Ski Instructor Course New Zealand - week 2 diary

Here's the second weekly update from our New Zealand ski instructor course. Thanks to Zoe and Jamie for this diary entry...

Everyone was up bright and early on Monday morning, feeling ready for the slopes. The week started off with Lesson Progressions, to prepare us for Level 1 exams. Jase was trying refine our “habits” from “Punters” to “Professionals”.

Monday night was… yes you’ve guessed it… pub again!!!! We got to meet all the Porters staff, some of which are larger-than-life characters.

Through the middle of the week, we spent time on the slopes with each of us taking on the role of Instructor and teaching various lesson progressions. The afternoons were spent,(wind permitting) free skiing and practicing various skills from the morning sessions.

Wednesday Porters ski fields were closed, so we had our training in the pub. This consisted of us running through Lesson progressions,and Teaching Techniques. The best part of the session was Jase taking us on a Bear Hunt around the pub. We then also spent time catching up on CVs and general correspondence etc.

A few of us were invited by the local Pool team to one of their away games in Darfield, giving us the chance to meet some of the locals. It was quite comical to see Jase get beaten by a one-armed pool player!! My night was made by the great food they had after the competition, and finishing off back at “our local” for a few. Needless to say we're hoping this to become a regular event.

Friday we went to Broken River Clubfield which was an experience in itself, as we got to use the Rope Tow and Nutcrackers for the first time. It was an amazing day for everyone, aswell as having a few of the Porters Instructors out for the day with us. The weather also made the day a bit more interesting with winds getting up 160km/h on our last run back down to the car park. A huge thank you to Jase for making our journey back to base, a bit more adventurous.
End of week finished with weekly assessment.

Saturday morning all of us headed off to West Coast for a weekend away. On the way we stopped at various landmarks, Limestone Rocks, Arthur’s Pass, the Giant Moa…. to name a few. Once we got to Greymouth, we went to the Wild West Centre to go Whitewater Tubing and we even all did a cliff jump! The tour guide took us through a cave to see the Glow worms. To finish off the thrilling excursion we all ended up in a hot -tub with beers and a muffin each!!!
Saturday ended up with us watching the All Blacks kick Springboks ass, at Speight’s Alehouse, followed by a big session on the beer and the “I’ve never “ drinking game to help us all “bond”, a special mention goes to Andrew and his back flip, Jase’s stage diving , and a certain other member of our group who “talked on the great white telephone”.
Sunday morning was spent going on “a Wallet Hunt”, then onto the Beach. James very “Bravely” decided he had to go surfing with a plank, followed by Jase and Zoe. We then spent the rest of the morning just chillin out, before the return journey back to Springfield.