30 minutes from the hotel
Things to do in Queenstown
Queenstown is 30 minutes away and looks like nowhere else in Australia. The bare hills around it are the legacy of a century of smelting, and the town has stopped apologising for them.
- From the hotel30 minutes
- Best forHalf a day
Photograph: Kim Dunstan
The approach over the range is the introduction: the hills strip back to rock and the colours turn orange and grey. It has been called a moonscape for decades and the description still holds, though the vegetation is slowly returning.
The town has a rugged mining history it wears openly, the West Coast Wilderness Railway departs from here, and the mountain bike network on Mt Owen has put it back on the map for a completely different crowd.
It is also the gateway to the edge of the World Heritage wilderness and is surrounded by good fishing lakes, which is a very different Queenstown to the one the postcards show.
Practical
Worth doing
- The West Coast Wilderness Railway, which departs from Queenstown.
- The drive in over the range, ideally in daylight and not in a hurry.
- The Mt Owen mountain bike trails, which run from family greens to serious downhill.
- Nelson Falls, further along the Lyell Highway towards Derwent Bridge.
Stay the night at the Heemskirk
Thirty minutes each way, so Queenstown is a half day rather than a stay.