Definitely take advantage of that airfare!!!! I'm living in New Zealand rihgt now, orriginally from Washington, and trust me, it is totally worth it. THe skiing is a bit different than in the states. First of all, it is much smaller. Their mountains are a little too extreme to have huge ski areas. Secondly, all of the skiing is above the timberline. THat means, no trees. The skiing that it is most like is in Alaska. You should go to the South Island and stay in Wanaka. The best area to go to is Treble Cone (
www.treblecone.com) for big mountain stuff. They have just addd a new chairlift and the terrain there is like none you have ever seen. If you love park, the have Snowpark (
www.snowparknz.com). Snowpark is by far the coolest park I have ever skied. It is built and maintained by Frank Grimes (not sure if that is his name, but he is the X-Games guru guy). Basically all the big names in skiing and snowboarding train there during the summer. Guys from every sponsored team are there. I skied with the Burton guy (i.e. Shawn White, J.P. Walker.....ect..) for a week while they were doing their magazine shoot. The only problem is that they usually don't get a ton of snow. But, their mountains in the South Island are almost completely grass, so you don't need much to ski on. They do have pow days and when that happens, it is AMAZING. You should check out my profile for a few of the pics from my New Zealand trip a few years ago, or check students.washington.edu/skibum23 for more pics. Click on New Zealand 03. Hope that helps!
