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Published: June 27th 2008
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Perfect Skier
Who's that skiing towards the gorgeous view? NZ Day 6
Is that Jungle bells I hear?
No silly it’s the middle of June. Those are the chains rattling on the bus wheels that is taking you to the ski slopes.
Today we woke up really early checked out of our room made some sandwiches for lunch and put on our rented snow pants and picked up our skis and boots from the storage locker out front. The shuttle bus picked us up at the front of our hostel and deposited us right at the slopes. We purchased lift tickets for the day and got suited up. I forgot how hard it is to walk in ski boots.
When we stepped up on the snow I was in awe and shock. The view was gorgeous but I was terrified about skiing and not remembering what to do. I can only remember skiing once before (although I feel like I have done more than that but I don’t remember). I didn’t know if I would know how to do it. Sarah looked around and found the baby hill for us. It didn’t even have a chair lift up to it. It had a conveyor belt
Magic Carpet
Here is Sarah on the magic carpet conveyor belt to the baby slope. that you stood on. I heard someone call it the magic carpet. I was nervous going down the first time but the good ole snow plow came back to me quite quickly.
After three quick jaunts down the baby hill we decided we were ready for a beginner slope. So we got in line for the chair lift that took us to the top of The Big Easy.
Sarah wants to rename it the Big Pleasant, because it was our favorite, but I said no dice on that as a name. This was the first time that I have ever been on a slope where you couldn’t see the bottom from the beginning of the slope. I was very nervous but I managed. It was fast (or atleast I thought so at first) and I survived.
We kept going on the big easy probably 8 or 9 more times before lunch. I got better and better each time. Instead of going down in a snow plow I had started to move side to side and used the edge of my skis. By 12:30 I was cold cold and we stopped for lunch. We had brought PB &
Honey sandwiches and some nut and chocolate bars that reminded us a little of snickers. Then we hit the slopes again to get more runs in before the bus picked us up to take us back.
After a couple more times on The Big Easy I convinced Sarah that we should try the other slope that that chairlift took us too. It was a bit steeper than the big easy but we had seen beginner classes on it so we thought it would be good. OH BOY were we not prepared for it. I had to stop several times just to give my legs a rest from pushing my skis into a snowplow because they were overheating they were working to hard. I made it down and didn’t fall but Sarah and I decided that The Big Easy was perfect for us.
Towards the end of the day I was going very fast ( in control) and even did a couple tiny jumps on my last run down. I felt like I looked like a professional skier going side to side.
This was a great day of confidence building for me. It was awesome and I loved
The Skiers
Don't miss the view in the background! loved loved it. Even more than the skiing was the amazing view. It was so perfect. Especially the viewpoints from The Big Easy.
The funny thing about skiing was that it’s June!!!!!! It seemed like a winter wonderland (which I associate with the holiday season). In fact I found myself humming carols while we were on the ski lift. But hey it’s June. Anyway it was messing with my head for a while.
Unfortunately we were unable to get a room in Queenstown for tonight so we hit the road straight from getting back from the slopes and headed to Te Anau. On the drive we stopped on a lonesome road and turned off all the lights to enjoy the stars. It was amazing. Gorgeous. I’m still not proficient at picking out the Southern Cross or any constellations down here but I’m definitely qualified to enjoy stars.
We just got to the hostel and had grilled cheese and tomato soup. Yummy!
Tomorrow Milford Sound!!!!
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