Queenstown vs Methven

[DarwinGal]

Hi,

As you can guess from my nick, I'm from Darwin, Australia. We're planning a trip to NZ from about 2 June for 10 days or so. I'll be travelling with husband and 2 boys (6 and 4). What I want to know is whether there will be snow in Queenstown at that time (I know it's not guaranteed, so an indication of likelihood of skiiable snow would be nice) or if Mt Hutt would be a better proposition.

Also, is it worth taking such young kids skiing? Should we just do it for a day or so and look for other things to do?

Finally, does anybody know of any particularly family-friendly accommodation around these areas?

Thanks for your interest,

Tania

[johnynz]

Hi Darwingirl
Your right about there being no guarentee of snow at that time of year.
Queenstown v Methven?????

METHVEN has Mt Hutt which is the highest of the big ski areas in NZ, so the prospect of an early start to the ski season is sometimes slightly greater. However Methven is a rather small town and there are limited activities for families other than skiing.

QUEENSTOWN / Wanaka has four major ski fields close by. Coronet peak etc has extensive snow making facilities so can often open early June. Queenstown has literally hundreds of things to do (many of the best things are free if you like walking etc) There is a vast range of accomodation in the area. Check out a few web sites and book early. I'm pretty sure the big ski fields cater well for young children.
Check out this site for a starting point http://www.nzski.com

[PhattTim]

Hi, the short answer is No, there will be no skiing on the 2nd of June.

There is no problem taking young people skiing. I'm 19, started skiing when I was 3 and have skied 30-40+ days a year since then. If you want to ski with your children then there are plenty of beginner/intermediate slopes on any field in the south island (except for Treble Cone which is more of an advanced skier orientated mountain) for them to play on and be quite happy. Or you can chuck them into lessons for the day and ski by yourselves and not have to worry about them. They will be well taken care of.

Queenstown: Coronet Peak will have no snow on the 2nd of June, there may be early dumps and a dusting, there may even be substantial snow but they usually do not open until about the 20th of June. There would most likely be snow to go and play in if you wanted to but no operational lifts. The Remarkables, likewise, will be closed until at least the 20th of June.

Wanaka: Looking to open on the 19th of June '03, of course due to change because of snow and weather conditions. Treble Cone is much the same also.

Methven: Mount Hutt opened around the 15th of June last season but with very very marginal skiing. If you don't ski much then it might be fun but I didn't bother getting out of bed for it. The good skiing starts late June and early July is starts getting primo.

If you are really dead keen on doing some skiing you may want to reschedule to a month or so later. Otherwise there is a huge amount of activities you could do. I'd recommend Queenstown for sure, pretty much everything you could imagine from bungy jumping to rolling down a huge hill inside a big rubber ball, haha, good times.