Chopper On Tour

Wanaka... the West Coast and the club ski fields

Queenstown, yes Al.. Queenstown.. Well I have to say that it was a major disappointment but I have to admit that I was warned. Queenstown is basically the San Antonio Beach, Ibiza of Winter Sports and anything extreme, being Bungee Jumping, Jet Boating, Bungy Swings, stunt plane riding, Skydiving, basically you get the picture. I have to be honest it wasn't for me, full of folks stuff themselves with Big Macs and staggering about the streets day and night. I am sure that had I come to Queenstown when I was say 18 with all my mates it would have been the best place on earth but sadly this time it didn't win me over. I cut my stay short one night and headed to Wanaka for my appointment with Si and P, but as I was running ahead of schedule I opted for staying in the backpackers to get to know the town.
Wanaka is another one of New Zealand's gems, it sort of reminds me of my recent visit to Te Anau (huge lake, small, friendly.. perfect almost).
I found my bunk and headed to get myself booked into a jet boat ride and then get a route sorted for an afternoon stroll. My jet boat ride took me around Lake Wanaka and along the Clutha River, it wasn't quite Shotover River in Queenstown but it rocked alright. The jet boat is a truly awesome invention and I recommend a ride when you get the chance. Matt the driver was a true Kiwi adrenaline junkie, I asked him how much fun he had the first time he drove one of those things, his response: "I can't really remember to be honest mate, I was only 5, me Dad had one." OOOOOkay..
After my walk around Wanaka I had to opt for a quiet night in front of the Olympics with the inmates of Cell 1 at the Bullock Creek Backpackers. Monday morning I met with Si Lambert and hilarity has since prevailed. Got my skis and stuff sorted and headed back to Si and P's caravan at Glendhu Bay Motor Camp ('The Du'). Well now I know why Si and P have so enjoyed their time here so much, it is total paradise. The Du lies about 18k outside of Wanaka in a bay around Lake Wanaka with the snow capped mountains settled behind, truly amazing. P and Cath returned from Skiing at Treble Cone and we all caught up. Monday through Friday the four of us skied Treble Cone several times and I generally got myself acquianted to life at The Du, full of hilarious characters and a great community feel.. hmmm, nice.
Friday we left for a mini road trip up the West Coast to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers via Lake Matheson, a beautiful spot where we did the 80 min walk around the lake. We settled into our own bunk room at Chateau Franz backpackers and headed down the boozer for some food and fuel. Saturday morning was Chopper Time! P and Cath booked us onto a 30 min helicopter ride around the Glaciers and Mount Cook with one landing at the top of the Franz Josef Glacier. We had our own helicopter and fortunately even our own pilot, Bernie. As you can imagine the ride was incredible, similar to the flight from last week but different, both awesome. I will get the photos up soon for you folks but I need CD access. Be Patient on those.
After the flight we headed to Arthur's Pass for a night's stay before taking Cath to Christchurch for her Sunday flight back to Oz. Top this, we had our own three bedroom lodge with fire, kitchen etc etc and we got more snow all for about 18 quid each... result. The night ended with red wine and Macaroni Cheese courtesy of Si, everybody was happy.
Sunday we dropped Cath off at Christchurch airport and headed across to the Broken River club ski fields.. Ok so club field skiing is a very uncommercial way of enjoying some pretty extreme skiing. Basically Club fields are often less crowded but offer fewer facilities. Fields are maintained by their ski club and facilities often include rope tow or lifts only with generally no snow grooming. This adds up to everything being totally extreme even from getting up the road to the mountain, even then there's usually a hike involved. Broken River was quality, we staying in a lodge right up the mountain. Our Lodge Mum was a young Japanese girl called Tomo who was insane, totally in control of everything. We all had our own duties eg. cooking, washing up, veg preparation, cleaning, rubbish etc. It was a totally different and unrivalled skiing experience..I'll make no bones about it this is the way to ski, there's no fancy frills it's for the ski enthusiast. The roads were majorly hairy! I quote: "Snow chains and courage to be carried at all times" from the Mount Olympus access road sign. From our 2 nights in Broken River we headed to Mt Olympus for 3 nights. Here there were 11 of us from the Broken River lodge basically in a shed with a fire and a shower and a cooker, the rest of the facilities were generally outside. We had three excellent nights, some insanely difficult skiing and generally a top time.

From Mt Olympus it was back to Glendhu Bay via Methven, the gateway to the Mt Htt ski fields. Now, I have my own caravan in The Du with my new neighbours Lisa, Lance and Jay. I have decided to stick around here with Si and P for a week or two as the west coast has been covered so next stop's gonna be Hokitiki..

posted by Ed Beesley @ 2:12 AM