 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello Snowheads, here's my thoughts on Queenstown New Zealand. Yes I know for most of you it's a day's travel on the Starship Enterprise at warp 9 but for those of us in the Antipodes it's a minimum-jetlag option 
Queenstown is a little town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu (say it like the fish chanting in the tank in Finding Nemo) that grew up doing......something or other.....and discovered extreme sports in the late 80s / early 90s. Since then the town has done very well thankyou and is extremely well serviced by an embarrassment of excellent bars and restaurants. And by that I mean very excellent indeed - from cheap and hearty to michelin-star (if michelin reviewers did long haul flights), and everything in between, all run by an army of Brits with a sprinkling of other nationalities doing the season circuit (all the kiwis are up here in Oz making better money). We were there a week, and could not get round all the eateries we wanted to hit up. Highlights were Tartiflette (you CANNOT get Reblochon cheese in Oz !!) on Bastille Night at Les Alpes, duck confit at Sasso and the perfect, perfect potato gratin that came with my steak at Botswana Butchery, and finally the AMAZING grouper with potatoes at Pier 19. You'd need a month to get around all the good restaurants. Best gluhvein was at Eichardts, which is one of many bars and restaurants in Queenstown that boasts an open fire.
The hotels don't quite boast the same oustandingness as the restaurants, although I must admit my criteria might be different to yours. Basically I want a) an open fire b) a hot tub. Other than that it's just a place to crash for me, so I'm not too fussed about anything else. We stayed at the Hilton in a Relaxation Room. Expensive, but by the time you've paid flights, car, skipasses, ski rental it wasn't much of a hit proportion-wise to pay the extra. And get this, a Relaxation Room comes with its own fireplace and its OWN hot tub on the deck outside. The bed and bath are fab as you might expect, and the wifi is thrown in though it wasn't very quick. The room was ON the lake, right outside, and the views were just amazing. The Hilton charged us only $10 a night for valet parking, which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to - pull up at the main entrace, leave skiboots etc in the car, walk in to hotel. No parking, trudging back to hotel, carrying stuff etc.
There are TONS of non-skiing adventurous stuff to do - a powerboat up the river, a bungee jump, paragliding, hang gliding, skydiving, a huge rope swing, etc etc etc Queenstown is also well set up for gentler pastimes such as cycling round the lake, walking etc
Does it feel like there's a BUT coming yet ?..........TBC
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for the review, looking forward to seeing what you thought of the skiing!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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It's a skiing review!!! I thought it was a restaurant review 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Here's the BUT. The way it works in Queenstown is that you stay in the town but drive or get a bus to the ski resorts themselves. Here's my summary :
Resort Commute Time Recommended for
Remarkables 45min beginners to offpisters who like very slow rickety old lifts
Coronet peak 60min beginners to black runners
Cardrona 90min beginners to easy red runners (europe standards)
Treble Cone 120min beginners to offpisters
All resorts have very poor catering facilities etc by good European standards, especially the Remarkables (very few onslope cafes etc). The travel times above include the time required to climb the precarious mountain roads from the valley floor to the resort itself above the snowline. If going to Cardrona, buy your lift pass online before going and park at the base of the first lif (on right before your reach base station) - it'll save you a further 20mins parking and standing in a sheep trailer hooked to the back of a Hilux that pulls you up to the station from your car. No, really.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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leave skiboots etc in the car
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 they don't have cold nights?
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Yeah.....is that a problem ?
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What I forgot to mention too is that the runs are SHORT. A competent skier is down at the lift again in 20mins max, and that's without going in a straight line. The lifts are fast (except for Remarkables) if you get in the singles line.....but I really missed the Alpine experience of veering off the piste and taking a good hour or more to get all the way down the mountain.
Looking forward to going down there again. In the summer.
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FAQ
