Beautiful place. The Queenstown Lakes district is well known for its scenery and quality of snow. In the two times I have been to Cardrona, I have been very impressed with the quality of snow, the instructors, the runs and the other facilities available such as toilets, restaurant and hireage. I went, the first time in a big group of about fifty, and the second time with some friends, about four of us altogether.

Cardrona is known as the "family" place to ski - it has easy runs for beginners, world class instructors and is a bit more family friendly in terms of its runs than other nearby skifields such as Treble Cone - something for the learner 5 year old, the snowboarding freak teenager, the off-piste crazy uncle, the "I haven't skiied since I was a kid" parents and the grandparents who still remember wooden planks! It's just such a cool place. I love it.

I went up a beginning-intermediate - I had skiied a few times before at Whakapapa (on Mt Ruapehu in the North Island) and was fairly confident but thought I'd better take a lesson to sharpen up. The instructor was very helpful, funny and relaxed, making it a really pleasurable experience that ended in a snowball fight! We were taught the basics and then taken up to one of the beginners runs to practice. It lasted for a couple of hours and was just the thing to kickstart the rest of the day's skiing, which I think was much improved by my lesson. I would highly rate the instructors here - everyone seemed to enjoy their lesson.

There is a large assortment of runs, and I was on the intermediate ones by the end of the trip - what a buzz eh! I found them pretty challenging but what an amazing feeling - and its easy to link up to another green run if you're finding it a bit difficult. The chairlift facilities are good, a few two-seater ones and a monster four seater express that zooms you up to the top of the mountain. Cardrona also boasts a "magic carpet" for the real beginners - no more trying to battle rope tows and T bars with this baby! You just step on it and the conveyor belt deposits you gently at the top of the run - dignity intact. There are some rope tows on the beginners slope but the four seater express will take you to most places you'd want to go if you're an average skiier - intermediate runs, beginners, the snowboard halfpipe, plus over to "Captains" - the other side of the mountain that is mostly intermediate runs.

Captains Basin (where I spent the latter half of the two trips practicing my falling skills) is also impressive as to the quality and assortment of runs. It's pretty uncrowded and has a four-seater chair zooming up the mountainside There is a nice cafe there too that overlooks some stunning scenery into the Wanaka valley. (If I die I hope Queenstown and Wanaka are heaven. You must visit it.) There are a few more challenging tracks over at Captains and a bit of off-piste on the way over. You come back down to the base through one of several ways - "Queenstown Express", which takes you behind the mountain - God does exist - and then you can go down the normal way or take a jaunt down Skyline - a smooth curving track that takes you gently around the mountain back to base and a nice hot chocolate.

Cardrona is becoming known as a world-class snowboarding facility and they've got four international halfpipes going up there - I don't really snowboard but I know snowboarders are impressed by the facilities and the competitors looked pretty awesome! The week we were up they were having competitions which was pretty exciting, plus some downhill speed skiing stuff, and "Highest Air" - how high can you jump on a snowboard? Plus ramps and bars and bars and things to do tricks on - like I said, I don't snowboard but people seemed to enjoy these fixtures.

I had to hire gear but found prices reasonable, especially for a student, and the gear was good too - I hired skis, boots and poles and got 'carvers' - shaped skiis that let you carve it up and turn with more ease. These are great for pretending to be flash and shooting clouds of snow at your friends.

There is accommodation on the mountain but we stayed in Wanaka at my friends' grandma's house so accommodation was free - makes a huge difference. But there are heaps of places to stay in Wanaka, hireage stores in the town - I think we found it cheaper to hire in town in the end. Wanaka was a sleepy lakeside resort until the huge adventure and ski industry hit and now it is a bustling metropolis with lots of bars and cafes. I recommend the Italian place that looks Spanish, opposite New World supermarket in the middle of town. Delicious. I'll find out the name and post it. Wanaka - food, drinks, clothing - is accordingly reasonably pricey, but you're probably going to get that in a small place with such a rollicking industry. If I was coming from overseas I'd probably get a package deal, it does make things simpler but you risk missing some of the gems around the Central Otago area if you go skiing EVERY day. Take a load off your ankles and check out the surrounding countryside, sample food and wine - there's a stone restaurant on the Dunedin-Queenstown road - Fruitlands Gallery - with delicious omelettes.

While you're there, pop around the corner to Queenstown, another glacier- touched paradise with heaps of adventure activities - night skiing, heliskiing, bungy jumping (indeed, the actual birthplace of bungy jumping), jetboat rides and some world-class vineyards. Try a glass of Hayes Lake and tell me what you think of it. Central Otago wine is superb. And don't forget to visit Central Otago in the height of summer (January/February) for stonefruit...mmmmm, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots...

Anyway, I'm getting off track here. I thoroughly enjoyed my times at Cardrona and I'm looking forward to going again this year! Highly recommended. I'm returning to Cardrona for more skiing (yay!) in July of this year so I'll be able to update and re-advise you on Wanaka accommodation and more of the excellent facilities that exist up the mountain...this time the black runs?!?!

www.cardrona.co.nz - really concise and helpful website with updates on snow condititons, pricing, competitions and info.

www.wanaka.co.nz - I am not kidding about this town. GO SEE IT!



Recommended: Yes

Level of Experience Needed: All
Best Time to Visit: July