A couple of weekends ago Dan and I visited Mt. Hutt. This mountain is about 1.5 hours from Christchurch and is home to a fabulous ski resort! Dan has a goal of learning how to snowboard and what better way to start than in the mountains in New Zealand?
We left Christchurch at about 6:30 in hopes to make it to the top of the mountain right when it opened. Many other people had the same plan and we were completely blown away by the amount of people hitting the slopes. The road up the mountain was very winding and I could see the train of cars all the way up. After about 45 minutes on this gravel steep road we made it to base camp.
Both of us completed about 4 hours of lessons throughout the day. Dan on snowboard and me on skies. I have skied before but not for many years and did not have any confidence in my skills. I was very nervous to try again, but I could no believe what a difference lessons made. We both had a blast and learned a lot in a short amount of time. We are no means ready to hit the expert runs down the mountain but we both felt pretty accomplished at the end of the day.
The weather and the environment were amazing! We were surrounded by gorgeous mountain peaks and many very talented skiers. I could not believe the talent of the young kids either! It was pretty crazy that you can just drive a short while and find yourself completely immersed in a winter wonderland. New Zealand is the only place where you can surf and ski in the same day and currently in Christchurch we could do that! (the surfing might be a little cold though)
We also have been doing many of the tramps throughout the city. This past weekend we did the Bridle path which is the historic walk that connected the port of Lyttleton to the rest of Christchurch when this area was first being settled. Many early settlers arrived to New Zealand via Lyttleton and did this steep walk up and down the mountain with all of their belongings to get to their new homes. Now there is a large tunnel but doing this historical walk was sweet as and the views were amazing!
Only one more week until I head for home! We have been planning this for awhile so I am just so excited that it is now right around the corner! Dan will be able to stay with our helpx host family in exchange for doing some building projects for them on Saturdays. This will be nice for him to have people he knows to spend time with and hopefully not get too lonely out here.
This upcoming weekend we plan to visit the town of Akaroa which is the only French settlement in New Zealand. It is located on the Peninsula and is supposed to be a gorgeous town with many amazing walks and fun things to do. We look forward to one last adventure together in Christchurch!
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