New Zealand 2011

FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER 2011

Finishing off a very long week, we had been in the workshop making new covers for a 31’ Bertram at 6:00am each day, knocking off well after dark.
We had nothing packed, had not really thought about heading off to New Zealand on a 7:10am flight the following morning.

Our week was filled with turmoil,

On the the Wednesday, 21st at 2:16pm I watched my Aunty take her last breath after a battle with cancer.
Unsure if we should pull the pin on our trip and after much talking (and crying) with our family, we decided we should go and miss the funeral on the following Tuesday

The work was finished by 12:00pm and just quietly, we were stoked at how the boat came up

We had two hours to pack, load the cars, pick up Mini Shred from school and get on the road to Melbourne, four hours away….......

After a couple of hours on the road, we pulled into Hungry Jacks for a bite to eat, Tambo happy to swap cars with me and let me be the supervising driver for Raindrop, who is 30 hours into her 120 hours of leaner driving. Awesome stuff, I get the first city driving of #1 daughter. 

9:15pm, we (Tambo, Azz, Raindrop, Munga, Wildman, Mini Shred) are checked into our airport hotel. I am happy to say that I didn’t even fear for my life once !!!!!  Sipped down a quick glass of red before a few hours of shut eye.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day

SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER 2011

4:25am ie STUPID O’CLOCK we drag ourselves out of bed and jump on the courtesy bus to the airport.
After dragging our knuckles and 138kg of baggage through customs and check-in, it is quite pleasant watching the sunrise over Tullamarine airport.

While we anxiously awaiting our flight to be called, I drink one of the best coffees I have ever tasted. Be it that I was was so tired and delirious that I could not tell it was horrid (usual airport swill) or it was in fact, really good coffee, I will never know, but I did take the time to go back and thank the young lass that made it for me.

Wildman decided staring at the sign and using mind power would get us on our flight faster

Sponsor me please ?!!

The flight across was great, flew Air New Zealand. Service was choice bro !!!! With the Rugby World Cup on, they had changed the pre flight safety carry on to reflect the momentous occasion. I must say it was very funny and will post a vid I of got of it one day soon.
Thats saying something, for I know nothing about Rugby

Flying into Queenstown is nothing short of spectacular. If you have never done it, put it on your bucket list. It is a must do.

Not as much snow as we would of liked, but any snow is good snow. Especially when there are five resorts with in an hours drive.

Tambo and I came a little unglued in customs. 
It would seem our workbooks are classed as “hiking” boots in New Zealand and failing to declare them can result in,

1, A $400.00 NZ fine
2, Get your ass kicked out before your officially in
3, A HUGE fine for repeat offenders and or jail

Anyways, after a short lecture in all things customs by a man I would not like to be on the wrong side of again, he asked us what we were doing in NZ anyways. Of course we told told him we were here to snowboard.
He headed off to clean our boots for us. Telling us it would “take quite awhile”

So we sat in the naughty kids corner for about 20 minutes, while our four kids sat out in the airport wondering WTF happened to us and was a cavity search being preformed on the olds

The chap came back with our nice clean boots (I lie, it was a pretty average job, I would of sent them back had we been paying)
But this time he was awesome, turns out he’s a snowboarder, gave us the heads up on good spots to hit up etc etc.

He told us the drama with our hiking boots is there could be contaminated dirt or seeds stuck in the soles. Dirt can carry all sorts of bad stuff. We decided telling him what our snowboarding boots, packed in our board bags looked like after the Shred at Mudbo was not the best plan…....... 

Customs cleared at long last, we headed off to find our hire car and get on the road to Wanaka.

Was a tight fit in the van with six people, three suit cases and three board bags, but the kids don’t seem to be permanently scared from being jammed in with all the gear, so lifes good.

The drive to Wanaka along the Crown Ridge road is simply stunning. Takes about a hour, driving past the turn off to Cardrona and Snow Park, weaving between the mountains until you drive into Wanaka with that awesome lakeside position.

We headed to Oakridge apartments where we meet up with our friends we were going to hanging with for the following week, another family of six.

I’ll give you the heads up on our accommodation, it was sick bro.

You can check it out HERE

A few drinks over dinner catching up with our mates from sunny QLD and we hit the hay, Cardrona tomorrow

SUNDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2011 and MONDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2011

We were up early and off to Cardrona both days.

