Frozen - the ski trip!
Having watched Frozen approximately 3027 times, and sung along to the sound track every single time (yes, Every.Single.Time.) we got in the car recently, my children had the snow bug pretty bad.
The daily breakfast conversation went something like:
Kids: “Do you want to build a snow man? When can we go to the snow Mummy?”
Me: “You know the snow is really cold”
Kids: “The cold never bothered me anyway”
Kids: “When can we go to the snow Daddy?”
Dad: “Let it go”
It was time for our first family ski trip.
We took the direct flight from Brisbane to Queenstown – an easy 3 and a half hour trip - picked up a hire car at the airport, and half an hour later we were checked in to our room. We stayed at the Blue Peaks Lodge in Queenstown. The 2 bedroom apartments are fairly simple, but perfect (and affordable) for a family. It’s an easy walk down into town (slightly harder back up the hill to the room when you have little people with tired legs) and the Queenstown Gardens are just at the end of the road.
Having arrived mid afternoon we could stroll into town that afternoon to arrange our ski hire, which was delivered to the storage room at Blue Peaks for us, and grab a legendary Ferg Burger for dinner.
The drive up to Coronet Peak is about 25 minutes, and given they weren’t having a fabulous snow season, was very easy with no snow on the road. The trip up to The Remarkables is a little longer and a lot hairier, particularly if you are on the passenger side of the car, and it’s blowing a gale and starting to snow. But that might just be me… There is a shuttle bus from the bottom of the road which might be worth considering if you are unsure about driving up yourself.
Having a hire car was fairly essential for us with small children. When they are tired at the end of a long day you don’t want to be hanging around waiting for the shuttle bus, and it meant we could load the car up with extra clothes, food, water, etc without having to ski with it all day.
The kids had 3 days in Skiwiland which is a combination of indoor play and ski lessons. Our 5 year old loved it, and took to the skiing enthusiastically – I have considerable sympathy for the 6ft ski instructor who spent hours bending down to catch impatient 5 year olds who just point themselves down the mountain with no intention of stopping. Our 3 year old took a little longer to warm to it – once she was on her skis she was very happy but persuading her to go in in the first place was the issue. My only tip is to book yourself a ski lesson so you have to drop and go – hanging around is more painful for all involved! Despite that, she is the one who asks most often “when can we go back to the snow?”.
If the kids have a little bit of energy left at the end of the day, stay up the mountain until the lifts have closed and the last few stragglers have made their way off the slopes (waiting with ski boots loosened and cold beer in hand may or may not have been my style!) and then the kids, large and small, can have a ball climbing up the bottom of the runs and sliding down on their bottoms. Possibly not something I should be encouraging, but it was absolutely the high point of our childrens’ days.
I will admit to having had a few qualms about whether the kids were big enough to really enjoy a trip to the snow, and I’m very happy to report that they absolutely loved it. As a family holiday it was a huge hit, Dad couldn’t think about work at all (either too busy flying almost in control down a mountain; sleeping; or wincing from the bruises!); we all got to play together, and most importantly the kids slept fantastically as they were exhausted!
We’ve definitely got the ski bug as a family. But in the meantime, it’s summer and as the kids keep telling me, it’s time to have our ‘snow up against the burning sand…in summer!’