Wanaka Winter Magic

The old timers around the area were predicting a long cold winter season and right on queue, we receive a good fall of snow, on Queens Birthday weekend ,down to 300m around the hills of Wanaka to provide a good base for the coming season. The snow guns are working furiously on Cardrona and Treble Cone and are scheduled to open on 19 June.

Whats new on the mountain scene?

• Well Cardrona has a new high speed quad chair called the Whitestar Express (see www.cardrona.com )
• Treble Cone has a much expanded cafe area offering some of the best views in the world ( well I'm biased!), new grooming equipment and once again is hosting a number of National Ski teams , www.treblecone.co.nz
• Waiorau Snow Farm in the Cardrona Valley offers excellent Nordic cross country facilities ( www.snowfarmnz.com) and the new kid on the block , www.snowparknz.com , is NZ's first all mountain freestyle terrain park with a super pipe, 1/4 pipe , skier cross area and a quad chair !

So 4 great mountains within a 30-40 minute drive from the Lodge!

Getting to Wanaka has now been made even more easier with Air New Zealand now operating a direct flight from Christchurch to Wanaka .Shuttles servicing the airport and Rental cars are readily available . Increased flight frequency into Queenstown(1 hours drive) from Australia /Auckland/Christchurch make Wanaka even more accessible this winter.

New at the Lodge

• following on from the incredile exposure NZ received with the movie Lord of The Rings, we recently converted one of our rooms into a LOTR themed room called "Barlimans" complete with special "Hobbits Menu". This has been incredibly popular since it opened on 1 May.
• the Lodge has just become the only Wanaka member of the exclusive worldwide group of Boutique Hotels &Resorts , see www.boutiquehotelsandresorts.com
• We still have some space available through most of the Ski season but suggest contact us as soon as possible should you be interested in coming to Wanaka this winter.
• Well we are getting the skis tuned and waxed ready for opening! Our daughter Courtney this year competes at Ski Racing on a National level and is really looking forward to the challenge .

All the best for the coming winter .

Gary & Fran