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NEW ZEALAND FOOLZ- best place to ski/live/be a bum/find housing/find roomies
Got any good info for a noob that’s never lived in another country before?
What’s the best place to ski?(not so much the park scene but steep and cliffy)
Best place to find housing/roommates?
Cheapest way to travel around?
Easy one liners to make new friends??(kinda suck at making connections!)
If you have any insider deets on NZ and or good ole Chile that’d be snazzy fellas!
Can't speak specifically to NZ. But hit up hostelworld, pick the cheapest place for 4 stars and up. Airbnb only works if you're ballin or have like 3 people to split it with.
From my experience, you'll make a shitload of friends at the hostels just through existing and drinking.
As for travel - you're best off renting a car. But you're gonna need a credit card for that for incidentals.
If reefer is your thing, just ask some guy with a beard at any hostel. He's sure to be able to help.
Got any good info for a noob that’s never lived in another country before?
What’s the best place to ski?(not so much the park scene but steep and cliffy)
Best place to find housing/roommates?
Cheapest way to travel around?
Easy one liners to make new friends??(kinda suck at making connections!)
If you have any insider deets on NZ and or good ole Chile that’d be snazzy fellas!
Hell yeah. NZ was my first trip outside of North America I think. I work there for 4 months in 2014.
As mentioned their are a ton of hostels(backpackers) and those are also a great tool to meet people and end up on random adventures.
I think I used nakedbus a bunch for getting around and hitched some rides as well.
I'd probably avoid using lines. I guess they can work but just be real with people. People are all pretty similar. Just talk to strangers and be genuine. The more you do it the easier it gets. Hostels and traveling in general are a great way to improve this.
I only rode North Island working at Turoa. It wasn't too hard for me to find a place in Ohakune. There are people living long term/semi long term in hostels as well. If you like a location might be able to ask around and find a hostel that will let you trade some work for a free place to stay, maybe even staff meals.
I never rode there but Treble Cone looks like it has some pretty awesome freeriding.
Turoa was a pretty fun mtn when the snow and visibility were good. Also if you hike up you can drop into the crater which can be a pretty awesome run.
So I haven't skied in NZ but I have been hanging out on the South island for the last two weeks.
Cheapest travel in country seems to be intercity buses. A Kiwi version of greyhound but newer buses. They have a pass that you can prepay for hours of a trip but can be used between towns.
Transfercar is something worth checking out. Essentially you move the rental cars for them from town a to town b. Pretty big in NZ. They do charge sometimes if you are under a certain age but still more cost effective than pay full price for rental cars.
For housing just look on facebook and type the city and add housing/rentals. Almost anywhere in the world will have a page on FB these days on housing in town.
The best way to do it (I think) is find a town you want to stay in. Book a hostel room for as long as you can (most hostels have a 2-3 week limit unless they offer apartment deals). Search around and stay at the hostel until you find a place.
If you don't find a place let the hostel know your situation and they might let you stay longer as long as your a decent human being.
Being on the south island I've only really been hanging out in Christchurch or Queenstown.
Christchurch is dope. Major city living on the ocean. Lots of food and good nightlife if you want it. Major international airport.
I hear Mt Hutt is the closest good ski hill. Still two hours away but shuttles going in the winter. Also know that Mt Hutts nick name is MT shut due to wind. A friend of my who was a instructor there for a couple of seasons said he got an avrage of 70 days a season (work and days off riding). Apparently the weather is super windy.
Queenstown was cool too. Really reminded me of a ski resort town. Big city center with lots going on and young people working everywhere. The whole town is built around adventure tourism so summer is the big draw there. Think bungee jumps, skydiving, paragliding, rafting, jetboats tours, ect.
Nearby they have the Remarkables and Cornets peak. Not huge resorts but proper skiing resorts.
Other big ski town is in Wanaka. Cardrona is the largest ski resort in NZ and its right outside of Wanaka. Its about a 1000 acres just for size reference. I hear good thing about Cardrona and I was gonna try and work there myself back when I was gonna spend a winter in NZ.
As far NZ mountains being steep and cliffy, you can find that but your gonna looking in the BC or heli trips. At resorts I would say expect terrain to be more docile compared to say Colorado. I wouldn't say its as docile as east coast, but I haven't skied it so who knows.
Make sure your phone is compatible with international phone chips so you can get phone service. (mine wasn't).
To make friends at hostel buy beer/or food. Then share said beer/ or food. Friends.
Kiwis are super friendly. Chat them up and you'll get invited to hang out.
