A Winters day finally..

Decided to check out Poolburn this morning  after watching the weather closely.  Drive up was challenging - first real winter driving this year - lots of  frost and foggy at under zero temps. Fab!
Good to find enough ice for a great skate -  in the small bay and the shady side of the main bay.  Not thick but good enough while it was freezing.  Rest of the lake had up to 20mm ice.
Had a fabulous free skate and very hard to leave!
Felt like the first real day of winter with negative degrees still in parts on the way home.  Not sure if it will last as frost is not predicted for the next few days.

Foggy and cold at first 

Still some wind blown ice left.

In the main bay

Frost at the edge..

Poolburn: - some skate-able ice if you look but care needed. Up to 20mm over most of the lake.  Track rough at the top - ok while it was frozen.
Idaburn :- a small area of new ice near the bank - up to 10mm.  Water over the rest.

Exploring..

Dave and I headed to Central last Sunday just to check on Poolburn and explore a new area to skate.
A bit of snow around - which made the track to Poolburn a bit tricky and we ended up walking the last few hundred metres.  Unfortunately no ice - just a bit of 'snow soup' on the surface and some weak ice here the at the edge.  No skating but the did find some possible new places to skate on the way home.  Now for some frost.......

Shortest Day skate...

Watching the weather for a few days I decided to head to Poolburn on the off chance there was a bit of ice.  Warm and windy in various places on the way up and a gnarly track but pleased to get in a skate.  There had been ice but it had been broken up by the wind and piled on one sheltered side of the lake. These thin ice plates had  refrozen with smooth patches amongst them.  Ended up with a fun skate across the plates and around the smooth ice in this area.  Some parts were too rough to skate.  15mm ice over the rest of the lake - too thin and weak    Treated to a great sunrise as well!
Unfortunately there was a warm wind starting to melt the ice while I was there.
Idaburn had half the main bay covered in thin ice and Coalpit was mostly covered - about 1-2 cm.  Warm and windy as I came home.  Few good frosts needed.

Good to get the skates on...

Coalpit.

Poolburn:  up to 1-2cm over the whole lake.  Too thin to skate. Track gnarly. Warm and windy when I left
Idaburn:  1-2cm over half of the main bay.  Need frost
Poolburn: 1-2cm over most of the dam with a little water showing.

Creaking start...

Checked out Poolburn this morning.  Not a lot of ice and surprisingly warm for a frosty morning.  Thin ice in a few places but plenty of water showing.  Managed to get the skates on for a bit of a creaky skate in a sheltered area but not with any real freedom.  Still a great place to visit anytime.
Idaburn had a bit of thin ice as did Coalpit - but mostly water.  Many of the trees have been felled around Coalpit and the area looks quite different.

Extra creaky

Idaburn

Waiting...

A few frosts this week. Checked out the Lower Manorburn this evening. A bit of ice in Rushcutters but no where near a skate yet.