When the call was made that Mountain Dew New Zealand was producing an ad using its local sponsored riders the boys and girls literally jumped to get their 15 seconds of fame. Basically the idea was to film us having the best day ever. Jenna, Nev and I didn’t miss the boat on that one; if it was to be the best day ever two things were crucial epic powder and a big helicopter to get us there. So a month or so later with basically no idea of what we were getting ourselves into we packed the cars with sum big boards and plenty of MD.

Day one check into the plush hotel on the Queeenstown waterfront, valet parking included! We had a spare day before the filming started so we hit up Snow Park keeping in mind Heli was looming in just one sleep. After a day catching up with crew doing sweet slides at Snow Park we had sound check. What the? To most snowboarders the concept of acting is pretty foreign, lucky for us Nev stepped up to the plate and got the clip – won’t let out any secrets just yet but keep your eyes on those TV screens to see Nev getting sick in a whole new way.

Day two: meeting the directors in Wanaka after a short skip over the hill, the weather wasn’t looking too bad. Being the ghetto crew we are, we only turned with one set of smelly outerwear which wasn’t bright enough. A quick call was made to the biggest outerwear collector in NZ (Holler) and 20 mins later we were decked out. With Nev the star of the show (who’s 60kg and only 5″9?!?!), in a bright red XXL jacket, Jenna and I playing supporting roles in a mellow blue and brown. The call was finally made at 10:30 to get the bird in the air so we got the quick low down on the transceivers and radios etc. We had a quick 10min flight up the valley revealing awesome terrain everywhere. We landed on a ridge and spent the next hour or so getting some epic shots of us either standing there or sipping on an MD. We were bathed in the sun on the ridge and scoped a perfect cliff just above where we had landed and luckily the landing was stashed and hidden from the wind.

Well all good, we jumped in to the slope, got the shot, then as we un-strapped the star of the show drops his brand new board and it manages to jib its way down the rocks for a few hundred meters then disappears out of view as 7 of us stare in despair. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, it ended up taking over an hour to find and we had nothing to do, surrounded by deep untouched powder that was either in the cloud or we couldn’t hit until we got our star back on a board to get in the shot.

Next up we took the chopper back towards TC and filmed from the chopper with us riding all the way to the valley floor. It was hectic riding as the valley was pretty narrow and you had no idea what was going be round each corner but we made it to the bottom where the chopper stopped and we had to do the same run again this time focusing on us getting some rad air. For me, rad air involved flying 30-ft blind into a valley and landing 10-cm short of a 10-ft high rock! My life literally flashed before my eyes a very stupid move but you live and learn. The chopper was great at follow cam. Pretty classic; the filmer was harnessed in but he was more concerned at losing his 50-frames per second video camera.

We had to do another jumping off the ridge shot, but this time filmed off the chopper, it was fun as we just jumped up and the wind from the blades blew us over the edge – coolest feeling. Then Nev revealed to all of us that he actually was Van Diesel’s stunt double by jumping out of the helicopter into the slope wasn’t too big as the guide didn’t quite understand the XXX tattoo on his back, otherwise it would have been at least 30-ft – we had faith though. After that, chopper time was up and we headed back to the cars chown down on some mean kai prepared by the guides.

Nev’s trusty ride was yet again tested when it was run over while lying bindings down in the car-park – it flexed to the days but didn’t snap he thinks it unlucky but after surviving a lone heli run and being run over I’m thinking Blackhole snowboards could be the perfect board to try sum new twirls on. I don’t think either Nev or I will be shooting on a camera this good for a while so it was great to have a chance after the “official” shoot to just do some twirls in front of the camera. I rolled out of a cab7 and reverted causing words of disappointment to come spurting out of my loud mouth at which point I lost my fake tooth. Yeah one of my front teeth has been a non permanent fake since march this year and I’m still waiting till everything settles down until I get a permanent one. So there I am toothless and ruthless on the biggest photo shoot of my life. So jump on the chair-lift as you do- go to unload (huge maneuver) and the suspenders on my pants get stuck in the chair-lift so I’m dangling up there a few feet in the air until my buddy Andrew turns the chairlift off or one of the buckles breaks not sure what happened first but I do know I ended up on the ground and the buckle was gone sorry Holler.

Good times had by all. At this stage I’d just like to thank everyone that made this possible Alana and Jeremy at Brand Spanking, the Three Drunk Monkeys, Chris from MD, my buddies Jenna Brown, Sophia Moore, Neville Lapwood, Tim Ryan, & Holler.

Hey, CLICK HERE to see Joe and myself take one of the PBS presenters for a mountainboard ride at the Auckland Domain . . .

There is plenty of snow around the southern parts of New Zealand at the moment, and up until a recent fall from grace I was thoroughly enjoying the slopes. There was a little misjudgement on my part during a beautiful sunny day riding at Snowpark in Wanaka on Monday. So I could possibly be out of action for the next while due to a knee blowout. No surf or Snow!! What am I going to do !!!!!!

Anyway before that happened I’d had a good few days riding. Mt Hutt has had the best covering I have seen since I’ve been down here, Southface and the Towers providing some epic runs and the terrain park looks exciting whilst still in the making. There has been surf also. Big North swells saw Muangamanu in Kaikoura with some quality surf and the Christchurch beaches hopefully forming some decent banks with the stormy weather this winter. Robbie Peck has been charging the cold oceans constantly, missioning around in any which direction to find the waves, good stuff. Well I hope that next update is a little cheerier on my behalf. In the mean time get amongst it all you party people put there, while you still have two good legs i suggest you make the most of what NZ has to offer!!!

