Hi All, Marcelle surprised me on my birthday with tickets to NZ to go skiing. We're flying over on the 18th of August and back on the 22nd so only a very quick trip. Flight inbound arrives in the afternoon and likewise we fly out in the afternoon. Have booked a car with Apex rentals which we are picking up and dropping off from the airport. Staying at the Sheerwood in QT. We should have 3 days of skiing and was planning the following tentative itinerary: Saturday 18/08 - after arriving in the afternoon, drive to Coronet Peak for night skiing. Sunday 19/08 - get up early and drive up to Treble Cone for the day, ski then drive back to QT Monday 20/08 - drive to the Remarkable for the day, ski then drive back to QT. Tuesday 21/08 - drive up to Cardrona, ski then drive back to QT. Wednesday 22/08 - drive out to the Gibbston Valley Winery for a cellar door tasting and early lunch before heading back to the airport. Have looked on google maps and re travel times and seems like it shouldn't be too ambitious. Still, I thought it wise to see if anyone thought there was a better option or way to utilize the limited days we have or things worth doing aside from skiing. Also wanted to ask about the lookout at the Remarkables (top of the Shadow Basin Chair). Looks like its a short hike up to the lookout, on a scale of 1 to hard work how difficult is it to get to the lookout point? Have all ready book dinner each night in QT as I didn't want to be high and dry. Thanks in advance! Sage
Both TC and Cardrona are easily day trip-able from QT, but is there any reason you're avoiding Coronet Peak? You could even fit in a night ski there on the Saturday night.
All very doable, but I would determine the ski destinations closer to the time so you can choose the best conditions. Keep in mind that if there is snow on the Crown Range, it will slow your trip to Remarkables/TC quite a bit. The hike up to Shadow Basin lookout is very easy unless you are making tracks through deep fresh snow.
No reason other than it looked the least interesting on paper. Hadn't even thought of night skiing, great idea! Do you think it would be worth the price of admission? We have Thredbo 365 passes so can access the mountain collective discounts at the Remarks and CP i believe.
Yep, but this was a surprise trip and Marcelle had already booked flights and accommodation in Queenstown so we'll be based from there this trip
Awesome, thanks for the heads up. I was planning on leaving plenty of time to travel there by getting up well before sunrise, early bird gets the worm.
Sat nights can be busy for night skiing, but seeing as you're only in town for a very short time, and you have your own wheels then why not?! Session runs from 4pm - 9pm so you get a fair whack of time in and the night skiing lights cover quite a bit of the mountain. Be a fun way to get your legs back and CP is only a 20-25 min drive from downtown QT.
That sounds excellent. I’ll see if I can move my dinner booking on Saturday night to a much later time slot. Cheers!
Mostly depends on what you're looking to get out of your laps. As mentioned, I'd pick on the day as all 4 resorts are easily accessible. The lookout at remarks is an easy 5-10m hike and definitely worth it. Given your limited time, I wouldnt really recommend anything major aside from skiing. Maybe the onsen which can be done after skiing. Have a fergburger for the novelty. If you're a meat eater, you cannot go past Jervois for a wonderful dinner. Feel free to shoot me any questions!
Correct - CP is the least interesting but probably not an issue if you only had a day. As others have said, wait till you're there and look at where the snow is. I've seen days when CP was porridge while the Remarks had near-powder. TC is definitely worth a visit, although it is huge and you won't see it all in a day. Cardrona has some really nice cruising terrain when the snow is good.
Awesome! thanks for the tips, re the onsen I had a look (Onsen Hot Pools) but its fully booked for every session the entire time we're there. Not to devo though as we had our share of onsens this year in Japan, still it does look amazing. Will add it to the list of things to do next trip and will book well in advance!
Play it by ear with the weather as to where to Ski. If it's snowing below 1100metres, there won't be any need to leave Queenstown for great skiing. Coronet can be a complete blast (constant fall line) with 20cm of new snow to the base building. Restaurants in town....The Bunker and Botswana Butchery are outstanding.
These are all very good options (especially Sherwood, one of my favorites in QT), I would possibly replace Ivy & Lolas with either Public or Atlas (Atlas dont take bookings)
Awesome, I'd booked into Ivy and Lola's on the Saturday night but we are now most likely going to night ski on Saturday at CP so will check out your two recommendations and see if i can make a late booking at either Ski.com.au, such a wealth of knowledge!
If you're gonna be up CP for nighta, check and see if they have space for you at Heidi's Hut. It's over at the bottom of Rocky Gully and NZSki just announced last week that they're opening it on Fri & Sat nights for dinner. They haven't done it for a few years but the Mrs and I had an anniversary dinner there several seasons back and it was lovely. Obviously it would eat into night ski time but it's a lovely place and the views would be
My Queenstown favorites are, The Bunker, Botswana butchery, for top level. Then it’s Flame, Winnie’s pizza, and The Cow and Lone Star for easy low key family places. I agree with others best bet is too check the weather forecast each night and the report each morning because wind and storm direction play a big part on what resort get the snow and if it’s good in Queenstown I would never bother going to TC if I was in town for a short time. As for the Onsen it books out a month or two in advance usually so probably a bit late unfortunately. I am heading over this Saturday, Can’t wait.
I was up Remarks on Sunday and they had cut/groomed a path up to the lookout from the top of the Shadow Basin chair. First time I've seen that. So that makes what was already a cruisy hike a real walk in the park now. Think that is to cater to the foot-traffic crowd - you know the touristy types who rock up in their jeans, jackets with fur-lined hoods and totally inappropriate snow footwear haha!
Slight spanner in the works, Marcelle had a spectacular tomahawk at Thredbo on Saturday dropping into cannonball and has completely snapped her 9th rib. She still skied all of Sunday though albeit in moderate pain. I had initially thought it was just bruising however a chest xray has today confirmed I was wrong. I made the same mistake when she broke her leg 2 years ago . She's pretty devo but is adamant that she'll still be able to ski in two weeks though I'm concerned about the risk of displacement. Looks like we might be doing a bit more exploring off the mountains. Had already planned to visit the Gibbston Valley winery, but was thinking a scenic heli flight might now be on the cards. Does anyone have any recommendations of who to potentially book with or other off mountain activities that might be fun? Cheers
Mum did a scenic flight in a plane over Milford Sound for her 50th and STILL doesn't shut up about it... must be good?
