The New Zealand Chapters. II: Of Banks and Climbing up Walls

2 questions I got asked all the time in Ohakune were, “What are you doing in NZ?” followed by “Why Ohakune?” The answer to the first is in Chapter 1, and it's that I’m here on working holiday. The second question, funnily enough, is also in chapter 1. Because I wanted to do a winter season, and Sean was based near Ruapehu. It’s always nice to have someone you know when you’re finding your feet.

So, Chapter 2. My time in Ohakune, which is actually the most time I spent in 1 area in New Zealand. It’s a really laid back small town made up of mostly restaurants and bars catering to tourists passing through and skiing in the winter or hiking/cycling/doing the Tongariro crossing/rafting in the summer. I ended chapter 1 with needing to find job and a place to stay.

First off, because I actually intend this to be a guide in some form, let’s start with some boring bits. Banking and IRD. IRD was fairly straightforward for me. It’s different now (I advise you to sort it out before you get here because it takes awhile), but when I did it, I basically walked into the post office, presented my documents, paid an admin fee, and got my IRD number a week later.

Banking was slightly stranger. For some unknown reason, even being in a small, laid back town, the local bank, BNZ, requires you to make an appointment to open a simple savings account. I walked in there, nary a soul in sight, but was asked to come back the following Tuesday at 10. So I came back at 9.50 the following Tuesday. The same teller that set up my appointment told me I was a little early and offered me a seat to wait. Again, I was the only person in sight so I naturally thought the accounts opening executive or something was scheduled to come in at 10.

Nope. I shit you not, after 10 minutes of sitting and waiting, nobody else came in during this time, she got up, walked over to me and we started to open my savings account. Suppressing my urge to scream “Are you serious right now?!”, we got it done. So I now had my IRD number and a BNZ savings account. It was a slight worry for me so I’ll include this. Yes, you can do international cash withdrawals at most ATMs in New Zealand. As long as your bank/card has been approved to do so back home.

Here, have a pic of a campfire.

So, the job. Remember how I said in Chapter 1, none of my plans worked and everything happened by chance? This was the first big one. I applied to the biggest bar and hotel in town, the Powderkeg. An interview later and I did my trial on a not so busy Friday. Things went well and I was told I would be called in for my shifts soon. 2 weeks went by, my questions about work deflected, and I still had not started proper work. Then the owner called me in to apologise about the situation but started interviewing me again! What a complete shitshow. I noped out of there as soon as she started blaming her managers for not keeping each other up to date.

This whole time, I had moved out of Seans’ into a charming A-Frame home in Ohakune with 2 other really nice Brits (can’t seem to escape them). Tip: wherever you’re going, try and join the local FB group. That’s how I found my room and eventually, a job. So anyway, the whole time this farce was taking place, I was bleeding cash for rent. My monetary situation was getting even worse. Eventually though, when all looked lost and gloomy, I found a job at the Cypress Tree as a bartender and things got a lot better from there. Good crew, best food in town (seriously if you're passing through, have the steak and kumara mash here, thank me later), and bartending there was fun. Also, I skated to work daily. Not sure when I’ll ever be able to do that again.

The Cypress Tree

The view from work. Not too shabby.

That was the gist of my winter in Ohakune. I picked up a season pass for cheap and rode whenever Sean went up. You need a car here if you want to ride cause of how there is a 15 minute drive up the mountain to get to the lifts. I will just say this. The terrain in Turoa is great. Steep and challenging enough but it’s definitely a skiers’ mountain. To get to the good stuff, as a snowboarder, you’ll do a heap of traversing and then skating to get back into the lifts. But shredding is shredding and it’s all good fun in the end.

For the down days, and there were a few due to the volatile weather on the mountain, I picked up indoor rock climbing. It would become a weekly affair for us that honestly, I looked forward to as much as riding. There is also a plethora of running and hiking trails in Ohakune and Turoa and I sampled quite a few of them. Again, with New Zealand, the beauty and sparseness of the land makes your routine evening jog an event. Just 2 minutes from where I lived, a trail I regularly ran started in light bush along a stream, before crossing it on a suspension bridge then running on a dirt track through farmland into the sunset. And that’s the charm of New Zealand. The simple beauty and pleasures of the everyday.

