Image: Oliver Keohane
Oliver Keohane recounts an epic journey to Queenstown, New Zealand. The “Adventure Capital of the World”.
I get a voice note most mornings from my dad that goes something like this. “Woke up with this big rock in my back garden again mate, it’s beautiful.”
The day is over and the rock is still there. We’re nursing a beer and watching the sky turn pink behind Table Mountain. Another gorgeous winter sunset in Cape Town. The mountain will be there for the rest of the week, I’ll get a picture and a message. But I won’t be there. I’ll be watching the sun rise over the Southern Alps.
“You’re looking up at this mountain, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and in a few days you’ll be looking up at the snowy mountains around Queenstown – that’s pretty unique,” said my dad.
Image: Ford
The Southern Alps, also known as The Remarkables. An outstanding 500km alpine belt that runs along most of New Zealand’s South Island, separating various regions and welcoming us to “God’s own country”, a term brought to life by New Zealand’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Richard John Seddon. Landing in Queenstown, you don’t have to believe in God to understand the divinity of the area.
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The last time I visited New Zealand I was five years old. My family – who has since moved to South Africa and back – stay up on the North Island. My great-grandfather was Maori, and my family are descendants of Rongowhaakata Iwi, a tribe from the Gisborne Region, also in the North Island. Queenstown, far from my Maori origins is nestled in the Otago Region, south-west of the South Island. It was the Maoris who first settled there, but in 1860 European settlers arrived, soon finding gold in the Arrow River, which led to a gold rush and the subsequent development of the town. It is now dubbed the adventure capital of the world, a little resort town – population 15 800 as of 2022 – tucked vibrantly away between the breathtaking shores of Lake Wakatipu and the heavenly peaks of the Remarkables.
Why was I there? To drive new Fords.
Image: Ford
Back to sunrise on the Southern Alps. Head to toe in thermal gear, our media contingent is being carted up in an old military-style bus from our plush accommodation at Millbrook Resort to the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG) – 490 hectares of privately owned land dedicated to winter testing for automotive companies.
As the sun burnt its way up to our height, we were briefed by a specialist driving company (Downforce New Zealand) on ice-driving techniques and facility protocol. Then we got to work. We spent the day drifting Ford Rangers and Everests through the expansive ice flats of the SHPG, navigating various obstacles and shredding up the snow. The snow tyres fitted to the vehicles were not fit for driving on the road, so we had to helicopter back down to the resort. How unfortunate. I managed to tick off my first time in the snow and my first helicopter ride on the same day.
Image: Ford
When my dad and I had been speaking a few days earlier, he told me he struggled with the term once in a lifetime, given the accessibility of the modern world. “But Queenstown, that’s pretty close Ol”. That day up in the snowy kingdom, where an infinite white blanket decorated the horizon, where I saw icicles form on the chassis of our cars during lunch, only to melt as we drifted figure eights over hundreds of meters of snow-flats, where we waved goodbye from a helicopter, carving a route through the frozen peaks and valleys and back down to earth. That day, the weight of once-in-a-lifetime set in.
Queenstown itself sits on the greenstone shores of Lake Wakatipu. Standing on the beach, you witness a strange contrast; Jet boats speed off from the pier and into the distance, but the glacial waters lap up onto the beach as calm as an early morning swell. Beautiful luges, like little wintery cable cars, routinely run skiers up and down from the mountain, disappearing intermittently into the mist before returning to sight. Tourists bustle around the small network of streets, shopping and eating. For all the visceral buzz of adventure in Queenstown, there is an overriding sense of serenity that characterises the town and complements the excitement of the activities. I got to spend a day lost in this wonderful duality of calm and chaos.
Light leaks on lovers at Lake Wakatipu
Before Queenstown was a goldmine to tourists, it was a gold rush city, the evidence of which is scattered across the region. On day two of the trip, we were lucky enough to explore a bit of this history. The economy may be very different to the 1800s, but how much does a mountain range change? We began our drive through the mountains of central Otago with a steep climb above Barrockburn towards the Carricktown trail, part of the Carrick Range, which is one of the most accessible mountain ranges in the region, and an area rich in gold-mining history. From there we took the Hawkbsurn trail to Clyde, once a thoroughfare for travel and trade, before wrapping up with some epic wading through sections of the Arrow River, a beautiful tributary of the Kawarau River, where gold was discovered in 1862.
On the banks of the Arrow River lies Arrowtown, a gold rush village of the 1800s, stuck in time, but charming tourists far into the future. We visited the town on our third night and had a few drinks at a medieval hole in the wall called the Blue Door. Otago’s mountain trails are a large part of what makes the region such a lure for the outdoor, adventure-seeking tourist, and while we drove Carricktown and Hawksburn, the trails are some of the most popular mountain-biking routes in the area, with hundreds of kilometres of dedicated cycle tracks.
Central Otago’s rolling mountains
Nearly two years since this special trip I can close my eyes and feel the South Island. Queenstown is carved into my memory for the natural architecture that bewildered every morning; Turquoise waters, thick forests and the brilliant white peaks of the Southern Alps, big welcoming rocks in the vast garden. I remember the air that cleared my lungs, cleaned my skin, froze my fingers, and reminded me, with every frosty breath, that I was in a divine picket of the world.
If you get the chance to visit Queenstown, do the Jet Boats, bungee jump, and ski. But also make sure to visit the mountains and reflect on the history and beauty of the trails. Take a drive to Arrowtown and have a pint at the Blue Door. Try to soak up the accessibility of adventure that lives in beautiful harmony with the serenity of the landscape. Oh, and visit Ferg Burger. But you don’t need me to tell you that, the first local you meet will make sure you go.
Fast Fact
The Remarkables are not named as such because of their cartoon-like ice peaks, or their seemingly infinite expanse. Otago’s mountains are given their regal name because they are one of only three mountain ranges in the world to stretch true north and true south. The others are the Andes in South America and the “Rockies” in North America. Knowledge from our bus driver to me to you.
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