Having not been to NZ, I venture off to see what's there. On arrival I locate Magic Bus for a cost effective and flexible way of venturing around the islands. Almost all photos and video are from the HTC Touchpro phone.
Business calls in Melbourne, so time to make some tracks back towards Oz. The weather seems to indicate that icy/snowy roads are likely soon, so I waste no time in geting back via an Intercity express to Christchurch before any road closures are likely through the Lindis Pass to catch a really early plane back over the ditch.
With plenty of time to spare in Christchurch, its time to kick back a bit and take a holiday from the travel, and adjust the internal clock for Oz or probably a better reason would be adjust the clock for the 2am wake up to catch the flight over to Melbourne.
Picture above is a panorama from the top of the ski lift looking back down to the valley. The actual landing area was about 4km around to the left of the mountain as you look out (which couldn't be seen from here)
Paul hadn't rang, which was a bit surprising, as I was sure he said he was going to one of the ski fields around Queenstown today. In any case, I figured he might have just had another big night, and was late. I walked into town to offload some excess baggage back to Oz, and I thought if I'm going to hitch a ride up there, I'd better at least check what the weather conditions are. Weather forecast was for strong wind, but knowing how wrong the forecasts usually are, I really wanted to know from someone who might be up there. I give Keith a call from Elevation Paragliding (the same group I iniitially tried to do my license with but the weather wasn't looking promising at the time) and ask him what he reckons the conditions will be like and says he doesn't know but has a tandem flight booked at 11am (but not promising the customer anything) so he's going up there anyway. Keith says, "where are you now?", to which I later realise I'm about 100m away from him! So I get in, we pick up the tandem customer (Lee), and his pilot, Swannee and head on up to Coronet Peak. We get to drive right up next to the ski lift, hop on and ride the 6 seater chair lift with 3 people and a couple of gliders on board.
We're all amazed when we get to the top, that the weather is perfect. It's completely clear skies and a light 5km/h breeze blowing up the mountain at just the right angle. Swannee and Lee head off first, and I follow in a few minutes later (with a quick flight check from Keith) to glide from the 5400ft peak down to the valley below. Above picture is the area down in the valley where we landed.
Paul is on his way up to Treble Cone again today, and I hitch a ride with him. He lets me know that he's probably not going to ski much of the day, as he's been doing the skiing full on for everyday, and will probably head off to Queenstown early afternoon. I'm happy to hitch a ride to Queenstown too and if weather and circumstances permit I'd like to head up to Coronet Peak to Paraglide.(picture above is Paul standing at "Pub Corner" looking out to valley. TC base and ski lift is in background)
It's a very windy day up at TC, with snow blowing across the top of the ridge at around 80-90km/hr. Conditions are otherwise fine, but I opt out for paragliding here unless an expert is handy. It turns out an expert was taking off at Pub corner below, but before I realised it, it was too late for me to get down there. Not to worry, its quite nice at the base here by the outside fire.
Paul finishes up and asks if I'd like to use his skis and boots, to which I happily accept. I can't barely even remember the last time I put on some skis about 15 years ago at either Perisher or Thredbo, but I don't remember having any real trouble, on my first lesson that day. Whatever they taught me was just a complete blank. I don't even have a clue how the skis connect to the boots. I venture on down to the super easy 20m beginner slope. This is the one that has a magic carpet and an incline that's almost level. I ask Paul to give me a few pointers, and I go down this slope 10-15 times just practising the wedge stop. While I play around with this for the 30 minutes, he heads back inside and get a few more tips from a lady who has skiied a few times before, and is practising herself. She gives me a few more pointers about how to do the zig zag down the slope. She's a star teacher,, and after a few more runs I recommend we head on up to the next beginner slope which has enough slope to it that you can actually get a quite a nice bit of speed up.
Things are moving along nicely, and I reckon I've got this more or less sorted, and decide to go locate Paul for the next bit of advice and also rest the legs.
He comes on out, and grabs my phone and takes some video of me while giving me some more tips on refining the style.