Jogging views

Hiking Waitonga Falls

Hanging in a cave on Turoa

In the next chapter, I'll go slightly more in-depth about the attractions within reasonable driving distance of Ohakune, my departure, and the resulting road trip.

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The New Zealand Chapters. I: Kia Ora Aotearoa

"The universe has a way of taking you where your feet need to go."

That's what I wake up to every morning now, scrawled in black sharpie on the back of my door. As much as it's probably the ramblings of the hippie who stayed in this room before me, it's scary how much it rings true for much of my journey here in New Zealand so far.

I'll be splitting this into several chapters, so let's start with Chapter I: the beginning. Saying Kia Ora Aotearoa, Hello New Zealand in Maori, was never something that was really on the cards for me. But like almost everything after, it happened by chance. I had never planned to come here after my last winter in Niseko but by chance, I had the day off to spend 3 hours from 5am to furiously click away at the Working Holiday Application web page. I only decided to throw my hat in the ring after chatting with a friend just to see what happened. Chance dictated that I got it and she unfortunately did not.

One big carrot.

So, phase 1, planning. Hah! Planning. All along the way, any plans I've had were blurry visions and outlines at best, which you will see as the blog continues. Anyways, the original plan for a long time was to head to Wanaka for the winter and work my way up from there. I ended up doing almost the complete opposite and started up in the North Island after those plans fell through. Sean, who I worked with in Japan, lives in the shadow of the volcano, Mt. Ruapehu, the highest peak in the North Island, and that's where I decided I would go after he graciously offered to host me whilst I found my feet.

So I booked my flight for August, smack in the middle of winter, and off I went. My arrival in New Zealand was pretty uneventful. After being mistaken for being Japanese on the bus from the airport (I knew just enough to answer in Japanese for some reason), I stayed at The Attic, in Auckland's CBD for a night. It's a cool little backpackers which I would recommend to anyone needing a place in Auckland. From there, I bought a ticket for the Intercity Bus to Raetihi. Tip 1: Buy a travel sim at the airport when you arrive. They're pretty cheap and travelling with data is fantastic for booking a bed or using Google Maps on the fly.

The Attic

Raetihi. With a population of just under 1000, it is definitely the smallest town I've ever stayed in. Made up of mostly farms and abandoned stores, Raetihi has 1 main street and that's it. On that main street you could almost imagine a tumbleweed rolling through, passing the half open shop fronts. The great thing about New Zealand though, is that it is so vast and green that it doesn't matter. Everywhere and everything is in some form beautiful, or charming, or rustic. And if you look hard enough, Raetihi definitely has shades of all 3.

After a bus ride of close to 7 hours, I arrived in Raetihi at the gas station which also doubles as the town's bus stop. A beaming Sean picked me up and we headed to his house, The Olde Courthouse. No, that's not just some gimmicky name. It is actually a B&B run by his mom and the building used to be the courthouse in Raetihi with the courtroom now serving as their kitchen, dining and living area. It is really quite surreal and very cool. If you are ever passing through, spend the night there and say hello for me. They were the most gracious hosts when I was there and Sean's mom is a brilliant chef. Not to mention, the house is also the base of C6 skis, which Sean and his dad craft in their backyard.

Ohakune. Another sleepy little town about 10 minutes from Raetihi. This one has 3 main streets though and a junction area at the other end of town with all the bars. Like Raetihi, it has a population of under 1000. The difference is this number balloons in the winter when all the seasonal staff pile in. The other big difference, is that Ohakune is the entrance to Turoa. That's the ski field on the south western side of Ruapehu and was to become my local mountain for the next 3 months.

Things started off with a bang and a cracker of a first weekend. We rode ATVs, visited the hot pools in Taupo, and then rode some of the best snow Turoa has seen in 4 years or so. Great introduction to riding in New Zealand as the ice caught me off guard and I went off a cliff face-first on my very first run. As you can see in the accompanying video, the rest of the day was great blower snow and fortunately, or unfortunately, that first day was my best one on the mountain.

