But after winning a two-day trip through an Auckland Airport and House of Travel competition, Ms Hobman and her long-time friend Cristeen Smith, of Te Atatu, plan on coming back next month.
Ms Hobman was one of 3528 people who entered the competition. Eight of them won Queenstown weekend getaway packages, which ran for a month from mid-November and aimed to promote 30 direct flights a week from Auckland to Queenstown.
It was extensively promoted on billboards throughout Auckland Airport's domestic and international terminals - viewed by about 1.5 million people over the month as well as on radio, in print and on Auckland Airport's website.
Ms Smith also entered the competition and having last visited Queenstown 28 years ago, was delighted to be asked to return with Ms Hobman, a friend of 29 years.
"The scenery is amazing, just absolutely stunning," Ms Hobman said.
"We're coming back in a month's time to see more of Queenstown, like the Canyon [Swing].
"It's given us enough time to give us a taste. It's a good promotion."
Queenstown Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson said the competition had given Queenstown "great exposure" in Auckland and was part of the strategic alliance between the airports - "to work together to encourage more New Zealanders to get on a plane to Queenstown".
Auckland Airport strategic communications adviser Andrew Pirie said the company had been working hard to "make sure that we really make good on our investment in Queenstown Airport".
Part of that was looking to drive "as much traffic as we can into Queenstown", he said.
Queenstown Airport Corporation created and sold 24.99% of new shareholding to Auckland Airport for $27.7 million in a strategic alliance announced in July last year.
"A key focus has been international markets ... but we're also mindful of the potential of the domestic market," Mr Pirie said.
"Anecdotally, a lot of people in Auckland are perhaps seeing Queenstown as an opportunity for a skiing holiday or a peak summer holiday [and] we think there's potential to market Queenstown as a year-round destination with domestic travellers."
Mr Pirie said the increased frequency in services and lower prices made Queenstown a more "reasonable proposition" than it was a few years ago.
Runway lights at Queenstown Airport would also play a part in increasing domestic numbers, which hit a record 72,925 last month.
Mr Pirie said once the airport lights were operational - expected to be the end of June this year - and carriers looked to increase their services to include later flights over winter, Queenstown would become a more attractive option for a weekend ski trip.
