How to Take a Winter Vacation

While most of you were enduring the heat and humidity of a typical Virginia summer, Lois Rose and I waxed our skis, got our long-johns out of storage and headed waaaay south to the land of kiwi birds and the America's Cup. We joined 20 like-minded folks for a refreshing break from summer on the Pentagon Ski Club's Blue Ridge Ski Council-sanctioned trip to New Zealand and Australia.

Our adventure began at Dulles Airport on July 9th, where we had a 6PM scheduled departure to Los Angeles. I won't go into all the sordid details of our air travel travails, but we arrived 22 hours later at Auckland, bright and early on the morning of July 11th. Actually, it may have been early (7AM), but it certainly wasn't very bright. It took my sleep deprived brain a few minutes to remember that we were now enjoying wintertime, when days are noticeably shorter. (Some of our arithmetically adept readers may also have noticed that it would appear that we took almost two days to get Down Under, but not so. We totally lost July 10th crossing the International Date Line.)

Our welcome to New Zealand (or NZ, from now on) wasn't very auspicious. Due to a delay departing Dulles, we had to make a mad dash at LAX from the United terminal to Air New Zealand for our connection. We made it, but not our skis! I guess we should be grateful that the rest of our luggage arrived with us. Since we had to take some time to make sure that Air NZ would get our skis to us the next day, we missed our scheduled connection to Christchurch on the South Island. Fortunately, there were several more flights that morning, so we finally arrived at our hotel by noon. (Counting her total travel time starting at Partlow, Lois was enroute for about 28 hours!)

The first day was spent in Christchurch [54K], the second largest city in NZ. Most of us spent the afternoon walking around like typical tourists, enjoying the crisp, cool air and clear, blue skies. Christchurch is a very attractive city and, with a population of only 350,000, not very crowded. Since NZ has a British heritage, and they speak English (sort of), it doesn't overwhelm the American visitor the way a place with a different language and culture could. In fact, its not too hard to forget that you're in a foreign country. That is, until you have to pay for something with their "funny" money, or you forget to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.

Early the next morning, we left Christchurch on our bus to Mount Cook, where we expected to do our first bit of skiing. (Air NZ promised that our skis would be waiting for us at our hotel that evening. And they were!) Our route took us south and west across the Canterbury plain, the largest flat area in the whole country. We drove through a neat checkerboard of farms and pastures bounded by precisely trimmed "hedges", over 20 feet high, that served as wind breaks for the precious topsoil. Our bus driver gave us a running monologue on the history of the area, along with a detailed account of sheep farming. Yep, there's lots of sheep down there. There's also a growing deer farming industry. It seems the Germans enjoy deer meat, but don't want to buy "venison" because they expect the taste to be wild and gamey. So the Kiwis cleverly market their deer meat as "NZ farm-raised cervina." (If you don't know what kiwi fruit really is, see me at one of the club meetings.)

After several photo stops and a lunch break at Lake Tekapo [40K], we got to Mount Cook National Park early in the afternoon. At 3,753 meters (or 12,385 feet), Mount Cook [55K] is the highest peak in NZ, and quite imposing to view from the bar at the Hermitage, the best hotel in the park. (Actually, its the only hotel open in the winter season.) The only skiing at Mount Cook is either heli-skiing in the back country, or on the Tasman Glacier by ski-plane. We got the sales pitch from the glacier ski guides that evening and were eager to ski the Tasman the next day. Unfortunately, we awoke to a light rain in the valley and snow clouds obscuring the mountains. (It turns out that they only manage to fly onto the glacier on average of about twice a week due to the weather.) Since we had to leave for Queenstown the next day, some of our more dedicated ski bums decided that they would fly back to Mount Cook on the first "good" day and ski the Tasman. Your reporter wimped-out and missed what was reported to be a truly incredible experience. Fortunately for you, dear reader, Lois plunked down the major coin needed to enjoy this event, and has provided us with a firsthand report. So we spent the day at Mount Cook taking hikes along the valley and relaxing in the hotel bar. It was here that most of us became acquainted with NZ's national sports obsession, their rubgy team, the All Blacks. (The name has nothing to do with the ethnic origin of it's members.) Actually, a day of rest probably wasn't a bad idea, since we were still adjusting to the eight hour time change.

We left Mount Cook early the next morning for the five hour drive to the resort of Queenstown. By now, our diehard skiers were so eager to hit the slopes that they dressed for skiing before leaving Mount Cook. As soon as we reached Queenstown at 1PM, they jumped onto the last shuttle bus to Coronet Peak ski area (or field, as the Kiwis say). Since Coronet is at least 30 minutes from town, they got to ski less than three hours, for a very substantial price considering both the lift ticket and bus fare. (Nope, no free shuttle service!) Four of the more reasonable individuals, your reporter included, used the afternoon to checkout our new surroundings.

Queenstown [43K] is a very pretty resort town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by several imposing mountain ranges of the Southern Alps. Even with four ski fields within driving distance, early winter is "low" season, so it wasn't very crowded. One can walk from one end of "downtown" to the other is about 15 minutes, but there's a good selection of restaurants and pubs for apres ski. One restaurant your reporter particularly enjoyed was the King George VI Coronation Bath House, right on the lake. Its a small, intimate place with great food at not-outrageous prices (for a resort area); a thumbs-up from everyone in our dinner party! Another interesting place is the Skyline Restaurant on Bob's Peak. You have to take a gondola up to the restaurant for a lavish buffet dinner and a great view of Queenstown below. Its also a good place to watch the bungee jumpers do their thing from a platform just below the restaurant.