Turoa looking mean.

You know it's been a good day when you look back
and know which line is yours.

To close off the first chapter, I had come to realise a few things. After the excellent weekend, I needed money. That was going to be in Ohakune and having no car meant that Ohakune was where I needed to move to. The house and job hunt began.

Videos of the first weekend:

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My first ever published newsletter. 40Seasons: Another Summer Slips By.

Hello once again dear readers. Apologies for not blogging in awhile. As you may have seen from some of my previous posts, I'm doing a working holiday in New Zealand and I assure you the first chapter of my journey will be blogged in the near future.

Apart from the holidaying and working here though, an interesting opportunity came up for me recently. After reading my blog, a sister company of the previous accommodation I worked for in Japan, Hokkaido Tracks, decided to hand me the reigns to rebooting their newsletter which was sent out quarterly to investors and potential investors.

After almost 2 months of working on it, with the trust of Paul and the design mastery of Mike, the newsletter was sent out today! Is this the first step towards more writing? I'm not sure but I sure enjoyed the process and I'm quite proud of what we came up with.

I saved a little preview below, but it's not meant to be viewed as a pic and it's pretty blurry so I strongly recommend either subscribing to the newsletter (which will be published quarterly), or visiting the actual webpage here. We cover some interesting things that happened in Summer and upcoming developments in Hirafu in winter so have a look and let me know what you think!

If you like what you see and are interested in having me write for you, send me a shout and we'll work something out.

As always thanks for reading and I'll see you guys soon.

Doing a Ski Season in Niseko: What you should know

So, you've been thinking about doing a winter season in Japan for awhile now. Whether it's from the parts that you see in the pro videos, or from one of your buddies who's recently done one, it doesn't really matter. Stop thinking about it and do it! You can thank me later.

Having done 3 winters in Hirafu (which is the main village in Niseko) in a variety of positions, I feel the time has come to pass on some tips. Bear in mind I started my first season here having no idea what snowboarding even meant. Evidently, I got bitten by it as quickly as your face hits the ground after catching an edge. So, first timers, this may be of some help to you too.

1) Look For Jobs Early

• Failing to plan is planning to fail! Get your applications in there like swimwear. It is quite common to see staff who go for whatever’s available at the last minute and end up whinging about it for the rest of the season. That’s not saying that the rest of us who get the positions we want don’t do it as well! Have a look at a couple of the bigger companies like Ski Japan, Niseko Central, Ki Niseko, Nisade, and Holiday Niseko. Interviews usually get properly underway in June but it definitely won’t hurt to show your enthusiasm early. Then again, what’s life without some spontaneity?! Knowing most seasonaires, you’ll probably end up deciding to come over some time in late November and just taking whatever you can get. When looking over offers, keep in mind there will be 20% government tax.

2) Buying Your Equipment

• If you’ve done a season before you probably already know this, but try not to buy your riding equipment here in resort. As it is, the prices here are quite inflated (unless you’re comparing it to Straya where it’s completely screwed). Combine that with the few stores in town that carry decent inventory, and you will be paying well over the odds out of desperation.
• Get outlet/off-season stuff from the states and online shops. If you really can’t help it, use local online shops like Amazon, Rakuten or Yahoo Japan where you’ll find good deals on last seasons’ stuff. And if you still can’t find what you need online or just prefer to buy from a brick and mortar shop, get here early-ish and pick up past season rental gear from shops like Rhythm and Niseko Snowsports. Both of whom clear stock before the season proper gets underway.

Car? What car?

3) Stay in Hirafu!

