Exploration Australia, New Zealand, & Fiji students take on skiing on the picturesque Cardona Mountain in New Zealand.
We’ve been super luck to enjoy some amazing days in Aotearoa (New Zealand) for the past few days. We arrived at Christchurch in a foggy, cold, and rainy day so we spent the afternoon in the Northland Mall watching Toy Story 5 with the group, enjoying a warm meal, and settling in to our accommodations at Tasman Holiday Park.
Our next day, we hopped in our comfy van and made our way South towards Wanaka. We got to see some beautiful landscapes, sheep pastures, rolling hills, and then made our way through a beautiful, snowy mountain pass where we stopped to have a little snowball fight and take some pictures of the jaw-dropping landscape! Everyone was shocked just remembering how 2 days ago we were in the beach on an island, and now we are in the midst of this white, wintry paradise. After arriving to Wanaka, we settled into our accommodations with a beautiful view of Lake Wanaka and the snowy mountains in the background. It was an unforgettable sunset while resting, playing cards, doing laundry, or playing around with a football in a meadow. New Zealand has been a breathtaking experience, not only because of the amazingly fun activities, but because every drive, every meal, every little bit of downtime is set in a unique movie-like scenery. None of us will ever get tired of these views!
On our first full day in Wanaka, we woke up early in the morning and headed out towards Cardona Mountain for our first day of skiing and snowboarding. Everyone was sleepy, a bit cold, but above all, excited! We arrived to the ski resort, got set up with all our equipment, and had a team of instructors waiting for anyone who wanted to get some lessons. It was a white-out day up in the mountain, with a big snowstorm falling on us, but we made the best of it. We appreciated the snow storms from the previous days because we could enjoy some fresh powdery snow to slide down on. Some people learnt snowboarding, others skiing, others just practiced and enjoyed what they already love! We had such a great time, and met up for some tasty lunch in the café before going out for round 2 of fun snowy times. After the mountain closed, we went back to Wanaka town and went grocery shopping so we could have a nice Taco night where everyone cooked. It was a really tasty dinner, and everyone loved the cooking experience. It was a really starry night with the scorpio and southern cross constellations watching over us and the beautiful snow capped hills. Definitely a memorable day!
Next day, we also woke up before sunrise to head up the mountain and get on the snow before the crowds arrived. This day, in contrast with the previous one, we had a beautiful sunrise, clear skies, and perfect weather to make the most out of our time here. We had a full day of skiing and many of the students tried out snowboarding and ended up loving it! At the end of the day we were all extremely satisfied, tired, and sore from an eventful day with LOTS of skiing/boarding. We headed back into Wanaka and went to the movie theater again to watch the new Moana live action movie, which everyone loved. It seemed to make more sense after being in Fiji, and many of the students found little details in the movie that they recognized from our time in Qarasarau community.
This brings us to today! We had a slow morning to make up for all the early bird days we had previously, and we visited the iconic Wanaka tree before heading out into Queenstown. On our way out from Wanaka we also made a really fun stop at Puzzling World where we marveled ourselves in immersive optical illusions, got trapped in a giant maze, and broke our minds trying to solve some wooden puzzles out in the cafe area. Everyone is happy, enjoying all the activities, and each other’s company. We have learnt and grown so much, and are looking forward to the days to come.
– Kayla and Tomas
To learn more about our Exploration Australia, New Zealand, & Fiji program, click here.
