The last few weeks have passed merrily by as the seasons slowly change from cold southerly winds to warm, sunny days. Just as the snow couldn't handle any more sun a cold snap came a long, with some much needed snow we managed to time it with some snowboarding lessons. To try and bring in some more people up to the empty resorts NZSki put on a fantastic offer of three 2 hour lessons, hire and lift pass for two days for $150. With an offer like that we couldn't refuse and fitting it in with the best snow conditions for the past couple of weeks was a bonus.
The snow schools were fantastic at the Remarklables and Coronet Peak and after the two days of lessons we were full of motivation and excitement for this new sport.
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| Bus up to the last night skiing |
Unfortunately after our snowboarding days, the weather decided to warm back up and we decided that we were going to save our money and not buy anymore bus trips up the mountain. So all of our excitement and energy to progress in snowboarding will have to be bottled up and saved for the next winter we see.
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| View of Remarkable from near Fernhill |
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| It may technically be spring, but the water is still baltic |
To fill our time of not going skiing, we've turned to the tourist side of the area and have had a few day trips to different places. Our first trip was a free bus to Cromwell, as a couple who had tickets weren't going to use them and gave them to us. Having given us a plausible reason why they weren't going any more, we happily took the free trip however, after visiting Cromwell we came to the conclusion that they found out there's not much to do there and decided to play a cruel joke on us and give the tickets to us. The best way to describe Cromwell is to compare it with Ripley or Lacock, in which it has a mildly entertaining old town tourist attraction and some nice coffee shops.... It's not all dull and bad though, we were told that it has some world famous winery's out of town and a awesome gold mining museum even further out of town. At least we came, we saw and we know better than to accept tickets off partial strangers.
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| Standing under some giant fruit in Cromwell |
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| Cromwell orchard |
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| Coffee |
Our second trip was to the old gold mining town of Arrowtown, just outside Queenstown. As well as having two film locations for The Lord Of The Rings, Arrowtown has an old school wild west main street and all the gold you can find in the river. Having read in the news paper the week before that some lucky chap found a gold nugget worth $1800, we decided that if we could score a nugget or two then we wouldn't have to work for the rest of the trip...maybe. Having watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to pan and asking the locals for the 'best' spots, we hired some pans and set off to find our fortunes. After an hour to two of digging, panning, digging, panning and cold feet, we came to the conclusion that our fortune wasn't here or, if it was, it was real good at hiding.
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| Panning for gold |
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| A little more panning |
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| Wild west Arrowtown |
With spring coming along and summer not to fair away, we've been busy planning where and what to do and so far have some loose, rough ideas of our near future. We have less than a week left in Queenstown, followed by a trip north, some volunteering at an outdoor centre and the 'Greatest' walk in the world, which is also known as the Milford Track. Hopefully after all of that, some of the snow would have gone and we can have a go at tackling some more hills and climbs. Lots to look forward to.
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| Queenstown gardens |
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| Putting the Frisbee |
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Best Frisbee throwing, one legged, flamingo impression in Queenstown...
At least in went in |
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| Even the statues party round here |
