Sorry parents (and anyone else possibly reading this thing), we've been a bit derelict in maintaining the blog recently. We've just returned from a two week vacation in Australia, but in order to keep things chronological, we will first update you on the ski trip that we took to the South Island in early August.
As we got on the plane to get to Queenstown, Justin was starting to get excited about snowboarding and Emma was dreaming about curling up by a fire and sipping mulled wine. Fortunately, we had ample opportunity to do both of these things on our long weekend trip. We spent our first two nights at the historic Cardrona hotel, located in between Queenstown and Wanaka. While the location is a bit remote (and requires a slightly treacherous drive over the Crown Ranges from Queenstown), our stay at the hotel was wonderful, and we would have been happy to move in permanently. The hotel has a lovely little pub and restaurant, complete with a crackling fire and a massive vat of perpetually mulling wine. Side note: mulled wine is extremely popular in NZ and we are certainly planning to carry this trend back to Canada. The hotel courtyard is home to an expansive garden with several fire pits, so there was always no less than 4 or 5 fires flickering away in the garden (perfect for apres ski).
We started our mini-break by grabbing some dinner at the hotel pub and then calling it an early night so that we could get up early to start the snowboarding adventure.
The cozy winter atmosphere in the pub:
We of course felt obliged to order some mulled wine immediately upon check-in.
Justin was very anxious to get to the hill the moment it opened, so we were up and out the door before sunrise. However, even he was willing to stop for a few photos when the sun started to rise as we drove into Wanaka.
We spent our first ski day at Treble Cone. It was our first time on a ski hill in New Zealand, and Treble Cone exceeded our expectations. The snow was reasonable, the terrain was somewhat varied (minus the trees), and the views were great.
We aren't used to looking out over an unfrozen lake while snowboarding.
Contrary to what this picture might suggest, Emma spent most of the day on her bum...and now has a tailbone injury to show for it. Justin, however, thinks that the injury may be imagined.
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We befriended this little critter, a Kea. These birds are also known as alpine parrots, and are apparently some of the most intelligent birds in the world. This one didn't do much to convince us of his intelligence, but he was very cute.
We were told that we might require chains to do the drive up and down the hill to Treble Cone. Luckily, the road was in good condition and no chains were needed. Getting up and down the mountain involves about 20 switchbacks. Each hairpin turn bears a sign to announce it's name. Shown below: Cow-Poo Corner.
After having survived day 1 of snowboarding, we headed back to the bathhouse at the Cardrona Hotel for a sit in the tepid jacuzzi, followed by warming up at one of the garden fires.
On our second day, we decided to try out the Cardrona ski hill. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and conditions weren't great. Emma was limited by her laziness injury, so Justin took in a few runs in the morning while she sat by the fire in the lodge and drank lattes. Needless to say, a great morning was had by all. Justin was impressed by the size of the Cardrona ski field and the length of the runs, and reports that he'd consider going back.
After the morning at Cardrona, we drove back over the Crown Range to Queenstown for a couple of days of luxuriation (because we're getting to the age where we require at least 2 days of recovery after 1.5 days of leisurely snowboarding).
We thought about catching this steamer across the lake...but we had too much shopping and eating to do.
We also had a lot of pensively staring out at the lake to do.
Jumping over puddles was quite challenging for our sore muscles.
We were sad to bid farewell to the South Island, but also very grateful that we had the opportunity to visit twice during our year in New Zealand.
