Do homework ahead of holidays
Budget and ski holiday are not natural partners. Here’s a way to find a happy medium for the school holidays.
Photos of squinting kids in fluoro onesies, crazy beanies and epic bails are a hallmark of many family albums. A rite of passage for Kiwi families: Can we get through a ski trip with fewer than five tantrums, an empty bank balance and a lost glove? It’s the best of the New Zealand outdoors – but chairlifts and rosy cheeks don’t come cheap ... especially in the school holidays.
Forget a week-long stay, just four nights in Queenstown for Mum, Dad and two primary schoolers, with lift passes, gear hire and flights from Auckland (Wednesday-Sunday) will be at least $3900 in the July term break. Almost $4300 departing from Wellington and $3800 from Christchurch. That’s without food, shuttles or car hire and petrol: add those and it’s a budget blowout. So how can you keep costs low?
Skifield
The above Queenstown calculation used the Remarkables’ three-day pass and gear prices ($429 per adult, $255 per child). And while that resort is, well, remarkable you’re paying a premium for being in an alpine jetsetter hotspot. Do your wallet a favour and scratch Queenstown from your family holiday list.
It’s often presumed that for North Islanders on a budget, there is only Ruapehu. However, if we’re lucky enough to get a good dump of snow and your family is looking more to frolic and fall in the snow, then two club fields Manganui (on Taranaki) and Tukino (on the eastern slopes of Ruapehu) are worth investigating.
Two adult and two under-17s day passes will set you back less than $120 (equivalent to just one adult day pass elsewhere), but you are limited to using T-bars or rope tows – fine for a day or two, not great if you are looking for comfort. But the savings are there.
On the Mainland, smaller fields offering family-friendly prices include Mt Dobson (adult passes $80), near Lake Tekapo, and Porters, near Springfield in Canterbury which gives 15 per cent off for families. These two are commercial fields close to Christchurch airport, but without the razzle dazzle of nearby Mt Hutt.
Accommodation
Queenstown’s average nightly Airbnb rate for a whole property is close to $550, Wanaka’s was $410 but around Ohakune it was $290, so location is key. My poppa taught us to ski on Ruapehu staying at the Whakapapa DOC caravan park (cabins for two adults, two kids from $120 per night).
Cheaper digs can be found at smaller towns like Raetihi or National Park village. Airbnb and Bookabach have given motels a run for their money and a whole property lets you blob out after a day on the mountain.
However, the driving distances and shuttle options need to be weighed up against the accommodation costs. Ruapehu will run ski shuttles from National Park (free with day pass) and from Taupo this season ($39 return) which opens the accommodation net wider.
Passes
If you’re going all-in commit to a multi-day pass, but if this trip isn’t about navigating black runs then look into half day passes or, lower mountain-only lift passes to get savings. Treble Cone, near Wanaka, offers its learners area for free to any age group.
The smaller commercial skifields and the club fields offer cheaper day lift passes, but offer fewer chairlifts, if any. Nevertheless they would be a good place to test whether the kids are potential ski bunnies, and offer something a bit different (and less crowded) in peak winter times.
If your family wants to do it all again next year, be on the lookout for early bird season passes from November.
Gear
Save the pro gear until you can at least nail a blue run. Instead beg or borrow your skis, boots and poles. Trade Me is a treasure trove of perfectly fine preloved kit. If you prefer to hire while you learn to turn, rent gear down in the towns, rather than from the resort – even with pass + gear deals, you’ll find cheaper on the main street.
Extras
Food on the mountain is gutwrenchingly expensive. Nothing stops you from BYO-ing filled rolls and sugary treats and see the hot goodies on offer as more a side dish to keep the kids happy. Email if you have a travel issue you’d like Josh Martin, a London-based travel journalist, to write about.