I was completely new to skiing/snowboarding, in fact any sort of sport that involves balance. So when we signed up for our first day of snowboarding, you could say I was a little nervous. Excited, but nervous.
We had been into happytravels in Queenstown the day before, and found a good deal on a days snowboarding, which included the transport, hire, and lift pass, so we only needed to remember some lunch. Definitely recommend using happytravels to book day trips, it can save you a lot of hassle in the long run, as they arrange everything for you.
The journey from Queenstown to Cardrona Ski Field, took about 2 hours on the bus. The roads were windy and icy, and the bus driver had to put snow chains on when we got to the entrance of the mountain road. It was absolutely stunning driving up, passing the big mounds of snow that had been cleared from the road, and looking out over the vast landscape.

Once we finally got to the resort, it was actually snowing, making it hard to see which way to go, and there was crowds of people walking along with skis and snowboards, so we just followed them through to the fields. Connor hadn’t snowboarded/skied before either, but he had done wake boarding and skateboarding, which although they aren’t the same, they definitely help give a head start on the balance front. Snowboarding is definitely about balance, and if you think it isn’t very physical, I can assure you, it is!!
We hadn’t signed up to any lessons, to try save money, and Connor was pretty confident that we would pick it up quickly (despite me not being sure) so we started out just getting strapped into the gear, and going down a small mound, enough to experience the movement. Of course Connor picked it up pretty quick, but I was no where near, and seeing lots of people whizz past you without a worry in the world can be quite disheartening.
I decided that I would definitely need a lesson, so thankfully there was lessons available to sign up to all day. Connor went off on his own to practice, and within 15 minutes I was in a lesson, with people in the same situation as me, which was relieving. I never manage to pick things up quickly, so I get easily frustrated when everyone else seems to, but after falling over 10 times I was starting to get the hang of it.
Our instructor Alistair was awesome, and somehow within 2 hours he managed to get us all snowboarding fairly confidently, which I think is quite an achievement!! The lesson ended and I headed back up the conveyor belt to give it another go, and Connor spotted me and headed up too.

Snowboarding really does use all of the muscles in your body – abs, shoulders, legs, bum -everywhere, so when you stop concentrating and have a moments break, you realise how unbelievably sore you are. Not to mention exhausted!! So after coming down the beginners slope, we grabbed some lunch and paused for half an hour to regain some energy. I promised Connor I would go up the intermediate slope, even though I was feeling so tired, and pretty nervous, but I didn’t want to let him down, nor regret it later on. So we headed up on the chair lift, which was enough of a challenge in itself. Getting on, involved having the snowboard connected to one foot, and the other loose, to make it ‘easier’ on the other side. Which was definitely the part I was dreading – attempting to slide away smoothly and not fall flat on my face. This, would you believe, I actually managed to do, until I realised there were some children who hadn’t made it far enough to the safe zone, so I had to fall over to avoid colliding with them, but I got back up and on my way.
The view from the top was incredible, you could see for miles, across a 360 landscape of snowcapped mountains, with a few fluffy clouds floating around.

The air felt so fresh and crisp up there too, I just wanted to pull up a chair and admire it all. However this was out of the equation, as I phased back into reality and realised I needed to concentrate to avoid colliding with other skiers. I was aching all over, so trying to balance and snowboard down was so difficult, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this again for a while, so I did my best to just enjoy the moment and block out the pain.
We made it down and I decided to call it a day, but I persuaded Connor to go back up another couple of times, to make the most of it. I almost bought a coke but then I realised it was 3 times the price of a coke from Queenstown so I was pretty thankful we remembered to bring lunch with us.
The journey home was long, but being so exhausted we fell asleep most of the way, and then once we got back we had to drive into town to return our snowboards to the hire shop. It was a long, tiring day, but my was it worth it!!! Connor has not stopped going on about it since, and I can’t help but admit i’d love to do it again. If you’re thinking about a snowy holiday, make sure you include at least a days trial of snowboarding/skiing, its definitely worth it.
Are you planning a skiing holiday? Or have you been? Where is your favourite ski slope?