Mayrhofen

Mayrhofen!!

I have just moved over to Austria for the winter season. It's the first time I've been here, but I had heard great things from friends and seen some cool videos of the park! I like to try and go to lots of different places, rather than going for the easy option (usually Morzine); so even after hearing how tough it was to find a place to live, I rocked up with my boyfriend Nathan homeless and jobless! 

The snowy view from our balcony,
with Kaltenbach in the background

Everyone was right, it is really difficult. We ended up door knocking for over a week in and around Mayrhofen, using our limited German to try and find an apartment, room or even just a bed! We must have walked miles! Eventually we realised we were going to have to live right out of town if we wanted something soon, and we just wanted to go skiing! We found ourselves a place in Stumm, which is a 25 minute train ride from Mayrhofen. Its really nice, which is what won us over...although it is a good 15 minute walk from the train station across a snowy field and over a tunnel! That'll keep us fit anyway!

So this week we've finally got to go riding! We are close to one of the Zillertal resorts called Kaltenbach which is sick on a powder day! (We've pretty much had powder days everyday!) There are loads of pillows and drops that are really accessible from the lifts...and not even that many people riding them. Lets hope it stays that way once the Christmas crowds get here.

Me and Charlie up at the Hintertux glacier

We've also managed to get up to Hintertux glacier a few times, again we mainly rode powder...but i think we'll be giving that a miss now the other resorts are open as it's REALLY cold up there! I got a bit of a frostbitten nose the last time we were up there in -30 something degrees with windchill!

The baby park in Mayrhofen was open a few days ago, so we went and had a play there on the funboxes for the afternoon....just having a play and getting back into it. But I've heard the jib line might be opening tomorrow so will have to go check that out! 

Travelling the South Island

Chug Chug

Well, the season came to an end and we had a bit of time before flying out of New Zealand and heading over to Austria. So, Nathan and I went on a little road trip around the South  Island in our friends old van, chuggy. I didn't have time last year as I was saving all my pennies to head to America, so it was nice to get to see a bit more of this amazing country. 

We headed up the west coast first, but unfortunately were faced with 3 days of solid rain. Although this apparently is pretty standard at this time of year. It was still great to see all the rain forest running along the coastline. It was so different to the desert like drive up to Snow Park. 

Once we left the west coast, we almost instantly were greeted with sunshine! yay! We could actually leave our little chug chug without getting drenched. We found an awesome spot by the sea to camp for our first night up in Nelson. 

We then headed up to the most northerly point of the south island, Cape Farewell. The nice thing about travelling around New Zealand is that there aren't loads of tourist attractions...there are just lots of nice natural things to do. We walked around lots just taking in the scenery and surroundings (and sheep, baaa). We found an amazing white sand beach called Wharakiri Bay, it made a lovely change to be by the sea after snowboarding all summer.

We then head south through Christchurch with a quick stop off to see our friend Jon. He was a very good tour guide as he studies geology, and following the earthquakes it was very interesting to see the effects and it is amazing how the locals have coped with the situation.

We also got to see lots of seals and seal pups on our travels...but unfortunately only saw one little penguin from really far away. They are quite shy compared to the little sealy pups! It was a great trip and after having a nice summer (ish) break i'm ready to head back to Europe and shred the gnar!! haha

Snow Park NZ!

Snow Park finally opened at the beginning of the month. We we're all so excited after patiently waiting for the snow to fall! We still haven't got heaps, but it's been enough to get us going. I got some pictures with Tom (TJ) from SWAY COLLECTIVE!  Thanks for the shots Tom!

Back to Wanaka

I've come back to Wanaka this year over summer to ride Snow Park NZ. Last season i had a really great time here, and this year will be no different i'm sure! I'm taking my old evening job back as an underwater ceramic technician (yeahh washing dishes) but it means I can go riding everyday! :) Just waiting for it to snow so we can start riding! Luckily we've got a really nice deck on our house, so given these early season high temperatures, we can just chill and bbq!