Later, I learn that the reason he's heading on over to Queenstown is for ski instructor get together, and learn that he was doing ski instructing at Queenstown last year. No wonder the tps were so good! And he took the video for the "video analysis" to have a look at later. The funny bit was this was the component of his ski instruction course to get a level one pass, but it obviously worked for me, so Paul definitely passed in my books! (I'll up load some video later - after I've edited the boring bits out)
The day before, Paul had found some other ski bunnies down at Shooters. Allan and Deslee. They're repeat offender Cardrona junkies. They're from Australia too, and are here for a couple of weeks every year. They've got me interested in checking out Cardrona. They say, if you're a beginner and you're managing TC ok, then you'll just love Cardrona because almost all of its slopes are much gentler. I was enthused the night before, but hearing all these stories of busy slopes and lifts full of teenagers I thought it would be best to at least wait 'til school holidays is over. Meeting up at the pub at the scheduled 5-6pm happy hour, I hear that it really was a busy one so I was lucky I didn't go to Cardrona Tuesday, but they've still got me interested in these easy slopes, so I organise to meet up for a 8am ride today.
It turns out to be an exceptionally good choice. Overnight its been snowing and the early morning weather looks worse than it really is, keeping most of the crowds away from the freshly powdered fields! Now and again you had to put up with a snow storm in the early part of the day or board through some low cloud at the lower end of the field, but this just made it more interesting. 90% of the day it was clear blue skies.
Allan and Deslee are spot on though. Unlike TC, where I can barely venture beyond the "easiest way down" (which is equivalent to an intermediate slope at Cardrona), I circumnavigate the entire place at Cardrona throughout the course of the day.
I expected to catch up with my Aussie friends somewhere on the field, but this place was so vast it just wasn't meant to be, so despite all our efforts to meet up for breaks throughout the day, I miss their ride home, but manage a hitch down the hill with another Paul who's visiting from Dunedin all the way back to Shooters with 5 min spare for our regular meetup.
"TC" as everyone calls Treble Cone, is again today separated from Wanaka below by another inversion layer, which means gliding is unlikely. Paul and I repeat the process of getting up early and cruising up the mountain to get perfectly clear skies above the cloud layer. Once Paul goes up the lift I never see him on the slopes til the end of the day. He's an expert skier that ventures around to all the advanced areas around the mountain. He's also expert at getting the best deal in town for ski lift pass. He's from Sydney and this isn't his first ski holiday over here. He's learnt from last season that if you hire a "Jucy" car rental and ask for the ski pack for an extra $12 per day, it includes snow chains, ski rack and..... a ski lift pass for the driver! (a daily ski lift pass costs around $100/day). So his total cost per day for renting the car is $45/day which is cheaper than the ski lift pass (yes ... he had to repeat this to me twice before I got it!) I have seen some other good deals around such as buying early in the season etc, but this one will be tough to beat.
Meanwhile.. I'm starting to get the hang of going down the mountain on the "toe - heel" doing the "S turns" most of the way down, but still lacking some fluidity. I'm making progress though. The first day it took me near enough to an hour to get down, but now I'm doing it in about 10-15min.. albeit on the easiest way down, and I haven't even had a look at most of the slopes on the mountain yet.
After the Christmas in July celebrations at Wanaka Bakpaka (an evening where everyone cooks something and then shared in smorgasbord style). Paul arrives in late, and misses the great feed which must have something to do with the premise's earlier life (as it was a restaurant before it got converted to a backpacker).
Paul is on his way up to Treble Cone in the morning and offers me a ride up there. We start the day with the best breakfast in town down at Kai Whaka Pai (keep in mind "wh" is side like "F"), and get up the hill with glider on board for opening time. I hang about by the outside fire down at the base of the ski field waiting for conditions to get perfect. I'm on my own here, and the take off area is extremely small, so I'm not taking any chances. At about 11:30am I walk down the area to lay out my glider on the 45 degree angle slope, and from the top Mal is calling out from up top. I later learn that Mal is one of the "speed riders" here, and is about to launch from a slightly different area just around the corner. He's got a camera on his helmet and a small glider that is probably smaller than a parachute and is off the fast way down the mountain. He jumps off, drops like a lead balloon, and then immediately executes a barrel roll before skimming the contours of the mountain all the way down (in about 1-2 minutes). He makes what I'm about to do look like a past time for fairies. If he can do that I shouldn't have any concerns taking off from here.
