view from here: Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.

The closest ski fields to Queenstown are Coronet Peak (a 25 minute bus ride) and The Remarkables aka Remarks (a 45 minute bus ride). A bit further in Wanaka, is Treble Cone and Cardrona but I haven't been there yet. Just waiting for my pal. Hurry up Sarah.

After securing a job and a place to live the next step was to buy a season pass from NZski. Almost a grand later I was the proud owner of my first season pass to hit the slopes whenever I wanted! I also bought a pair of second hand skis, which I love! It’s a shame I can't bring them home with me though. Being a Florida girl and all, preparing for a snowy winter was very new and exciting to me!

Day one up at Coronet Peak was a beautiful bluebird day and I picked up on my skills relatively quickly. The next week I tried Remarks. It’s a bit smaller but has a pretty impressive park to show off your mad skills. Remarks tends to get better snow and supposedly has good places to hike and ride from. Personally hiking up a mountain in the snow with skis over my shoulder just doesn't have much appeal to me. But I won't knock it till I try it. Most people tend to head to Remarks but I usually go to Coronet because of the bigger selection of runs that are longer. The chair lifts are also faster so I feel like I get more out of my day.

It’s been about 3 months that I've been skiing twice a week and I love ,love, love it! It’s a beautiful way for me to totally relax and unwind from a long workweek. I try completely turning off all of my thoughts and worries, put in my ear buds, set a playlist and just go.

I have not yet tried snowboarding. EVERYONE tells me that as soon as I try that I will never pick my skis up again. I will say, it does look pretty cool and the boots are much more comfortable but I really enjoy skiing and I'm getting pretty darn good at it considering. I am going to try riding though. Totally not looking forward to the pain and bruising my bum is going to endure. We will see soon I guess…