- Posts: 108
- Thank you received: 0
08.11.07 Cardrona, New Zealand
11 Aug 2007 04:44 #213113
by kam
I got a 'hallpass' to leave the think tank for a few days. With New Zealand being a short hop from Aussie land, I booked a flight from Sydney to Queenstown via Christchurch.
The trip to Queenstown turned out to be an "eye-opener".
My flight was at 7:50am, Friday morning from Sydney. After an unsuccessful attempt at booking a shuttle from Newcastle (which, btw is 2.5 hours north of Sydney) to Sydney airport, I decided to take the early-morning train instead. The train schedule showed a 3am departure from Newcastle and arriving at the international terminal at 6am. I decided the 6am arrival time would be pushing it, so I looked for an earlier time: 9pm to Sydney. Bingo. My plan was to arrive at the airport just after midnight, find a place to sleep in the terminal, and then wake up bright and fresh for my flight. No problem. Greg Louie and I pulled this stunt in Munich back in 2006 and it worked great.
But there was a problem, just a small one. At midnight, the train stopped at Central Station, downtown Sydney. I exited the train and I dragged my luggage to the platform that said “Airport Train”, and waited. After 20 minutes, still no train. Puzzled, I stared at the schedule posted on the wall more closely and discovered that the earliest train leaving Central to the airport was at 5am. Crap. No problem, I’ll just go find a cab and I’ll be sleeping on an uncomfortable airport chair in no time, I thought. The other option was to hang out with the more ‘interesting’ locals at Central and trying to fend of questions like, “Hey seppo, what’s in that big long bag of yours?”
Outside of Central station I flagged a cab and 20 minutes later was dropped off at international departure curbside. After the driver disappeared, I suddenly realized the dead silence. Why is there no activity and I’m on the curb alone, I thought? To my surprise, the airport terminal doors were closed for the evening and they would not open until 5am. Crap. The thought of a warm and uncomfortable airport chair to sleep on fizzled. Instead, I scored a nice concrete bench in the open Sydney winter air. Good thing I brought warm ski clothes
.
I landed in the beautiful Queenstown at 5pm just before the weather moved in. I got a glimpse of the Remarkables just before landing. Cass met me at baggage claim and from there I drove our rental car (“stay left, stay left!”) to the YHA hostel in Wanaka. The weather report called for a lot of precip and high winds. With that in mind, we decided to ski Cardrona in hopes of it being more sheltered. To avoid driving on the unpaved single-lane roads to Cardrona, we booked seats on a ski shuttle.
On Saturday morning we woke up to find the power was out, not just at the hostel but throughout Wanaka too. Is this a bad omen? We boarded the ski shuttle to Cardrona at 8am under heavy rain. When we arrived at Cardrona, snow was flying from all directions and visibility zero. The mountain was partially open because of the weather and the tickets were discounted to half-day price. Wow, I would pay at least double of the full price ticket for this kind of weather. We survived five chair rides in wind gusts that peaked at 75 mph (120 km/h). I didn’t see anything but white, and I nearly forgot that Cass was with me. But the powder was fantastic – knee-deep with the consistency of concrete
So, this is New Zealand. We left by 2pm because Cass wanted to go hold up a building:
Tomorrow the weather is expected to clear and we will try Treble Cone.
08.11.07 Cardrona, New Zealand was created by kam
I got a 'hallpass' to leave the think tank for a few days. With New Zealand being a short hop from Aussie land, I booked a flight from Sydney to Queenstown via Christchurch.
The trip to Queenstown turned out to be an "eye-opener".
My flight was at 7:50am, Friday morning from Sydney. After an unsuccessful attempt at booking a shuttle from Newcastle (which, btw is 2.5 hours north of Sydney) to Sydney airport, I decided to take the early-morning train instead. The train schedule showed a 3am departure from Newcastle and arriving at the international terminal at 6am. I decided the 6am arrival time would be pushing it, so I looked for an earlier time: 9pm to Sydney. Bingo. My plan was to arrive at the airport just after midnight, find a place to sleep in the terminal, and then wake up bright and fresh for my flight. No problem. Greg Louie and I pulled this stunt in Munich back in 2006 and it worked great.
But there was a problem, just a small one. At midnight, the train stopped at Central Station, downtown Sydney. I exited the train and I dragged my luggage to the platform that said “Airport Train”, and waited. After 20 minutes, still no train. Puzzled, I stared at the schedule posted on the wall more closely and discovered that the earliest train leaving Central to the airport was at 5am. Crap. No problem, I’ll just go find a cab and I’ll be sleeping on an uncomfortable airport chair in no time, I thought. The other option was to hang out with the more ‘interesting’ locals at Central and trying to fend of questions like, “Hey seppo, what’s in that big long bag of yours?”
Outside of Central station I flagged a cab and 20 minutes later was dropped off at international departure curbside. After the driver disappeared, I suddenly realized the dead silence. Why is there no activity and I’m on the curb alone, I thought? To my surprise, the airport terminal doors were closed for the evening and they would not open until 5am. Crap. The thought of a warm and uncomfortable airport chair to sleep on fizzled. Instead, I scored a nice concrete bench in the open Sydney winter air. Good thing I brought warm ski clothes
.I landed in the beautiful Queenstown at 5pm just before the weather moved in. I got a glimpse of the Remarkables just before landing. Cass met me at baggage claim and from there I drove our rental car (“stay left, stay left!”) to the YHA hostel in Wanaka. The weather report called for a lot of precip and high winds. With that in mind, we decided to ski Cardrona in hopes of it being more sheltered. To avoid driving on the unpaved single-lane roads to Cardrona, we booked seats on a ski shuttle.
On Saturday morning we woke up to find the power was out, not just at the hostel but throughout Wanaka too. Is this a bad omen? We boarded the ski shuttle to Cardrona at 8am under heavy rain. When we arrived at Cardrona, snow was flying from all directions and visibility zero. The mountain was partially open because of the weather and the tickets were discounted to half-day price. Wow, I would pay at least double of the full price ticket for this kind of weather. We survived five chair rides in wind gusts that peaked at 75 mph (120 km/h). I didn’t see anything but white, and I nearly forgot that Cass was with me. But the powder was fantastic – knee-deep with the consistency of concrete
So, this is New Zealand. We left by 2pm because Cass wanted to go hold up a building:
Tomorrow the weather is expected to clear and we will try Treble Cone.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
11 Aug 2007 08:10 #213114
by JMor
Replied by JMor on topic Re: 08.11.07 Cardrona, New Zealand
Great report!!! Wow, Chris holding up a building, he must have his superman outfit on under his clothes . Have a wonderful time you guys. Will look forward to reading more.
. Have a wonderful time you guys. Will look forward to reading more.Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.