There was plenty of clowns trying to hitch a ride up the hill.

and a Penguin out slapping fins with anyone who was keen as well.

Sunday was sunny, but cold, -5 most of the day, keeping conditions firm. There was a dusting of snow overnight. The groomers were the go, anything off piste was bullet proof.

Kids were back into it and cranking in no time after little time on snow this season &

We spent the day racing each other down the groomers and spotting hits for when it softened a little.

Monday the sun was still shining, but the air was lots warmer, +1 with no wind. It was going to soften

The sign at the bottom said it all,

Hit runs were the order of the day, so much fun !!!!!!

There is awesome park set ups and a pipe at Cardrona. These were all in use for the New Zealand Junior Nationals, so were closed off to the public.
On the bright side of this was that heaps of crew we know from OZ were over there competing, so we caught up with heaps of familiar faces we have not seen this year.
Walking around Wanaka was like being in Mansfield, Hotham or Jindy. Heaps of crew from home.

Riding the White Star lift above the park we could watch the contest below. There was some amazing riders competing.
Sadly we saw one guy get drilled doing a box over a big gap, slammed into the wall. Heard a few days later he busted his pelvis in three.

By the afternoon it was slush central, down low was looking pretty ordinary

Tambo and Mini Shred were repping for Boardworld.

Awesome day out riding with family and friends, all came home exhausted and jumped in one of the hot pools at the hotel Boo Yeah

Then the Dad’s, boys and one of the girls headed out to paint ball.

Man was that fun, you have no idea how fun it is shooting your kids and friends

We all copped plenty of paint and left grinning ear to ear. Heaps fun. Would love to have a match on the mountain while boarding, that would be sick fun.
The dude running it even let me tape the go pro to the barrel of my gun to film it all.

Kiwi’s are so chilled, they are rocking dudes, let you get away with heaps of cool stuff (even customs)

TUESDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 2011 ~ My birthday

Decided to hang out in town today with the family. Best bit of your Birthday in our family is you get to choose whats happening for the day Better still for me, my Birthday is always in the school holidays and the kids are home

Weather again was superb, the lake looking stunning.

We headed into town to visit Puzzling World

There was some cool stuff to mess with you mind in there,

and some cool stuff to play with

the best was using the unisex Roman bathroom

Seriously though, if you have kids it is worth a look, the indoors bit took an hour, then you head out to the maze.

You have to get to the four towers, then back out again. That is easier said than done !!!!!

I suggested to the management that a bar in each tower and at the exit would be a great plan.
They will see what they can do before we come back next time.

For lunch we hit up a little cafe that served the best steak sanga. Dam it was good !!!!

We spent the arvo wandering around the shops, drooling over all things snow and skate. Wanaka has the best skater / snowboarder vibe you will come across. Just loved being there and soaking it all in.

Tambo bought me a bronze statue for my Birthday. We love art, ask Mizu.

I was starting to miss my ducks back at Chill Hill, so I went and caught up with a few of the Kiwi ducks. Turns out that this bloke here is a cousin, twice removed of Mizu the duck back at Chill Hill. Small world hey ?!!

The day was getting on, so we headed back to our digs and hit up the hot pools (again) I think the kids spent about 70% of the time we were at the hotel in the water !!!! Came home like prunes.

At 5:00pm NZ time, it was 2:00pm back home and my Aunts funeral was just starting. She would always have a Brandy & Dry each arvo at 5, so we found a nice couch in the bar and had a few B & D’s to honour her.
There was about 350 peeps at her farewell and the police closed the main street of town for her procession.
She was an awesome lady who will be missed by many.

Now that I had a few drinks under my belt, we headed to the indoor climbing next door with the kids for some fun.

There is two walls the same with timers for racing your mate up.
The kids were ripping up it.

Munga was the fastest, getting down to 9.2 seconds by the end.

I learnt on my Birthday that I am old and slow and should stick to technical climbing rather than fast sport climbing

Day finished off with pizza. Time for this old boy to go to bed, exhausted again.

WEDNESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Wildman & I were the only starters in the Tambazz crew for hitting the hill today. The others were having a sleep in and chill out day.

We jumped in the trusty van after Wildman had chucked the boards in the racks.

