Queenstown NZ

Queenstown NZ is such a beautiful place. You wake up to pristine lakes surronded by snow-capped mountains, really fresh (and cold) air; theres a sense of serenity about that place. That is, until Happy hour, where the pubs start filling up and then you feel like you're in England, cos every other person you talk to has a Brih-ish accent.

The slopes were absolutely awesome. The Remarkables was pretty disappointing but Coronet Peak made up for it. The groomed runs are really good, much better than the boring "straight down the hill" stuff we get in Buller. However, I must point out that the Kiwis are colour blind. The "Blue" runs are sooo not "Blue"- they are the Aussie "Black" equivalent. And some of the runs are especially challenging, especially the ones that end up at the side of the mountain with no trail and waist deep powder. Scary I tell ya, scary.

Overall, the trip was probably my best snowboarding trip to date and I'm really keen to make this a regular thing every season.

Also, I bought my own gear when I was over there. Managed to pick up a Rossignol Board and bindings with Northwave boots and a ultra groovy Burton bag... *sweet*.... my first Snowboard :)

Looking forward to (hopefully) Buller this weekend and then Falls Creek in 2 weeks time with the rest of the gang. I just hope this time we don't get any cases of hypothermia, cos we won't have Lid around to call for help ......