Today also marks the first 22ft halfpipe to open in the Southern Hemisphere this year. Snow Park NZ team riders were given the first ride of the pipe and all agreed it was well worth the wait.

The team drew straws for the first hit to the pipe with Wanaka snowboarder Abby Lockhart drawing the shortest straw and the first ride.

I wanted to keep it fun so I invited the team to drop in together in a train, said Lockhart. Its  awesome to have the pipe open and great to have more options at Snow Park this early in the season.

A dedicated park crew have been working day and night to ensure the pipe is perfect. Ideal snowmaking conditions provided the icing on the cake.

This year sees a technically advanced superpipe created in association with Development Snow Parks, the local Wanaka company contracted to create this years 2010 Vancouver Olympic Halfpipe.

An increase in size from last years 18ft pipe, Sam Lee, Snow Park NZs Operations Manager said larger pipes are now the standard.

They are so much safer and everyone is able to get a better experience. said Lee.

Snow Park NZ halfpipe enthusiasts and newcomers alike are also free to enjoy the newly opened Hatchet Slopestyle run.

Always popular is the Birdman Competition. Watch in complete amazement or bewilderment as contestants and their contraptions attempt to fly the farthest – with the landing pad a freezing Lake Wakatipu.

Firworks always kick-start the week of action packed events.

Who cares about the cold – it’s all about CRAZY FUN – above is a contestant in the 2009 Undy 500 Race.

The Celebrity Drag Race is always fun, mayhem and an absolute HOOT to watch.

Queenstown’s Winter Festival has been ranked as one of the world’s Top 10 must-see festivals by a major Australian website.

Yahoo!7 Travel, which provides news, online travel guides, booking and reservation services, has rated the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival as the fourth best festival in the world.

The festival ranks higher than the likes of New Orleans’ Jazz Festival, Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls, Oktoberfest, and the Sydney and Melbourne festivals.

The Queenstown Winter Festival dates for 2010 are 25/06 till 04/07.

Click here to check out the winter festival website

There are going to be a lot of Australians here,” Qantas regional general manager Grant Lilly said yesterday, announcing additional transtasman services direct to Queenstown from Melbourne this summer.

Mr Lilly, of Auckland, told the Otago Daily Times in addition to extra services from Melbourne and Brisbane for 13 weeks during the winter season, the airline would be adding seven supplementary services between Melbourne and Queenstown between December and January.

The seven return services would coincide with the increase in leisure travel over summer and be marketed in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne as “one stop to Queenstown” services.

“The extra capacity will benefit the New Zealand tourism industry and we are pleased to offer our customers an extra service each week, on top of our existing three return services per week on the Melbourne to Queenstown route.

“It will also encourage Australians to take their holidays in Queenstown. The Melbourne departures connect really nicely with our domestic flights from Perth and Adelaide – we’ll be marketing the flights in all three of the centres as `one stop to Queenstown’.”

The additional weekly flights would operate from December 18, to January 29, 2011, he said.

Qantas’ additional winter services will begin on June 26 and run until September 19, with extra weekly schedules from Melbourne and Brisbane to Queenstown.

Click here to read the full story on the ODT website