In any case, I'm setting up the glider on a sloping ground, it's muddy, icy and slippery, and only two steps before walking over the edge. I'm double checking everything. I wait for a small bit anabatic air flow up the side of the mountain, pull on the risers, the glider comes up beautifully even overhead, I take another step and launch off into the air. Phew.. it worked, and glide around the sides of Treble Cone for the next 15 minutes. It's a one way glide down as expected as the air isn't thermalling, so I land down at the road entrance up to Treble Cone below.
I end up hitching back up the mountain with Mal another three times and repeating the process, as was Mal except he was doing three flights down the mountain for every one of mine. He speed rided 18 times that day, which means he had to hitch up 18 times as well!
Here's some of Mal's first person view of what it looks like Speed Riding down Treble Cone.
Its been a rest day around here for all concerned... long breakfasts, and an early pub session, as Phil is celebrating his last days of drinking forever in his life. Phil's been travelling for about 8 years and while applying for a residency he's been asked to do some medical tests, and one of which revealed that his diet of alcohol for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, early and late happy hour and every other hour in between has had some detrimental effects on his liver.. They say he might live for another two weeks, but two months is possible, and probably a lot more if he quits altogether very soon. The other reason Phil is celebrating is because it's his 31st birthday on Monday, and from that day forward he's going to be on a concoction of drugs, one of which will make hime immediatey sick if he consumes alcohol!
So its party mood fever and where else is better to continue on in the night than doing a cruise up to SnowPark to have a look at the snowboarders do their stuff at night. The action turns out to be non event, but the lounge at base is a great place to continue the theme of the day.
Arriving back at Matterhorn backpacker, things have changed since I was last here. The place has just been sold and the new owners are moving in at the same time as me. Not the usual hospitality going here, and nor is the rate. I check in anyway, but not staying for long. Fire doesn't work (its a pretend wood fire), and there are wide reports of the showers not being hot at various times of the day, so its time to scout out some of the places that were on the shortlist last time. I head on over to Wanaka Bakpaka - its the one that has probably the best location of all, including the 5 star motels nearby on the same street. It's got fabulous views looking back to the main town and is set high above the lake. It's cheaper, more comfy, and has the best showers yet seen in all the backpackers I've stayed at. No running out of hotwater here, as it's an "infinity" system, and the shower rose gives something akin to a spa. However there's only two or three of these ones here, and not everyone here even knows they are there! I take the last available spot here for the week, but may have to step out of Wanaka a bit sooner than expected as the ideal time frame is 10 days.
First up, I get in contact with Richard who is the local tandem paraglider operator here, and doubles as the driver of the Treble Cone ski field shuttle bus driver. I get the essential information from him about the nature of the mountain there, but end up getting my own way up there due to various misalignments of time, weather and seats available.
One of the better local pubs around here is Shooters. Nicely set on the main street overlooking the lake. It seems to be a good place to find out what's going on in town. I meet Phoebe here who offers to drive me up the mountain on Friday. We get there early in the morning, but there's an inversion layer (of cloud) that is hovering around just below the snow level on the mountain (which is also the take off area for paragliding), so this is a no go unless it clears. I wait around for a few hours but not looking good, so time to go onto plan B, and do some snow boarding. I grab a lift pass for the half day, and park the glider at the snowboard rental area and resume where I left off at Mt Hutt.
It's school holidays here, but Treble Cone isn't noticeably busy, and even a learner like me can find plenty of room here. I learn later that a good reason for this is that Treble Cone is more of an advanced ski field, so most of the kiddies are over at the nearby slope of Cardrona.
Looks like everyone is heading out of town for the school holidays here, so not much point hanging about any further either. Time to get some experience flying in some other spots. Kuen is off with the family down to Fox Glacier, and Stew is taking his family off to Mt Hutt (skifield near Christchurch) Stew says "I'll give you ride down there", so I start making plans to find a place to stay at the busy ski fields. I give George a call at the Methven YHA and he says "all full, but don't worry we'll find a place for you somehow". Sensational, but moments later Stew says, someone else in the family who wasn't going to go has decided to hold their seat open. ok.. Intercity is going for a premium for the next few days and requires two legs to get south and I can't find a freebie hire car (relocate a hire car) from Nelson, but apparently there's one in Christchurch that needs to be taken to Queenstown. Plan B.. Hitch.
