Winter is here - at last!

Well it's been a stunning autumn and all the better with no fine weather high pressure systems. So far so good for avoiding the rather damp and depressing inversions so well known to locals in May and June.

However all the warmth came to an end this week, and there was much fuss made as usual about severe weather coming. But the cold blast shaped up with no warm moist air to play with so we only got a dusting of new snow down low - we're just too far inland. Now, tonight though, it's the one! It's cold, the coldest one so far - the beginning of winter and the reality of it, not all the hype, so it's pretty much as it should be.

As it turns out I've got a fairly free weekend and moderate head cold so I'm leaving my options open, but a trip west to Haast and beyond has been on my mind. No sandflies, no tourists and some warmth by the sea perhaps. I'll see how I feel after a good sleep! A break would be good, especially as I work from home.

For those of you wondering about the attached photo it's of Mt Iron a few weeks ago, but from a lesser known vantage point at the mouth of the Cardrona river.