Chile/ Argentina would be super dope but you need to speak Spanish or Portuguese. Not a problem if your not stupid like me.
DogfartShut up beta male, go let abiH sit on your face or something.
Her post has a question about skiing you fucking dumbass.
Last time I checked this was a skiing website despite non-skiing web trolls like yourself trying to ruin this website.
50KalHer post has a question about skiing you fucking dumbass.
Last time I checked this was a skiing website despite non-skiing web trolls like yourself trying to ruin this website.
50KalHer post has a question about skiing you fucking dumbass.
Last time I checked this was a skiing website despite non-skiing web trolls like yourself trying to ruin this website.
Best skiing is down south, base yourself in Queenstown or Wanaka. Cardrona, Coronet peak, Remarkables...endless skiing.
North island has Mt Ruapehu, with two ski fields - Turoa and Whakapapa, both pretty choice. It's where I do most of my ski trips. For Ruapehu, Ohakune is where you'd stay - right at the mountain's base. Mean as little town.
Can't answer about accommodation, sorry. They're all pretty popular places, so renting a camper van might be your best bet. Sorts travelling out, too. Either that, or Intercity buses.
Depending on how long you're staying, you could set yourself up in Wellington, which is at the southern tip of the North Island, i.e. sort of the halfway point between north and south skiing, and then just travel in either direction depending on what you're feeling.
Remarks has some good cliffy stuff they host frwt comps each year. So you would live in Queenstown for that. If you have a car you can also get to corronet peak and cardrona within 40min drive which is pretty decent.
Treble cone has probably the best riding for off trail but has no park/limited groomers. Which is more important as we don't get many storms back home so your looking at 3-4 real pow days a year on average.
Canterbury has Mt Hutt, 2 h from Christchurch. Most seasonal/holiday makers stay in methven. It's my local I wouldn't recommend it tbh. The off trail is commonly coral reef due to the wind so I mostly ski the park there which is decent. Even the pow days end up super wind effected as it's usually blizzardy and the snow all pools somewhere.
Canterbury also has the club's, they would probably be of interest, cragie and Olympus are pretty good free ride and also hold comps. There is also temple basin, cheese man, porters and broken river in the area. So alot of variety. They have on hill accom but it's in the back packer vein. So stay for the weekend kinda thing. Some of the club's groom a bit but it's mostly off trail only.
One key thing in nz is we have a very short season. It starts early June, is a bit of a struggle but most hills open by julyish but I would check their specific estimates. As we only get 3-4 major storms if there is no snow making opening is a bit hit or miss. By mid August I would say there is a pretty realistic chance it's already into full slushy spring conditions. Due to the high temps/ammount of sun we get even in winter it can be quite prone to melt and refreeze.
If your looking at long term stays, Facebook might have a bit but when I'm looking for a new place or flatmates I just use a website called trademe it's our auction/buy and sell site.
Remarks has some good cliffy stuff they host frwt comps each year. So you would live in Queenstown for that. If you have a car you can also get to corronet peak and cardrona within 40min drive which is pretty decent.
Treble cone has probably the best riding for off trail but has no park/limited groomers. Which is more important as we don't get many storms back home so your looking at 3-4 real pow days a year on average.
Canterbury has Mt Hutt, 2 h from Christchurch. Most seasonal/holiday makers stay in methven. It's my local I wouldn't recommend it tbh. The off trail is commonly coral reef due to the wind so I mostly ski the park there which is decent. Even the pow days end up super wind effected as it's usually blizzardy and the snow all pools somewhere.
Canterbury also has the club's, they would probably be of interest, cragie and Olympus are pretty good free ride and also hold comps. There is also temple basin, cheese man, porters and broken river in the area. So alot of variety. They have on hill accom but it's in the back packer vein. So stay for the weekend kinda thing. Some of the club's groom a bit but it's mostly off trail only.
One key thing in nz is we have a very short season. It starts early June, is a bit of a struggle but most hills open by julyish but I would check their specific estimates. As we only get 3-4 major storms if there is no snow making opening is a bit hit or miss. By mid August I would say there is a pretty realistic chance it's already into full slushy spring conditions. Due to the high temps/ammount of sun we get even in winter it can be quite prone to melt and refreeze.
If your looking at long term stays, Facebook might have a bit but when I'm looking for a new place or flatmates I just use a website called trademe it's our auction/buy and sell site.
DarcForgot to add treble cone or cardrona you would live in Wanaka probably as its much closer but more of a small rural town vibe.
Cardrona has some entry level freeride stuff but overall I find it pretty mellpw on the steepness front. Amazing park scene tho.