Stew drops me off near his place in Richmond (just west of Nelson), and says if you wait here, you'll get a ride to Christchurch, but if I've still got the spare seat and you're still waiting I'll pick you up. Buzz me if you get a ride. In minutes, a truck pulls on over. Jason says, throw your kit in the back, I'm heading to Christchurch. Wow! Jason is on this job for the 2nd day on this truck, and recons he's been conned - apparently next week he'll be looking for another route to drive. He's doing a triangular run from Christchurch -> Blenhiem -> Nelson - Christchurch which starts at 3am and finishes at 5pm. It's quite a nice truck, he's dropped off the load in Nelson so he's running with nothing now, which is great for negotiating the Lewis Pass (lots of sheer drops down to nowhere - and fully closed to traffic a few days ago due to snow). As we head out of the pass, we see a road train that didn't negotiate a corner very well and went straight where he should've went nicely around the bend. Lucky he did it here on the flats rather than a bit futher up around the pass where there is no second chances, and very often without any barriers. In fact as Jason points out a barrier which is now hanging off into the gorge below.. "one went off there last week - can't even see where it ended up down the bottom"
A few hours into the trip Jason is on the phone after he realises that my call to the hire car company falls flat (no relocate car to take). Says one of his mates does the Christchurch run to Wanaka tonight, so I'll see if he can take you on from where I drop you off.. wow he's a travel agant too. We get into Christchurch at 5pm, but unfortunately the timing wasn't quite right so I'll have to make my own way. He drops me off in Christchurch where Highway 1 heads south, and says, you'll have no problem from here. I grab a quick bite and head back onto the road. It's peak hour traffic, and I'm focussing mostly on trucks as I figure who else will be driving out of town as far away as Queenstown/Wanaka. I'm wrong, I'm looking far down the dark highway trying to see if a long haul truck is coming when a car pulls over that I didn't even notice. It turns out Kim is heading down to Oamaru (on the coast at about the same lattitude as Wanaka), and she's keen to have some company to keep her awake. She's a physio student who is burning the candle at both ends. Studying, working, and visiting friends from Christchurch, Dunedin and home in Oamaru. She says, "whenever I see hitchhikers my car is too full of stuff and I can't pick anyone up, or my car is empty and I never see any", but tonight...
Nice one, well I'm happy her stars lined up, because this takes me a long way down south. As we get close to our destination, the traffic really thins out, and she says, it doesn't look like you'll get another ride from here, and even the cafe where the trucks stop in Oamaru is closed. "How about you stay at my place?" Nice! On the way she notifies one of her friends that she's picked up a hitch hiker so if she goes missing everyone will know why! The comments back and forth were probably fairly obvious, but none so obvious as the one where she says, "and he's staying at my place tonight"... "He's what?!"
Kim drops me back up the other end of town. She reckons my best bet is to go South to Palmerston and head back to Queenstown that way, but I decide to go the other way (back north a few kms to get another highway that goes much closer to Wanaka). I check with the cafe owner which way she reckons is the best, and we get an overwhelming vote in the go back north a few kms, and next she proceeds to ask everyone coming in if they could drop me back at the last highway turnoff (the travel agents are really good around here heh?). I'm up at the turnoff, and I've even got a sign with "Wanaka" on it. I wait about 15min for a dairy farmer who lived in Perth for 5 years picks me up and takes me just a short way down the road. This bit wasn't one of the better efforts. This highway is really thin with traffic, but getting a fair bit up this road has sorted the local traffic from the ones that are going some distance. What little traffic there is, is filled with mums and dads and kids. It's looking so bad, I actually start walking the 200km trip. I get a few kms down the track and Bruce & Joyce are out for a cruisy drive down to Mt Cook (locals from Oamaru). Phew, this was one leg that wasn't looking good, so I'm saved, and drop me off at the T-junction at Omarama about 100km away, along with a quick sight seeing tour and history of all the hydro stations around here.
Time for a quick lunch break... fortunately this spot is hub of activity with the road from Wanaka to Mt Cook with at least a few cars cruising every minute. I wait here for about 30min before a truckie at the service station about 100m away notices my sign, and waves me on over. Pug (Steve) is going directly to Wanaka. He's on a good wicket when it comes to driving trucks. This is the latest and greatest.. super quiet, comfy, and he adds "first one in the country this one".. "it's got an engine that's so advanced you could breathe the air out of the exhaust pipe". No long hours here, no pressure to get anywhere quick (couldn't if he wanted too - the speedo wont let him go over 90k), and you can really tell by the way he drives it - super smooth and slow through the Lindis Pass. Boss owns a company that has practically no competition and he carts the goods, and in his spare time hangs off the ledge of helicopters shooting deer in and around Wanaka to Haast. He drops me off at the door of Matterhorn Backpackers.. I've got to say.. the service around here is sensational!
