I’ve been in Queenstown for over two weeks now, and things have changed a little. Kenny and Solli headed north in search of work, and Ash has left New Zealand to go back home for a while. It was a sweet couple of weeks though; We got plenty of partying done, Kenny learnt to snowboard, Ash got a couple of days of Southern Hemisphere skiing before his departure, and we caught a fair bit of the world cup. Although a 6 am kick off for the England games led to us drink way too much and miss most of the action.

The Queenstown nightlife has also been the bane of my snowboarding ambitions. Things started well as I racked up nine out of ten days, but the last few days I’ve only been up for the odd afternoon. It is snowing tonight though, so I’m sure my motivation will improve along the conditions. Boarding wise I’ve improved a bit and can do little drop offs or the odd trick. The successful backflip however, is still work in progress. I bet Kenny and Solli six beers each that I’d have one nailed by the time they get back… it looks like the beers will be on me.

Our favourite haunt so far has been Buffalo Bar, where we get our two for one beers. We have been there most nights, but Wednesdays particularly, are party nights. The bar amazingly has a ginger night where the bar maids wear ‘I love gingers’ t-shirts, and there are ginger related drinks and prizes on offer. Even better though, gingers get a free $50 dollar bar tab. It’s a little odd seeing so many gingers in one room, but for $50 I can handle it.

I originally planned to get a flat, but ended up doing the rounds at the hostels instead. So far we have been enticed by warm rooms, log fires, free internet, and two for one beers. Our final settling place though has Sky Sports, Movies, and a hot tub. There is even a rail jam (snowboard competition if you were wondering) in our courtyard later on in the season.

Thankfully (for me) not many people I’ve been hanging around with have found jobs yet, so there has been plenty of people to go boarding with. However the season will be in full swing soon as the Winter Festival kicks off this weekend. I’m not sure what the festival includes exactly, but think there are some bands playing, races on mountain and some odd competitions like farmers running down the mountain and people trying to fly off the peer. Hopefully it will be fun.

My first few weeks of boarding were at Coronet Peak. Check out this video to get an idea of what it’s like: