Well we all arrived back safely from NZ on Monday night, straight into Sydney rush-hour traffic, whereupon I realised I hadn’t seen a single traffic light in the previous 16 days.

The trip had started on a weird note as I first got pulled aside for a bomb check when leaving Sydney. A couple of swabs were taken from my pockets & hands and analysed by a chemical sniffer device. I was given the all clear, only to have the bloody drugs dog stop beside me when we landed in Dunedin. I was taken away to have all my bags searched, and when that produced nada I had to undergo the full strip search. Thankfully that didn’t involved the rubber glove treatment, though I was prepared to tell them to get f*cked and submit to an x-ray instead. I did ask whether they had got the dog from Australia after reading the news item a few months ago about the dogs being trained with talcum powder but they assured me it was a Kiwi. It must have been bloody senile as it also picked out two other people who turned out to be clean as well. I reckon the handler can signal the dog to pretend you have drugs so that he can search you at will. If a cop walked up to you in the airport and asked to search your bags for no reason you’d tell him to take a hike, but the drug dog provides ‘probable cause’.

Anyway, after all that excitement it was off to Wanaka (photos) to settle in, grab a Brewski, some food and get ready to hit the slopes the next day. We spent a couple of days in Cardrona (photos) at first to let the beginners settle in and bemoan the lack of snow. Marc got his first lessons on a snowboard and was off the beginner slopes on the second day. Rapid progress was being made.

Things still weren’t looking good on the snow front, but after three days it dumped 20cms overnight and our fortunes were transformed. We went straight to Treble Cone (photos) and myself and Bevin ended up on the Saddle with perfect timing, as the main six man lift had an electrical fault trapping the rest of the crew in the cafe. Even though the snow cover was still a bit sparse we got a few runs in on the Bullet, including a couple of mini 180s & jumps off the side, which was a victory for me as the last time I was on the Bullet I spent 40m sliding on my arse! More snow fell and we were back with a vengeance two days later for an official powder day. This time we rode all the runs in the main basin and made the most of the photo opportunities.

The NZ Snowboard Championships had been on in Cardrona while we were there, but the visibility had been pretty crap so instead myself, Johnny and Bevin drove up to Snow Park for the Quarter Pipe (photos) on Saturday night. It snowed heavily and was bloody cold, but the action was spectacular.

We also entered the local pub curling competition (photos) and Tom, Ashling, Dave and Sean managed to win the thing, beating out the locals. After all that excitement it was time for us to bid Wanaka farewell and head over to Queenstown (photos). First stop was Fergburger, and only then did we check into the apartment.

Bevin and Johnny came over from Wanaka on Tuesday night and we went riding in Coronet Peak the following day. There was practially no snow, and it lived up to its nickname of Concrete Peak so we left after lunch, I said goodbye to Bevin and gave Johnny the mini version of the big brother talk ;-)

We spent the rest of the week at The Remarkables (photos) which also had relatively poor snow, but I passed the time learning to land jumps and ride switch so it wasn’t a total waste. Next year will be the year of rails, tricks and jumps I reckon.

So now I’m back at work wishing I was boarding. Bummer!