Mature Flâneur Down Under
Teresa: Queen of Queenstown
New Zealand’s chic mountain town.
Teresa, my beloved spouse and co-flâneur, built our entire trip to New Zealand around our visit to Queenstown and nearby Milford Sound (our next stop). Queenstown is situated on the shores of a stunning glacial lake surrounded by snow-frosted mountains. The town is also the foodie capital of South New Zealand. And, there are 75 independent vineyards within 20 kilometers. It is as if the divine forces of the universe hand-crafted this place to perfectly match Teresa’s proclivities.
“This is where we are going to splurge,” she informed me in advance of our trip. “In Queenstown, we are going to blow the wad!”
And why not? Thanks to our recent work in Mongolia, we had extra money in the bank. Why save it for our children’s inheritance when before us lay a land of boutique luxury hotels surrounded by glittering ice peaks?
After two weeks in the remote north and west coasts of the South Island, Teresa and I were dazzled by the sights and sounds of the big city (population) 15,800. Teresa booked us three nights in a row at the trendiest restaurants in town, serving local delicacies like blue cod and kumara (a kind of sweet potato). She also picked out the fanciest cocktail bars for us to hit, including Eichardt’s Bar, snuggled into the oldest hotel in the city, built by the man who founded it.
Queenstown got its start in the 1860s when a Māori farmhand, Jack Tewa, found gold on the land of his employer, the first sheep rancher to settle in the region, William Gilbert Rees. Rees’ farm covered the area that became Queenstown. The government requestioned half his land for 10,000 pounds to make room for the gold-boom development. Apparently, the government never noticed the place had been used seasonally by Māori tribes for hundreds of years previously — there was no recompense for them!
Rees built the first hotel (now Eichardt’s) and set up a shipping business importing supplies for the miners. Today he is considered the founder of Queenstown. His statue stands by the waterfront, next to what was once his hotel.
When the gold boom ended, Queenstown found a second life in tourism, which sustains the town to this day. In the 1950s, a ski run was constructed on a nearby peak. This gave Queenstown two tourist seasons, so it’s basically packed year-round.
Teresa booked us at the Hulbert House Hotel, a luxury boutique B&B in an old house that was first owned by Horatio Nelson Firth. He was the “receiver” of prospectors’ gold on behalf of a bank during the gold-rush years. Unfortunately, Mr. Frith made a habit of pocketing some of the gold for himself, and got caught. He was sent to prison for five years, leaving his wife Mary and their children to fend for themselves. The resourceful Mrs. Frith opened a hotel, which has stayed in business ever since.
It’s now owned by a Japanese artist who redecorated with extravagantly bold colors and patterns, and maintains Mrs. Frith’s high standards. When they showed us to our room, Teresa experienced some sort of transfiguration experience, a moment of sheer joy. It was all she could do not to burst into tears.
“I never want to leave this room!” she announced.
What we both loved about Hulbert House were the staff members, who came fom all over to work here— England, USA, Uruguay, Japan, even Australia. They seemed to be having the time of their lives: skiing before shifts, hiking on days off, and enjoying the nightlife. Their joie de vivre was part of what made the place so special. Heck, I heard one of the staff singing to herself while cleaning the toilets!
The excursion Teresa was most looking forward to was the boat ride along Lake Wakatipu in the TSS Earnslaw Steamship. Built by the company that made the Titanic, it launched in the lake in 1912 (the year the Titanic sank). The ship used to haul supplies for miners and farmers in from the Kingston, the town at the southern tip of the lake, which by then was connected to the railway. Saved from the scrap heap in the 1950s, the TSS Earnslaw was refurbished as a tourist cruise ship — and probably made more glamorous, with wood-panel interiors and a wine bar.
One can sit in the upper lounge, sipping a glass of Otago Valley Pino Noir and listening to the piano player, while watching the white-capped mountains slide by in a stately procession. Or one can head below to explore the antique engine room, and gaze out the portholes to watch the mountains at sea level. And of course, one can pose for the camera on the bow, taking turns with other tourists for a Titanic “king of the world” photo op. We did it all.
Now, I must clarify that Teresa also wanted to stay in Queenstown for several days because she knew it would be ideal for her hiker-hubby; the hills around Queenstown are a trekker’s paradise. In fact, just a ten-minute walk from our door I found myself at the trailhead of the hike to Queenstown Peak, with spectacular views of the lake, the town, and higher up, 360-degree views of the mountains:
The climb passed through a dense and dark pine forest. A sign above the tree line told the distressing story of these trees — which are some of New Zealand’s notorious “wilding pines” — and the efforts to keep them from overtaking the native vegetation in this fragile region. The pines are an introduced species from North America, white pine and lodgepole mostly. They have no natural enemies, and so spread like weeds. They also suck up a lot of groundwater, lowering the water table. This can have devastating consequences in drier areas, such as the nearby Otago vineyards. According to the Wilding Pines website, over a quarter of New Zealand’s land is in danger of being overrun by this menace.
Originally brought to New Zealand for timber plantations, the trees were also used by the government in a misguided effort to stem erosion on mountain hillsides. Helicopters would scatter seeds by the millions. Instead of preventing erosion, the government unleashed a plague. Now, efforts to remove the trees are costly, dangerous, and complicated. Apparently, deforestation goes against New Zealand’s Climate Change policies, so one part of the government requires another part to pay a fine for destroying invasive pines!
One afternoon Teresa and I drove out to the nearby Otago vineyards for wine tasting. At Kinross Winery we sampled the product of five local winemakers at one go.
What was most interesting to us is that the famous Otago Valley Pinot Noirs have a distinctive, earthy bouquet. Umami is the technical wine-tasting term for it. One could kindly describe it as “mushroomy.” But honestly, to me, the wines smelled ever so faintly of sewer pipes. More like, Ew-mammie! That put me somewhat off the taste. But Teresa insisted the wines were complex and intriguing once one gets them past the nose.
Clearly, New Zealanders agree, because the boutique winemakers of Otago sell out their vintages year after year. The friendly woman presiding over our tasting told us it's almost impossible to get an older vintage of the local wines because demand is so high they’re all gone after a year or two. Well, good for them! We bought a few bottles of Pino Noir anyway, and though umami-like gases continued to waft from my glass, I persisted until I actually got past the initial stink and discovered mineral and dark fruit flavors underneath that really were unique. Yum-Mammie!
On our last day in Queenstown, we took a drive to the far end of Lake Wakatipu, past the sheep farms of Glenorchy and along a dirt road called Paradise Drive. This wild country was most famously used for scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies that called for vast mountain panoramas. Not even the sheep have made it this far into the wilderness. We drove until the very end of the road, exhilarated by the wild green forests and the granite, white-capped peaks.
All too suddenly, after five glorious days, it was time for the Queen and her consort to leave Queenstown. The staff at Hulbert House Hotel gave us warm hugs goodbye and wished us well on our journey to Milford Sound. There were tears, the wringing of hands attempts to bargain and plead with the universe, and so much wailing as we drove off….Teresa was sad to leave too.
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Want to read more about our New Zealand travels? Click the link at bottom…And, exciting news… My new book about our flâneuring adventures in slow travel in Europe has just been published this week! You can order a copy at your favorite independent bookstore, or via this link:
