Quuenstown and Stuarts Birthday

Stuart has had a great birthday down here in Queenstown. At first it was a shock being in such a busy place again after living out in the mountains for so long. It took a while to adjust to the amount of people and shops lol
We became proper tourists while visiting here and indulged in some birthday treats.

1. Ice cream by the lake, a must for any birthday boy.

2. A visit to the Minus 5 Degrees Ice Bar. We were lucky enough that it was only the two of us booked in for that hour so we had the place to ourselves. Our barman Jahfire treated us to some birthday cocktails and shots :-) We lasted the full hour in the -9oC room which was apparently quite rare. Most people get too cold and ask to leave early, but Jahfire just thought we should be hardened to it since we are Scottish!

3. A trip on the Skyline Gondola to catch the view from the top.

4. And then while up there, a race back down on the Luge carts! Stuart won of course, well it is his birthday lol

5. And to top it all off, a Queenstown must. We treated ourselves to a famous Fergburger. These things are massive and are made from scratch within the establishment, even the bread buns. Mine had pork belly complete with crackling, sweet apricot chutney, aioli and lettuce. If that wasn't enough we then topped them with onion rings. They tasted beautiful but I failed the mission to polish it off, just too much, Stuart managed it though!

Treble Cone and Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka is an absolutely beautiful place. The sun is constantly shining and its such a happy small town. Very mountain orientated where everyone there either skis or boards. The pubs are full of people just off the mountain at night to soothe the aches and pains.

We had our last day on the mountain at Treble Cone, but what a way to finish the season! The sun shone on us all day and the snow was absolutely perfect. Nice and soft. The runs were huge and there was a nice treat of the express chairlift back to the top rather than the usual T-bars and Pomas. Stuart even improved on his Oakleys tan lol

I've had an amazing time touring the mountains! I never thought I would be able to just live in a van with the boards in the back, and the only decision to make each day is 'what mountain next?', it's been incredible.
Now it's time to focus on touring the rest of the south. Time to pack away the snow gear......bye bye snowboarding................until next season!! :-)

Mount Dobson

Mount Dobson, the hill everyone has been talking about this season with the most snow. We have had to wait 2 weeks to get on it though because of the gale winds that high up on the mountain. They were definitely right about the most snow though, as we discovered on the road up!!

Even though there was a lot of snow it was pretty windswept making it hard crust underneath. Not the best for snowboarding on. We were pretty disappointed but still enjoyed a full day on the mountain.

 Time to head off further south, Treble Cone is the goal!! :-)

Scotland or New Zealand??

Yesterday we drove through St. Andrews.....stayed the night in Glencoe Scenic Reserve...

....then today we drove through Peebles........Aviemore dam......

.......and Benmore lake.

Am I definitely in New Zealand?? :-)

We then spent the night at Mount Cook national park and awoke to two inches of snow covering the van.....good insulation though :-)

 

It was definitely worth the snowy drive up because the view of Mount Cook was fantastic, and a wee scoot round the Sir Edmund Hilary Museum before leaving topped it off!

Travel Map

A map of our travels so far............

Roundhill

Roundhill has the most epic entry road into a ski field ever. 32km of gravel road that has not been very well maintained. Holes, divets, very bare patches with the rocks underneath showing through. I feel like I should have lost a whole load of weight considering it was over one hour in, one hour back, and it apparently only takes 10 minutes a day on a vibrating plate at the gym :-)
Pooe wee midge has been rattled and battered but she survived, we just hope all that jumping about hasn't knackered someting expensive. We are definitley not taking her back along that road. This will be a one trip mountain I think.
Once there though it was great snow. All higher lifts were closed due to the wind, but the main T-bar took us to about six blue runs anyway so we were happy.

Someone unfortunately wasn't as happy and had to get airlifted in a rescue chopper. Fingers crossed that neither one of us will be needing one of those anytime this season!

Lake Pearson

While boarding in Arthur's Pass we have been staying at a DOC site by Lake Pearson. I have been told that Lord of the Rings scenes have been shot here, but I'm not good with those movies so no idea which scenes. It is beautiful though surrounded by the mountains, but also very cold. Showering with the lake water definitely makes your teeth chatter :-)

Porters

Porters is a beautiful mountain to snowboard. The sun has been shining every day we have been up. It's lovely and quiet so no huge queues for the T-bars or Pomas, and it has a lot of room to practice, I definitely feel like I'm improving :-)

We have now completed the ultimate goal...............two on a very long, very fast T-bar without falling off lol

We have also now been introduced to Kea birds. A much prettier alternative to seagulls, but still just as annoying for begging food.

Hanmer Springs

After burning out the body snowboarding, the perfect way to relax is taking a dip in the thermal Hanmer Springs pools. You can choose from sulphur, mineral rock, hydro therapy or do what we did and have a dip in them all.