We were lucky enough that broad bay primary school in dunedin could get great deals for families to visit Cardona ski field near wanaka. From age 10 we were skiing once a year, staying with my aunt and uncle in queenstown!

I have amazing memories of racing my younger brother and looking upto my older brother who was a snowboarder and so cool. At 16 I saved up for snowboard boots cause they looked so comfortable. Made the switch to the dark side and I’ve hardly skied since. 

I got to stay with my older brother in Queenstown and go snowboarding with him, I just had to keep up so I got really good at straight lining, not so much turning. 

At 18 I moved to Queenstown where it would now be my home and not just a holiday destination. During winters I would snowboard everyday! Always keen to race boys and beat them! 

At 21 I moved to Mt Hotham ski field in Victoria, Australia. I read online that there were 3 ski-fields in the world where you live at the summit of the mountain, that was one of them. 2008 was an amazing season, insane amount of powder days, I was impressed! Met incredible people, went snowboarding every day, loved the terrain and riding on a mountain with trees! The cat skiing was great and I had so much fun that I would return for 2009. 2009 was such a bad season I would never return, that amount of rain meant no terrain opened up and I was bored all season.  So I got the best and the worst of Aussie winters.

I between those Aussie seasons I moved to Big White in Canada! So awesome that I took powder days for granted by the end of my 6 months there! Awesome terrain and I rode through trees every day! Lived with great people and partied hard! 

I had a 6 month summer in Byron Bay where I learned to surf and then got home sick for Queenstown!

Met the man of my dreams 🙂

I went to Japan by myself for 3 weeks. Met a bunch of insanely good skiers who took me hiking up Mt Yotei, to Kiroro Resort and other hikes. I then went to Niseko. The snow was absolutely amazing, best in the world! I cried on my way home and had terrible post holiday blues. 

I decided to share my passion with others. I became a rookie for Coronet Peak ski-field. It’s an apprenticeship for kiwis and Aussies. I got trained for free and made life long friends. We were paid to teach newbies and then we paid to sit our exams. I passed SBINZ level two that season which meant I had to jump in the Lake Wakatipu with everyone else who got level two.

I taught for 4 seasons at Coronet Peak and took up downhill mountain biking to fill the summer months with fun. Until I broke my leg which needed surgery. I had a lot of time in bed gaining weight and hoping I could snowboard the next season. I had plans to go to Chile to snowboard with my friend Jess, we decided to cancel the trip cause we weren’t sure I’d be snowboarding. I did snowboard that winter after hard work at the physio and gym, but it was painful with a large piece of metal in my lower ankle and I had pain killers most days, It was a boring season and I could not even do a tail press or Ollie.

That was when my dream of being a level 3 instructor died. And I got a bit lost but I knew I had to stop instructing and start snowboarding for myself again. I needed to really find my passion again.   

I had a social season and for 6 weeks of that winter I traveled South America with my boyfriend Will. We made my dream of snowboarding in Chile come true at Portillos.  That mountain was challenging which I loved and I can’t wait to go back! It’s steep and beautiful! I found my MOJO in the Andes and bring it home with me!

Got back to Queenstown to a powder day, good times! Really had spring time fun on my home mountain with friends. Now it was time to turn 30! Kind of a big deal and an achievement. I always had this feeling like I wouldn’t live that long. So glad I was wrong! It was time to achieve the big dream!

And I just got back from that dream trip to Alaska to go snow boarding with my friend Amanda! Lots of powder during those 2 weeks and heli boarding was the best day ever! My passion has grown so strong to really explore more mountains and find steeper terrain.