Back to School: learning how to snowboard
From when I was first planning my RTW trip, I'd been eyeing learning how to ski or snowboard in New Zealand. I'd forgotten it for a while, and it wasn't until a few days ago that I signed up for a 3-day package including lift passes, equipment rental and lessons.
In Queenstown, you can easily stay in town and take a bus (or drive) to either Coronet Peak or the Remarkables. I ended up choosing the Remarkables, since the sales staff said it was a bit quieter, plus it worked out to be NZ$50 cheaper. I can't comment on Coronet Peak, but I just loved the landscape of the Remarkables. Here's the view of the beginner slope, where I spent 100% of my time. The inverted white triangle in the distance isn't more snow - they're clouds! It was spectacular driving and driving in the grey cloud, and then suddenly coming up into the blue sky. Just like flying.
So, I was torn choosing between skiing and snowboarding for my 3 days. People say snowboarding is harder to learn at first, but what tipped me towards snowboarding is..... cooler fashion! I love the moon boots that you get to wear (not the narrow plastic things for skiing), plus the designs on the boards themselves are awesome. The board I used was a basic beginner's board, but it still had the cool Burton font.
The first day was really fun, with one class in the morning, one in the afternoon. We learned how to start and stop and drift side to side, but on one edge of the board only. The second day was tough, with just one lesson and then me practising for the rest of the afternoon how to start and stop on the opposite edge. It fell to Spike the kiwi bird to help cheer me up. Seriously. Not only is the costume cool for having a perpetually happy-dazed look, it had neat claw-boots. Plus whoever was inside was really funny. It just put its wing around me and looked into the distance, or threw snow at me while I was going up the Magic Carpet (aka conveyer belt).
Remember you can click any picture to enlarge, e.g. to see the claw-boots more clearly
The third day, I made sure to have a big breakfast (McDonald's!), and then practiced again in the morning. In the afternoon, I was really lucky to get the instructor I had my first day, Jason from Sydney. He was a seriously great teacher, very encouraging and quick to diagnose what we were doing wrong. Jason was also really poetic, using similes and visualization techniques that really worked. A few choice ones:
*About which leg is your front leg: "It's whatever leg you would use, if you were dancing like Tom Cruise in Risky Business."
*About the correct posture when stopping on your toe edge: "It's like taking a piss, but you want to avoid the dribbles on your feet."
Jason teaches both in Queenstown and in Tahoe, and I definitely recommend requesting him as an instructor. Here's his website which tells you contact info.
On my third and final day, on my last run down the (beginner's) slope, I finally made it down only doing S-turns and not falling! Quite a rewarding way to end the three days.
Actually, the real ending was the amazing views on the drive down. You can pay a lot of money for a cable car ride up a hill in Queenstown, but I think these views would be hard to beat.
