Real Velona

I was very lucky to enjoy a weekend of Snow fun with my son and a bunch of friends in New Zealand.

Queenstown

We spend the first week in the picturesque lakeside town of Queenstown. The vistas in this part of the world are amazing, everywhere you look is amazing. Every drive was filled with temptations to stop and take photos.

It had been 20 years since my last visit, and my impression was that the town has gone upmarket a bit since the last time I visited. It is more expensive than I remember, and definitely more popular, which can make it a little difficult to get into restaurants and bars with a large groups. My experience was that with a bit of pre-planning and booking more places were happy to accomodate.

There is a great reason Queenstown is so popular, because in my opinion it is one of the best places in the world to holiday. There is just so much to do. There are two snow resorts nearby, Coronet Peak which is less than 30 minutes drive from Queenstown, or The Remarkables, which is about 45 minutes drive.

Both mountains cater to all skill levels, but I would say that Coronet peak is better for intermediate skiers, and The Remarkables better for beginners. We split our time across both mountains and the kids enjoyed both thoroughly

There are loads of other activities you can also experience while in Queenstown, whether they are activities on the lake, trekking or mountain biking, or fun stuff around town. We chose to take in the Luge and the Indoor Skydiving.

Wanaka

After the first week we headed over to Wanaka, which is another beautiful lakeside town which is somewhat more laid back and quiet and sleepy than Queenstown.

Wanaka, is conveniently located to get to the Cadrona resort, which is one of my favourite mountains in the world. It is a natural bowl; the runs are all very close to one another; there is varied terrains; and quite a park and jumps setup for those that are game enough.

There was so much more than happened, but I feel this post is already too long, so I’ll leave it there.

I highly recommend Queenstown and Wanaka for your next adventure, especially if you like snow sports.