Queenstown, the paradise of New Zealand

Atrayee Roy

The lake at Queenstown called Lake Wakatipu

Queenstown is situated in the South Island of New Zealand and is renowned for its ski fields and scenic beauty. On the 6^th of May we went on a family trip to this special place. The covid restrictions in New Zealand has recently been relaxed and domestic tourists are frequenting this place as opposed to international tourists that flooded this places in earlier years.

The effects of global warming can be seen here. None of the mountains are covered with snow and the highest temperatures are reaching 23 degree Celsius at times. The mountains are surrounding the glacial lake in Southern Alps formed around 15000 years ago. Queenstown is a large mountain basin which it shares with Arrow town, a town known for its gold rush and scenic beauty. The Queenstown Lake, locally known as Lake Wakatipu, is a deep s-shaped lake that stretches almost 80 km from Kingston on one end to Glenorchy and Kinloch on the other.

Queenstown is a popular resort and ski town and is placed on the shore of the lake that is covered on both sides by the mighty remarkable mountain ranges. 

According to the Maori legend, Manata a beautiful daughter of the local Maori Chief, wanted to marry Matakauri, the man she loved. Her father opposed her. One day a fierce giant, called Matau kidnapped Manata and took her to the mountains. The distraught chief promised to marry her daughter to the man who could rescue her. Matakauri bravely rescued her in the darkness of night and set fire to the giant when he was asleep. The fire burnt a deep gouge into the earth causing the ice and snow to melt – forming Lake Wakatipu. The meaning of Lake Wakatipu is the “Hollow of the Giant”.  (as narrated by Amanda Williams).                                

The Maori statue that is uniquely carved in Maori tradition

Our resort, the Queenstown Mews was very close to the lake front. The greenery of alpine trees looked amazing to the eyes especially during the ‘fall’ season when the leaves change their colours before laying bare on the ground during the extreme cold winter months.

The Queenstown Mews

The crystal clear Dart River

There are a few nature walks around the area. At Glenorchy, I did the famous Routeburn nature walk with my family. It started by crossing the bridge on Dart River. Some of the rare birds of New Zealand house in this area. The water is crystal clear. The rocks and the stones could be seen distinctly.

We crossed the bridge over the Dart river and went to complete a world-renowned Routeburn track

After an hour of short walk, we returned to Glenorchy to stand by the lake Wakatipu again. This place has amazing scenery. The town was developed around a farming community where the produce would be carried with the help of steam engine long ago. The old station wagon is now a landmark for tourists to take photos.

The famous olden day station at Glenorchy ! The trees are growing inside the lake that were supposed to be landmark wooden posts

In front of the Lake Wakatipu

Some wooden posts were planted in the water at different places as landmarks but surprisingly enough, they started to branch and became beautiful trees inside the water! This is seen in the picture above.

Back in Queenstown we went for a million dollar cruise on Lake Wakatipu. The captain of the ship, Whane, narrated the story of the place. There are a lot more marino sheep than people and hence ranching of animals was the profession till the gold rush started around 1880 in Shotover river. When the goldrush was over, the international tourism took over the economy of the place and is still going on.

                    I am navigating (posing for a photo) the million dollar cruise on Lake Wakatipu

Another view of the enticing lake Wakatipu

The natural glacial landscape with sharp ridged mountains capture the eye of the tourists. The boutique city of Queenstown has a lot of art galleries and famous clothing outlets apart from restaurants in the area. There are a few golf courses in the islands in the middle of the lake. The places have some unique architectural designs that are worth millions of dollars.

The snow capped Mt. Aspiring from the plane

I will suggest everyone to come to this beautiful paradise when you plan to travel New Zealand.

There are many sporting activities in the lake such as the sky diving, parasailing, shark submarine ride , gondola , jet boating and many other  sensational sport activities

These are the autumn colours where the leaves change colour before the trees are completely bare.Photographers and tourist especially come to see the display of colours! 

*All photographs are taken by the author

*Student, 1989 batch