All in all I've waited longer for a scheduled bus than I waited to get a ride by standing on the side of the road, and I got there a lot quicker than any bus service!
It seems I got the weather forecast about right, as the weather changed the following day on arriving in Nelson, which was just perfect to begin the paragliding course. Come Monday, it's not quite right for the starter session, but Tuesday we're on our way and Stew drops by to pick me up and start with some "ground handling" down at the park nearby where we go through the basics of running around with the paraglider attached with no intention of leaving the ground.
The next day we head on over to one of the farms where we do a bit of a refresher on the ground handling on a slope that has a bit of downward ramp on it, and then we start Stew's boot camp of endlessly climbing hills. Here's where it starts getting interesting.. the hill isn't exactly enormous but without doubt it's nothing you'd ordinarilty jump off either. With a short run after awaiting momentarilty for the glider to fill with air, it's up'n'away, leaving the ground behind. Now, although this is solo, I do have Stew directing me on the two way radio. Here we are Mt Heslington for the first hill launch and glide down to the brown track leading up on the far right of the frame. Later another landing in to the paddock on its left (about middle of photo). We spent most of the day here, of which a good part of this is climbing up and flying down, always introducing a new skill to the flight.
Next we're off to increase the challenges a bit more and it's over to another spot which is at the base of Mt Barnicote. At this stage I didn't even know what the towering mountain was, this part way up launch site which we had to hike several times seemed high enough for me. What really looks ineresting as this early stage of the programme, is how wrong it can all go, with so many areas that really didn't look very attractive for landing into, but all goes well, and these flights all end up in the right place by the windsock and the cattle trough.
With everything going nicely to plan, in part due to perfect weather conditions we're off to a place called Warren Bluff which is a mountain that sits right behind the main city area and is immediately above the park where we first did the ground handling, which was 100m from the backpacker I'm staying. OK, now this is getting seriously interesting. This time I'm flying out from an area where there's nothing resembling a gradually larger slope, now it's over the edge and land in a confined area amongst the roads, powerlines and houses. First launch take off, wasn't looking so good.. ok.. ready 1,2,3.. big step, lookup, let go, check... STOP. ok, something not quite right, so we go through it again. Meanwhile some hikers who have just been walking by stop to have a bo peep. So I go again, and I do land on the designated area in the very middle of the park as per the flight program, albeit with Stew guiding me down, or at the very least getting ready to tell me what is the best course of action if I don't quite get it right. Warren Bluff which overlooks Nelson city from the South East side for a slightly higher launch site and land down in the park in the middle of the frame.
Warren Bluff again with Stew checking on the glider for me.
Photo from the landing site looking back up to Warren Bluff.
Weather and time are looking good, so its off back to a spot that I would recognise later when I would touch down at the bottom. I suspect we don't normally get to this one quite so soon, but it seems condtions are good so off we go to the big one around here, Mt Barnicote (1800ft or 600m). Now this is some serious height, and while looking over the edge I'm looking down to where the landing area is, but I'm reminded that I can't see it from here, however it will come into view once you get out there. Launching from here is quite a bit different to all the other jumps, as this one the height is enormous, and this is where you have a long time to look around at everything, as its all so far away. First flight from here is just a flight that more or less just glides straight down. I have to aim for a couple of way points on the way to make sure I'm lined up for the landing area, which mostly inorporates bits and pieces from earlier flights from the base of the same hill a few days earlier, which is a nice way to learn and everyting isn't so daunting. Bit by bit the trainer wheels (Stew's two way radio) are being removed, as this time because Stew can't see me once I leave the launch area (except when I'm floating around a few hundred metres out from the launch area, I'm on my own to locate and land on the area down in the valley. Landing site looking back up to the top of Barnicoat. In the foreground just off to the right where all the yellow bits are is where we were a few days earlier for the more gentler slope. From the photo you'd probably think that's just a wee bit lower than the very top.. wrong.. very wrong.. The lower slope is probably only about 100-200ft at most.
