Can you have Queenstown all to yourself?

During last winter's school holidays 10 planes a day from Australia landed in Queenstown. Shut off for two years before then, New Zealand had been forbidden fruit; so near, but so far.

And Queenstown's the coolest destination in New Zealand, so when metres of snow dumped on the world's adventure capital from June - making 2022 the snowiest start to the season in 20 years - Queenstown became Aspen, Niseko and Whistler all rolled into one. All your neighbours were there. All your friends, too. And their neighbours. And their neighbours' friends.

I have nothing against any of you, or them - but I've been coming here for 25 years and I like feeling like I'm in New Zealand, not Perisher or Mt Buller. While Queenstown easily accommodates all of us - there are more than 100 bars and restaurants in town alone - there are ways to avoid your fellow countrymen.

There's no more spectacular airport in the Antipodes than this one - the runway at Queenstown Airport is built directly below one of the town's main ski resorts (The Remarkables). I am on a full flight today, with a long queue at immigration, but I'm whisked away by a driver to a secluded lodge built in native forest above Queenstown's glacier-fed lake, Lake Wakatipu.

Matakauri Lodge looks out across Queenstown's Big Three mountains - The Remarkables, Cecil Peak and Walter Peak. Though it's barely seven kilometres out of town, it feels like 100. There's only room for 32 of us - maybe that's why the staff know my name. Staying here feels like scoring an invite to the holiday home of a really rich uncle you never knew you had - guests are a mix of Europeans and Americans mostly, though I won't see more than a couple of them in four days. While my fellow passengers are still deep in their check-in lines at hotels in town, I'm drinking champagne in an outdoor Jacuzzi looking across the lake.

There's a heli-pad a short distance from my lodge. If you have the dollars, helicopters are the best way guaranteed to avoid every other traveller in Queenstown. Heli-skiing trips mean you'll only ski with the people who can fit in your helicopter - that's a heck of a way to thin a crowd.

But you can have an exclusive ski experience for a fraction of the price in Queenstown - $NZ45 ($41). I arrive at Queenstown's easiest-accessed ski resort, Coronet Peak, in time for First Tracks next morning. While Coronet Peak is only a 20-minute drive along a sealed road from town, at 8am there are only a handful of other skiers. First Tracks gives skiers an hour of ski runs before the mountain opens. The sun hasn't risen yet across the highest mountain peaks as I take the chair to the top. From up high, I look across Queenstown and its surrounding glacial valleys. I take off on groomed corduroy and find fresh snow and race the clock, tracking six runs before 9am, with barely another skier in my path.

Next day I arrive at The Remarkables, Queenstown's other major ski resort, after a 30-minute drive from town. I book a private ski guide/ instructor, even though I don't really want lessons. On perfect mid-ski-season blue-sky days like today, the resort gets very crowded, but with a ski guide I won't have a single queue all day (we have a priority lane). More importantly, they'll show you the best runs of the day at the right time of the day to ski them - and they'll show you ski slopes few others know about. We finish the day in boot-deep powder at the lower reaches of the resort on a run called Homeward Run. There were more than 2000 skiers around me today, but it felt like there were only 20.

Town's crowded with people as I pass through on my way back to Matakauri Lodge. So I spend what's left of the afternoon at my own bar within the lodge, with the best views in Queenstown. I'll avoid the crowds this evening, too, at Amisfield - New Zealand's No 1 restaurant, according to the Cuisine Good Food Awards (the country's premier restaurant-rating system). It's located within a winery 20 minutes drive east of Queenstown on a plateau looking across a lake and the mountains. Executive chef Vaughan Mabee was once head chef at the world's top-rated restaurant, Noma (in Copenhagen). I enjoy a seven-course tasting menu in a room built from local schist rock and recycled hardwood, beside a roaring fireplace. You'll want to book at least a month ahead to nab a spot here - but once you're in, nowhere feels quite as private.

What's unique about the Queenstown ski region is its number of off-mountain pursuits - non-skiers can have just as much fun on a ski trip to Queenstown. Don't leave the region without visiting the wild and mostly deserted west coast, only a short flight away. I take a helicopter next morning across Lake Wakatipu and the Southern Alps to Milford Sound, stopping for a boat tour where seals and dolphins swim beside the boat. Later in the afternoon, I drive for 40 kilometres on one of the country's most scenic roadways along the edge of Lake Wakatipu to the village of Glenorchy. It's surrounded entirely by snowy mountains, some capped with glaciers, part of the setting for The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and yet I don't see another tourist all afternoon.

There are times I want to join in the party atmosphere of Queenstown - it has an apres-ski bar scene you could only compare with the world's most iconic ski towns like Aspen - but when I feel like an easy escape, Matakauri Lodge is five minutes away.

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Getting there: Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin and Air New Zealand fly direct to Queenstown from Australia's east coast.

Staying there: Stay in a suite overlooking Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables at Matakauri Lodge (robertsonlodges.com).

Skiing there: Book a private instructor/guide at The Remarkables (theremarkables.co.nz) and the First Tracks experience at Coronet Peak (coronetpeak.co.nz); fly to Milford Sound by helicopter (queenstownhelicopters.nz); dine at Amisfield (amisfield.co.nz/restaurant).

Explore more: queenstownnz.co.nz

Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of Destination Queenstown and Robertson Lodges.