Year: 2014

Season highlight: Racing road trip to Ohau with the Swiss boys

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Two years ago, when traveling around New Zealand, I had stopped at Lake Ohau for some hiking and soon discovered the Lake Ohau Lodge. Back then, I went in to have a look at the place and say Hi! The owners Mike & Louise were just tasting wines for their son’s wedding and within minutes I was offered a glass of wine and not long after that dinner with the family. I decided to stay for the night and Mike showed me a primo parking spot for my van where I could see Mt Cook from my bed. The family also runs the ski field up the local mountain and when I said I was a ski instructor and keen to see it, the field’s operations manager gave me a lift up the mountain to have a look at it – in summer. While I’m reminiscing about it all I found a couple of old pics on my computer: Ever since I first visited the Ohau Lodge and its ski field I wanted to go back to ski …

Time to grow up: Stitch’n’Bitch goes Wine & Wool

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Last year I joined the Wanaka Stitch’n’Bitch group – a bunch of Ladies (plus one extremely good-looking guy – Hi, Rich!) who met up once a week at Barluga, ordered mulled wine and knitted, crocheted and gossiped for a couple of hours. I loved it! There was a fire going, I learned a lot about Crocheting and you got a weekly update on gossip in Wanaka. Such a good way to settle into town and meet new people. I was a bit disappointed when I heard that Stich’n’Bitch got cancelled this season as Barluga didn’t really exist any more… but luckily the Swedish crew came up with something even better: Wine & Wool (you can always rely on the Swedes when it comes to that kind of stuff). Every week we met at another living room, everybody brought a bottle of wine, their current craft project and Sanna usually something home-baked. Unfortunately, I never took proper pictures but I know someone who did (any pictures coming up on your blog, Lollo?). Until then, here are some snapshots from …

Work hard, play harder. When the Austrian crew goes partying

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My last week in Wanaka is filled with fun, too much fun sometimes. So it happened that after a sweaty night of Dancing in the Dark on Wednesday and crazy dancing at the staff party on Thursday we celebrated our fellow Ski Instructor Markus’ birthday on Friday. Lederhosen, Party Hats and Beer pong where just some of the highlights while I was there…. unfortunately I missed what happened after midnight – but getting up early on Saturday morning for a skiing road trip to Ohau was a pretty good excuse to head home. Happy Birthday, Markus – thanks for the fun night!

We’re all in this together – aren’t we? Well, not at staff parties.

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As I think about it – staff parties are somehow very reflective of the company culture. I’ve seen them BMW style – where it’s all about the style and very classy, IKEA style – where it’s all about the fun and the people and now Cardrona style – where, to me it seems, it’s a lot about the alcohol and some seriously crazy partying. Or is that because of its employees? Last year, I didn’t know what to expect: I bought my staff party tickets – consisting of entry, bus to the venue, food voucher and four drink vouchers, hopped on the bus to the Albert Town Tavern and stepped into the Pub without expectations – but was surprised anyway: The tables were pushed to the sides to create a wide and empty space – no tables, no sitting opportunity, just a huge empty room. Everybody who was already there huddled together like a herd of sheep in one corner of the room and chatted in little groups. Since there was nothing in the room, not …

Kasspotzn – Crafting Cheese dumplings Austrian Style

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Rumour had it that there’s a “Spätzlesieb” in town! Apparently one of the Austrian (from Vorarlberg to be exact) instructors took his cooking equipment around the world and as soon as we heard about it we wanted it. (For the non German speakers – that’s a piece of metal used to make dumplings). It took 12 eggs, 1 kg of flour and “A Schluck Milch” (a bit of milk) to craft the dough which is then pressed through the “Spätzlesieb’s” holes into boiling water in a pot below and cooked like pasta. Once the tiny dumplings are cooked they can be used for delicious dishes, traditionally including lots of melted cheese and fried onions. When I read this again it sounds terribly confusing so if you can’t imagine it, here are some images: First Spätzle dinner took place at my friend Kathi’s place and was delicious. Even the Austrian Spätzlesieb owner came and found them tasty. Goes without saying the Kiwi visitors loved them! Dessert was Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce….. yum!

A must for Pay Day Dinners: Francesca’s Italian Kitchen

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Pay Days are (obviously) special days of the season but this one was incredibly tasty as we treated ourselves with delicious food from my favourite place in Wanaka. What started off with just a couple of us ski instructors deciding to go for dinner together soon turned into a major organizational nightmare – mostly for chief dinner organiser Sanna O. But she – as she always does with dinners – completely mastered the task and andfound a huge table for seventeen starving ski instructors, loaded with Italian goodness â la Polenta Fries, pizza and desserts to die for.

Life is not always glorious as a ski instructor

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Whenever I skim through my blog I realize that my life might look amazing. Believe me, it is amazing – most of the time. And then there are days like today. When it’s pissing down, you’re soaking wet after your first group lesson and you know there’s another four hours in the rain ahead of you. Here’s the view from the magic carpet. You can probably spot it but yep – we’ve had a lot of rain last night and today. But then there’s also the fun part of the rain – such as the rather huge area of – let’s call it – very wet snow (a.k.a. water) at the bottom of McDougalls (a chairlift at Cardrona). “Listen up, kids! See that lake down there? It’s your lucky day because we’re going to do some water skiing today! Go as fast as you can and let’s see who makes it over the water! Are you going to make it, Johnny?” Full speed ahead and we all made it – even tiny Johnny! Coming home was priceless, even …

Rainy days down in town, rainy days up the mountain?

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A day off during school holidays is luxury so you better spend it well. Not much to do during those rainy days anyway but we probably need the rest to catch our breath and get energized for another week of crazy school holidays. Quiet days, cruisy mornings, a walk to town, coffee with the friends and relaxed movie nights with the housemates. Let’s just cross our fingers that the rain doesn’t reach our snow up at Cardrona.

My New Zealand Mountain Film Fest Favourite: Mission Antarctic

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The New Zealand Mountain Film Fest is my perfect warm up for amazing seasons in Wanaka. At the beginning of July, just as you’re settling into your home for some months and getting back into winter mode, it supplies you with a week-long program of outdoor movies and inspirational adventure films. Last year the Film Fest was a highlight of my season – mostly because of a live talk of two Australians who had crossed Antarctica. Read more about Cas & Jonesy’s journey here. Turned out I’m still really hooked on Antarctica as my favourite film this year was also one shot there. This time it was about Xavier de la Rue’s mission to ride some of the steepest descents in Antarctica. Even though his bravery and skills are outstanding I must admit I was even more impressed by the talent of Director and Photographer Guido Perrini and his breath-taking shots of Antarctica, its marine life and ice masses. To be honest, the trailer doesn’t quite do the movie justice – so go see the full version if you can.