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Surviving the season Down Under
There are places all over the world where there is no better way
to experience it than by rocking up with your belongings on tow,
a smile on your face and a little dollar in your pocket, falling
merrily on your feet. Queenstown is not one of these places. If
thinking of heading to Queenstown for a ski season, a lot of money
and a good deal of dismay will be saved by planning quite some way
ahead.
There are two ski fields near Queenstown - Coronet Peak, 25 minutes
drive away, and The Remarkables, 45 minutes drive away. Queenstown
itself is in the beautiful setting of the Wakatipu Basin, on the
shores of Lake Wakatipu surrounded all around by sky piercing mountains.
To get to Queenstown from the UK you will fly into either Auckland,
on the North Island, or Christchurch, on the South Island. Start
looking early for flights because the best deals go months in advance.
Getting there
The winter season is New Zealand's second busiest period, so on
1st July the cost of flights will rise nearly £200 from the day
before. As a consequence, off peak flights get sold quickly, so
if you aim to be spending less than £600 on your flight, unless
you are very lucky you should look to book 6 months before travelling
out. Added to this will be the cost of winter sports insurance,
which will cost around £150 for the season.
Because New Zealand
is the UK's antipodes (exactly on the other side of the world) it
makes little difference which way round the world you fly. You can
fly via America with Air New Zealand (stopping in Los Angeles) and
a number of US carriers, or via Asia with Singapore Airlines, Malaysian
Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. Singapore Airlines are superb and
do offer some of the best deals - the 26 hour flight time is eased
considerably by the entertainment consoles in the back of every
Singapore Airlines seat; a Super Nintendo each and a host of films
can only be a good thing. Travel agents will all offer fairly similar
deals, shopping around can, though, provide a bargain or two.
Getting from airport to resort
You will fly into either Auckland or Christchurch. If you can, try
for Christchurch simply because it is closer - unless you plan on
travelling round any of the North Island. From there, to get to
Queenstown, you have a few options. One is to fly, which will cost
you between £70 - £100 from Auckland and less from Christchurch,
just dependent on the day and what is available. Flights can be
purchased on the day or as part of a compound ticket from your travel
agent. You can also get a coach which can be booked in the airport,
which takes 10 or so hours from Christchurch to Queenstown and a
perhaps a day or two from Auckland. After you've flown for that
long you would probably be best to get another flight, rather than
sit on a coach for hours more.
If you fly into Queenstown you arrive at the airport and it's none
too clear what you are supposed to be doing. The airport is about
ten minutes drive from the town centre - go to the Super Shuttle
desk and buy a ticket into town - they will take you to wherever
you need to go and it costs about £4. Chances are when you arrive
in Queenstown you will stay in a hostel. There are about 20 hostels
in Queenstown - some are better than others. For location and facilities
the best 5 or so are probably Aspen Lodge, Resort Lodge, Southern
Laughter, Alpine Lodge and Bungi Backpackers. These will cost you
around £7 a night to stay in, and are well worth booking before
you come over. At the start of the season Queenstown has its Winter
Festival, and everywhere in the town is rammed so pre-booking is
essential. The hostel website
enables you to book accommodation very easily from the UK. Arrange
for at least a week so you have somewhere to settle down when you
arrive in town.
Getting sorted
And so your mission really begins - you're in Queenstown. In order
to start skiing or boarding you will need three things - equipment,
transport and a lift pass. It can be tricky to decide whether or
not to buy equipment before you come; I recommend that you buy it
in NZ. It is slightly cheaper, will mean you can travel a good deal
lighter and if anything goes wrong you can take it back easily.
There is an ongoing trade in second hand everything via noticeboards
around the town if you do not want to buy new, and also a shop called
One World where they sell second hand equipment. I got board, bindings,
boots, jacket, snow trousers (don't be tempted to call them pants,
they go underneath) for $850 total, about £300. If you want to buy
new there are a load of snow shops in town - the pick are probably
S & C Snowboards, Outside Sports and NZ Shred.