The final contest now over for the 2006 South Island Circuit and the place in line for me was number three. Having two wins each to our name, it was a close fight between Daisy Thomas, Leilani Morgan and myself gunning for Circuit Champ, Daisy being crown number one for this year. First in the Long boarding, and for the contest; third in the Ciruit for 2006, so pretty happy with that. Let’s hope that there are plenty more days with waves like Anzac Day in Kaikoura – surfed for 7hours! No doubt whichever medium it is, water or snow, I am sure the winter will keep us all occupied! Ciao!

With exams over I’m looking forward to some more cold weather and snow …

There has been a lot happening around the Southern parts so far this winter, with snowfalls the best on record for June in over a decade it has been all go. Power cuts in Auckland for 4 hours, in South Canterbury for two weeks!. But the ski-fields are open and Huey has been good to us.

540’s Broken River Rail Jam happened on Saturday the 15th July 06.

All the chill pass jibbers came out from their backcountry mountain shacks for this event.

Broken River turned on the conditions with 40cm fresh a couple of days before the event.

Always time for a few powder laps before hitting up the rails which were better than expected including a serpent which is NZ’s most gnarly rail on any ski field hands down. The rumour is only 5-6 people have ever made it across the whole thing. Stand out shredders were Seth Piercey unleashing on the serpent and Lisa Corcoran taking out the girls division styling some sick slides. I managed to come away first place and with a pair of sik 540 ’s snowboard pants!

Neville Lapwood

Well thought I would write about how everything has been going with my surfing and what I have been up to…….

Well thought I would write about how everything has been going with my surfing and what I have been up to……………Well the trip to NZ Nationals in January was exciting but frustrating at the same time; my first heats were great, there were consistent waves and I managed to catch two very good waves scoring an 8 and an 8.5 out of possible 10……….this put me in the top spot, so I was very happy………unfortunately in the next few days our quarter final heat was held in very in-consistent waves and I was unable to catch a decent wave, the elements were not on my side this time…I was very disappointed but at the same time learned from the experience and I sill showed myself and others that I am capable of winning.

“Kaikoura’s Angie Koops was in sizzling form as she rode to the highest heat score for the Women’s round one with 16.5 pushing defending champion Jessica Santorik (Rag) into second. The two girls will surf against each other in the quarter finals” (this is from surfing NZ’s updating emails)

I have been surfing everyday and training as much as I can………I have been doing toe-ins and jump offs on the jet ski into the waves with a top air show surfer Dru Adler, who has been teaching me a lot about surfing! About a week ago now, we were getting toed into some pretty solid waves at Kirra Point, I pulled into a barrel a bit late and the wave smashed me, snapping my board clean in half and ripped my fin out of my favourite brand new board!!! So I desperately need another……….

Recently I went over to South Stradbroke Island with a few pro’s and the head photographer of Australian surfing life magazine….I am going to be going on as many photo shoots as I can……..so its only a matter of time before I get a great shot!!

Curl magazine have asked me if they could do an article on me and put pictures of me in Curl magazine which is sold and created in NZ so IA?A?A?a??A¬A?a??A?m in the process on putting together a story and getting some pictures for them!

Before I left New Zealand, Mountain Dew rang me and asked me if I would write a wish list of things I would love to get help with for my surfing career, as you wanted to help young NZ sports people achieve their goals.

I am and will always consider myself a New Zealander. I have decided to base myself in Australia to further my surfing career, to lift my level of surfing and to compete at a much higher standard…Australia has produced the most outstanding surfers in the world, the level of surfing is at a much higher standard and they hold the most World Qualifying Series competitions!

I originally came from the South Island of NZ in a little town called Kaikoura known for its ruggedness big rocks, big waves and in the winter it gets very chilly. I was traveling a lot but I came to the point where I really wanted to further my surfing, keep myself focused and ampping for my sport….. I want to go as far as I can……..Australia is the place I need to be to achieve this, its perfect training grounds as I am living right on the beach surfing/training everyday!

It is cheaper for me to be based here to do as many competitions as I can. I am working at a surf life saving club waitressing part time so I can surf during the day! Competitions are very expensive…… IA?A?A?a??A¬A?a??A?m a New Zealander representing in Australia but unfortunately the cost of competing has been a bit too high for me and I realistically can not afford to go to all of the competitions that I would like to attend.

Below are a couple of the events that I will hopefully be competing in this year:

- April 3-9 New Castle women’s Pro A?A?A?a??A¬A?a?¬A? WQS
- April 15-18 Billabong Girls Easter Surfing festival Sunshine Coast QLD A?A?A?a??A¬A?a?¬A? WQS
- April 20-23 Central Coast pro Soldiers Beach ASP WQS
- June 3-4 Billabong girls QSS Winter Classic QLD
- October 21 – 22 Straddy Assault Team event
- November 4-5 Billabong Girls QSS Spring Classic QLD

Also would love to do as many rated NZ competitions as possible!

It would be great if Mountain Dew could help me out with these events!

Thanks MD!

Being back at 100% physical fitness I was absolutely desperate to get back on top form until . . . I managed to chip a bone in my foot doing a back flip, I had it checked out and it looks like it will only keep me off the water for a week. This gives me only one week to train as hard as I can for the last Junior tour stop, I was lucky enough to be given the wild card entry because of my current world title – I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Peace from me
B-rad