I am booked in for 3 nights at the Alpine Retreat at the end of August, with 2 friends joining me. One is a regular snowboarder, while the other has not been to the snow before. The latter is on rather a tight budget - the accommodation deal I got with Alpine Retreat makes the trip an option, but she still needs to watch her spending. She will be having a crack at this skiing lark with a Discover pass, but she's only anticipating spending one day actually on the slopes, and the rest of the time just enjoying the snow generally. Our room is one of the motel style rooms, where we *might* get a microwave if we are lucky, but otherwise there are no cooking facilities. Are there any decent options (or recommendations from the more savvy among you) for lunch or dinner in Buller? I know that some resorts have not-well-advertised facilities for those who self-cater (obviously the incentive is to get punters buying from the food outlets on the hill), does Buller have anything like this? If we are driving ourselves up the hill and parked for overnight, is it possible to go down to Mansfield for dinner, or is it pretty much an "enter once, leave once, no passouts" type of situation? I've had a general look at the Buller website and done some other investigating, so I have discovered the sculpture walk and gnome roam. Aside from this, tobogganing, and generally relaxing at the lodge, are there any other recommended low-cost or free options for the non-skier?
She can visit the Alpine Museum or do some trampoline jumping at Buller Air Zone - to be honest, I've never been to both so can't comment on those facilities. Can't suggest where to eat in the village for lunch/dinner as I usually have lunch at Koflers and rarely go down to village (esp. on weekends). You can always bring some groceries to your accommodation or buy some at Buller Grocer and make simple meals. I think you can drive down to Mansfield for dinner, but is it false economy because you'll be spending time and money to drive to Mansfield in the first place?
lunch cheese and salami keeps pretty well without refrigeration. add some crackers, cuppa soup (assuming you have an electric kettle) and some apples or other fruit that carries well. as a student skiing buller long ago, I think my lunches were mostly scroggin
We do have a mini-fridge, so that's an option. I am pretty sure that we will have a kettle etc too (they mention tea and coffee) Carpark cooking might not be such an option if we're staying up on the hill, and I don't know if we could use a camping cookset in the room, or in the village.
No benefit driving to Mansfield. You then have taxi fares to get back to your accom so couldn’t see the point. And also plenty of good food closer to Buller at Sawmill and Merrijig if you were going to drive down the mountain.
