Of the four main South Island ski fields mentioned above my recomendation would be Coronet Peak. The road in is sealed all the way, all the others are gravel/mud, which means slow going when you get stuck behind a noob in a campervan. Coronet Peak, Remarks and Mt Hutt all now have radio frequency tags that you wear in your jacket and ski straight through the gates, this reduces the lift queues as you don't have to wait to be scanned each time. You can get passes that do multiple resorts so give a few a shot. If you're totally new to it, I would say do 2 days at the Remarkables then swing over to Coronet for the rest. I went this winter with a large group, we rented a huge house up high on the hill in Queenstown where we could sit in a hot Jacuzzi looking out over the lake and snow covered peaks. We had 9 days of magnificent weather and great ski conditions. Took a day off skiing and did the Shotover Jet and Queenstown Gondola and Luge thing, that was good too.