Want to come to New Zealand to learn how to Snowboard? Too bad you're coming :)
For your reference, I am writing this 14/07/21 catching up my old travel posts. We are currently on our second lockdown and my mental health is doing amazing. But enough of that, let's go to Queenstown! I had just returned from travelling the States for 2 months and had about a month break in between travelling again. This trip was organised when I was a travel agent prior to my USA trip. Oz Snow invited a group of travel agents from across Australia to travel to Queenstown to experience their Snow Tour. You can check out their tours here.
This was my first time visiting New Zealand. My biggest piece of advice if you are landing during the day is to make sure your get a window seat! These photos of the views over Queenstown do not do this beautiful town justice.
Here is a loose breakdown of the group's planned activities for the rest of the week. First night was check in and drinks at the lodge. Unfortunately I learnt the devastating news that we lost our family retriever Missy. She was really sick and having seizures the week leading up to me leaving. She stayed with me the night before I left for New Zealand. I don't think she wanted to make me sad, she quietly passed the next day.
Spent the night being comforted by new friends. I honestly just spent the night crying and everyone was so sweet as soon as I told them I lost my dog. Horrible way to start the trip, but I am so grateful to have been surrounded by such a kind group of people. They really helped cheer me up that night.
Starting my first day in the snow the only way, a hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Day one began at The Remarkables. Everyone had the choice to either ski or snowboard, as I have skied in the past and loved skateboarding I obviously chose snowboarding. My roommate and snow bestie also decided to learn how to snowboard with me and we had so much fun. We did spend a solid portion of the morning on our butts, but by the afternoon we were off the baby slope and onto the intermediate slopes.
These tunnels were way too much fun. After a full day of snowboarding the Remarkables the group were exhausted. That night we had a group dinner and drinks at a seperate bar in town. Not a super rowdy night as we all knew we were in for another big day on the slopes/.
Next day was a full day at Cardrona. I had lessons provided to me by Oz Snow and after spending the morning brushing up on my newly learnt skills, Steph and I spent the rest of the day on the big person slopes.
This was definitely the best snow day we had. The conditions were amazing and this was my favourite slope of the trip. Not too scary, beautiful views and I think this was the longest run, so less going back up and down. The weather held out all day giving us some incredible views across the valley.
Could not ask for a better partner in crime to learn snowboarding with, Steph is the best. Hopefully we can reunite on another snow trip one day soon in the future when we aren't locked inside.
After a long day of shredding the slopes, the Oz Snow crew took us to Cardona Hotel. This was such a vibe. We all sat around the fire roasting marshmallows, drinking warm mulled wine and recounting the best stacks of the day.
To prepare our stomachs and souls for the pub crawl night ahead, Steph and I had our first of many Ferg Burgers. I think I had a total of 5 during my time in Queenstown. Very much worth the hype.
Drunks snacks and my first time ever trying Cookie Time, I died.
Not entirely sure which bars we went to this night. We basically hauled our drunk asses up and down this one strip in the main town and had the best night. I bought a funky film camera that changed the colour of all the pics we took. All I know is that this night was insanely fun and that cowboy hat made it with me all the way back to Sydney.
Rough morning on the slopes. Not only physically due to our excessive alcohol intake the night before, but also because the conditions were super icy that morning at Coronet Peak. The visibility was really low unfortunately so not much of a view. This was probably the most challenging day mainly due to the conditions.
I actually mixed up the days and we had an activities day before Coronet Peak. This will be in the next post. Everyone on this trip were travel agents from all over Australia and it really did feel like a mini Contiki. The Oz Snow guys are absolute legends. They look after you so well. I was provided free snowboarding lessons and I am endlessly grateful. This trip made me fall head over heels (literally) with snowboarding. I haven't been since but I am so damn ready to shred it up again. Unfortunately with Sydney's current lockdown it looks like we have missed another New Zealand snow season. At least I have these cherished memories to look back on.
Please do yourself a favour and check out the amazing tours Oz Snow offer. Japan is on my bucket list.
erica
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