Touring, Snowboarding and Other Such Things

After leaving Franz Josef we hit the road again for the drive to Wanaka. We didn't do a lot there. Mainly sorting out our tax returns and just dossing around. When we got there we sussed out a place for us to camp for the night, eventually deciding to stay beside the savage looking lake Wanaka. Like fools we parked on a slant though and it wasn't a very comfortable nights sleep.

The next morning we went to the Puzzle World place outside Wanaka. That was cool. They have a 1.5km outdoor maze and 2 rooms that are cool and disorientating. Sort of like what you get in a Dali painting. From there we spotted a place on the way to Queenstown where I stopped off to practice my swing. Also took in some Archery and I am a dab hand with the aul bow! :)

Yesterday we arrived in Queenstown and got settled. Up this morning to do some snowboarding. It was great fun. A few quick pointers and off we went... well, sort of. The first time down I couldn't stand up. When I did stand up I cam strainght back down in spectacular fashion. Falling while stuck to a snowboard leads to one of 3 things: smack on the kneecaps, back on your arse or a twisting tumbling thing! I did the latter first time. Then was a mixture of the first 2, followed by another of the twisty thing. All in all though was a great day. I got the hang of straight lines, pretty much. Turning and stopping were hit and miss and going in the direction I wanted to was mainly down to luck! Matt was better at it than me. He managed to go down most of tthe big hill onhis board. For me, after I nearly killed Matt (missing by millimeters as Dessie Dolan would say) and then couldnt get the board to go anywhere, I walked most of it and stayed on the training "slope". Funny though.

Until the next great adventure.

Brian

The view of the glacier from about a mile away!