South Island Ski Adventure

Queenstown/Wanaka Ski Adventure

The long awaited blog about our winter wonderland get away to the South Island. Thank goodness I wrote down what we did everyday since it has been a month ago! Not quite sure where the time has gone, but JC and I are falling more and more in love with New Zealand everyday. Ok... enough about how much we LOVE it here and on to the ski trip. Before we left, our friends were so generous to let us borrow their stylish ski clothes. We weren't able to pack much and were worried about being super cold. Overall, as always we packed way to much and only carried a backpack. Once you get use to the weather it is a much drier cold than Auckland. A few layers and we were more than toasty. We had to get up at 3:30am and walk about 25 minutes to get the airport bus. When we arrived to Queenstown is was early morning which gave us the entire day to hang out and enjoy the town. Our hotel let us check in right away which was a relief. After a nap we headed to the Queenstown center which we had to take a bus. Our hotel was super nice with a lovely view of the lake, a huge breakfast "all you can eat", and a mini heater for the room. It's the little things that make a difference. Of coarse, our first stop was to eat FERG burger which by far is the best burger place in the world. After visiting last April we found Ferg burger and have been talking about going back every sense. After a huge burger our next stop was Patagonia Chocolate. This is another place we couldn't stop talking about after we had their banana split incredible ice cream. You know it is yummy when it is freezing outside and we get two scoops each of ice cream. Our first day in Queenstown was amazing with great food, weather, and fun. 

that bag is filled with ONE burger

He made me do it!

Day Two: Repeat the food as of day 1, Ferg and ice cream! As you continue to read this was our staple food everyday while in Queenstown. In other words, our diet didn't begin until we arrived back to Auckland. We decided to walk into town from our hotel using the lake walking path. It was a beautiful walk and the weather was sunny. Since our skiing would begin on day 3, we had to go get fitted for our ski/snowboard gear. JC decided to become a snowboarder! I stuck to what I knew and took the skis. There were a few laughs as we felt like the Costa Ricans go skiing adventure. After walking around Queenstown we found a great park that runs along the lake. This was a new find and we enjoyed the scenery. 

 Day 3: We had a huge breakfast at 6:30am before catching the bus to Wanaka. I found a coupon deal for the ski resort, Treble Cone, which is 1.5 hours away from Queenstown. With a lot of research and homework we decided to go to Treble Cone. The beginners slopes were 10% but all the other ski resorts listed beginners as 30%. Not that much difference we thought...Anyways, as we were driving away from the hotel, I remembered that I had left my ski boots in the hotel room. Luckily, I was able to rent the boots only at the resort for the same price I had paid for the entire gear! A live in learn moment. JC decided to take the first day to get snowboard lessons. I warmed up on the bunny slope before venturing out to the beginner slope. To summarize the "beginner" slope at Treble Cone, super challenging, drop off cliffs, and you have never been so thankful to arrive at the bottom safe and sound. With that said I was super excited that I was able to tackle the slope (one slope) but had a great time. The ski lift was "fancy dancy" which was nice to take 5 minutes to ride and 20 minutes to descend. JC stayed in snowboard lessons all day and loved the new "sport." We skied from 10-4 before heading back to Queenstown. Repeat food as Day 1 and 2.

 

Day 4: Waking up to soreness and wanting more was how we felt. The journey up to Treble Cone was definitely an adventure 
The big charter bus didn't need to be going up and down the steep terrain but the company didn't seem to care. As we were heading up the mountain from Queenstown the bus driver was having problems shifting gears. When we arrived to the bottom of Treble the driver said, "well you can complain to the company but this bus isn't able to go any further." Many people had made their final day of skiing at Treble Cone as it is known for advance slopes. We waited for the Treble Cone staff to pick us up in their mini buses to finish the journey to the slopes. After a two hour delay we were able to enjoy the day. JC decided to stay on the bunny slope after listening to my review of the "beginner" slope. We didn't stop to eat lunch to get our full day in. We were greeted by our bus driver who had a 1950's school bus which was up at the slopes to take us back to Queenstown. What an awful ride we had for 2 hours. The bus driver had to keep the window open so he could see which allowed a huge draft of night cold air. The bus of coarse did not have heat so we all were in the most clothes we had even been in the entire trip. When we made it to Queenstown I went to complain for our money back while JC ordered our Ferg burger. The company, Kiwi Discovery, didn't really care and offered us Ferg burger. I basically said they could have their burger and left. JC went back later and they gave him a refund for half! He also didn't say that I was his wife who had complained earlier. To top off being pissed off this was the worst! Now they had something against women complaining. We had planned on using this company to take us to another ski slope the following day, but I rushed to book another company for our last ski day to Cardrona.
Day 5: With a later start to the day we were sore but pushing through for our final ski day. The Snow and Info. bus came to pick us up. The driver loved to see how fast he could go! I think we made it in record breaking time to Cardrona. With that said, it wasn't that scary until he decided to take his speeding up the dirt road to the slopes. We were sliding from on turn to the other. A few girls who had partied the night before were sick. A great start to our last ski day. We decided to take the second bus of the day to Cardrona so we began at 11. JC and I were super excited to ride the life and ski/snowboard together. Cardrona is a ski resort for all different levels. JC loved snowboarding the "slopes" and I enjoyed being the photographer. Towards mid-day we were skiing the intermediate slopes. JC has great balance and did excellent on the board. Eventually I had to go in front of him after seeing multiple face dives into the snow. Overall, he has learned how to snowboard and wants to continue. 

Day 6: Ending our trip with Japanese massages was a great start to our last day in Queenstown. We were super sore and had already purchased Advil and sport's rub.The weather was amazing the entire trip but even got better as the snow fell on Sunday. We were getting a bit tired of burgers and decided to make our last night a fancy meal night. We ate at a hotel in town which had great duck. Overall, we weren't disappointment nor blown away with the food. There is a great pool place in town. After dinner we headed over to play a few games. Being Sunday night it was a much different scene than when we had went during the day. We played a few games before going to get our ice cream. (I don't we could ever get tired of that place) I got the best chocolate cake EVER. It had cake, brownie, mousse, and chocolate all in one! YUMMY! On Monday morning we packed up and were very sad to leave. Our trip was incredible! From relaxing, walks, snow, ski/snowboarding, eating at our favorite places, and last but not least spending time together it was an amazing trip.