Skiing in Wanaka

So I eventually made it over the southern Alps using the Haast Pass. The snow we had been getting has eased for the time being allowing the road clearer's to get on with their job. So with my newly aquirered chains I set off from Greymouth on the 6hr drive to Wanaka. I stopped off at Fox Glacier on the way to stretch my legs and take a walk around Lake Matheson. This was formed when the giant chunk of ice left over from the retreating Fox Glacier melted at the end of the last ice age. Reflections of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman can often be seen in the reflective waters. I was lucky to see this as the clouds over the alps parted and gave me my first glimpse of NZ's highest peak. The Haast Pass was covered with grit, but no snow on the road, however the trees and floodplain either side of the tarmac were covered in at least 50cms. Someone had stopped to build a snowman that waved at drivers heading inland. I arrived in Wanaka just as the sun dipped behind the mountains that surround the small town. I located my hostel and booked myself in. Wanaka Bakpaka was full with skiers and boarders come to take advantage of the recent dump. I found my room and bagged a bed then headed out into town where I met up with Rhona – a friend who was doing a season in Queenstown and had caught a bus to spend a few days in Wanaka skiing and catching up with me. We got some food and some beers and caught up until the pub we were in got very empty. So we decided to call it an early night before going skiing in the morning.

I picked Rhona up from her hostel and we made our way up to Treble Cone ski area. With two sets of skiing gear on the back seats we were turning down people hitching for lifts. With a sympathetic shrug we declined many desperate looking snow junkies. NZ ski areas differ in many ways from their European counterparts, but the first thing you notice is the lack of gondalas to get you from valley floor to the snow line. Here, it is up to the motorist to get themselves to the bottom of the chair lifts. All the ski areas in the Queenstown/Wanaka region are accessed by extremely steep, skinny, twisty gravel roads that are often iced up or covered in snow. Rhona informed me that the road up to TC (local speak for Treble Cone) was one of the most feared. Apparently a few years ago a bus had 'fallen off' killing everyone on board. Not deterred by this and encouraged by the warm sun that fell onto the mountain side I pointed my little FWD car up the slope. About half hour later we were successfully in the car park and being ushered to a spot. It wasn't long before I was clipping into my skis for the first time in 8 years and being dragged up the button lift to the top of the nusary slope. Having skied only for one week before and since taking up snowboarding, I was sure that it would come back to me – it's like riding a bike isn't it?! Rhona giggled as I floundered. But it wasn't long before I was remembering how to parallel turn and was making it cleanly down the slope. Time for the real slopes! I spent the rest of the day battling down the green and blue slopes while Rhona stuck with me correcting my wrongs. There was a bit of a wind that brought the temperature down to -17 degrees. one of the chair lifts had a warning that all exposed skin must be covered! All in all, not a bad day skiing! We headed off the hill before the road down iced over and headed to town for a drink. Wanaka has a really awesome cinema that has sofas and an old VW Beatle you can sit in! Half way through there is an interval! Rhona and I caught a film called 'Im Not There' – A hard film to follow depicting the crazy life of Bob Dylan.

I woke up the next day feeling pretty rough – the start of man-flu. We spent the morning wondering around town then headed up the hill about lunch time. It was such a nice day I didn't want to miss out on a day's skiing. It wasn't so cold up top and my skiing was progressing, well Rhona said so anyway! Back on the lakeshore, Rhona caught her bus back to Queenstown, she had work the next morning. I shall see her again when I visit Queenstown later in the month. I felt a bit claustrophobic in my hostel packed with bouncy people, so I went out for some Thai food with an Aussie bloke who was in my room. The freezing Wanaka air and clear skies bode well for the following mornings weather.

After a lie-in I was feeling a bit better. I wanted to go biking in 'Sticky Forest' – the local biking spot but couldn't stretch to the $120 a day rental for a decent bike. Instead I just took a bike from the Hostel for a spin around a bit of lake Wanaka. It was a nice ride that took me to a great hill overlooking the town and the large bay of lake Wanaka that the town lies on. After I got my breath back I drove on over to the Airstrip where there is a public shooting range called 'Have A Shot' where picked up a .22 rifle and a bow. I hung around the airstrip for bit to see some skydivers landing which was cool.

I checked out of Wanaka Bakpaka the following morning and hung around town for a while before heading off over the Crown Range into the Queenstown area. I was heading for Kinloch Lodge, near Glenorchy on the northern tip of Lake Wakitipu but needed to stock up on food before heading into the wilderness. The road between Queenstown and Glenorchy ventures along the banks of the lake and is truly spectacular and was over too quickly. The sign reads – 'Welcome to Glenorchy, Gateway to Paradise'. Apt, seeing as Paradise is a hamlet 16km further down the gravel road. Either way, Its a cool little place with an ace cafe. I had a berry smoothie – help for the cold. They were selling the cookies the size of a pizza. I checked my mobile and had a message from Rob saying Rach and him were heading to Kinloch too! Sweet! I couldn't reply – no signal out here. The 26km round the top of the lake were mainly on gravel roads and over ricketly one lane bridges.