Snow Farm 2

Thursday, 23^rd August 2012

Dramatic rocks on the edge of the Pisa Range

I had a sleep after breakfast, while David went out for a good work-out. He started off with a challenging ski around Mary’s High Trail, because the Bi-athletes were using Mary’s Trail, then he skied Meadow Glen.

  

After lunch David and I skied most of Meadow Glen and saw a large group of South Korean boys heading out to Meadow Hut for a “Wilderness Experience.” Three staff were going to sleep in the hut, while the South Korean boys slept in tents. We were highly amused because the staff were skiing with a puk behind them. Torte, one of the female staff, had a look to make sure her baby was tucked in and warm. The baby was “the Korean boys hot dinner.” 

Dinner on its way for the Korean boys out on their Wilderness Experience

We also saw two female skiers who said they were going to stay at Meadow Hut. David realized they had come up too far and skied after them to point them in the right direction.

That night we met John Gluckman at dinner. Quite a character!!! He was a dairy farmer, his father was a doctor and his mother was a teacher, now in an assisted living facility. John’s father had helped him buy the dairy farm. Now he has 2 workers living on the property to run and look after the farm.  We discovered he had accomplished a number of feats, such as climbing all the highest peaks on all continents, including Mt Everest,  Mt Denali (in Alaska) and Mt Vinson (in Antartica). He was rather pleased when I had a look at his website that night. John left the next morning. I daresay we'll meet up again on another trip.

Queenstown to the Snow Farm

Wednesday, 22^nd August 2012

We packed up, left our accommodation at 10:00a.m., stopped at the Chemist in Queenstown, then followed Tom-tom’s instructions towards Cardrona across the Crown Range. We were still disappointed that there wasn’t as much snow as last year and the peaks that did have a significant amount of snow on them were covered in cloud. There were some tantalizing glimpses when the sun shone on the peaks…maybe the Snow Farm will have something to offer. The road over the Crown Range was certainly easier to drive this year and we were still amused by the bridge numbering system…Cardrona was quiet, we could have had a cup of coffee, but decided to keep driving up to the Snow Farm…We arrived late morning, were faced by a very muddy car park and set off carefully to book into our accommodation. We moved into our new home for the next 4 nights as quickly as possible, ate lunch and set off to ski…

X-C Skiing – There is so much to consider: The weather, how many layers to wear, what to carry, what to eat for afternoon tea, have we enough to drink…It was quite warm at the Snow Farm, not nearly as much snow as last  year, however the trails were superbly groomed. Some showed a little wear, however the groomer had done a wonderful job. We soon discovered the Russian Nordic Team had come to train, as they did last year. Some of the Sit-chair (disabled skiers sit in a chair and use poles to propel themselves) and disabled skiers with physical and sight impairments). We were delighted to see Mary Lee again. Hannah, Mary’s 4 year-old granddaughter is now able to XC ski on skates – WOW!!!

David and Anthea skiing on first day

We spent the afternoon skiing the “Highlander Trail”. I went a reasonable distance considering, but I was very wobbly and had trouble getting a grip going up the hills. 

We took the Netbook and iPad to the dining room to download the photos and check on our emails. Dinner was delicious and we were so relaxed we forgot to ask the starting time for breakfast.

Anthea and David's 2012 Trip to New Zealand

QUEENSTOWN

Monday, 20^th August 2012

We actually almost left Melbourne bound for Queenstown on time…We set the alarm for 3:45a.m., completed the usually long list of tasks compiled by David and finally left home at 5:40a.m. 

The queue of traffic heading towards the airport terminals was unbelievable, but after all, it was Monday morning. We drove straight to the Long Term car park and armed ourselves with our six-foot long ski bag, 2 large suitcases, 2 skiing day packs, 2 bum bags and my new large handbag. It was quite a circus getting everything to the check-in counters, but we made it…Customs, both in Australia and New Zealand, was quite straight forward – it helps to be mature-aged travelers…

We arrived in Queenstown, disappointed at the lack of snow on the mountains compared with last year at about 2:15p.m., went straight through customs and picked up our Toyota Highlander, very comfy it was too, then headed for New World supermarket. “Have you got the LIST?”…David has a list for everything!!... “NO!!!”…IT turned up next day in the PURPLE FOLDER. We shopped by guess work, didn’t miss too much, but had to go back the next day…

We found our accommodation via our trusty Tom-tom, upgraded with New Zealand maps. “Top 10 Holiday Parks, Creeksyde was amazing. Very close to the City Centre, had recycling, a worm farm for food scraps, beautiful trees and a lovely garden…a very hard bed, a little sleep-in ready for the day…

Tuesday, 21^st August 2012

We dressed in our XC skiing gear and headed up to Coronet Peak – very little snow and nowhere for us to ski. Driving back to town I mentioned that a friend had been on a Jet Boat ride…we arrived at the wharf with 2 minutes to spare. We sat in the front next to the driver, I was terrified and David was very sick – a very bad expensive idea. We spent the rest of the day in bed, after tea we finished the supermarket shopping…We repacked our bags and got ready for the Snow Farm.