As I turned onto the main road and gunned the four cylinders of awesomeness up to 100 kph I asked Wildman if he had done the racks up properly…...

WM - “Yeah, they locked down sweet, even used the key to lock them too”

Azz - “You 100% sure?”

WM - “110%”

10 seconds later…..... WHOMP I look in the mirror to see our boards flying through the air

Lucky for Boy-110% sure-Wonder the boards were OK, just a little gravel rash on Raindrops bindings

Mental note, check the work that the help has done in future.

Todays riding was epic, we had a nice figure eight loop between Captains Express and White Star. The BX course was open for us to use and we found a gnarly little step up hit with a 4’ gap over some rocks.
The sun shone, the wind was somewhere else and we rode flat out all day.
I took some major tumbles trying to keep up with Wildman and was sore as hell that night.

A classic Wildman moment on the way home, just pulled out from the car park and there is a dude hitching back to town. I stop and pick him up. As he’s getting in the car,
Wildman says “Please don’t murder us today” You should of seen the guys the guys face

He quickly told us it was all good in a broad Californian accent, he just needed a ride today.
Was a top bloke and lived right across from where we were staying. He was park crew at Cardrona and we learnt heaps of stuff off him about the area.

While we were out playing in the snow, the others went to town for a look see and chartered this sweet boat for a few hours.

They got a good look around the place and the skipper was a local from way back and was full of history and info.
I had a word to about his covers and we are trying to cut a deal to re trim the boat when we get back there in February.

Shot into town, my favourite part of any town is the industrial estate. One of the park crew from Hotham a few years back runs a Snow & Skate shop there. Called around to catch up and hang out for awhile. He has a rad gig, starts work at 2:00pm each day, 7 days. But has been on the hill everyday for the season

Also grabbed copies of a few movies off him inc The Art of Flight   Thanks Gav !!!!!

The day finished with the usual hot pool session before we hit up the Lone Star steak joint for dinner.
I was super stoked with the food (pork ribs ) We all left the place a few kgs heavier and the best bit (cause I said I would pay)
It all came to just under $300.00 inc drinks !!!!! For 12 people, I thought that was a great price, converted back to AU it would’ve been about $40 less

THURSDAY 28th SEPTEMBER 2011

Last day in Wanaka
Dragged backsides out of bed and packed our stuff ready to roll out to Q’Town.

Wildman hooked up with Gav, they were heading to Snowpark, the rest of us were going Bungy jumping !!!!

On the way over to Q’Town, we shot up to SP for a look at the place.

Holy crap is all I can say. I had a little moral dilemma, bungy or ride !!!????

You can see Gav in the last pic, guy on the right side of the pipe. He has some mad skills. I was a couple of hundred meters away and that thing looked huge. Must be scary when your in it !!!

Hung out at SP for awhile watching the action, then headed off to Bungy…...... after I bombed Gav’s car…...

and a sign

Bungy jumping, mate it is fun. Highly addictive too.

Did the Kawarau bridge one. In our group seven of us jumped.
I think Mini Shred was half keen, but you have to weigh 35 kgs or more to jump.
Maybe next time when your a Grommet eh!!!

We sadly said good bye to our friends, they were off to Te Anau (sp?) and Milford Sound.

Into Queenstown and checked in to the Crown Plaza. Rockin view and location. We went for a walk to suss the place out and rekindle the memories of the last time I was there 10 years ago.

Plenty to look at and laugh at in QT….....

Oxy moron

Class gentle for me please?

Found a mexican joint for dinner, Tambo and I decided to get in one some K2 & Billy action

Swapped the beers for Margaritas

Day over, bed time, tomorrow is going to be EPIC.

FRIDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2011 ~ EPIC DAY

Out the door early this morning, quick stop at McDodgy for brekky on the way to the the station.

Mini Shred was stoked, Popeye, Woody, Spiderman, Baby, Scooby Doo, Big Bird & Duff Man were there too. It was super hero and cartoon character bungy jumping day today !!!!
Even though Woody looks like a nice guy, when you ask him if he has a Snake in his boot? He gets cranky and goes off his nut

A quick bus ride out of town and we were at Shot over jet boats, Boo Yeah !!!!

Jet boating up and down the river is wicked fun. The only thing that could make it better would be if they let me skipper
If you go in winter, take all your boarding gear, its bloody freezing when you get wet and are hooking along at 80 kph

Take note of Mini Shred, back row with her googles on. Also look at the driver and how much skin he was showing…...... he wasn’t getting cold.

