Advanced driving course, birthday and skiing

The Beast!

Another great week here in kiwi land. I started the week with my advanced driving course. It's not quite the same as the driving courses i have been on in England. Lets just say that they are a little bit more laid back about the rules over here!

I got lucky for once and managed to get drawn in the brand new 3.6 litre Holden Commodore SV6. It is a beast and looks the part too. It's rear wheel drive, which is different to most things i have driven before. On Thursday we went to New Zealand's main race track. It was a good chance to give the cars an absolute thrashing. We got a full day on the track and had some great fun. I passed my exam and confirmation drive on Friday.

Giving the marked cars a good caning!


It was my birthday on Wednesday and our whole group went out for a curry in Wellington. Thanks to everyone for all the cards. I had them all put up in my tiny little room. My first birthday in New Zealand!

All my cards and my new Argyle shirt

A group of eight of us decided to head north to the Ruapehu ski fields on Friday for a weekend skiing. It is a four hour drive north from Wellington. It was a cool weekend, even though the weather was not very kind to us. We got a full day's skiing in on Saturday, but Sunday was storm bound, so we headed home. Mount Ruapehu is an active volcano and was featured in Lord of the Rings. It was a shame we did not get great views, but i have put a few pictures here for you.

At the top of the ski Tow

Looking across to the Pinnacles

Lots of nice snow!