A beautiful morning by the lake.
The two years couldn’t be more different on the snow front. We’re starting to realise probably how lucky we got last year. None of us are skier or the like so we don’t really want to go to one of these ski resorts and pay 100’s of dollars each for a daily lift pass just to have a bit of a play . We find a place called Snow Farm. We can drive all the way up there and they have these half day play session on a toboggan run. So we make our booking and start driving over there.
So back through Queenstown, then up the really steep road that leads over the Crown Range. The main Cardrona snow fields are off to the left, we turn right to Snow Farm. The road up, while mostly dirt is fine, we end up climbing from about 450mts to close to 1500mtrs and it only in the last hundred meters or so do we start to see snow on the ground. The road is still pretty clear so snow chains aren’t needed. (a 2nd year we’ve hired chains and won’t need them)
It’s a small complex, seems mainly aimed a cross country skiing and the few of us in the snow fun zone. Which is this snow covered run of a hundred meters or so and all these inflated snow tubes.
While pretty tame, we all have fun sliding down hill and then walking back up to the top. As the day wears on, the walk up is getting slower and slower!
We’re there for about 3hrs and then everyone is pretty tired, but it was great fun and we’re super glad we came. We go to have a late lunch at the ski centre, but the options aren’t great. So we have a quick snack in the van.
View over to Cardrona 
Champagne Gully
Back down the mountain and up via Wanaka, over through Tarras and down the east side of Lake Dunstan. Where we finally pull over at a camp site called Champagne Gully, just before the town of Clyde. It’s not the best spot we’ve picked, a bit close to the road, and it’s really just a rest area, but the lake is lovely, so it’ll do.