We would end up returning here everyday the weather was good, which was about for the next 10 days, after which time I'd clocked up 39 flights and was no longer just gliding down to the area below, but thermalling up and landing back where I started from on top of the mountain. This is where the real skill starts coming into action. It seems almost anyone can glide one of these things down, but you really have to be on your toes to pick the areas around the side of the mountain that will give you lift. Sometimes you take off and you can just stay at a level altitude, but not quite get enough lift to make it back on top and so you have to eventually give up and glide your way back down the bottom area.
On one occasion Stew seems happy that I'm keeping enough height to stay well above the mountain and he heads off to pick up some of the others that have asked for some pickups from the base of Barnicote and possibly some other areas. He spots me from a suburb nearby and says, "Ash, you've got lots of height.. how about gliding back down to the park nearby the carpark". I'm thinking, "what carpark?" From up here I can see forever, and I start scanning around looking for possible parks. It eventually dawns on me that he's talking about the park which is in suburuban Stoke, where we've often rendezvoused with others heading up to the mountain. I try to follow where I think the road would go to, and confirm the landing area. ok.. that looks possible... and I start recalling bits and pieces of conversation on this one over the last few days, one of which is the high tension power lines that you have to have enough height to get over. These aren't just regular power lines, these are the ones that are a hundred feet or so high that carry power from one city to the next. So I start my way there, and I'm constantly checking to see if my glide approach really is going to make it over these power lines. It's all looking good, so I'm over the top of them now, and now I have to lose some height as the park is just behind the power lines. Anyway, all goes well, and Stew gives me the pointers I need to make it in for a nice touch down at the park. Barnicoat launch site looking back down to Stoke/Nelson in the early morning. We continue flying around here until Thursday always learning a few extra skills and refining the art of going up instead of only going down until the weather changes on Friday make the cloud a bit too low at Barnnicote, so its time to clear up all the theory for the written side. Here's some video that others have taken before I arrived here.
"You're taking the Transalpine, then just wait out front at 7am in the morning and the shuttle will take you to the train station." Well so much for the free shuttle. I wouldn't have minded walking there, but to just have some bunch of clowns just have you hang about for 45 minutes then have to make your own way there anyway wasn't a great way to start the day.
In the end I get there on time and the weather is again better than the forecast, which is certainly a bonus for this trip across to the west coast. There's a couple of stops on the way (with the photo at the top at the midway point of Arthur's Pass which is just before the 9km tunnel - note the open carriage just behind the loco).
Into Greymouth just after midday, and after a quick lunch at a nearby hotel it's onto Nelson via an Intercity coach. You could have almost called this one a big taxi, as I was the only one who was on it for full the six hour ride with our driver Steve through to Nelson via that fantastic bit of road through the Buller Gorge.
The Transalpine train that was I hoping to get me over to Greymouth, isn't running the full train service on Tue and Wed every so many weeks, so instead I head on over to Akaroa for the day, which is . I didn't quite make their last time so curiousity satisfied.
Sometimes things work out better if you dont plan it. Leaving the paradise of lakefront behind I expect I'll be in Christchurch tonight although I do tell our driver that I wouldn't mind checking out Methven. At Geraldine (our breakfast stop), he says its time to "call it" if you want get off at Methven as we don't go through the town unless we are picking up someone there. Moments later, two dutch girls ask the driver if they can get off at Methven to do some skiing.. Ok detour locked in. After they'd studied the form they realised they werent going to make their plane by departure date (no bus wed) so they abort, but Dusty says, lets check out the place anyway. When we get there, the weather is looking good and I ask him to drop me out front and if they've got a spare bed, I'll stop here.
I'm in and it's 11:15am. (later that night George, the owner says he booked more people than beds, so it was a tight squeeze). I figure I may as well check out the ski scene and immediately discover there is a shuttle bus leaving in 45min to Mt Hutt. I'm on it.. Scary ride up there (overtaking everything else up the mountain), this is the cowboy minibus version with only 3 passengers.. But anyway, we make it up without sliding off the edges. By the way, this unsealed road winds around the edge of the mountain with no barriers for 14kms. Cars do go off the edge, and a recent story of a bus doing a 180 degree spin on some ice and somehow managed not to go over the edge. The bus now going a new direction figured it was better not to do a three point turn and go back up the mountain and drop everyone off!