• As the community and demand for accommodation has grown in Niseko, so has the need for staff and land. Because of this, many companies now push some staff out to Kutchan which is the neighbouring town for accommodation.
• As always, this comes with pros and cons. On one hand, living in Kutchan means your company will probably offer you door-to-door service for getting to work. You will also be really close to the supermarkets and local shops which will save you a fair bit when it comes to food. Rent is usually also cheaper in Kutchan compared to Hirafu.
• However, that door-to-door service also means that’s all you have to rely on. As most nocturnal activities will be happening in Hirafu, it will be fairly crap for you to leave the party early to catch your shuttle. The shuttle service also usually gives priority to staff who are working that day. The last thing you want is to not be able to get into Hirafu for first lifts on a powder day because the shuttle is full.

4) Data Sim Cards for Travelling before/after/during your Season

• It is close to impossible to get a sim card in Japan legally. If you plan to travel around Japan before, during or after your season, the wonders of having data to use with Google Maps are truly unparalleled and has saved me more than once. Definitely look into companies like e-connect Japan, who does both data only sim cards and portable wifis. Alternatively, you could pick up a portable wifi unit when you land at the airport. In-resort though, you’ll have no problems living without a simcard. There’s wifi most places and living in the mountains without a phone is actually really freeing!

The Niseko Whiteroom

5) Luggage and Taking the Train

• Ah… the train from Chitose Airport to Kutchan. Not once have I enjoyed this ride. If you arrive pre-season like most people, there will probably be no public bus options to get you to the village from the airport and the train will be your only option. It takes over 3 hours and the last leg will be on a cramped single carriage train where locals are giving you strange looks because you’re getting in the way with your board bag and 6 months worth of shit in luggage. You will also be lugging all that stuff up and down stairs when switching trains.
• My advice, send your stuff to your company before arriving. Local luggage services like Takkyubin allow you to send your luggage from the airport directly to the resort and vice versa. Especially if you’re visiting other parts of Japan en route to Hirafu, this will be a godsend. Alternatively, you could ship it from home with services like luggage forward but this will cost a whole lot more. Compare it to the oversized luggage charges you will be paying your airline to see if this will be worth it.

6) Stuff You Probably Should Bring

• Pretty obvious one, your winter boots. Proper ones like Sorels or the North Face are ideal as road clearers do not keep up with the amount of snowfall and if your job involves you being outdoors, you will be trudging through ankle deep snow all day. I thought I would be able to get through with sneakers and spikes but quickly learned that working with frozen toes is definitely not ideal.
• If you’re looking for winter gear, the snow in Niseko is very light and very dry and you could probably get away with gear that is slightly lower on the waterproofing scale. What you really want to make sure you do have, is a powder skirt. The combination of not having ridden powder and lack of a powder skirt means having copious amounts of melting snow constantly up your back. Then again, just don’t fall.
• Condoms and medication. Living in a village slightly removed from the town, they’re harder than you think (no pun intended) to find when you really need one. Definitely bring from home.

7) All Mountain vs Grand Hirafu

• If at all possible, check if your company provides you with a personal season pass. While some companies save on this with using a shared passes, having your own is just that little bit less of a hassle. Your next decision is between getting a Grand Hirafu pass or an All-Mountain pass. The price difference is really quite drastic with the All-Mountain being up to 6x more expensive. Grand Hirafu gives you access to Hirafu and Hanazono, All Mountain opens up Annupuri and Niseko Village as well. If it’s your first season here, you will probably be able to get away with a Grand Hirafu and then buying a 50 hour pass for the other 2 sides as you will be spending most of your time exploring Hirafu and Hanazono anyway. I’ve personally always gone for the All-Mountain as it’s one less thing to worry about when you want to get those first tracks in! Do keep in mind that as a majority of the guest accommodation is based in Hirafu, it's naturally the busiest of the 4 resorts and you will very rarely be able to find fresh tracks after mid-day (unless you know where to look of course *wink*)

8) Travel Insurance

• You want travel insurance. Look at all the options from home as they tend to be quite expensive once extreme sports is involved. You definitely do not want to be stranded with mounting bills for injuries and out of bounds rescue, amongst other things. For the sheer value of it, I also recommend getting local insurance from the Kutchan council office. It will cost something like 20 bucks but you get the benefits of local government healthcare at ridiculously low cost.