When the first day's skiers got back from Coronet Peak, the reactions ranged from "It was like a typical day at Snowshoe" to "It was like a bad day at Blue Knob." The factors that conspired to dampen enthusiasm for NZ skiing were several. First, it was still early winter, and the driest June and early July EVER recorded for that area. What snow was on the slopes at Coronet was almost all man-made. Also, we managed to schedule our trip during a school holiday period, so the slopes were crowded with families and kids. And lastly, geography and climate combine to limit the skiable terrain. The Southern Alps are young mountains and rise sharply from the valley floor, much like the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. The climate is very temperate and the snow line stops well above the mountain base. This means that the ski facilities have to be built more than halfway up these steep mountainsides, so the useable vertical is limited by comparison to our Rocky Mountain or New England resorts.

Needless to say, after getting these firsthand reports, I was somewhat apprehensive when I made my first trip to Coronet Peak [61K] the next morning. But after a few runs to get the feel for the snow, my conclusion was: Yes it was crowded, but I'VE SEEN MUCH WORSE. And, yes it was icy, but I'VE SEEN MUCH WORSE. And, yes the runs are kind of short, but I'VE SEEN WORSE. So my basic reaction to the situation was: Its July, I'm skiing, and I'm a long way from WORK! It doesn't get much better than this. As the week progressed, more natural snow fell, Coronet made more snow and groomed what they had to achieve a snow cover that really impressed me. (And even better, the kids had to go back to school!) By the last day of skiing six days later, Coronet was in very good shape.

In addition to Coronet Peak, there are three other ski fields within a 2 hour drive of Queenstown. The Remarkables [46K] Ski Field is a granite-walled bowl with essentially no snowmaking and limited grooming. You have to ski the "Remarks" the way Mother Nature intended, and keep a keen eye out for the rocks lying just under the fresh powder. Treble Cone, 2 hours from Queenstown, is like Coronet Peak in that its on the open face of a mountain, with trails of varying degrees of difficulty winding downhill. The fourth field, Cardrona, I didn't get to, but am told that its a little gentler with wide open slopes for good cruising. That was the extent of our NZ skiing. There are quite a few more ski fields in NZ, but they're scattered along the Southern Alps, and not as convenient to a resort like Queenstown. In fact, the largest ski fields of NZ are on the North Island, right next door to a not-so-extinct volcano. Part of NZ's problem in developing a world-class ski resort is the lack of a population base to support it. The whole country is the size of Colorado, with only 3.5 million people.

But there is quite a bit to do in Queenstown besides ski, even in winter. Many of us took a cruise across Lake Wakatipu [27K], on a steam-powered ship build in 1912. This tour included a visit to one of the original sheep "stations" in the area, where we got to see a little of life of the sheep farmers. (Those sheep dogs are truly amazing!) There was also a day trip [32K] to Milford Sound [43K], a pristine wilderness area in the Fiordland National Park on the western side of the island. In fact, one of our group came to NZ with NO intention of skiing, and she found plenty of activities to fill her days, including para-sailing off of Bob's Peak. Jet boat rides on the Shotover River were also popular. (I don't believe anyone tried bungee jumping. What a bunch of wimps!) Another bit of diversion for us in the evenings was to surf the Internet from a terminal at our hotel bar. We frequently used it to catch up on the news back home. (The Free Lance-Star's web page was just a few mouse clicks away). I sent e-mail to a few people at work, including my boss, just to "rub it in," so to speak!

But as they say, all good things must come to an end. After eight carefree days in Queenstown, we were back on the road to Christchurch, then a three hour flight over the Southern Alps [47K] and the Tasman Sea, to our final destination, Sydney [53K], Australia. And what a change of pace! From the laid-back, very casual atmosphere of NZ ski country, we found ourselves dropped into the middle of a large, bustling city (with a population equal to all of NZ) at the height of the work week. Our hotel was in the heart of the central business district, so we found ourselves surrounded by hordes of "suits" dressed for success, obviously in a hurry get somewhere important, and half of them with cell phones surgically attached to their heads. (The concept of "casual business" attire apparently hasn't yet reached Sydney.) However, our hotel location did have it's advantages. We were within a reasonable walk to most of the "sights" of the city; the Sydney Opera House [53K], the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Harbour Bridge [59K], Darling Harbour, the Rocks, just to name a few. Sydney also has a very efficient public transportation system, so getting around without a car was very easy. In fact, the popular Taronga Zoo [46K] is just a short ferry ride across the harbour. But probably the most impressive aspect of the city is the beautiful natural harbour [56K] that its built around. It should be quite a setting [40K] for the Summer Olympics of 2000.

Naturally, the day of reckoning finally arrived; time to get back to the "real world." We were all dreading the 21+ hour trip back home. I guess what finally convinced me that I was really back was when I stepped out of Dulles Airport at 1AM on July 28th, and hit that wall of humidity that we lovingly know as summertime in Virginia. It was nice to be home again, but this trip is something I'll remember for a long time. I tried to capture the incredible vistas of the Southern Alps, the beautiful lakes of the South Island, and the city scenes of Sydney on film, but was only partly successful. My pictures don't quite match the images I have in my memory. But of course, memory fades, so I guess I'll have to go back Down Under sometime to keep the images fresh, and maybe pickup some new ones. But first I need to replenish both my bank account and vacation reserve. That could take awhile!

This page is hosted by Get your own Free Home Page