Snow related – Ride at Cardrona, Treble Cone, Snow Park in Queesntown/Wanaka area. Coronet Peak and Remarkables didn’t really float my boat when I was there.
Mt Hutt. Have never been but have been told it’s good.
Hit up the club fields, they don’t groom most of them so if it dumps you’ll get fresh tracks for days as there is no one around. Most only have Nut cracker lifts though. When I’m back in August I’m going to some near Christchurch, Mt Cheeseman, Broken River, Porters, Crigieburn, Temple Basin & Mt Olympus. I’ve only got two days there but I think it will be Porters & Brocken River/Craigieburn which you can ride on one lift ticket. Oh and they are cheaper than the big resorts.

Eating – In Queentown – Can’t go past Ferg Burgers. Also Winnies for pizza. Check out cow lane for bars and Subculture.

As for NZ in general, I would also suggest Milford Sound (I want to do this but with 9 days it’s not possible) and Dunedin.

New Zealand is amazing – I loved it there. I spent a month there in 2004, and boarded for 6 days during the month long trip. I boarded at Remarksables and Coronet – both good but I prefered the Remarks – better off-piste. They had a great park there too – and I think now they even have a Stash run so it should be amazing. Queenstown is the best place in the World – you won’t want to leave.

Apart from that I’d definitely reccommend Kaikoura on the South Island – where you can swim with the dolphins and go whale watching. Also, wine tasting at Blenheim on bikes was a highlight of the trip! Milford sound was also worth going to – but you can get there and back in a (long) day from Queenstown or Te Anau. The glaciers are also fantastic, and so was kayaking around the national park at Able Tasman (near nelson).

I’d reccommend spending the majority of your time in the South Island – it’s much more dramatic and stunning. Apart from Queenstown, most towns are pretty dull with not much going on – it’s all about the outdoors and action sports. I wouldn’t bother spending much time at all in Christchurch – it’s pretty boring.

You can fit it all in one month if you’re constantly on the go – it’s pretty full on – but you’ll have the most amazing time ever! I’m jealous… Have a great trip.

a favourite of mine, as well as every other person i’ve ever spoken to who has been, is Ohau. http://www.ohau.co.nz/skifield/AboutOhau/ it’s a small snowfield with just a double chairlift but is well loved by all who visit – most foreigners i meet here (i’m a kiwi) say that Ohau is their favourite of our snowfields. there’s a lodge at the bottom which is the closest accommodation to it.

we normally travel the opposite way from you when we do snowfield road trips (i live in Wellington) – start at Mt Hutt/other Canterbury fields, and it’s possible to leave Hutt around 3pm and drive to Ohau lodge in time for dinner (they have a set dinner at 7pm), then after a couple of nights there we leave and drive to Wanaka, also around 3-4pm which gets us to Wanaka at a decent time.

completely agree with Fergburgers and Winnies (Winnie Bagos) in Queenstown – yum!

Hi Jo

Bet you’re both counting down the days!

Don’t want to make you feel jealous… I live in Wanaka and it snowed yesterday (whilst you’re basking in sun today we’ve been freezing at -2 most of the week).

Hope the following info helps you decide which fields to try.

I moved here from UK 3 years ago and have boarded Cardie, TC, Hutt and Ruapehu. Have visited most places in NZ when looking where to live, South Island is definately more scenic and there’s some great out of the way places and strange kiwi things to see, just depends what you’re into.

Are you looking to visit/stay anywhere in particular?
Drop a line if you want the low down on anywhere, will try to help if I can.

Word of warning don’t expect NZ fields to be like France or Italy. Terrain is smaller and fields aren’t joined together (e.g. like say La Tania & Courchavel), they tend to work as one field with limited joint passes.

NZ fields tend to be either the larger ones (South Island: Cardrona, Treblecone, Remarkables, Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt, Ohau – North Is: Ruapehu, Turoa) or the smaller club style fields (Mt Dobson, Porters) with carpets & button lifts.

Coronet Peak & Ruapehu are only ones I’m aware of that are tar sealed all the way (main road), rest are tar sealed main road then metal road up the mountain (stones to you and I).

Some fields you can hitch a ride from town or drive to base and then hitch up metal road.
Most places have rentals in town & at mountain.

