Snow

Hi there

I've never touched snow.  The one time it snowed in Wellington city area - maybe five years ago? - I was overseas and missed it.  I was showing off to a guy in America about our southern hemisphere weather.  He looked it up on his phone and said "It's snowing right now in Wellington."

"Rubbish," I said.

I didn't believe it until I got home and a neighbour showed me photos of our street.  Snow...

I've never driven up north in winter months.  I wouldn't chance driving along The Desert Road which is alongside Mt Ruapehu (stand-in for Mt Doom in The Lord of the Rings trilogy).  There have been horrific stories about drivers trapped in the low-lying snow.  (....... Hey, hang on a minute:   The Desert Road?!?)

A couple of years ago I decided that travelling along The Desert Road in the month of May would be do-able.

Big Mistake...  (thank you, "Pretty Woman")

Snow was everywhere.

It was like an English Christmas card.  Snow hung from branches.  It was right down to ground level around the mountain.  It was everywhere, except for the road I was travelling on. Obviously a snow-plough had done its duty. 

I was petrified I would be snowed in, probably die in my car of the cold; there were already little snow flurries.  

Other drivers weren't petrified.   Families hopped out of their cars and cavorted in the snow.  Me, I was in hysterics trying to make it off The Desert Road and into Turangi before my car got buried.

So, I never got out of my car.  Gone went my chance to touch snow for the first time.

above: stock photo.   Brave doggie, not a scaredy-cat like me.