Snow!

---

From Franz Josef it was only a short hop inland through the towering Southern Alps to Wanaka, probably my favourite town in NZ. Although the craic is mighty in Queenstown, Wanaka is beautiful. The town, situated on the edge of lake Wanaka, our hostel The Purple Cow again probably my favourite in NZ. From the porch it was panoramic views of the icy blue Lake Wanaka surrounded by snow capped mountains. I was never in a rush to go anywhere.

Wanaka really was a place for bumping into people, I met a friend from grape pruning we bumped into Laura from Nelson and Mandi, our friend from Uni. There where top Indian restaurants great scenery and even funky internet cafe's. What more could you ask, just a shame it was winter and trekking wasn't possible. But winter was one of the main reason for stopping in Wanaka, Mark and Georgina wanted to get in some skiing, I was fairly indifferent. Having never done it before I wondered what the fuss was all about. Everyone at the hostel was either doing it or talking about it, so not wanting to feel left out I decided to give it a try. After some pondering I decided Snowboarding was for me and booked into ski school at the Cardrona resort.

By lunchtime I'd fallen over more times than I care to remember and could not move than a few meters at snails pace before ending up in a heap. But progress is progress none the less and I was hooked! Mark and Georgina kindly stopped by the learners slope to give tips and generally show off. By the afternoon of the second day apparently i was ready for a main run.....I couldn't even turn but who cares! Now turning is a fairly fundamental part of snowboarding, because you weave down the mountain, I more zigzagged having to stop & fall over in order to change direction.

Having caught the bug I was keen to go again we decided to try another mountain. Treble Cone about an hour from Wanaka, the views on the way up where spectacular. A really cool resort with a good bar and live band! But that's where my enjoyment ended, this place wasn't for beginners. The easy run felt like I was attempting to board down a glacier blind folded, it dented my enthusiasm and my body.

While in Queenstown we decided to try Coronet Peak, fondly known locally as Conceret Peak and for good reason it was icy as hell. I decided on more lessons and hallelujah a Canadian instructor in about 10mins taught me how to turn! A brave new world of snowboarding was opening up for me....The 3 of us decided on yet one final day on the slopes, back to Cardrona our fav mountain. Great day on the Captains Run! The coach broke down on the way back dark, cold and on the side of the mountain we sat there for 3hrs waiting for a replacement coach to turn up!

We'll that wasn't it for me, in Chritschurch Mark & Georgina headed north and I had a few days to kill. Couldn't resist it, bought a pair of snowboarding pants and had a day on Mount Hutt.

All it took was 6 days and I had become addicted to snowboarding!

---