New Zealand, South Island - Cardrona Resort Skiing Trip

The highlights of the trip - skiing!!
 
The main reason why we came to New Zealand is because dear hb wants to ski. He is still very much into skiing after our niseko trip. Wanted to go skiing in March in Italy but unfortunately due to my work commitments, I couldn't take any leave during the March school holidays.

After some research, we decided on Cardrona Alpine Resort. Cardrona is about an hour from Queenstown or 40 mins from Wanaka.



Happy to see that the resort had opened a week before our trip. Snow capped mountain, you had always been my favourite destination. :)

The sign which told us that we had reached the top and all ready to try out our skiing gear.

Over here, we will need to purchase the lift tickets together with the rental. Lessons can also be included. A card will be given and that will be your access card for both ski equipment rental and ski lifts. As usual, I purchased daily lesson as I felt more comfortable having an instructor in a new mountain.

That's us getting ready for the 1st ski of the year. :)

 

During this ski trip, I finally managed to try out the blue runs with the instructor.

 

The usual ski café food.

 

Check out how beautiful the mountain is. So bright and sunny too. :)

 

 

We also experienced another 1st in this trip. Shadow fell and dislocated his shoulder when the both of us went for a morning trial run before my lesson. It was really a nasty fall. Luckily the mobile medic came quickly and brought him down to the medical centre.

Feeling so thankful that the medic team arranged for someone to help drove our car down the mountain as I definitely had no confident in driving down the unsealed mountain.

 

Took over the car and drove shadow to Wanaka Medical Centre where he took his x-ray. Luckily I managed to bought our travel insurance a day before our trip.

With an injured shadow who can't lift up his right hand, I had no choice but to take over the driving for the next few days.

 

My first time driving on an unsealed road. So many turns!

Luckily after 1km, there is a parking area whereby there is shuttle bus to bring us up to the mountain.

Us waiting for the shuttle bus.
We went up the mountain again the next day as shadow felt that I shouldn't waste my ski lesson ticket.

There is another café on the 2nd floor which serves more decent food other than fish and chips.

 

 

Since he can't ski, he spent his time reading in the café while waiting for me to finish my class.

  

 

Bye Cardrona! till we meet again. Thanks for giving me a first time experience in driving up an unsealed mountain road, although it was just for one km. Thanks for the unforgettable ski experience.

New Zealand, South Island Day 4 - Mount Cook

Day 4 (11 June 2016)

Lake Tekapo - Lake Pukaki - Peter's Lookout - Hooker Valley Trail (Mt Cook)

This morning we decided to try out a sad looking café which was just beside Run 76. The review from the tripadvisor was not amazing, but dear Shadow wanted to try it out. We went in with the idea of ordering a Chicken burger to check out the quality of the food. Surprisingly, it tasted good. And here's our cheap and great breakfast at Doughboy Bakery café. :)

As usual, we had eggs and bacons (my type of breakfast during holiday trips) and a chicken burger, and not forgetting a cup of hot mocha. :)

We bid goodbye to our stay for the last 2 nights and started our trip to Mt John.

Along the way, we passed by Lake Pukaki. The beautiful mountain which looks so familiar for shadow as he enjoys watching LOTR movies which is an alien to me. 

After that we continued on Highway 80 towards Mt Cook / Aoraki National Park, we stopped by at Peter Lookout for some photos.

Before reaching the Mt Cook village, there is a sign on the road which said Hooker Valley. We followed the sign and that's kick start our 3.5hr of hooker valley trail. 

The start of the trail which is a relatively easy path as compared to yesterday as it is quite flat.

There were 3 swingbridge in total for the whole hike. As seen in the photo, the  maximum load for each bridge is 20 person. 

After crossing the 3rd bridge, there is a small hut  and toilet facilities.  

The walk from the 3rd bridge to the glacier lake was very windy. It doesn't helps that it was raining too. Many times I felt as though I will be blown away. 

Along the way, we saw a guy who tried to cross the bridge in another way. Definitely very daring as it was a strong gushing river at the bottom. 

After the hike, we checked into our stay for the night - Aoraki Court Motel. Our room came with a Jacuzzi which was pretty useful after a long hike. :)

 

 

Being an off peak season, there were only 2 restaurants which were opened in Mt Cook village. One being the expensive Hermitage hotel while the other being the YHA backpacker resort. We decided to go for the 2nd one which is nearer to our motel as the sky was very dark and there were no streetlights on the road at one. 

Surprisingly the pork ribs and the blue cod fish and chips that we had tasted pretty well. There were even a free salad bar where we had our greens. :)