Original article featured in Avenues Magazine
Welcome to the Mackenzie Country, a place of glacial lakes and wide open skies. Take a sip of highland air and listen; it’s quiet enough amongst the caramel tussock hills and snow-dusted alps to hear the echoes of a history filled with scallywags and hardy characters.
The Mackenzie is, in many ways, just as wild now as it was for the first brave sheep musterers to traipse in on foot, ready to make their life on its frosted and barren earth. These days, however, you’ll find pockets of comfort and warm hospitality. At the heart of the basin, on the banks of Lake Tekapo, sits the Cairns Alpine Resort and Golf Club.
Like the Mackenzie itself, the Cairns shows us the way to a simpler time. The resort is owned and run by the Simpson family, merino farmers who have been in the basin for three generations. More specifically, they’ve been here since their Grandpa Jack answered an ad for a shepherd at Mt Cook Station in 1928. It demanded he ‘must stand like an arctic hero’ and ‘hate town life’. Jack fit the bill, started a family and stayed in the Mackenzie for life.
Through elegant lodges, cottages and refurbished homesteads, the Simpsons offer their guests a modern take on the rugged alpine lifestyle which runs through their veins. Thoughtful design entwines the spirit of the place with just the right amount of luxury, and there are options for couples, families and groups of all sizes. A world unto itself, Tekapo is just 225 kilometres from Christchurch, and 256 kilometres from Queenstown.
The views, whether you’re gazing across the lake to the mountains or up at one of the brightest night skies in the world, are an invitation to pause in awe. For those who book early enough, many of the lodges include a private hot tub.
The 110 year old Mt John Homestead has the spirit of the Mackenzie in its walls. It has been masterfully refurbished to conserve its century-old character, and has five bedrooms, multiple living areas, a private hot tub and a crackling fireplace. The Bunker House, meanwhile, tucked into farmland fifteen minutes from Tekapo, is an architectural triumph and a haven of solitude.
The freshly built wood-lined Alpine Lodges have been designed with a nod to the old musterer’s hut, and are open-planned, private and flooded with natural light. Each lodge is named after a character of Mackenzie history, including the likes of James Mackenzie, the trailblazing settler and infamous sheep rustler. Also in there is Billy Hamilton, the inventor of the jet boat, and Freda du Faur, the first woman to climb Aoraki Mt Cook.
The Cairns offers a place to retreat from the world, be it for a weekend away, a group gathering or a corporate event. Tekapo is the antidote to a stale boardroom - expansive skies, mountain air and an abundance of activities are fertile ground for fresh ideas and new connections.
The Cairns nine hole golf course may not be built on sand, but the way it follows the natural contours of the hills carries a whisper of the Mackenzie’s predominantly Scottish heritage. The course offers a wonderful way to spend the afternoon in the high country air, but we’d advise you to leave plenty of time - the views are distracting.
Summer in Tekapo brings lake swims and long days of sunshine, whilst winter sees the mountains blanketed in snow. But autumn, when there’s magic in the air, is undoubtedly the best time to visit. Come April, the mornings are crisp, the sunsets are brilliant and the star-clustered nights are long and restful. The trees glow amber, and the quiet village is filled with the scent of log burners crackling back to life.
And so it stands: your invitation to simplicity. Are you ready?
