Words and Photos by Chris O’Connell

You want to hear the funniest story you’ve read all day long?

I took the rookies, Andri and Kim sheep chasing the other day cause it was raining and we were bored. I didn’t realize it, but Jacob told Andri and Kim if they didn’t catch a sheep they were cut from the Armada team. This was their first team trip ever and they 100 percent believed Jacob. They thought it was some sort of hazing ritual to get on the team. Poor kids.

So we went a drive to Lake Hawea looking for a nice field with some fluffy sheep to catch. Well, it’s spring now, so all the sheep had been sheared in every field. I have been chasing sheep ever since I first went to NZ 5 years ago, and let me tell you, they aren’t easy to catch. If they are sheared, it’s way harder cause there is nothing to grab onto, oh yeah, did I mention it was raining and the fields are slippery when wet?

So these kids are sitting in the back of the van quietly freaking out and I am thinking we are just out for a fun drive. Meanwhile, they are thinking that their new careers might already be on the line.

So we get to the field and all the sheep are sheared, and I tell them we don’t have to do it, we can just go home. But they are all like “no way, we are for sure going to catch one!”. I was really surprised how into it they were.

We got out into the field and we are running and the TV crew is filming and everyone is laughing, but they soon figure out it’s not easy. About 5 minutes of sprinting around and Andri gets lucky and bags one. Kim’s laughing, everyone is laughing and I say we can go home now, and Kim wants nothing of it, as far as he’s concerned, Andri is now on the team and he’s not.

So Kim finally makes a running dive and pulls some wool and he’s happy as a pig in mud cause he’s on the Armada team now too. When they told me what Jacob told them and they actually believed it, I laughed the entire way home. It was next level ridiculous.

We had a few days of bad weather and we had time to check out some of the footage on the Red that Tyler from PBP shot of Tanner doing double flips in the pipe and everyone else shredding. Let me tell you that you will be seeing those shots in the next PBP movie for sure, 113 frames per second is epic.

Kim Boberg looks like Sid Vicious, and it was pretty funny when we were eating lunch one day, some girls came up and asked if they can have their picture with him, maybe they thought he was the reincarnation of Sid. Kim’s pretty punk, he listens metal and is from Sweden, so maybe he is the second coming.

We got some more sunshine and hit up the quarter pipe with the crew and did other crazy ski stuff. Kim Lamarre was charging and boosting big airs and did some switching up on the staircase rail, which was more than impressive.

NZ is still the most beautiful country on the planet, so we will be providing you with more really fun stuff to look at, but we are going to take a break as we don’t want to overload you all in one sitting. Oh yeah, when something is really cool in NZ, it’s Choice Bro! So that’s what are trip is, Choice. Stay tuned for more craziness.