Head to the snow!
#146 Do - head to the snow! With incredible mountains on our doorstep, we have hit the road to Central Otago/Queenstown-Lakes District for a wee winter break. Today we visited the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground on the Pisa Range. The only proving ground in the southern hemisphere, the South Island company uses 490ha of privately-owned land from June to September for winter testing of vehicles and tyres. It started in the 1980s when a tyre company wanted a place to test snow tyres and has developed into an international award winning winter vehicle testing facility. Cars are often disguised using bubble wrap, canvas or patterned vinyl wrap to keep them top secret before they're officially released. They can have up to 16 car manufacturing companies privately testing at any one time and it operates 24 hours per day, with most tyre companies testing during the night. It attracts companies from all over the world. Amazing place with great views!
