Driving cross-country

I arrived in New Zealand late last night, after quite a bit of drama at the Cairns airport earlier in the day. I almost didn’t make it to NZ for multiple reasons. For the biggest bit of drama, if you know me, ask me about getting detained for knocking a security guard on his bum, most likely ending in him having a black eye this morning.

John and I woke up at 5:30am this morning, ready to leave Christchurch to drive up to Mt. Hutt and get in a full day of snowboarding. We drove an hour and a half up to Methven. And, as is apparently typical with the weather in high elevations in NZ, the runs were closed due to high winds of 125km/hr toward the top of the mountain. John and I both looked at each other in amazement that they were closed, as if to say, “What, that’s not that bad… we could deal with those!…” We’re hoping for better weather and calmer winds tomorrow, so we can get in as much boarding as we can.

In boarding’s stead, we opted to drive across the country to the west side, to Greymouth via Arthur’s Pass. Even though we were bummed we weren’t gliding down the mountain (falling down the mountain is more likely the case with my skillz), we both took in some of the most magnificent views today. Snow-capped Alps, lush green pastures, amazing rock formations, sweeping plateaus, at least two million sheep, and a 90-minute description of Cricket by John on the way back while I sped down the wrong side of the road. In all, amazing scenery, and I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s to come over the course of the next 8-day whirlwind tour of this amazing country.