Our first New Zealand snow

It's hard to believe we've been here 8 months and we haven't yet experienced snow, until today that is. I'm sure it has snowed since we've been here but never where we were staying. This morning we woke up to snow coming down thick and fast outside. The ground was quite wet but it was falling so quickly that some of it was managing to pitch. It felt like today was going to be a day of not doing much but I then wondered how the snow would change the places we visited yesterday. We knew we had to go and check it out, but first it was time for pie. Springfield has one garage, one dairy, a pub and a cafe, nothing more. We walked to the cafe hoping for one of their stone baked traditional pizzas only to discover that the pizza chef no longer works there so it's off the menu. We both resorted to sharing two different pies and a coffee to try and warm us up before we set out on our drive. We headed back on Arthur's Pass and as we drove further the snow got thicker. It was still coming down heavily so we couldn't see much but a few close up mountains near by. It was incredible how in 24 hours the whole landscape could change so dramatically. We drove to Castle Hill and braved getting out the car. The snow came up to our knees in places and the rock formations looked as if someone had sprinkled icing sugar all over them. We had a snow ball fight, Nick lost, before our fingers felt as if they would drop off. After 10 minutes we were freezing and made a mad dash for it back to the car. If the snow hadn't of still been falling it wouldn't have been so cold. After trying to regain feeling in our fingers we head back on the road deciding it was getting too heavy and we needed to get back. The great thing is that the community is so prepared for this that the gritters and ploughers were out in force clearing the roads from the start. After only driving a minute or two the snow stopped and the sky began to clear and suddenly the most breathtaking scenery was all around us. It was jaw droppingly beautiful and we pulled over in every layby we could to get out and admire the view and take photos. We eventually made it back after lots of stops and got the fire going as soon as we got in to warm up our cold feet. Nick accidently smashed a wine glass last night so we knocked on the door to apologise to Lesley, our host, and this resulted in another long chat and a chance to meet her 3 week old puppies belonging to her dog Molly. They were a crossed breed of a poodle and a much smaller dog (cannot remember the name) and they were adorable. It was very hard to give them back after having a cuddle. She was completely fine about the wine glass so that was a relief. We've really enjoyed our stay in her home so it'll be a shame to have to leave tomorrow but that's travelling I guess.Read more