The New Zealand Experience

Chapter 4 - To Wanaka

"Welcome to Christchurch, New Zealand!" the Captain said.

They had arrived. As the plane came to a halt they all stretched warily and prepared to depart. They then joined the crowd as it headed off the plane and up into the building, soon arriving at Immigration. Once again their passports were checked and they passed through with no problems. They collected their bags, with much amazement from the Weasleys at the moving luggage carriers, and Mrs. Weasley having to stop the Twins racing on it. Next they joined the 'Nothing To Declare' line at Customs. Once they were through, they walked down the corridor and came out into the Arrivals lounge.

"We are to get on a bus from here that will take us to Wanaka," Hermione told them. "It goes south along the coast to just before Oamaru, and then inland over the Lindas Pass to Wanaka."

"So where do we get it from?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"It's the Kiwi Experience one. It should be just outside."

They walked outside and sure enough, a large green bus with Kiwi Experience written on the side was parked there. After walking over to the bus driver he greeted them and took their luggage to the back where it was loaded into the bus. Meanwhile, the group boarded the bus.

"So how long will it take to get there?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"It takes one hour to get to Ashburton, then another hour to Timaru where we have a thirty minute stop and then it is another hour to where we turn inland. From there it's two and a half hours to Wanaka. Or more if the Lindas Pass has ice or snow on it," Hermione explained.

The first two sections of the trip Harry found a bit boring. The road was straight and flat. The view inland was good though, mountains that were snow capped and jutting sharply up into the sky like the jaws of one of Hagrid's beasts. On the other side they could often see the sea, or more accurately, the Pacific Ocean. Harry talked to Bill, who was beside him, for a while, although they quickly ran out of muggle topics suitable for discussion on a muggle bus.

After the stop at Timaru, where they grabbed a bite to eat from the nearest shop, the road started to get a bit of variation to it. Within an hour, they were slowing down and turned right following the course of the Waitaki River back towards the mountains. They passed through a small town called Kurow. Not long after that the bus slowed down as it went pass a large curved structure built across the river, a lake could be seen behind it.

"The Waitaki Dam," Hermione explained to them. "It's the smallest and oldest of the three dams on this river."

"What's it for?" asked Bill.

"It's a hydroelectric dam. They are used to produce electricity."

At the word 'electricity' Mr. Weasley immediately took a lot more interest in the dam. "So how do they turn the water into electricity?" he questioned eagerly.

"They don't turn the water into electricity," Hermione laughed. "They flow it down pipes where it turns turbines, like that one," she pointed at a large turbine sitting beside the road. "The turbines then turn magnets which produce the electricity as they pass other magnets."

"Very interesting," Mr. Weasley commented.

"There are still two more dams to go. These lakes are caused by the dams," she told them as she pointed at the lake now beside the road.

Harry admitted to himself that now he was finding the view out the window very beautiful. Tall brown hills sloped down into the amazing blue waters of the lakes. In the distance were unending peaks of the snow topped mountains that formed the Southern Alps.

Soon they came to the next dam, which was larger and more modern looking. It was shaped in a straight line, with a flat front face and had large solid gates at one end.

"What are those gates for?" Mr. Weasley asked, obviously still interested in the dams.

"They are for flood control. When it rains a lot they have to let the extra water through. That is Aviemore, it's the newest, although Benmore is the largest. We don't get to see much of Benmore. It has six large pipes running down the outside and it was made from earth instead of concrete. The flood control at Benmore is supposedly quite impressive. The water flows down a steep open chute and there a lip at the bottom that sends it flying into the air. I read it sometimes get so high it clears the river and lands in the car park opposite," Hermione told Mr. Weasley.

"Trust Hermione to read everything she could about this place," Harry quietly commented to Bill, causing both to have to hold in their laughter.

Soon they were climbing up into the Lindas Pass. Harry looked out at the beautiful landscape around him. They reached the top of the Linda Pass and the bus pulled over for a fifteen-minute stop.

"If we climb that hill we will be at slightly more than one thousand metres above sea level," Harry told them as he read off the signpost nearby. They turned to the snow-covered hill towering over them. It looked like it was only about a five-minute walk to the top, so they set off.

Fred and George saw some cardboard lying near the bottom. Grabbing a few pieces each they followed the others. Once at the top everyone admired the view, mountains stretching as far as the eye could see in nearly every direction.

