I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Just had first weekend away without the kids. Chasing the sleep in. Fantastic.
Won’t bore you with that but in the spirit of paying recommendations forward (most places I go are from tips on the web) I wanted to post about Saffron Restaurant in Arrowtown. It featured a year ago on Taste New Zealand and we made a mental note to check it out if we were ever in the area.
It was just superb. Great food, excellent service and even the owner/chef Peter poked his head out of the kitchen and had a chat. Definitely one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve had. Very, very recommended. Start with a drink at the Blue Door.
Other foodie places I’d recommend are The Bunker and Vudu Cafe for coffee and brekkie.
Another big highlight was Snow Park, the new ski and snowboard terrain park up high opposite Cardrona. SnowPark is an hour from Queenstown along the now sealed Crown Range road. Snow Park is a world class set up. It’s run by Sam Lee, John Lee’s son. These guys really have vision and I was super impressed by how they have developed something that is truly special.
From a John Lee interview with Unlimited …
Sam Lee, my 26-year-old son, runs the Snow Park — that’s his company. It is an all-terrain, mainly snowboarding park. He’s going to make that brand so good that no one will be offended coming on to do commercials because there’ll be no other brand there but Snow Park. Rip Curl and Billabong did commercials there last year plus several others.
Great facilities and great atmosphere. You can stay up there too. On Saturday there was a 1/4 pipe contest going on which we had a look at. The ramp was a good 20 foot. You could easily walk out and watch.
Part of the complex is Snow Farm, where international car makers have been testing snow tyres for years. There was a few car shipping containers down the bottom that I would have loved to have peeked into. The road is used for the Race to Sky in Easter so is a good drive.
I just love seeing people build world class businesses doing what they’re passionate about.
There is now a a direct Wellington to Queenstown return flight. 90 mins. Out Friday, back Sunday. Perfect.
I did a season in Queenstown when I finished uni - 20 years ago. Queenstown is New Zealands version of Noosa. Too pretty, too pricey, but great for quick break.
Looking forward to Web on the Piste.
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Agree re Saffron and Vudu, best in NZ and Snow Park is a lesson to us all about what is possible, indeed i hear the Europeans are interested in the business model (whatever next eh?)…
Thanks Road for the info. Pretty useful for planning a weekend ski getaway. Even better that “There is now a a direct Wellington to Queenstown return flight. 90 mins. Out Friday, back Sunday. Perfect.” What airlines is this? Couldn’t find the direct route on Air NZ or Qantas.
Air New Zealand. Down NZ5401, up NZ5406.
Snow Park used to have Euro car companies coming down to film in the NZ winter.
I did some XC there with my wife in 1999 which was just awesome. Super weather. Mind-blowing sceneary. Few people (looks like this changed). Great facilities.
and Helen and hubby were XC skiing up there when we were there 2 weekends ago (I think she opened something too while she was there but it looked like she was mostly there for some R&R)
Thanks Rod
Good to hear Saffron is still good. In 2001, I spent 12 weeks in queenstown with my wife, we used to head over to Saffron regularly, it was so yummy!
Please tell me exactly where the Saffron Restaurant is (I’m American and live in San Francisco). Does this restaurant feature dishes/desserts flavored with saffron? Many thanks.