The Time it Snowed

Hey guys, today I have a kind of TBT post. I’m thinking of making Thursdays a TBT day, where I tell stories from my past/childhood. I’ll post my Weekly Photo Challenge in the morning, and then a story in the afternoon. Let me know what you guys think, I hope it will give you a Chuckle 🙂

As most of you would know, I live in Wellington, New Zealand. Now it is often cold down here (I blame our closeness to Antarctica), but not as cold in the South Island. Snow in Wellington is rare. As in once in every 50 years rare.

An aerial shot of the Makara Wind Farm (Photo from stuff.co.nz)

On one fateful day back in August 2011, Wellington was hit the worst storm since 1976, and it snowed. Sure this led to power cuts, road closures, and public transport was affected, but most of us in Wellington didn’t care. We had snow! SNOW! For most, it was the only time we ever got to experience snow.

The Beehive caught in a blizzard (Photo from Stuff.co.nz)

My family went on a trip to Mt Ruapehu back in 1996, but I have no memories of it. So I was beyond excited during this little blizzard we have.

Where my family lived, out in Lower Hutt, we didn’t have icy roads or anything which was very lucky. I vividly remember walking home from the train and being mesmerised by what I was seeing. The snow was falling gently around me, but it looked like it wasn’t moving. I felt like I was inside one of those snow globes. I had a regular jacket on, and no gloves. I was cold, but I didn’t mind.

As I got home, I ploughed through the doors, screeching at my siblings. Jo was on her laptop, and Andrew was on the PlayStation. They had pulled the curtains and turned on the lights as it was getting dark outside. They looked up at me and asked why I was yelling. “IT’S SNOWING!” was the only thing I could think to say. “WHAT?” Jo yelled back, and went sprinting outside, only to run back in because of the cold. Andrew peeked out the window and confirmed that it was indeed snowing. We all bundled up and went outside. Then I ran back in and grabbed our ancient camcorder so I could document what was happening.

I will now apologise for the quality of the photos, I’m not kidding when I say the camcorder is ancient, we bought it in 2002!

I could not stop smiling

Literally couldn’t stop smiling

You can’t see it, but I’m screeching with happiness again

Our tiny snowman, RIP

We jumped up and down. We ran around. We tried to build a little snowman in the driveway. Then as dad arrived home, he ran him over cause he didn’t see him cause he was that little. For the most part, we just looked around. We took in this new view of our home. It was unforgettable! We couldn’t talk about anything else for weeks. We wished it would happen again. But it hasn’t since.

Do you guys get snow where you live? I guess if you get it often enough, the magic might have worn off. But as someone who only gets to experience it very rarely in their life, enjoy it!

Angela.