New Zealand

Coronet Peak,

We arrived at our last winter destination a little bit later than planned because the plane was diverted due to snow, but seeing as we planned to mainly ski and snowboard in NZ this could only be a good thing! Queenstown is stunning with breathtaking views and is where some of the Lord of the Rings movie was filmed. Our hostel Southern Laughter Lodge was great, cosy rooms, huge TV with free videos, a 24 hour spa (great for all those aches from falling on the slopes) and best of all, English speaking. We wasted no time hiring a car and snowboard gear and heading up to the mountain. Our lift pass gave us access to three ski resorts; The Remarkables, Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt but of these only the first two are in easy driving distance of Queenstown and only Coronet Peak was really exciting for imtermediate skiers over several days. After a few slow days and a few nasty falls Holland bought some padded pants and we were soon flying down the slopes. By the time the two weeks was over we had both gone off piste and done some pretty steep black runs (Holland slid down one of these on his bottom but the padding meant this didn't matter!).

We also enjoyed Queenstowns night life and tryed out their ice bar (a bit like drinking in a giant freezer but fun nontheless). The ice bar is kept at between minus 5 and minus 10 degrees and everything from the seats to the glasses are made of ice. We were only allowed to stay in there about 20 minutes as it is so cold your body temperature starts to drop if you remain in there too long. As well as the night life we also had fun jetboat canyoning, riding on the luge and gondola (cable car), crazy golf, taking road trips, walking in the stunning scenery, watching ice skating championships and even bungy jumping...

At 43m the worlds first bungy jump Kawara bridge might not sound that high but when you are stood at the top with only a piece of elastic tied around your legs it sure as hell feels it! This was the bungy Becky did 3 years ago and Holland was poised to do it now. With barely a pause Holland bravely leapt head first off the bridge, only realising half way through the fall what he was doing and letting out a cry of terror whilst trying to turn his arms into helicopter propellers. It was to little effect as soon he was bouncing on the bungy and his cry turned into a yelp of joy woo hooooooo. Terrifying but fun. And all this was about half an hour before we were due to catch a plane finishing NZ in style.

Hol and Bex xxx