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Published: June 19th 2008
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In the event that people consider the ‘weather phenomenon’ a unique excuse for the British transport system, my experiences on Monday proved that NZ suffers just as much from this problem. Arrived at Auckland airport at 8:30am for my flight to Queenstown and after a new hours delay on the hour, every hour until 2pm when my flight was then cancelled - I then decided to fly to Christchurch with an onward flight to Queenstown on Tuesday morning. Well, the fog/low cloud/rain/whatever else that caused all the flight cancellations and delays meant that I finally flew to Christchurch at about 7pm - having spent almost 12 hours in a domestic airport where there is nothing to do apart from drink coffee... Arrived in Christchurch and checked into Hotel So for the night. I am due to be back at this hotel on Friday (in time for the England match on Saturday), and am looking forward to returning as it’s so cool. After having spent too long staying in hostels recently, having my own room (and bathroom) felt like a total luxury and all for NZ$89 per night (about £35!). Spent my evening chilling out and watching TV - which I loved!
Tuesday morning and it was back to Christchurch airport for ‘operation Queenstown, part II’. This too ended in failure as the weather was still being temperamental (so there was another unspecified delay to the flight) and I decided to not take the risk of not being able to fly back to Christchurch on Friday, thereby missing the England match. Plus there is no snow in Queenstown so I wouldn’t have been able to ski. So ‘Plan B’ was hastily formed once the kind woman from Qantas had found my bag that I had checked in... This involved booking myself on the bus to Methven so that I could ski at Mount Hutt! With less than 5 mins to spare, I found the bus and booked my accommodation whilst en route and reading what the Lonely Planet guide said about the place. Methven is very small, but has a good feel to it and definitely feels cold enough for snow! Kitted myself out with ski gear and then had a coffee stop in ‘Cafe Primo e Secondi’ which was a very bizarre experience as it feels like you’ve walked into a charity shop crossed between your Grandma’s house (as it
has loads of old stuff - furniture, crockery, clothing - that you’re sat amongst whilst having your coffee, oh and can buy anything you see too!). The rest of the day was spent at the gym and having a sports massage, my rationale being that I was getting myself in ‘tip top shape’ for hitting the slopes on Wednesday... Here’s hoping anyway!
Up and on the 8am bus to Mount Hutt on Wednesday morning, a very hairy hour’s drive along a single track road with a sheer vertical drop down the rocky mountain face along one side of the road (and thankfully not the side of the bus that I was sat on). Upon arrival at the ski resort, which is 1500m above sea level, there was plenty of snow - so the skiing commenced! Had booked for a five hour ‘personal training’ skiing session and my ‘trainer’, Wanda, soon got me doing 360 degree turns on the slopes... Had an amazing day skiing in the cold sunshine and although all the runs weren’t open (as there wasn’t sufficient snow on some of the lower slopes) there was plenty to keep me occupied and I soon was tearing around
the slopes. The views from the top of the mountain were stunning. Seemed a little weird at first to look out over the mountains, down to the green (and very flat) Canterbury Plain and then beyond to the Pacific Ocean - but you soon got a bit blasé about seeing such a view. At the end of the skiing session my legs definitely felt like they had had a workout, but weren’t too bad considering that I hadn’t skied for over a year. The bus ride down was the same as the way up, minus the 15 minute stop whilst the chains were put on the wheels, but unfortunately this time I had a direct view out the side of the bus I was sat on down the sheer drop... A hot bath, some food and a rest in front of the TV later and I was ready for bed (and looking forward to another day of skiing on Thursday!).
I had an amazing day skiing on Thursday. Pretty much skied for the whole five hours again, with my ‘trainer’ Wanda, and this time I was skiing backwards, skiing whilst on one ski and doing fast 360 degree turns on the flat. Maybe people thought that I was auditioning for the NZ ski team that were on the mountain on Thursday for their pre-season warm up?! Guess with my ‘ski cockiness’ it was kind of rough justice that the only fall of the day was when I got off a chair lift - thought that I had ‘grown out’ of not being able to get off a chair lift after my first week of skiing when I was about 12 years old, clearly not. Felt totally exhausted whilst on the bus (yep, the same bus that takes forever) coming down the mountain and after a quick stop at the supermarket spent the rest of the evening in a hot bath and chilling in front of the TV (déjà vu from yesterday!).
Next stop is Christchurch and the match between the misbehaving English rugby boys and the All Blacks. Will be interesting to see who the fiercely loyal Robbie Deans supporters of Christchurch will support - rumours are that they will support England as are so annoyed that Deans wasn’t made All Blacks coach post the World Cup. Kiwi’s supporting England, surely not?!?! I won’t hold my breath.
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