Ski Goddess returns to New Zealand

Gosh what fun it is telling people I'm retired when they ask me what I do. Seriously, it is the most awesome word, and my most favourite occupation. Yes I wrote it on the immigration cards as well.

I arrived in Christchurch Wednesday afternoon after the usual red eye Perth to Sydney. This time, however, I'm a Qantas Club member which means access to a nice hot shower and yummy hot breakfast before taking the next leg to NZ. And who should I meet in the Qantas Lounge but an old uni friend. Great to catch up over a green juice!

In cold overcast NZ I picked up my chariot for the duration of my trip. It's a Nissan Tiida, is automatic and looks a lot more flash than I was expecting for the bargain basement price of $13.50 NZD per day. That's with standard insurance, my travel insurance covers the collision waver insurance, thus saving me heaps.

I'm staying out at Sumner, on top of a hill at Taylors Mistake, looking out over the Southern Ocean and getting to watch the full moon rise. It's a spectacular location, home to my Japanese friend Yuri, and her boyfriend Ollie. We went for a great walk along the cliffs, admiring the views and the spectacular cliffside homes and mansions. Some cute tiny houses as well as some enormous ones.

I've also been shopping. Stocking up on food supplies before the trip south where food prices skyrocket exponentially. The Asian supermarket, with it's bulk dry goods supplies, got a big chunk of business from me, and I'm now fully stocked with a good few months' supply of noodles, rice, condiments and breakfast supplies. Plus dates. A winter in Wanaka is not complete without Sticky Date Pudding!

Saturday I went to Porters. My friend Sonja and I headed up for the day, and Ollie and Yuri joined us, along with Ollie's kids. Then Sunday I headed south to Tekapo, for 3 nights.

Porters

Monday I went to Mt Dobson. It was freezing cold, colder than I've ever felt on a ski field in New Zealand. Unfortunately the snow cover is still a bit patchy, though it's good quality dry snow due to the cold conditions. With a wicked wind and the temperatures staying below zero all day, I skied until my feet and hands had no feeling, warmed up in the canteen, then did three more runs before calling it a day. Most of my favourite terrain at Dobson was unskiable due to lack of snow up top, so I was getting bored anyway. Back to Tekapo and a warm fire and hot water bottle in my bed.

Tuesday it was Round Hill. Last time I'd been there I had been less than impressed by the terrain, but I hadn't ventured up the rope tow as I was still new to nutcrackers. After Mt Olympus, all my fear has gone, so I coughed up the $10 for a nutcracker harness and ventured up the 1.4km rope tow to the top of the mountain.

Round Hill is amazing. It has this gentle, upside down bowl shaped hill which constitutes the main resort. It is gentle terrain, very family friendly, with some pleasant off piste skiing between the groomed trails. Then in 2010 they built this mammoth 1.5km long rope tow which goes straight up this mother of a mountain, maybe 4 times the height of the round little hill that makes up the main resort. Needless to say, this mountain is only for experienced skiers, there are no groomed trails, and no crowds either.

The ride up is gruelling. I don't enjoy T-bars or rope tows as your legs get no rest, so at the top I sat down for a breather and took a few photos. You can see the main resort in the middle right, a good 700m below!!

Then ski down I went. I did this 3 times, twice before lunch and once more after lunch. By then my legs were jelly, so I just did a few more off piste runs off the self loading T-bar up the top of the mountain before calling it a day around 2:15pm.

Today I'm having a rest day. The legs are toast! I'll have a little more of a wander around Tekapo, and then head south to Omarama for a couple of nights. I'm planning to ski Ohau, before heading on to Wanaka on Friday. Apparently I'm back to wwoofing for free, as they are going to get me doing some gardening. One of my favourite activities!

Ski Goddess heads north

It hasn't been the best ski season in New Zealand this year, as far as snow cover and quality is concerned. What started with a huge bang in late June, with snow falls over 2 metres in 24 hours in some parts of the Alps, also caused some nasty avalanches which knocked out lift infrastructure at a few ski fields. Then it just didn't snow for a month and the weather didn't oblige by staying cold, and when precipitation happened, it fell as rain. Some fields never really recovered.