9) Stay Alive credits to Luke

• Sounds easy, but can quickly become a lot harder than you think if you let it. Unfortunately, there have been deaths every season I've done in Niseko and it typically boils down to 2 causes.
• The Gate System. Niseko devised a gate system to ensure the safety of all riders by having an in-bound, and out-bound area. Most of the sidecountry or backcountry you see in my videos usually are accessed by marked gates which open or close based on Ski Patrol's discretion. If you do not know the area I highly suggest not going out the gates alone, doubly so if you do not have backcountry gear. I know it's easy to go "nah, she'll be alright" but I have seen massive avalanches and cracks that open up due to the bamboo under the snow base. Also, respect the mountain!
• Drinking. Again, this one seems absurd when you're sober but has claimed probably more lives than the mountain? Please always make sure you're never alone when walking back to your accommodation after a big night. There has been countless cases of people falling into streams, lakes or falling asleep in snowbanks only to be found in the summer when the snow melts. Those lovely fluffy snow pillows are not meant for sleeping in believe it or not. 

And that should be it for now. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to shoot me a comment and I will try my very best to answer them. If you have done a season before and have something to add, I'll happily add it to this list and give you credit.

This is a little playlist for the riding you can expect in Japow:

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Video: Snowboarding in Turoa, New Zealand

Hey ladies and gents,

You may or may not know that I have recently moved to New Zealand for a 6 month working holiday stint. I start my adventure in Ohakune, which is in the Ruapehu district on the North Island. Definitely more to come in terms of blogging about my experience here but to start things off, enjoy 2 videos that captured my first weekend here.

Open Thermal Spas, Huka Falls, ATV quad biking, Hot Spa Water Park, Falling face first off a cliff, and shredding some insane pow pow at Turoa. The second video is by good friend and kind host Sean, who's taken care of me in my first week here.

As always, stay tuned. I'll be blogging quite a bit more about my experience here as I go through it.

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Travel: Singapore

Singapore, the Lion City, jewel of Southeast Asia. Some of you might know that I lived in Singapore for a couple of years. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to move to Singapore for work and enjoy it. Career and money-wise it is great but not so much anything else. I have since then moved to Japan and am currently back in Kuala Lumpur for a short period.

This June, a buddy of mine, Will, decided to visit KL for slightly less than a week. Him having not been to Singapore before, we decided to spend 3 days there and I could both show him around, and take the opportunity to catch up with old friends there.

We stayed at Fisher B&B, a great little place in Lavender right opposite Jalan Besar Stadium. In our short time there, we managed to visit Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Tekka Food Court in Little India, Mustafa, Old Airport Road Market, the Singapore Flyer, the Singapore F1 Circuit (where the pit lanes are left open to the public when the race is not on), and a couple of nights in Raffles and Robertson Quay. We probably could have sneaked in a visit to Orchard Road as well but as neither of us wanted to shop, I didn't think it was worth rushing there. That was a good little itinerary to hit all the big tourist spots in the time we had and if you're visiting Singapore anytime soon, I doubt you could go wrong with that list.

Armed with my little Gopro, this is my little movie/vlog about our 3 days in Singapore. Please enjoy in HD:

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Melbourne 2014: Melbourne City

Melbourne, capital city of Victoria. Multicultural melting pot and home of Australian Sports. I love this city. I've been lucky to visit and live in a fair share of cities around the world. I have to say though, Melbourne City quickly became one of my favourites in the few days that I was there. Let me tell you why.

After a few days of hibernation at the Great Ocean Road, my journey back to the city began with a 4 hour drive. As expected, the GPS took me down some interesting suburbs and b-roads even when highways continually said drive straight to get to the city. No worries though, always good to have some detours and see more of the country than expected.

