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Published: September 1st 2009
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Finally - on holiday again, if only for a short time! Sam and I haven't been overseas in so long so we really looked forward to our trip to NZ (and our only holiday for the year).We set off for Christchurch all excited about finally getting away, and were also going on hols with good friends of ours, Jae and Jen. When we landed in Christchurch late in the afternoon we had to pick up our little Rav 4 hire car and head south for the transient little town of Wanaka. We were told by about 4 different people that the trip could take us anywhere from 4-7 hours! random. All up the trip only took us about 4 and a half hours (not including the half hour stop we took in Lake Tekapo for dinner). We finally arrived a little after 10pm to our little house which we rented for the week, it was fully equipped with all the mod cons of home with an added extra of a cosy little log fire and only a five minute walk from the lake.
Wanaka The good thing about arriving somewhere at night is that you have no idea of your
surrounds until you wake in the morning. Springing out of bed we found we were surrounded by snow capped mountains. Wanaka itself is too low so it rarely snows in town which was a shame but the mountains were only a 20km drive away!!
The first day in town we landed stellar weather, the sun was out and the visibility of the mountains and the lake was extraordinary. We spent most of it walking around the lake taking pics and getting to know the area. In the afternoon, Jae, Jen and Sam hired boards and boots for some snowboarding action the following day. I brought over my old trusty Option board which I used during my stint in Canada and France so I was all set and ready. That afternoon we were having drinks at a local bar opposite the lake and I spotted Shaun White sitting behind us (For those of you that dont know he is a pro snowboarder) Little did we know that the NZ Winter Games were in full swing so we were hoping to catch a little of the action on the hill at Cardrona the next day.
Cardrona It's only been four
and a half months since I had the surgery on my back for Sciatica and I was happy to be able to go boarding for the time we were there. The drive to Cardrona snowfields is only about 25mins away and we were all amped to get up the mountain. Jen had never boarded before and Jae hadn't done much either, so Sam and I went off on our own and left the guys to their own devices. We lucked out with the first day of boarding and got a bit of a dusting the night before which made it perfect to get back into it.
Treble Cone Day three Sam and I went on our own up to Treble Cone snowfields for a different bit of scenery. Treble Cone is also only about half an hour away from where we were staying and lucky us again their was a 20cm dump the night before which meant lots and lots of powder!! Treble Cone had more terrain than Cardrona but you run the risk of getting there and depending on the weather they may not open up the basin which means every fecker is lined up at the only
lift that is open!!
Not too happy about that situation at all as it was just too overcrowded - everywhere, we even had to eat our lunch on the snow as they just can't accomodate for the amount of people there. In all we preferred Cardrona over Treble Cone and went back there for another day of boarding later in the week. I think we have both been really spoilt - anywhere else you go boarding after Canada and The Three Valleys has a lot to live up too. Think we are going to hit the States sometime in the future for sure.
Queenstown After getting a few days of snow we headed to Queenstown which was only an hour away for some adventures. We did a Queenstown combo, the first in the combo was the Shotover Jet. The Shotover is a jet boat that can travel up to speeds of 80km per hour in as little as 10cm of water through the Shotover Canyon, and is the only jet boat like it in the world that is capable of 360 degree spins. I was freaking out at first but you get over it and really enjoy, due to
bad weather though we only got it up to about 65kms but it was still a thrill. We then took our first ever helicopter ride over Queenstown for about 10mins up to the Skyline Complex where after we had lunch we hit the Luge and then took the Gondala back down into town. We grabbed a drink in a local pub to get out of the cold weather in the afternoon, Queenstown was nice but we all agreed that the vibe of Wanaka was nicer - theres just something about living in a quieter little town surrounded by nature.
Our last night in town we frantically finished off what was left of our duty free goodies and hit one of the local bars in town, Shooters. They had a few dj's playing there and to Sam's horror they were mixing CD's (as they usually are and getting paid a shite load for it). We all got pretty messed up and couldn't get over the amount of Irish, Pommies and Yanks living in the few areas we got to see - but I guess thats the way it is in those traveller towns, I think we saw two Maouri's the
whole time we were there, guess they were all hiding up North. Driving back in the day time we got to enjoy the scenery, Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo were absolutely stunning, the tourquoise blue water a result from the minerals from the glaciers on the mountains - another photo moment where it just doesn't do it justice.
Christchurch Our last day we did the hectic drive back up to Christchurch to stay with a friend of Sam's, Tracey whom he worked with in London and her hubby Brian. They generously put us up for the night in St Albans where they were house sitting for the week. It was a great catch up for Sam as he hasn't seen Tracey for years, nothing like catching up with old friends.
Jae and Jen left us the next day to do further travels to visit Jens family further north and Sam and I spent a leisurely day roaming the streets of Christchurch. Such a lovely city with a huge park in the middle and beautiful weeping willow trees and cherry blossoms surrounding it, so clean and really not what we expected at all so it was a very pleasant end
to our trip.
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Gina G
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Fantastic!!!
AAAhhhh babe looks like youlived it up on your little journey to NZ! I loved Wanaka its where I lived for 3 months way back when and all the piccies took me back.....Good to hear from you you look so good and i miss ya babe....caome and visit soon xxxxx