once you had them harnessed up you to anchor the sled securely or they would take off without you. At night they would howl – so loud! But quite a nice noise to go to sleep too. The snow was amazing, really powdery and not wet at all (this was because it was so cold, so you could sit in it and stay dry)! We got back and we said goodbye to the dogs and drove the snowmobiles over the ice hotel. We swapped one snow suit for another then walked around took pictures. We stayed in an art suite so we got a cubicle to put our clothes in and there where bathrooms where we finally had a shower! We had dinner at the ‘Old Homestead’ then went back to our room! We where staying in the Rupture Room – each room is designed differently by an artist. The ice hotel actually melts each year in summer then is rebuilt. It is like a massive igloo with all different rooms and everything made out of ice. It also has an ice bar that we checked out and enjoyed a vodka in. We where given a big double sleeping bag – put our thermals, hat an socks and ran through the freezing cold into our room. The room was not as cold as outside and was a mere -5C! Josh put a cup of water by the bed and it froze over night. We slept on a bed made of ice with a reindeer skin mattress – we spent the entire night huddled together for warmth! At 8am they woke us up with warm Logan berry juice which we gulped done and raced back to the warm area for a hot shower! Not quite sure it was a pleasant experience but defiantly amazing! Breakfast was great we walked around and took photos and managed to get bright red faces from the cold! We flew back to Heathrow at 5pm and caught the tube, train and then a taxi to a little hotel by Stanstead as tomorrow we are off skiing in France.

road.