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Published: July 17th 2009
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The nice Irish people I metAfter leaving Wanaka I got the Magic Bus to Queenstown. I was planning on staying three nights but as it was the school holidays and it was weekend I'd only managed to get a bed for the first night and I wasn't sure what I was going to do after that. The bus dropped me off at Resort Lodge Hostel. The American lady that ran it was very grumpy and unfriendly and everyone was complaining about her but I can't complain about her too much as she did manage to sort me a bed for the three nights, just involving soom room changing. The hostel was nice and warm and had plenty of phones around to use. One of the computers was also free of charge as it was a bit slow so that was a bonus. The TV room was good and they had every episode of Only Fools & Horses on video which provided much amusement, as did I when I'd forgot how to work a video and forgot that you actually had to rewind them!
I met some nice people at the hostel including a group of Irish people. I had a few drinks with them on
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Backpackers Champagne the first night I was there and we had a good laugh. then I met them for fish and chips the next day. After that I went and booked to go skiing the day after up at The Remarkables. I wasn't that keen on going up there by myself but I wanted to practice everything that I'd learnt at Cardrona. Other people were going up but they were all really advanced and not at the same level as me. I got the days lift pass, hire of the skis, poles and boots for 129$ which is around 55pounds and then I rented my pants, jacket and goggles from Green Frog for 24$ - about a tenner. The Snow Centre in Queenstown put on a brilliant bus service up the mountain free to anyone who had bought a lift pass which made the whole thing really good value. The bus service was really good too as the buses left at half hour intervals starting from 8 - 11am and then coming back from 1.30 to 4.30pm and it was much more flexible than the Cardrona shuttle that left at 8am and came back at 4pm. I had a great day up
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The Remarkables there. I got tonnes of practice in and I managed not to fall all day! I loved The Remarkables and much preferred them to Cardrona. The layout was really good, it wasn't as big or as busy, the cafe was cheaper and you could actually sit down and eat your lunch and the beginners slope was excellent and had the option of another chairlift to take your further up. It was a long run and quite steep in places for a bit of an extra challenge. I got chatting to lots of different people on the chairlifts and I also met a nice Australian woman who was learning to snowboard and we had lunch together. I mentioned to her that I was thinking of skiing at Roundhill Ski Fields from Lake Tekapo and she advised me to stay at Twizel on the way and go to Ohau instead. She said it was much quieter and more scenic so I decided that after my next stop at Dunedin that would be my next move.
I set off on the Magic Bus to Dunedin the morning after. To be honest I was quite glad to leave Queenstown, it was very busy
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The Remarkables and mostly geared towards the bungy jumping and skydiving. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was travelling with other people and I'd had a night out on the town. The other problem was you couldn't get a good nights sleep in the dorms and people who had been out were getting in late and waking everyone up and then the snowboarders and skiers were gettting up early and waking everyone up aswell! All the same I did enjoy my time there, especially the skiing!
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Mum
non-member comment
Is that you baby?
Hello. I did not recognise you! Lovely pics. And sounds like you have had a real experience. All upbeat and happy. Wait till you are skiing down Railway Street next Winter - the neighbours will be twitching their nets! Can't wait to see your motherload of photo's a week next Tuesday!!!