"What's the cardboard for?" Harry asked the Twins.

"This!" they replied as they each grabbed a piece and sat down on it. They immediately started to slide down the hill on the snow with their home made sleds. Yelling with joy they came to a crashing halt at the bottom when they collided.

"Let's go!" Ron called to Harry as they both grabbed cardboard as well and followed the twins. Soon everyone had made it to the bottom (except Mrs. Weasley who hadn't climbed the hill) and had large grins on their faces.

"We'll have to try this at Hogwarts this year," Harry challenged Ron.

"Yeah!" Ron agreed as they headed back to the bus, wet but very happy.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Later that day they were preparing to go into the small Wanaka business centre from where they were staying. There was a private lodge for the Weasleys as part of their prize and it had room for Harry and Hermione too. It was only ten minutes walk to the town centre and they all had some shopping to do.

First they went to a bank where the got their British pounds exchanged for the New Zealand dollars. Ron was stoked about this because it at least seemed like his money had tripled, although, as Hermione pointed out, it would still probably only buy him the same amount of things. Then they went exploring in the sleepy little town.

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny left the others at the supermarket and went off looking for a place to buy some suitable clothing for skiing. They ended up at a small store called C.B.S. down one of the friendly alleyways. It was one of a few snow boarding stores in the town and sold clothes as well as other gear.

After they had all found some jackets and pants that fit them well, they made their purchases (the Weasleys had also won money to spend on gear) and went back to the supermarket to meet the others. On the way, Hermione made them stop in at Good Sports and to book their places on the Ski Shuttle that left for Cardrona at 8 am the next day.

They met the others outside the supermarket.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked them.

"Dad got the money mixed up," laughed Bill. "But luckily the person just though he was a foreigner and helped him out."

Hermione pointed out the store that they had got their clothes from to Bill and then agreed to meet down by the lake after they had finished getting their clothes too. With their plans set the two groups split. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny walked down to the lake where they found a nice beach side bench to sit and wait at.

Ginny sat beside Harry, something that Harry noticed instantly. She huddled up closer to him as a cool breeze blew from off the mountains and across the lake towards them. Harry, although also feeling the chill of this breeze was very thankful for it. He was sorely tempted to put a comforting arm around her, but decided he didn't want to provoke anything out of Ron. He wasn't even really sure about what he felt for Ginny as it was, so he definitely didn't want to argue with Ron about it. There was also the Dean issue he reminded himself.

"So this is really happening. It's been brilliant so far," Ron commented while looking out across the lake towards Mt. Aspiring. "What's skiing actually like?"

"Well you have two skis. They are sort of like long narrow strips of wood that you stand on, and you slide around on them with poles to help," Hermione tried to explain.

"What about snow boarding? It could be fun," Harry interrupted. "Is that a snowboard there?" He was pointing at a car parked nearby that had a thin, multicoloured board with plastic straps attached to the roof.

"Yes, I think that is one," Hermione commented. "I suppose we could try it."

The rest of the Weasleys joined them and they walked back to their lodge along the lakefront. Once there, they had to all show each other their purchases. Everyone had snow boarding style gear except for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley whose clothing was more ski styled. Harry had black pants and a black jacket with a grey stripe across the shoulders. Ron had also got black pants, but he had a blue jacket. Hermione and Ginny both had purple pants but Hermione had a matching jacket, while Ginny's was a light blue. Bill had a cammo styled (like the army, although it was slightly different colours) jacket and matching pants. Mr. Weasley had an all blue suit and Mrs. Weasley had a lighter blue. The twins surprised no one with matching bright orange jackets and pants. They all also had a variety of hats, the twins having matching bright orange beanies with horns.

"I think I might go to bed, I'm strangely very tired," Mr. Weasley declared. "And we all need to be up bright and early tomorrow."

"Bed sounds good," Harry agreed. "I think we must be suffering from jet lag."

They all ended up going off to bed. Harry, Ron, Fred, George and Bill all were in the large bunk room. Ginny and Hermione shared one bedroom while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were in the master bedroom.

As Harry drifted off to sleep his thoughts turned to what would be happening tomorrow. He decided that snow boarding couldn't be too hard to do, especially compared to riding a broomstick.