New Zealand snow scene :)

Hi guys, Sorry to start a new thread on New Zealand when Square already has one, but i didn't want to hijack her thread :wink:

As i'm graduating in May, i've decided to go on a whirlwind travelling experience to relax and forget about the past 2 years of my life. So the plan is to go to Slovakia to visit my dad for a couple weeks and to spend most of the summer in New Zealand in the mountains.

The question i have for all of you is which way to organize my trip. My flight searches are bringing up ridiculous prices so i'm guessing i'm doing something wrong! I considered flying Vancouver to London (side trip to Bratislava via easyjet) then London to NZ and back to Vancouver at the end of the summer or back to London and then back to Van. Does that seem like a good plan or should i fly back to Vancouver and then fly to NZ?

Also where is good to fly into for NZ? I'm guessing Auckland, but thats very north, which other cities should i look to fly into? I'm thinking of being based in queenstown or wanaka and am going to try and get a snowboard instructors job for the summer, any suggestions of good places to work?

Sorry for all the questions but i'm getting overwhelmed with choices! Thank you muchos for your help girls 8) :D :D