As I've not snowboarded before (not without a kite), I'm told that I really should get an intermediate class to learn the essentials. I do that, and I'm not regretting that one bit. After my instructor Matt, figured out I didn't know what turning really meant, he showed me the back and toe strategy on the beginner slope, and then I'm away on the main drag. I'm hooked and I want to squeeze the last minute out of the ski lift.. but I'm reminded that there's always tomorrow.
Tomorrow comes but Mt Hutt is living up to its reputation amongst the locals here as Mt Shut, as I'm up at 6:30am to see the official word on the notice board. I consider myself lucky and fortunately plan B came into action as the bus is still booked to come and get me to take me on the last leg of Magic back to Christchurch.
Waking up to clear blue skies, it was a no brainer to go venture off as far as possible towards the base of Mt Cook. A nice easy 4 hour walk that almost anyone could do via the Hooker valley and on down to the Hooker Glacier terminal face.
Below is a terrible shot (due to the sun in the way) of the glacier terminal and the bottom right is how it looks from about half way along the track looking back at the village.
The Hermitage hotel and complex is effectively the centre hub of town. Here and very nearby is where what little food you can get is found. Very nice place this one, and it's also where the Planetarium and the 3D cinema is. Actually, this is one of the highlights of the area. The 360 dome type cinema with short movies that are some of the best examples of where astronomy and entertainent meet. The 3D movie is worth watching several times and covers fantastic history, climbs and flights around the area.
Above is looking towards the Hermitage Hotel and also the view that you see from the hotel (Mt Cook - 3754m is the peak in the middle and the Hooker Valley walk was to the glacier terminal base of it).
Paul drops us both back into the village to get picked up by the Intercity. It's about the right time, but we see another bus instead. It's one of those Great Sight buses. The co driver gets off and asks for us by name, so onward we go on this 5 star coach which it seems Great Sights pick up Intercity passengers for the routes they don't have enough people to run their own bus. It's a short cruise on over to Mt Cook. The weather is changing as we arrive. It's still sunny but storms are brewing on the peaks. We venture around to scope out the place and also take the 3 hour walk out to the glacier terminal here. We'll probably do again tomorrow, as the mornings are generally cloud free. Osa may not be... she's only here one night, and bus leaves about the same time we arrived.
As much as I want to head up to Nelson, I also like this spot, and I'm now starting to think I want to go over to the nearby town of Mt Cook (the closest town to the highest peak in Australasia). I have to again say goodbye to another bunch of fantastic people, and let Andy, Jendra and Lara continue on back to Christchurch without me. It's just Paul and I left here, and I'm asking him about how I might be able to get on over to Mt Cook. He reminds me that it's off season, and the shuttle bus isn't running now, but that Intercity still do, and leaves in about an hours time from here. Ok.. book me in, but we discover that the actual time is 10min away.. too short a time span to pack and make the 400m walk into the village. OK.. so I'm stuck here then.. at least til tomorrow. Paul reminds me.. "just have to stay another day here in paradise".. and he is of course right, as we sit down looking out across the lake. Paul reminds me of the walks around the area, so I plot a course the long way up to the St John observatory via the lake.
A little while later, someone else arrives in town (on the Intercity bus that I was going to be too late for) and as I'm about to depart for the afternoon, Osa peers in and I ask her if she's got anything planned for the arvo.. off we go.. with a small detour down to the YHA as she's told her new friend from the bus that they'll meet later this arvo, but this excursion might put this at risk. On our way there, Sabrina is on her way to Lakefront, so onward we go up the observatory. It's a 2.5 hr walk up there, and we enjoy the views all the way there, and of course up the top is a great place to sit back in the glass house style cafe up there. The view on the way up and looking up to the observatory (or as Osa says.. "It looks like something out of a James Bond movie")
The view from the top at the cafe/observatory.
As it turns out, Osa is off to Mt Cook tomorrow also, so Mt Cook here we come.
Business calls in Melbourne, so time to make some tracks back towards Oz. The weather seems to indicate that icy/snowy roads are likely soon, so I waste no time in geting back via an Intercity express to Christchurch before any road closures are likely through the Lindis Pass to catch a really early plane back over the ditch.
