St Arnaud Ice-Skating Pond

Mirfin Family Ice-Skating Fun

St Arnaud ice-skating pond provides hours of fun

 

© The Nelson Mail, 15/07/10, Page 3 by Naomi Arnold

Icy Spins: Charlotte, Aimee and Rosie Mirfin enjoy the ice at St. Arnaud. Photo: Zane Mirfin


With the recent cold weather, visitors and locals have flocked to St Arnaud’s ice-skating pond.

Richmond’s Zane Mirfin, whose family was on holiday at St Arnaud, said they would be out enjoying the ice every day.

“It’s really good-quality ice this year – no sticks or stones – with really good traction. It’s quite a drawcard. We ran into some people from Blenheim who had come up just for the ice,” he said.

He said about 50 people were out yesterday skating, sledding and sliding around the frozen pond. “It’s fun even without skates”.

His son Jake, 9, said it was fun “even when I skidded out of control”. It was his second time on the ice and he thought he was getting the hang of it. “The ice skates were hard, but once you got it going, it was OK”.

Jake said he preferred the winter to summer at St Arnaud, particularly because yesterday’s time on the pond revealed a whole trout, frozen belly-up under the ice.

Mr Mirfin said the facility was fantastic. “The access is so good. I’d encourage people from town to come up for the day. It’s close, it’s easy, and it’s lots of fun.”

St Arnaud Department of Conservation ranger Chris Richards said the skating rink had been open for a couple of weeks already. “With the cold temperatures, it looks like it’ll be running for a few more too.” He said the rink was on DOC conservation land and people should abide by the usual regulations.