THE SKIING KIWI
HELLO THERE!
This is my website which I have devoted largely to snow skiing but I will also included a few other activities that I get up to. This site is very much a 'work in progress' and I am steadily adding to, and improving it all the time so you will find it changing if you were to check it periodically.
Every August I ski in New Zealand, the land of my birth, and I will take in the ski fields of both the South Island, as well as the North Island where the largest ski field in Australasia is located. The South Island is so dotted with ski fields that it is impossible to get to them all in one visit so I usually only hit the main ones, those being the ones located in the Queenstown area and those located near Christchurch. There are only 4 ski fields in the North Is and all but one of them are located on the one mountain, Mt Ruapehu. Mt. Ruapehu is approx 9,500 ft high and is an active volcano that rises straight up out of the desert in the heart of the North Is - it has a habit of errupting at the most inconvenient of times!
Following is a pile of photographs taken on recent skiing expeditions to New Zealand (NZ for short). If you want to bring any one of these photos to full screen you will find them all listed (but not labled) at the end of this page.
I am a member of a ski club in the North Is and the club owns three lodges, one right in the ski field at Whakapapa, Mt Ruapehu, Tongario National Park, and another in the quaint little skiing village called Ohakune (otherwise known as 'Carrotville' because of all the carrots grown in the district).
At the southern entrance to Oakune is a monument to it's carrots.
Now this next photo is of the the Grand Chateau which is at the base of Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park, in the North Island. Where the cameraman is standing is a golf course!
The next couple of shots are of my Queenstown timeshare accommodation.
Queenstown is a beautiful place, as this early winter's evening shot shows.
Now for some skiing shots.
This first skiing shot is the base of a short T-bar run on Coronet Peak known as Rocky Gully. The run is reasonably steep and has a number of undulations making it an exciting and fast run down. One of the good features of this run is that at the base of the T-bar is a cafe known as 'Hedi's Cafe' where you can rest and recouperate.
Coronet Peak is the lowest skifield in NZ and is only 15 minutes drive from the Queenstown CBD.
Another skifiled close to Queenstown is Cardrona, about 50 minutes drive away. This field is famous for it's clock tower. Cardrona is an excellent intermediate field and has some nice 'cruzie' runs with some great views back to Queenstown and Lake Whakatipu.
With the photo above we have jumped to the North Is and Mt Ruapehu, Turoa ski field, and this is an early morning shot of the Giant Cafe and chairlift terminal.
And this shot was taken from the same spot as the photo above, but looking down the slope. The Turoa carpark can be seen to the right of centre.
The shot below was also taken from the same spot, this time looking up the slope with the summit just out of view on the extreme top left.
Ice has formed some strange shapes on this abandoned chairlift pylon.
Now we are round on the northern side of Mt Ruapehu driving up the road to the Grand Chateau and looking accross to one of the other volcanos of the Tongariro National Park - this one is Mt Ngauruhoe 7,515 feet high and is active. Whilst there are no skiing facilities on this volcano it is possible to ski it provided you are fit and have sufficient mountaineering experience to get to the top. My son and I skied this mountain from it's summit several years ago. It took a couple of hours to ascend the mountain from the saddle seen to the left and only 5 minutes to ski down!
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We are taking a break from skiing shots now to look at my timeshare accommodation on the shores of Lake Taupo in the central North Is. This is only a short drive from the nearest ski field on Mt Ruapehu (the Whakapapa field). The view across the lake from the deck is spectacular as you can see in the below shot.
The shot below is at the start of the mountain road that takes you up to the Whakapapa ski field.
The next 5 shots were all taken at the Whakapapa ski field.
One of the Ruapehu Ski Club lodges at Hutt Flat
The Express Chair base at Hutt Flat
Top of the Far West T Bar, the higest lift on the mountain
From the top of the Far West T Bar looking towards the Pinacles
In the valley beneath the pinnacles
The Whakapapa ski field is on the northern slopes of Mt Ruapehu and the whole of that side of the mountain is skiable, from top to bottom, and the solidified volcanic lava creats some exciting terrain.
The shot above is of my ski club's ski lodge at Whakapapa - it is somewhat burried in snow. The windows showing are the lounge windows and at that point the building is two stories high. What appears to be a timber plank to the left is actually the roof line of the bedroom wing of the lodge. The redy-brown structure at the very top of the picture is another club lodge.
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Now we are back down the South Is., this time at the Remarkables Ski Field where there is a monument to the mountain parrot called the Kea. This ski filed is a 40 minute drive from Queenstown.
And below is the view looking north-west from the Remarkables field.
Meanwhile, back in Queenstown, this is what an early morning shot after a recent snow fall looks like - my timeshare accommodation in the foreground.
The shot below was taken during a snow fall outside my Queenstown accommodation
These next 4 shots were taken at Treble Cone. Treble Cone is a 30 minute drive from Lake Wanaka or about 1.5 hrs drive from Queenstown. It is a steep, exciting field with spectacular views.
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One August I drove from Queenstown to Christchurch via the west coast and crossed the Southern Alps at Arthurs Pass. The photo below is the road leading to Arthurs Pass
At Arthurs Pass there is a YHA, a restaurant, and a collection of cottages. Below is the welcoming lights of the restaurant.
Cottages line the main highway at Arthurs Pass
And below is the front door to the Arthurs Pass YHA.
