Long wait....

It has been a long wait for cooler weather this year. Usually we head out early June to look for any sign of ice but this year it is the end of June.   After a cooler week with a bit of a southerly storm there was a hard frost in Central Otago so I decided to go for a look.  A bit of snow around the Ida Valley and -9 as I headed up to have a look at Poolburn.  Plenty of snow on the track but passable.  New thin ice over most of the lake but too thin to skate - still water in a few spots.  I managed to have a scratchy skate on wind stacked ice in a small corner of the bay. Used the Nordic skates first then the hockey skates.  Bit bumpy but great to be on ice again and had fun.  Water level is very low.  A couple of frosts could bring skate able ice.  Checked Idaburn and Coalpit. Both had ice that needed a few more frosts to give a skate.

Good to be out on a sunny winters day.

Black ice...

After a few hard frosts at home I decided to look locally for any ice.  Great to find a pond close to home that had new black ice thick enough for a safe skate.  The frost had built up smooth hard ice giving fab skating - a great way to finish off the season.

Last Ice

After a few big frosts I decided to take a detour today on the way to a job.  Checked out Poolburn but only new ice with water in a lot of places and too thin to skate.   There was a chunk of ice in Rushcutters with thin new ice else where.   Despite the debris on the ice I decided to skate and had fun once I worked out the best places to skate.   I think this will be it for the year.

Like a mirror...

 Decided to explore around Naseby today after a good frost (again!) after the good skating there on Wednesday. The new ice on the shaded side was fabulous - like skating on a mirror - smooth and reflective.  Half the dam was skate able with it thinning out on the sunny side.  Awesome skate and hard to drag myself away.  From there I went to Hoffmans Dam and skated on a large chunk of thick ice.  Then headed into the forest on my bike and skated the mining pond and another pond nearby.  The second pond had about 120-150mm of ice which I couldn't  hack through.  Finished of with a skate on a third pond.  On the way home I stopped of and had a skate at Daisy Bank on the small pond I spotted on the way up.  Great day exploring and skating all round.

Skate nearby.

Big frost at home this morning got me up early to check a few spots near home. Drove up to Mahinerangi.  Surprisingly the temp got warmer as I neared the lake and was 8 deg where I thought I would skate.  Decided to have a look anyway and despite the temp and broken sheets of ice from the lowering lake level I had a great skate on smooth hard dry ice.  The ice was initially under stress and created huge cracks as I tested but settled down as was great skating.  Area was limited due to thickness but a fab time.  Not often I get to skate at Mahinerangi these days.

Ditto...

 Up to Poolburn again today to skate with the Canterbury group.  Poolburn turned on another great day after a good frost.... -4 when I arrived.  The ice had improved since yesterday and we were treated to  more places to skate and explore.  Great time.

Dropped into Coalpit on the way back and was pleased to find good smooth ice in the shaded area.  Got on from the end of the jetty.  Fab smooth ice still covered in frost.  Hard to leave....

Good skating...

Up early this morning to meet up with Clive and his crew from Canterbury.    Poolburn turned on a great day with good skating in most of the main bay.  The ice is still a bit variable but had smoothed off in places and a fun skate with good company.  Not quite thick enough to skate out of the main bay

More frost forecast tonight so should still be good tomorrow.