Month: August 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 …