Getting around
Transport wise you really have to buy a car - don't fool yourself
into thinking you will be alright without one. The costs are massively
smaller than in the UK and NZ is a car place. A reasonable car can
be bought from a noticeboard for NZ$900 or so - about £350 and this
will serve you admirably for the season. The more you pay the better
it will be and the less likely to go wrong - and in all cases you
will be able to sell it when you leave. You only need to make sure
it has a Warrant of Fitness - the same as our MOT - and a valid
registration. You don't legally have to have insurance in New Zealand,
but it is recommended and inexpensive.
You will also want to
get chains for the occasions on which it snows. Get a car, do it.
The final thing is lift pass - get this before you come over. When
lift passes go on sale early in the year they start at NZ$400 or
so, and once the season begins they go up to NZ$1600 - a rise from
about £170 to over £500. Look at www.nzski.com for when they become
available and buy as soon as you can - tempting as it always is
to leave these things to when you get here you will pay dearly.
You are now ready to go - so drive up to the mountain and try all
your lovely new stuff out. Bonza. Both Coronet Peak and The Remarkables
are owned by nzski.com, so your pass is valid at both of these as
well as Mt Hutt, near Christchurch, and Ohau ski fields.
Sorting out a job
The two things you have remaining are work and accommodation. The
intended dream of being a barman by night and a boarder by day is
quickly surpassed by a realisation that there are several thousand
people just like you. Working for the mountain is a good thing to
do and you should certainly apply as you can always leave the job
if things don't work out. Applications for all sorts of positions
end in March of the same year - so get your application in early.
They are done on www.nzski.com
and require a visa - so you will need to apply for a visa early
also. If this is your first season you will probably want a Working
Holiday Visa, though be aware that these can only be granted once.
They are valid for a year and can be applied for with forms downloadable
from NZ Immigration Service's website. Working for nzski entitles
you to a good number of perks, including a free lift use, free transport
to the mountain and a host of other discounts. That all needs to
be arranged a good few months before the season starts.
There are jobs in Queenstown, but they are not easy to come by and
will take a good deal of initiative. Most of the jobs are taken
by those who arrive earlier in the year, so you will have to search
hard to get yourself sorted. The Mountain Scene is the local free
newspaper which comes out at 5.00pm every Thursday, and there have
been 200 metre queues to get one looking for work and accommodation
- it is not easy and there are a lot of people in the same boat.
Finding a place
to live
Accommodation is a similar story, look at noticeboards, look through
the Mountain Scene, speak to people and ask if they know of places
to work and stay. There is also the Queenstown Accommodation Centre
which is worth a visit most mornings, as well as Resort Rentals
- it is difficult but with a bit of luck you can find somewhere.
A lot of people end up living in nearby Fernhill, for which you
will definitely need a car - consider yourself quite lucky if you
end up a short walk from town. Expect to pay NZ$50 a week (about
£19) at the very least and $200 a week (about £75) at the very most
- so there is a large scope. You should aim to be paying little
more than NZ$100 a week realistically. Also bring over your mobile
phone - a NZ sim card is inexpensive and you will need a phone here
to get yourself and keep yourself sorted.
Smaller pistes and no apres ski
The mountains themselves are quite small and the snow conditions
a little unreliable, but not everyone can say they are skiing in
mid August. Be wary, however, that though it is the best skiing
in the Southern Hemisphere it really is not the same experience
as in Europe or North America; the mountains are very much smaller,
there are no gondolas or cable cars, no tree-lined descents, no
skipping from one valley to the next. It is good fun though, if
a little surreal to be skiing somewhere so unlike what you're used
to, even down to everyone speaking English.
Queenstown itself is
not a ski resort and as such does not have the typical après ski
scene. There are a good few places to go out, though, and you will
start to know a few of those who are here for a while. The kebab
on the way home as been replaced by Subway, where you will be sure
to have a good selection of breads and fillings.
Give it a go
Ski seasons NZ style are a good deal different to what you might
be used to, but if you plan on coming over put a bit of planning
in before you do and you will have a superb time.
Report by Rich
Brown, Resort Reporter,
Queenstown,
NZ
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