Winter Wonderland

Winter really kicks off in New Zealand next week with the start of the 33rd Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival, (22 June – 1 July) which “is one of the largest such festivals in the world and in recent years has become known as ‘The Southern Hemisphere’s Ultimate Winter Party””. Now I like the sound of that!

In true kiwi style this is an all out extravaganza celebrating Queenstown and the winter season with more than 60 free and ticketed events being held over 10 days. Starting with the Lindauer (there’s that nice word again!) Party in the Park – music, food and fireworks – my pick of some of the other events include: Frisbee Golf Winter Doubles Tournament, the American Express Comedy Debate, which “brings together some of the biggest names in New Zealand entertainment to argue if Queenstown is more Auckland than Auckland”, Speights Dog Derby involving standard downhill racing followed by a bark-off and Coronet Peak Night Skiing, which doesn’t involve any silliness whatsoever… yeah right!

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘BIG’ and promises “…to rock New Zealand’s favourite party town from June 22 to July 1 with the biggest and best winter celebration there is”. I’m packing as I type…