Shredding at Temple Basin

This weekend I went on a trek to a place called Temple Basin. Temple Basin is one of many "club fields" in New Zealand which are smaller, very low key, member ridden ski fields. This one was up above Christchurch, about a 6 hour drive from Dunedin.

Let me start by saying there is absolutely no place in the U.S. that compares to what Temple Basin is (some say Silverton does, but I've never been there). It is essentially an all inclusive resort without all the bells and whistles that you might get at a high class American resort. First off, Temple Basin is right in the center of the Southern Alps so the drive up to the mountain was a mix between grassy and mountainous areas with rivers and jungle/rain forest looking sections. When you get there, you park your car in a cutout on the side of the road and it is a 45 minute hike through rocks, water, and snow up to the base. There is also a goods lift where you can put all of your gear in so you don't have to carry it to the top. Its kind of like a mini gondola just for snowboards, clothes, sleeping bags and of course beer.

Once up at the top, there are two small lodges, a few rope tows, and endless amounts of terrain waiting to be hiked. The coolest part about Temple is the atmosphere. Everyone eats meals together cooked by the chef that lives there, and everyone hangs out together at night. Its very much like everyone is there on a trip together. Its cheap too. I paid $140 NZ (roughly $100 US) for two nights staying in the lodge, one day of amazing snowboarding, and breakfast, lunch and dinner each day while I was there.

They also use these things called nutcrackers, which was an experience in itself. Envision a ropetow, except instead of holding on with your hands, you grab the rope, rap this metal nutcracker over it, which is attached to a harness, and let that support you as you ride up.

I don't think I have ever done so much hiking (or sweating - it was a really hot, sunny day) in my entire life. Because they call it "In bounds backcountry" there are endless places to hike and ride. Although the snow conditions weren't so great, the guys from Canterbury University found a great place with some nice snow to have the Gnomes freeride competition. It was two very long hikes up to the top where the competition was but it was well worth it for some fresh snow. The contest was based on difficulty of the line you took, aggression, technique, and a couple of other things. Out of the snowboarders, I placed 2nd and my friend Case placed 3rd.


Because my internet is so slow here, I thought I would just post a link instead of posting all of the pictures of Temple Basin. If you want to see pictures, check them out on facebook.

PICTURES ON FACEBOOK

"Study" abroad

Since I've started this blog and shown people pictures and what not, most people seem to get the impression that "study" is definitely not the key word in "study abroad." Because of this, I thought I'd post a picture just for reassurance that I am indeed studying haha. Here is about half of the first paper that I have due on Monday. And to the right of my computer is the best deal on New Zealand beer you can buy...

Camping

The greatest part about New Zealand is there is always something fun to do. Weather you go up to the mountains, go on a hike, mountain bike, or camp, there is always something fun and relatively close. I went camping again this weekend. It was the same beach that I went camping on a few weeks ago, except we were in a different cave this time, a much smaller and cozier one. I'd like to go camping in other areas too, but I don't think this cave will ever get old anytime soon. There is just nothing like sleeping in a cave on the beach, hanging out with friends at night, and playing a few acoustic guitars. It was a really good night besides the fact that I barely got any sleep and the wet wood made it nearly impossible to get a fire going. But it was fun.

Here is a picture of the cave we were in.

This weekend I am going to Temple Basin which they claim is "In bounds backcountry" in New Zealand. I'm doing a freeride competition there so it should be a really fun time. Supposedly Temple Basin is a members only backcountry kind of place to ski, so I am really excited to be able to go this weekend. I'm going with the Otago University Alpine Sports Club, which is why I'm able to go. I'll update later with pictures on how it was.

Next week is the last week before semester break, which means soon I will get to do some more camping in new spots and explore many places I wouldn't be able to visit in just a weekend. But before then I have a test and two papers due, so it might be a long week of working and studying. For semester break I am traveling to the north island and doing a massive road trip to a bunch of different places, the final destination being the Bay of Islands, which I am really excited about. We are going to go hiking, camping, kayaking, and some of us probably surfing and diving. I am super excited.

Just thought I'd do a short update on things.

Queenstown is awesome

After the past few weekends I think Queenstown might be my new favorite town. Its a town nestled between huge snowy peaks, an amazing lake right next to it, and it is a very lively ski town. There is so much to do there too. This past weekend I went to Queenstown and stayed with one of my friends who was at Otago last semester and is now living in Queenstown. On the way up, we took an alternate scenic route on a curvy and bumpy dirt road. There were some cows blocking the road in some parts it was pretty funny.




We also stopped on the side of a river for a little while and just relaxed for a little bit. It was a really cool area.




We got to Queenstown around 5 oclock Friday afternoon and there was a rail jam right in the middle of town. It was awesome because I had never actually been to a live pro rail jam. It was an invitiational of tons of different kiwi, Japanese, and American snowboarders and skiers. Here are some pictures of the setup. I couldn't get very good shots though just because I was pretty far back.


Here are some cool long exposure shots of Queenstown from later that night.




The next day I went snowboarding at Snow Park. This was really exciting for me because Snow Park is a place I have been wanting to go to for a long time. It is a pretty well known place because many film crews go and film snowboard videos there when it is summer in the U.S. My expectations were pretty high, and I have to say, I don't think they were completely met. Overall, it was a really fun day (besides the low visibility) and the park is really, really fun, but I've come to the conclusion that the videos make it look a lot cooler than it really is.





Sunday I went for the best hike I've done so far in New Zealand. It was a massive loop up in the forest and mountains in Queenstown. It took about 3.5 hours to do the entire loop with multiple scenic stops on the way. The hike switchbacked up the side of the hillside through the forrest until there was an incredible view of the lake and peaks at the top, above the treeline. After that, the loop went back down into the valley on awesome trails full of creeks and rivers.

Here is a picture of the top of the hike once we got above the treeline.


And here are a few really cool long-exposure water creek shots that Pete took.

Long Beach - Camping in a cave

Last night I went to a beach in Dunedin called Long Beach that has a bunch of caves on it. I had been there before during the day to walk around and hangout, but never at night before. Yesterday we went to the store and bought lots of bundles of firewood and headed to the beach. We got there at around 3:00 pm and began to set up the tent.


More people started coming and we spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach and getting situated in the cave. By the time the sun went down (around 5:30), most people were there. Once everyone got there, I would guess there was somewhere between 30-40 people in the cave. Most of the people were from two different flat complexes of international students, and there were kiwis as well.

We had some fun with Marvie on the beach before it got dark.

We had a generator inside the cave to play music.


One of the kiwis was doing some fire dancing and fire blowing, it was pretty crazy.

Fire breathing/blowing too, or whatever you might call it.




I also tried fire dancing! This is me haha


Early morning sunrise on the beach

It was a fun night.