I arrived in Queenstown as the Annual Winter Festival kicked off.It is not exactly a major event but the organisers have made it out to be so huge that I thought it would be rude not to join in the fun.The opening night was launched with a firework display and an ice-hockey match between Southern Stampede and Dunedin Thunder.It was a close game but Southern Stampede took the win; good job really else all that cheering would have gone to waste.It saddens me to say that there was a better crowd atmosphere here, at this small ice-hockey rink, than at the international rugby match.

Four days after having soaked-up and drained the atmosphere of Downtown Queenstown, I was glad to be moving on, albeit just up the road, but it was to a Mercure Hotel for four nights - no more hostels, yay!I went skiing too.Skiing by day, luxury by night - the perfect combination.

After a relaxing first night in a huge double bed in front of a plasma television, I was eager to hit the slopes.Once equipped with pants, boots, skis and poles, I was ready to ski Coronet Peak.It had been three years since I had last skied so I thought that it would be for the best if I recalled my ski skills on the nursery slope.I was doing ok but then somehow managed to cross my skis and I fell.If that wasn't embarrassing enough, I couldn't get back up; my fit of laughter didn't help my issue either.I soon got back into it though, it was like riding a bike and I realsied just how much I had missed it; the snow was like powder and my parallel turns were textbook.

On the second day I went to The Remarkables to ski, so called because this mountain range runs directly North to South; quite remarkable!It was a lot quieter here and the snow was equally as good as Coronet. The runs were lovely, however, due to it being early season, some of the runs weren't yet open and so it got a little repetitive skiing the same ones over and over and so, on the last day, I went back to Coronet Peak.

The resorts here are nothing in comparison to Europe and America. The resort consists of about six ski lifts which serve approximately twenty runs, that all link. Where the runs meet, at the base, there's the base building which is there to serve the whole mountain. It consists of toilets, a cafe, a bar, rentals and a shop. Nonetheless, it still enabled me to ski and have a great time!