Family Skiing in New Zealand

Vacations and Holidays in New Zealand

Deciding on the perfect family holiday when you have children in early to late teens can be something of a challenge, with children not yet independent but wanting to spread their wings. One of the best family friendly holidays, and one where parents can relax, knowing that their children are safely occupied, and are enjoying themselves very much, is by booking a skiing holiday in New Zealand.

There are many family ski packages available, both budget and deluxe, which include beginners and advanced ski tuition, with all the equipment that you will need available for hire, package deals for all transport needs, and a variety of different types of family accommodation, from chalet rooms to self- catering apartments.

The New Zealand ski season lasts from about June until November, and both islands have family ski resorts with package deals on offer. Ski areas include The Remarkables Range near Queenstown, offering 220 skiable hectares in a 700 hectare reserve. Coronet Peak is a ski field also close to Queenstown – with easy beginner slopes to more difficult runs, Coronet Peak offers skiing and boarding, equipment hire and a snow sport school.

Cardrona is in the centre of the Southern Alps and offers chalet accommodation for families and great apre ski evening entertainment at the Cardrona Hotel, with shuttles from Wanaka and Queenstown, equipment hire and a snow sport school. Mount Hutt is another option, only 25k from Methven and close to Christchurch, Mount Hutt offers accommodation, from 5 star to backpackers and family apartments, with a nightlife second to none. Mount Hutt offers skiing, boarding and heli skiing, and has a six seater summit chair lift. Whatever your preference for a healthy outdoor family skiing holiday, there will be a resort in New Zealand to suit your needs and style.

Complete package deals including airfares, transfers, accommodation, and ski slope bookings can easily be purchased. Skiing holidays offer the challenge of learning to ski by day. There are also snowboarding options and other snow sport activities that will be guaranteed to challenge the kids and perhaps wear them out a bit. Adult parents can either take up the challenge of skiing, shop at boutique shops or take photos of outstanding scenic views and simply enjoy the breathtaking scenery. With a New Zealand skiing holiday you will get all the relaxation of an out of doors holiday without a lot of travelling, and using the shuttle services. You will enjoy cozy, after ski family style entertainment, with musicians, good café or restaurant meals, enjoy bars, and pubs and quiz nights that will keep the family fully entertained and amused in a nice old-fashioned way. There are ski lessons for everyone, beginners and advanced, easy slopes to practice on, and all equipment is for hire. All that you need to do is to put in some training, so that you can bend ze nees, and you are guaranteed a fun, family holiday that everyone will enjoy, skiing in New Zealand.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Travelnowsimply.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on Feb 4, 2010.

Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea; Heaven on Earth

Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea

The world is full of beauty, and beautiful places are always attractive to tourists. There is probably no greater advertisement for a country’s tourist industry than a non-captioned picture showing beautiful scenery, unspoilt land and smiling faces. And perhaps more than any other region, the South Pacific has all of this in great quantities. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, and an attractive proposition for any sun-seeking tourist with an interest in living the relaxed life. If you had to put a visual picture to the word “holiday”, then perhaps the most immediate one would be one which corresponds very directly to what you will see in Tahiti – palm trees, sandy beaches, the whole nine yards.

In fact, Tahiti is a series of islands, and also the name of the larger island which makes up most of the landmass of the small French protectorate. The island of Tahiti, in fact, does not quite have the same beach lifestyle as the rest of the country, but what it does have is a lot of holiday resorts which feature the aesthetic beauty of the South Pacific in all its glory, along with the capital city, Papeete. Papeete makes for an excellent base from which to see the rest of Tahiti. Also on the main island are some volcanoes which form part of the breathtaking natural scenery of the area. Off the main island you will find, though, some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful scenery that you have ever seen.

Bora Bora is recognized as being among the most desirable locations for a honeymoon that the world has to offer. In the holiday resorts of Bora Bora you will find the immediately recognisable overwater bungalows, wooden huts raised on stilts over the lagoon which surrounds the island. These range from some very affordable accommodations which will suit the pocket of any visitor and serve perfectly well as a marvellous setting from which to see the area, to more luxurious bungalows which make for the ideal setting for a honeymoon. Anyone who could look at Bora Bora, its tropical lagoon, coral reef and the overwater bungalows and not want to visit, must surely have seen everything in their life.

Moorea is seen as the more exclusive sister island to Bora Bora, but is in truth not that much different to it. This is not to denigrate its charms, which are extensive and very clear to anyone who pays a visit. In fact, on Moorea the main selling point is that it is simply something different to Bora Bora – equally beautiful in a different way, with stunning views over any of its two gorgeous bays. The overwater bungalows are also present here, as are garden bungalows and apartments which are set among a relaxed atmosphere which would make not just honeymooning couples but also any casual traveler feel absolutely blissful. Beyond these two islands there are still others, making a package deal a worthwhile choice for anyone looking for a break in the sun.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Travelnowsimply.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on Oct 11, 2009.

4 Countries – 7 Business Class Flights – 1 Month – 1 Carry-On

My Singapore – Australia – New Zealand – Malaysia Trip Starts

My well-anticipated trip is near. I have been waiting for this trip so long that now it feels hard to believe I am leaving Toronto in one week (as of this writing). 

I am departing Toronto on Nov 23, 2018. My first stop will be Singapore. From there I will complete my travel in this order:

Singapore to Melbourne

Melbourne to Auckland

Auckland to Sydney

Sydney to Malaysia

The full trip is almost a month long. I will be regularly updating my:

Blog (www.ahmeddawn.com

Instagram (www.instagram.com/adawnjournal)

YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/adawn)

If you haven’t subscribed already, subscribe now my YouTube channel, as it will feature all the videos I will be sharing with you. I concentrate on travel videos, business class flight review videos, business class airport lounge reviews, food videos, packing tips, travel tips and hacks, and much more.

My YouTube subscriber base is growing exponentially and I will be able to bring you more travel videos in the future.

As my main purpose is to film my travel experiences, I carry various cameras and travel gadgets. But I am still able to pack everything in one carry-on. I will provide you some tips on how to pack and travel with only a carry-on in the future.

I hope you follow this journey and I will see you shortly from the other side of the world. This post was written in Toronto, Canada on November 18, 2018.