Hey all, going to NZ late july for a week and will be traveling with wifey, 5 year old boy, 12 month girl and mother in law. Have been told to head to wanaka instead of queenstown. Will do a day of heli and 3-4 days of skiing and maybe check out some club fields. Would idealy love ski in ski out accom in a lodge. Any recommendations?

Very little on snow accom in either. Easy drive up each day though.
Stay in Wanaka, more family firendly and very nice.

Wanaka

Is it just you going skiing or does that include the family?

Yep, Queenstown is a bit more party/touristy, Wanaka is a bit less developed and a bit quieter. You can rent a house in Wanaka with nice views of the mountains, that would be the way to go if it were me:

http://www.bookabach.co.nz/baches-and-holiday-homes/search/locale/lake-wanaka

Wanaka without hesitation.
Queenstown is filled with backpackers and tourists
Wanaka is a really pleasant town, has skiers and boarders and some serious ones at that particularly those that are skiing at Treble cone.

Queenstown has more for non skiing people though

Wanaka is populated with the noveau riche - children of car salesmen and real estate agents. If you dig that, go for it. Queenstown is big enough now that it is easy to distance oneself from the crap.

rs i am not nouveau riche ! wanaka did have a bit of pretentiousness about it though i acknowledge. get yourself a nice self contained apartment and you will be right.

and yes if you want to do something other than ski then queenstown has a lot more. being stuck in wanaka all day without skiing means watching cable tv or playing pictionary

Add dairy farmers to that list too actually.

Add some random movie stars and producers and you have Otago..

wanky varisty town just down the road as well..

Nothing very wanky about Dunedin, at all.

Wanaka is not a bad spot, but don't kid yourself if you're expecting a classy town. It's a better choice in summer than winter imo. If you want somewhere chilled with lots of variety and family friendly then go to the McKenzie, stay in Twizel, Tekapo or Fairlie, hit up Ohau, Roundhill and Dobson, and actually see interesting things when you aren't skiing.

no no students aren't wanky at all..

If you spend time in Dunedin, and find that a problem, you're doing it wrong.

Yes yes...of course... takes one to know one btw..

Anyways...

back to the OP.

Young kids and a mother in law babysitting.
I'm still leaning towards QT. Just outta town a wee bit and you'd be apples.

Yep qt. Stay at Kawarau Falls to make the most of the sun, easy water taxi to town when needed. Closest hotel to remarks, and not hard to get to CP from there either.

Nice spot...good idea

Yep, you stay in queenstown and put the M-I-L in wanaka!

Good pub there too, never know who you might bump into

It was on telly here ...on one of those cooking shows...

Pity it fell in heap though?
GFC

Now thats the best Idea i have heard all year. The mil and 12month old will stay in the appartment while we ski, and 5 yr old will come with us and do ski school. We will go heli skiing for a day aswell. Cable tv will be entertainment enough for mil.

Wanaka hands down

One thing that everyone has missed is that there are no club fields down in the Southern Lakes (Wanaka / Queenstown). For that and heli you probably want to be in Methven. The problem with that is that it isn't much of town and won't suit the non skiers.

Otherwise, I'd pick Wanaka, but Queenstown has more for non skiers.

Also no on snow accomodation except for Cardrona, but I don't think you would want to stay there.

I think you also need to consider the level of skiing ability for you & family & what the four main Southern Lakes' fields offer.

Most agree Treble Cone is quite a hard mountain - lots of dark blue & blacks & not much green. Handy to Wanaka too but a very long trip from Qtwn. Road is also bit hader than other three. The top 'Saddle' also lift has a nice semi- BCountry feel to it - although can be a tad tricky in fog. Only one of four areas whose creche requires kids to be 3 or greater.

Cardrona (my all round Favourite) does most things well (ESP families, kids, greens & blues). It does lack blacks somewhat but has nice wide beginner-intermed areas. Cardi is easier from Wanaka but quite doable from Qtwn - ESP the airport side. Road fairly wide & easy too.

Coronet is also well rounded, has very good facilities, a good mix of runs & extensive snowmaking. It's very quick from Qtwn but doable from Wanaka & can be quite busy - more like Oz than the other three.

Remarkables are easy-ish to access from Qtwn, doable from Wanaka.
A bit like Hotham in that has several hard blues & blacks, several easy greens but not a lot of easy blues for progression. In poor snow & after lots sun, it can get quite rocky and even a bit grippy/slushy low down by NZ stds. The Rems also have a great lookout over Lake Wakatipu from top lift. It's a fairly small field too - its also hard for mixed levels to ski together - you need different lifts.

So maybe have a think about abilities, your on & off snow interests, Mtn crèche requirements & the driving /timing factors.

Either way youll have a lot of fun - a very different experience to Oz.

boy i agree with the comment re treble cone. i would love to take some of my friends who are in their words advanced skiers (ie they get down black runs on their heels and uphill ski) to treble cone. what a hill. this is seriously not for beginners or low intermediates. i was there in fog and wearing my specs (had forgotten my lenses) and it was chaos.

The wifey and I are solid skier/boarder and have done a bit of os travel, my 5 year old will be his first time. We will try to see all 4 mountains and throw in a day of Heli with southern lakes heli skiing http://www.southernlakesheliski.co.nz/

Snowgum thanks for the descriptions.

No problem.
Oh & try Plunketts Queenstown if you access to kids' stuff like car seat, high chair or baby bath hire etc... Very helpful people but only open ~10-3pm.

Neither stay in Australia if you want on snow ski in / ski out accomodation... however if going to NZ I would say Queenstaown, a more to do for the non skiers, plus you are more likely to have the close by ski fields actually open and accessible.

as you need to drive up each day make sure you have a 4WD with chains. That time of year you are likely to get dumps of snow that will close the roads up to everywhere except Coronet Peak ... so be so if you are in QT then you have less of a drive than if you are in Wanaka.

ok we have settled on Queenstown, and will try and do a day at each, cardrona, coronet peak, remarkables and treble cone. I realise that tc will be a bit of a mission, but we used to do hotham and falls on day trips from gisborne. Getting a bit excited, missed the cheap easter deals from jetstar, grrrrr.

Air NZ often has better deals than jstar.