Mtt Hutt

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We hired a car (sorry Rocky - you would never had made it) and decided to take a trip to another Ski resort higher up in the South Island called Mt Hutt. We left the house at 5am to begin the 5 hour drive through windy country roads, and then opening out to long straight stretches.

When we arrived in Methven, we checked into our hostel. It was a lovely cozy hostel with huge couches and a big fire. We soon realized that our hostel was full of boarding pros including Team Japan. Immediately after arriving, we headed straight for the Mountain with our boards. The Mountain roads were unsealed with huge drops either side, which made it a lot more adventurous especially on days when the Mountain was in the clouds, and you couldn’t see further then one metre a head of you. It was even more fun when we had to put chains on our wheels when the snow and ice was on the road.

The conditions for boarding were icy and windy, and once we went up onto the chair lifts, we were being blown on thin cat tracks leading us across the mountain to our runs. The boarding was compromised with the conditions, but some of the speed boarders and skiers seemed to be doing ok. Others not so much.

We saw some of the para-skiers and they were incredible. They had one long ski attached to their custom made chair with two poles and they absolutely hurtled down the mountain at break-neck speeds.

Two of the days the Mountain was closed due to high winds, so we went to Akaroa which was a little Harbour township off the coast, two hours from Methven. An absolutely calm day with blue skies and the sun-shining, which was a complete turn-a-round from being near the Mountain and the high winds. We also went into Christchurch and went to the Art Gallery. Unfortunately it was raining, so we couldn’t walk around too much.

Most of the trip, we had gorgeous weather, and on our drives we saw field after field of sheep with their lambs. Typical New Zealand landscapes with the Mountains in the distant.

After five days on the Mountain, we drove to Canterbury to visit Oz’s friends and their baby girl, Brianna. They had a lovely Country house with 2 dogs, a cat, chickens and pigs. Needless to say, we had some great kiwi feeds.

We were also taken to Castle Rock to attempt Boulder Climbing. Mostly sat back and drank beer in the sun.

Our last night was spent playing Poker….and of course, I cleared the table with my win.

It then took us 6 and a half hours to drive back to Queenstown with the worse winds possible. At one point our roof rack flew off in the wind and we just rescued our snowboards before they went too. Try explaining that to the hire company. It was just like skydiving, just on land.

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