Driving into Melbourne city, I crossed a rather long bridge which I unfortunately did not get the name of. The city slowly looms into view and it was tempting to stop on the side of the bridge and take pictures or timelapses of the city skyline. For the safety of all, I did not and continued on into the city to return my car and check into the Travelodge on Southbank, where I finally got a toothbrush! Walking from Redspot back to my hotel was a great chance to immediately experience Melbourne City from the ground and even though it was damp, it was really pretty. Did not do too much on my first evening. Walked around the Southbank Promenade and visited the Crown Casino like a good tourist should then retired to the room to rest up for a big day of plans the next day.

My itinerary for my first full day in the city included going to Federation Square, checking out the National Gallery of Victoria, some interesting stadiums and finally the Eureka Skydeck 88. Federation Square is pretty awesome. There are a few museums around it and even just sitting there and watching people walk around was good. Bear in mind, I had not worked out how the tram system worked at this time and I was going round the city on foot which speaks volumes about how well the city is designed that I did all the above just walking.

After a quick breakfast at Ponyfish Island, a quirky little bar under the bridge on the river, I headed to the NGV. Loving Museums, I knew I would enjoy the NGV and it did not let me down. Spent a good couple of hours in there checking out both the Australian Furniture Design and Sue Ford galleries.

I then checked out a couple of stadiums and the olympic village but to be honest they were nothing much to shout about. The one thing I stumbled upon though, was Birrarung Marr. A little park in between Southbank and the Stadium areas. Really green, quiet and with great views of the city, it was perfect for a lunch break by the river. That's one other thing I really liked about Melbourne City. Whilst the weather is always a risk, they have spent millions of dollars making sure all their roads are pedestrian and bicycle safe. So many well planned out cycle routes means getting around on a bike in the city would have easily been my preferred method were I to live there.

One thing I had planned to do was to go on a sports tour of the city with the various tour guides available, unfortunately time and the cost did not permit me to do so. I relied on Kent, a good buddy of mine to take me around and he definitely played his part while also giving us time to catch up on things. If I did go back though, I'd seriously consider doing the tour as it would've given me some access to the many AFL and "soccer" stadiums littered through out the city.

Speaking of stadiums, I ended my trip with a visit to one of the most impressive stadiums I've ever been to. Yes, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, more affectionally known as the MCG to most. This thing is huge and astounding to look at once you get closer. I believe it holds up to a hundred thousand fans and I can only imagine the atmosphere during one of the bigger AFL matches. There is also the National Museum of Sports inside with a very interesting olympics section.

All stadiums in view. MCG on the left. Rod Laver (where the Australian Open is played) on the right.

I was going to segway into food but I suppose crickets and food is not quite internationally accepted cuisine. With the, forgive me for this, hipstery scene of Melbourne City, what we get is loads of little cafes and restaurants littered all around the backstreets of the city and I sampled some of the best food I have had anywhere in the world. Aimlessly walking around and checking these out was one of the highlights of my time in Melbourne which is saying something considering how much they have put into their tourism industry and the plethora of sights around.

The one standout highlight was San Telmo, an Argentian Tapas Bar. Tucked away just off Bourke Street, you walk into a dim but deceivingly big bar bustling with activity. I had hands down, the best steak I've ever had in there and on some late nights I still think of it. If you're there, check this place out and thank me later. It was not cheap but you get what you pay for and that is quality.

All in all, I really enjoyed my trip to Victoria, Australia. From the quiet countryside to the metropolitan city, there was beauty, culture and all around good times which is all you can ask for really when on holiday. The main appeal for me of Melbourne City, is the fact that you have so many options for activities that's reasonably accessible. In the age where most live for the weekend, this is perfect. Whether if it's to go hiking, camping, the beach, skiing, biking, or just a quiet weekend drive away, it's all within reach from the city itself. And there, that alone is enough to make Melbourne City one of my favourites.

For more pictures, feel free to visit my Facebook album here. Alternatively, Google+ has a great “story” feature which looks great, here. And finally, I will be making a short compilation video of the pictures which will hopefully be coming soon.

As always, if you have any feedback, or just want to say hi, drop me a comment. Thank you for all the encouraging feedback I have received so far, it is all truly appreciated. Stay tuned, keep calm, and I will see you in the next one.

Services used:
Travelodge Southbank