Dinner with the Stars - 19 9 11

This has to be reel qwik. I'm at Sydney airport, on a free machine so will have to keep saving, logging out & back in

OK:1st 3 are after we'd been picked up in Methven & taken up Mt Hutt in a bus. Our guide was Ronan from Dublin & the driver was Dave. Ronan was a piste patroller & part of his job was to blow up slopes before they avalanched.

Everyone disembarked & some peeps had paid for ride on piste-bashers (they called them Groomers here) & skidoos.

These are them up the hill from the restaurant.

There were no stars, though - too cloudy :-(

The next's a view of the upstairs mezzanine in the restaurant, Hubers Hut. I'd taken the prev 3 from the balcony.

There was a duo of jazz guitarists playing downstairs, & during the evening they did Ronda Alla Turca, Careless Whisper, the William Tell Overture (the Lone Ranger bit!), Drunken Sailor & the Benny Hill Theme, plus loads I knew but couldn't name.

They were called Burke & Jason - from Christchurch & Ashburton respectively


There was a girl behind the bar called Fiona whose Mum was born in St Andrews, & who gave me a sangiovese as I'd missed the caviar going round due to gassing with peeps.

The next's Pudding, & the remains of what I'd drunk. I discovered Wild Turkey - Nice!

This is downstairs from my seat where I'd been served by a Welsh girl from Cardiff

Not my bottle - see below

I just accidentally deleted the pic of the menu - doh!

Not sure if it was readable, anyway? But it was tasty

A bit of background info. Hope it's readable


Anyway, about the bottle

I'd grabbed it off the mantle, but it belonged to Shirley, Trevor & Marianne.
Marianne is the general manager of an open cast coalmine on the Denniston Plateau. She gave me a written precis on the back of their menu, but I didn't ask why she'd put it was historic? She lives in Westport on the west coast & gave me her mobno in case I'm in the area one day.
Shirley & Trevor are Canturbury locals who ski Mt Hutt all the time. I actually bumped into them all (not literally, but during a loo stop!) the following day while I was up skiing. More about that eventually!

Jusr read in the paper while I was checking in that the Denniston Plateau thing is a bit controversial due to environmental issues

They told me they liked 'Rangas'. These are redheads, & I'm posing as one at the mo. The idea was to make me more noticeable in the stadium crowds. No idea if it worked ? ? ?
Plan to post this now & see if I can snatch enough time on the free to manage the Mt Hutt stuff before I have to board
OAO