Cracking start to the day, we jumped on another bus and headed up the Coronet Peak road to our next adventure, a chopper ride back to skyline overlooking QT.

There was plenty of T Rice type banter going on over the head sets, our pilot had the personality of a post. Either that or he had heard it one too many times before

Apart from the huge pitfall of choppers costing a bomb to buy and even more to run, I would choose a Heli over an automobile any day.
Reality check, thats never going to happen to me

Safe landing at Skyline, we spent a some time taking in the magnificent view and grabbing a coffee and bite to eat (coffee not great at all) at the cafe. There were heaps of paragliders taking off. Sussed out the $$$‘s, sorry kids maybe next time…...... when you have your own children and are not with us and funding it yourselves…...............

To lift the kids spirits we jumped on the Luge.

How much fun can you have with your backside 50mm off the ground??? Stacks I tells ya !!!!!!!!!

Wildman thought he was the king of luge racing, so Munga and I went easy one him for the first few runs, then we kicked his ass
The highlight was the ill fitting dodgy looking helmets provided for our own safety.

Disclaimer : Wildman will disagree with how these events unfolded, he is a born liar, do not believe him

All that was left to do now was the Gondola ride back down to QT.

Then dodge the gauntlet of all the other fun things between the unload and our hotel that the kids want to do, raping my wallet until it looked like road kill. 

Went back to the hotel for a bit of a wee rest after a busy morning for an old man.

The kids headed over the road to the lake to skip some stones.

This lady came over and started yelling at them for throwing rocks at the ducks !!!
This guy that had a couple of bevies while watching the rugby comes staggering down to the foray…..

“hey lady, wot these kids are doin is called S-K-I-P-P-I-N-G S-T-O-N-E-S the object is to get a stone to bounce across the water as many times as possible. If a duck gets in the way, well thats just his own stupid fault.”

He then walked over to the rock wall and took a whizz.

Kids were laughing so hard !!!

Under one of the jetties is an underwater viewing room to look at MASSIVE trout and salmon. They are soooo big, dammit, no fishing around there

This fella was on holidays from West Oz.

Strolled back over to the Gondola to head back up top for a Maori experience.
The show was really good, audience participation and all.

I learnt that I suck at the Haka, lucky I am not a Kiwi, eh Bro !!??

The performers were wicked fun, worth going to for sure.

They had one of their gods hanging from the ceiling, scary looking critter, thought it best we not piss him off

Back down the gondola, time for some japanese food for dinner on our last night.
Yeah I know, we should of had local tucker, but we never came across a New Zealand cuisine restaurant in our travels.

The japanese was the best I have had outside of Japan !!!!

After eating way too much food and drinking my fair share of saki, we staggered back to the hotel.

Last night in NZ, flying out tomorrow

Crankin TR so far, Dad!!!!! 

Ohh, ya do love art Azz!!!!! I can def vouch for that fetish that ya got!!!!!!

Puzzlin World looks like awesome fun!!!!! I wanna go!!!!!

And sorry to hear about ya Aunty mate!!!!! 

Puzzle World!!! I swear i rememebr that from kid days!

Awesome TR so far. Loved the Brandy & Dry’s good one you.

I am sure your Aunty was happy you went of your holiday. But so very sorry for your loss.

LAST DAY

Today went way to long :(

Our flight out was delayed and then sent via Christchurch…...............

Arrived into to Melbs at 5:00pm instead of 2:15pm, cleared customs with no dramas, another hour gone.

Finally get to the cars, daughter may or may not have left the interior light on…............. 

So a little (long) while later we get to start the four hour drive back to Chill Hill.

So finally arrived home safely, totally trashed.

The week away was awesome, we had a great time with good friends, tried some new stuff, revisited some old.

We think Boardworld shred 2013 should be in New Zealand…......... there are apartments at Snow Park

Thanks Miz & Oz.

My Aunty would certainly told us to go if she could of.

Lucky Tambo and I get to back in Feb for work, so we are going to tag a few days on to have a look around and do some hiking.

Great TR and worth trip for family to see many places and snowboarding at the same trip…
Sorry about your aunty…

wicked trip report.

makes me wanna go back again