Bernard and husband Terry Meek are visiting New Zealand as part of an Olympic celebration tour arranged by the World Curling Federation.
''We got to do New Zealand - I think we got the best one,'' Bernard said.
''This is fabulous. I may never leave. I'm trying to get on the New Zealand team.
''For us, we just want to come out and travel around, promote it to the kids, let the people experience the sport and hope it catches on a little bit more in the countries that don't get to see it so much.''
Bernard, who won her silver medal as skip of the Canadian women's team at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, arrived in Dunedin yesterday and ran some secondary school pupils through their paces yesterday afternoon. She will host two sessions at the rink this morning.
Bernard's love of curling meant she got her turn a couple of years in advance when she was growing up in the Canadian province of Alberta.
''You really weren't supposed to start until you were 10,'' she said.
''But I was really stubborn, so they said as long as you can get the rock to the other end, you can play. So I heaved it as hard as I could. I probably weighed as much as the rock.''
Bernard was effusive in her praise for the Dunedin stadium, which compares well to curling rinks in Canada.
''This is great ice - it's just as good as the ice as we get back in Canada.''
''Lots of cities in Canada with 100,000 don't have four sheets [playing areas]. This is unique here - this is a great arena.''
Bernard (47) described curling as like ''chess on ice'', but said the physical requirements are becoming more important.
''You need to be alert. A curling game is 2 hours long and you're often playing two games a day, so you're out there for five hours. You've got to be in decent physical shape.''
Bernard and Meek will visit Naseby this weekend and fly back to Auckland for another session on Monday before beginning the journey home to their home town of Calgary on Monday afternoon.