[u][b]WANAKA: [/b][/u]

[b]Cardrona[/b]
Drive: 45-50 mins (30 tar / 20 metal road)
Stay: Wanaka
Hitch: town & base
Rentals: town & mountain

If you’re looking for jumps, boxes etc and piste at one field, I’d say go to Cardrona. They’ve also got an international 1/2 pipe which is great fun even for pipe novices like me. They occassionally run 2-4 day girl only course (I went on one 2 years ago, being taught 1/2 pipe by Julianne Bray was fab).

Normal piste is reasonably wide and good as well. Cardie has a fun feel to it. Can stay on piste for a charge! They’ve updated their website this season and it’s pretty good. OK drive up, need to drive carefully, pass in right places.

[b]Treble Cone:[/b]
Drive: 45-50 mins (30 tar / 20 mins metal)
Stay: Wanaka
Hitch: town & base
Rentals: town & mountain

Is great for more challenging runs, especially in the Saddle. You can also go back country, but do need the proper gear (don’t want Search & Rescue to have to find you). TC is terrain & don’t have rails or anything. Went up this week and could only find a couple of snow jumps. So if you’re looking for park excitement TCs isn’t the place to go.

You can drive up to the base camp and get a great view of lake Wanaka, Mt Aspiring & Southern Alps (it’s an eerie view if we’ve got an inversion layer, you see a lake of cloud with mountains poking through). Drive up is an experience in itself, sheer drops in places, minimal barriers, but all in all not too bad – just be careful and only overtake in the right places.

[b]Snowpark:[/b]
Drive: 45-50 mins (30 tar / 20 mins metal)
Hitch: town & base
Rentals: town (mountain I think)

Loads of boxes, jumps etc, but not piste. Opposite side of valley to Cardie. Might not be for you if you only just getting into park stuff (can be a little intimidating watching youngster doing all the jumps) however they have a novice area for the beginner which is supposed to be good. Night riding & I think they’ve got tubing this year for a bit of fun. Nice bar and eating area.
Can stay on piste for a charge!

[u][b]QUEENSTOWN:[/b][/u]

[b]Coronet Peak:[/b]
Drive: QT 45-50 mins (all tar)
Stay: QT
Hitch: town & base
Rentals: town & mountain

Wide piste area, night boardin, easy drive up on tar sealed road, good eating facilities, can get a bit busy at times. Night riding. Think they do a 2 or 3 centre pass with Mt Hutt if you like the idea of trying a couple of places.

[b]Remarkables:[/b]
Sorry haven’t been – heard its not too great for boarding.

[b]Mt Hutt:[/b]
Stay: Methvern
Drive: 50-60 mins (15 tar / rest metal – bit hairy in places)
Rentals: town

Mainly terrain, from memory think they have the odd rail (went 2 years ago), also remember a platau at one point, so best to keep speed up. Great views over Canterbury plains.

[b]Ruapehu:[/b]
Stay & rentals: National Park
Drive: all tar
Rentals: town & mountain

Went 3 years ago, really enjoyed it, mainly piste from memory but wasn’t into the park at that stage – just glad to be staying upright Turoa is supposed to be good but smaller than Ruapehu.

[b]Dobson, Ohau:[/b]
Heard both are really good, thinking of trying Ohau myself this year.

[u][b]Websites to checkout:[/b][/u]

http://www.cardrona.com/

http://www.treblecone.com/

http://www.snowparknz.com/

http://www.ohau.co.nz/

CPeak, Remarkables & Mt Hutt – http://www.nzski.com/
Ruapehu & Turoa: http://www.mtruapehu.com/winter/

[i]Nearly forgot to mention, can vouch for the wine trails, lived in Hawkes Bay for a while and NZ is great – if you like red try getting a bottle of Otago Pinot Noir whilst you’re here [/i]

Hope the snow is still good for you. We’re heading up to Ruapehu this weekend for probably the last time – snow is melting

Don’t miss out on experiencing the unique club fields in the South Island. I’ve been a member of Broken River Ski Club for a lot of my life and after skiing all over the world, this is my favourite hill to ride.

LittleL who has been doing our seasonaire’s diary is heading there soon as well I think. Hopefully she’ll drop in soon to tell us about her plans!