New Zealand

Queenstown,NZ –

So a big thanks go out to the Australian tax man, you have paid for my trip to New Zealand, you don’t get that in the UK.

So myself and the little man, Wee Lickham flew from Melbourne to Christchurch where we would grab a connecting flight to Queenstown the next morning.

We land in Christchurch and wait for the bus, 20 munutes later we throw our bags on and drive about 20 meters to our hotel, if we knew this we would have walked to the bloody hotel – no beers as sleep is a must, the next day I feel will be epic.

Sleep for 4 hours and an early start, you know what they say, early bird and all that. We grab the early morning flight to Queenstown, Wicko is a sleep within 2 seconds of sitting down, I couldn’t sleep as to the right of me was the most spectacular view above the clouds I have ever seen. The sun was beaming in the distance and the white tipped mountains were something else. Before we knew it we were landing.

We grab the bags and dodge the security dog then shoot through security checks and boom were out, out in the fresh, rather cold New Zealand air. The views of the mountains are unreal, and to think that we will be carving this powder up over the next 7 days!

We jump in a cab and head for Bass backpackers, about 20 minutes from the airport, our Taxi driver was a hero, he gave us local facts about the town which had us both amazed. He even took us up on one of the mountain roads to get some pics of the lake. We gave him a tip and bundled our kit in to the hostel.

We were staying in room 116, an 8 man dorm, located with some sick views of the wall to next doors hotel. Ace!

Wicko and I had to wait for the others, Si, Chris and Gem so we took a walk around the town and stopped off for a few beers, mind you it was 11:30 am so we both knew this would be bad!

Si turned up and we let him sleep as the old man needed his rest, we stayed out and got on it with a brief nap to enable us to stay out for the remainder of the first night. We picked up our boards and the rest of the kit we didn’t bring with us and then planned our first day.

Next morning…… Wicko is not in the best of shapes but makes a great recovery in the car. The rest of us are ok and eager to get on the slopes – baby slopes for me and Wicko.

The Remarkables/ Cronet Peek and Cardrona -

The three skiers hit the slopes and myself and Wicko had a lesson to get us started, the lesson went well and the instructor was pleased with our progress, he gave us some things to work on and then we were off on the green slopes!

The day went well, many falls but nothing bad, we were progressing well and hitting all types of slopes by the end of the first day. I decided to get a few quick runs in as my confidence was high, little did I know what was about to happen…….

So this cute Aussie chick opens up a one set and is giving all kinds of i.o.i’s, I continue to chat and state she may want to be careful as she exits the ski lift as I am still a beginner, she laughs, I laugh, followed by an almighty scream when I exit the lift and the front of the board digs in to the snow and twists on its end with my leg twisting with it, the pain was unreal and I couldn’t move, the girl laughs, I cry and she buggers off. I roll my pants up and cover my leg in snow for 20 minutes before limping down the slope to a hero’s welcome – well not quite, more like everyone laughing at me. Ha

My knee was in real pain and I decided to take the next day off. The rest of the crew hit the slopes and I stayed in the dorm and tried to give the girls in our room some banter.

Wicko and Si return and state how good the day was, all I wanted to hear, thankfully my knee was feeling better, $60 leg support and 20 pain relief tablets later and I am sorted.

Wicko gives me some guidance as he had a second lesson the day before, “so Steve, ill show you what I was instructed and just follow my steps yea?”, “yea sure, go down and ill follow”. Wicko jumps to his feet, spins the board round 180 degrees and then heads down the slope….. Towards the fence, and in to the fence! Ha, I guessed this is not what he was taught and made my own way down.

Second day went well and we hit the green slopes in the morning with the intention of hitting the intermediate blue slopes in the afternoon. This plan worked and we smashed the slopes, wicko took some big falls and I too had a few big rolls. Wicko was in some serious pain and decided to hit the smaller slope to pick up some much needed confidence. I was talked in to going off pieste with the pro’s Si aka Grandad and Chris. This was to be a massive learning curve and an amazing experience, we hit a mini half pipe and hit some epic verticals, the sweat was pouring off me and it took a lot of concentration but it was worth it. What a rush!

The next few days we spent hitting the slopes and gaining speed and more confidence. In the evenings we dropped the kit off and hit the cold shower, not out of choice but this is all we had. We then hit the world famous Ferg Burger – these are the best burgers I think I have ever had, I am sure many people say this which is why the place only closes for 3 hours a day and they sell over 5,000 a day!

Once the food was in it was time to hit the beers, X and Golden were both dream beers and for some reason gave you no hangover – must be the crisp air, that or the litre of fruit juice we smashed each night before bed to try and reduce the 6 am hangover.

Si was given the name Grandad whilst in NZ based purely on the fact that I have never seen someone moan or not control their guts so much in one week. He does know women though so we will give him that one. On a daily basis we were reminded that we were picking women up in the wrong way, “I tell ya lads you won’t get nothing there”, “remember friendly face the first night then make the move the second night” “ don’t just dive in on the first night”, ahhh so that’s where I have been going wrong all these years. Myself and wicko laugh like schoolgirls and carry on giving the girls in our room banter, they hated it but it made us laugh!

A few more days of epic boarding and we were on our last day, what a day. We hit the slopes early and for some unknown reason the slopes were quiet, this was great we had one run to ourselves for most of the afternoon and had a few runs where we were the only two on the run – epic!

We pack the kit in the car and head back for the last few beers of our trip, we make it a good few beers and say our goodbyes then the next day we head back to Melbourne!

I must say this was the most beautiful town I have ever been and I hope to return again soon!