The Remarks

So Today Ryan Rainville and I had a little mini trip up the the Remarkables in Queenstown. We only had a few hours and it was flat light, slow snow, and a little windy, but all in all still a good day. The Remarks has a really nice park and they also have 'The Stash' all natural park (not really). But it involves a lot of concret and wood, and a little cliff drop. Video to come soon.

Also, I have some more video from Cardrona coming soon as the last few days were really sunny.


Andy.

One Run at Cardrona

one follow cam run from a few days ago. going to have more video soon.

One run at Cardrona from Andy Marr on Vimeo.

2010 snowboards!!

So, one of the cool things about New Zealand is that they get all the new 2010 snowboards before we do back in North America, So here is a little preview of some of the new K2 stuff, and I'll have more brands to come.
Left to right:Gyrator, Zero, Turbo Dream, Slayblay, Parkstar, Weapon

Left to right: Luna, VaVaVoom, Fling, Eco Pop

I'll also be demoing a few of the boards so I'll be sure to let you all know how they perform.

In other news, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I'm going to try to be better with that from now on. I've got some video to post soon. Also there are a bunch of events going on at snow park soon that I'll try to get some pictures of.

More From Dunedin; Shops, Art, and Hand Rails

When I was in Dunedin apart from going to the rugby game and doing some tourist things I also did a lot of walking around town. First thing to mention was this awesome store came across, FiLTER. It is a street wear shop with a lot of trendy New Zealand and Austrailia brands, along with a few things from North America, they also own a board shop down the street. Aside from the nice clothes that filled that walls, probably being the nicest stuff I've seen since I've been here, the store it self had a really cool feel too it. The black and white decor, with floral prints and chandaliars gave it a high end, classy feel. Yet, the graffiti influenced art on the walls, and mini cruiser bike in the corner keep you from thinking you just walked into the wrong store. So if you are ever shopping down town Dunedin, NZ I highly suggest checking this place out.

Since I have been in New Zealand I have been really surprised with the lack of graffiti, There isn't any in the skate parks and barely any on any buildings around town. So when I was in Dunedin and saw this piece of, possibly Shepard Fairey inspired, street art I was not only surprised but a little impressed.
And lasting, I don't know if Dunedin has a ice rink that dumps their snow outside, but I intend to find out for these two reasons...

Andy

All Blacks Vs France in Dunedin

So before leaving for New Zealand I was advised if I had the opportunity I had to see the All Blacks New Zealand's rugby team. So after I heard they were playing France in Dunedin I had to go, even more so to support my French heritage. So I made the way down to Dunedin this weekend for the game.

Dunedin is a student town with a few museums, old buildings, a big campus, lots of bars and shops down town, farmers market, casino, and lots more. The first thing we saw in town was the Cadbury factory. Although seeing how the chocolate was made it wasn't that great as a lot of it is confined to big machines so you can't actually see that much, but the free and near free chocolate was well worth it.
Before the game we went out to one of the bars in the Octagon, which is the main down town area. Although we were surrounded by All Blacks supporters the French crowd were definitely more passionate. One Frenchmen even brought a rooster in support.
Although I don't know too much about rugby (there isn't much to know, get the ball to the other side or threw the big posts and you get some points) the game was still exciting. With the All Blacks reputation the French had some work to do. When only a few minutes into the game the French were the first on the score board I knew they would be alright, I even got a picture of the first tri.
The All Blacks managed to catch up in the second half but it wasn't enough as the french broke into the lead again and won the match.

After the game I headed to a party that Kevin, the couchsurfers I was staying with, had invited me to. It was a bit of a drive just out of town, but when I showed up they had a lit up mini ramp and a full DJ set up, with tents and a few fire pits. One of Kevin's room mates was DJing along with a band had also played. All in all it was a great experience and will have to try to make another trip there at some point.
Andy

Franz Joseph Glacier

So after a few weeks of searching I have secured a job, a house, and a free ski pass. This has given me a lot of free time to go on adventures, and just relax a bit. So last Saturday I spent the day with some new friends in the hostel listening to music, playing some guitar, playing cards, and generally just lounging around for the day. As the day came to an end my new friends Gabrielle and Joao convinced Nate and I to make the trip up to Franz Joseph Glacier with them.

So within a hour Nate and I had packed and we were on the road. Joao had a rented camper van so after an hour or so of driving... and stopping a few times to look out at the lake under the moon, and pick up some fire wood... we pulled off at a camp site ate some dinner and sat by our poor attempt of a fire, then piled into the van to sleep for the night.

Going to bed in darkness we had no idea what we were going to wake up to, to our surprise it was an amazing view of a river and surrounded by snow caped mountains. So after eating breakfast and sitting around playing guitar some more we were on the road again. The rest of the drive to Franz proved to be quite distracting as we seemed to make stops every 30 minutes or so. Some of which included some interesting rapids, a water fall coming out of the rain forest, and some stacked up rocks along the beach. In Canadian style I did my best to make one that resembled an Inukshuk.

After finally making it to the Franz we went out for the night in the only bar in town. Then the following day after Nate and I decided it wasn't worth paying to go on the glacier when we could go on one in Canada for free, we left the other two and made our way back to Wanaka

Andy