Treble Cone was lucky, with the Saddle Basin being at a much higher altitude it maintained its snow cover all season, even if the off piste was sometimes so firm it was unrideable. But the main front basin was a different story, with trails only maintained by creative snow shifting and snow making when the temperature dropped low enough. Which wasn't very often! It was a very warm July...

Lower altitude fields, like Coronet Peak, suffered dreadfully from a lack of snow cover, as did many of the Canterbury club fields and by the time the ski goddess headed north from Wanaka, many had already closed for the season. But a few were still open, and a great day was had at Mt Dobson skiing corn. For those not in the know, "corn" is the term used for spring softened snow that has the consistency of softened butter. Spreadable but still firm. Melts too much and it becomes heavy and slushy. The trick is to follow the sun as it softens the snow to just the right consistency, and then move on to the next softened stash.

Those are my sweet lines baby!

After Dobson, the ski goddess decided to take a chance at getting to Craigieburn before the forecast bad weather. After dumping Nigel in Springfield, which according to Nigel wasn't dissimilar to its Simpsons' namesake, the goddess headed back up Arthurs Pass and the narrow little mountain track that passes as skifield access to Craigieburn. Arriving at 2:30, the mountain manager immediately informed me that the mountain had a 90% chance of being closed the next day. As it turned out, it closed for the season. I'd missed my chance.

Back down the road in Springfield, Nigel had seen all there was to see and was ready to board a bus to Christchurch. As he hasn't yet mastered the concept of regular Facebook updates we may never hear from him again. The ski goddess and Lambie, on the other hand, headed north.

We'd left Tekapo that morning, and after a few hours of driving, including the Craigieburn detour, the ski goddess was a little tired. The nearest BBH hostel on the drive north was in Waipara, a wine growing district a mere hour north of Christchurch. And the hostel was a gem - old train carriages turned into bunkhouses, the station house into the kitchen, and free eggs and freshly baked bread for breakfast!

Just down the road was the local pub, where a 3 course dinner could be had for a mere $20, and the local wine came filled to the brim and at 2/3 the price of what I'd been paying in tourist town Wanaka.

The locals were a motley crew of vineyard workers who worked hard, played hard, smoked incessantly, and invited me to join them playing a few games of pool and choosing songs from the jukebox. It was kind of refreshing to spend some time with local kiwis, the ones without the incomes to support a ski habit. I lost a few games, danced to a few songs, and staggered home to my carriage for the night.

Free breakfast eaten, the chariot packed and back on the road, we continued north. Slowly, via numerous detours down roads to beaches,

 including one small community that reminded me so much of dear old Drummonds that I felt positively homesick!

And then we arrived in Kaikoura...

Ski Goddess' Road Trip Part 2

After a weekend at Akaroa the ski goddess moves on down the South Island to Mackenzie Country. This is up on a high plateau, taking in wild mountain scenery and vast brown plains. It has beautiful glacial lakes and is home to NZ's highest mountain: Aoraki or Mt Cook.

The ski goddess spent most time up on the ski fields of Round Hill and Mt Dobson, both family friendly fields with not too demanding terrain for beginners and intermediates. Round Hill, in particular, caters for all levels, because right next to the cruisy slopes of the main part of the resort is a kick arse huge mountain with a rope tow going vertically up it. Ski Goddess wimped out on trying the nutcracker on her first day there - a mixture of poor weather and visibility and just plain cowardice - hoping to get back again later in the week. That didn't eventuate....

Dobson was more to my liking, with some nice ungroomed slopes higher up the slopes where the beginners dared not venture. It was lacking full snow cover however, resulting in a few nasty rocky surprises to avoid.

After three days skiing it was time to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and do the trek up to Mt John, an observatory overlooking Lake Tekapo, where the night skies aren't polluted by too much light and the frequency of cloud free nights is high. Having timed my visit with some very cloudy nights and a full moon, I failed to take advantage of this aspect of Tekapo, but the daytime views were still worth the effort.

Thursday afternoon I received a phone call. The weather window looked good for a trip on the Tasman Glacier for Friday. Plans for braving the Round Hill nutcracker were shelved, and as I watched the rain coming down Thursday night I hoped Friday would be a bluebird day.

Will I get to knock one more experience off the bucket list?