While Queenstown has been busy with glitz, glam and bustle, the lakeside “hamlet” of Wanaka, an hour’s drive over the Crown Range in New Zealand’s Southern Lakes district, has long been delivering a quiet luxury that feels like home.
This is my fourth time staying with Release NZ, a short term holiday rental company that specialises in properties that deliver style and function in a truly spectacular year round mountain setting. The kind of residences that have you buying a lottery ticket and trawling the local real estate agent listings hoping never to leave.
I’m here of course for the skiing community, a core element of Wanaka that is the access town to both Treble Cone and Cardrona ski resorts alongside a selection of heli ski operations and ski touring operators for those that want untracked wilderness.
Three Peaks House is my home for the next few days, a private villa skipping distance from Lake Wanaka shores. Designed by award winning architect Michael Cumming who created a considered reveal of the alpine peaks to bring the outside in, allowing guests to be “wowed” by the views that just get bigger the further you wind your way into the home. Prepare to lift your jaw from the floor.
Enter the cedar and metal single story structure and be presented with the first view with an internal courtyard boasting a single soothing Japanese maple. Two wings shoot off from the entrance, one towards the master bedroom with viewing deck and guest bedroom with ensuite, and the other to a further two bedrooms (one a bunk room) before revealing a spectacular open plan kitchen, dining and living area with the all encompassing view at every glass walled turn.
These vistas never get old. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have found myself in Wanaka for both work and play and every time I am lured by a new take and a new perspective on the Southern Alps that line these lake shores.
Views are caught within window frames of every room, whether a picture snapshot of nearby Granny’s Bay beach, the three peaks (Roy’s Peak, Mt Aspiring and Treble Cone) or the dancing lake.
It’s no wonder that nature’s elements take pride of place at Three Peaks with a Mark Tuckey timber kitchen island, high cedar ceilings, local Otago schist rock and polished concrete floors designed to absorb the north-west sunlight. Everything has been thought through here from lighting to heating to the line of the timber and deck all flowing towards the lake.
The art collection within the home is both a nod to the Australian owners and the New Zealand location with a mix of multi-media throughout the residence – Australian Mela Cooke Bronze sculpture in the entrance sits alongside a print from local Kiwi photographer, Neville Porter.
It is hard to leave Three Peaks House, even to go skiing. Once you’re safely ensconced within these warming walls the pull is to stay firmly cocooned in the Wilson Dorset shearling beanbag by the fire drinking in the views.
Wanaka is a leisurely walk along the lake path to local’s favourites Scroggin and Federal Diner for Instagram breakfasts, James Stapley’s famed Japan inspired Kika for after dark dining that will truly delight and the humble French fare of Bistro Gentil. Though the team at Release NZ can organise private chefs or fill the kitchen with fare for home cooking so you need never leave the cradle of Three Peaks House walls.
Need to know
Three Peaks House sleeps 10 comfortably, making it ideal for multi-generational holidaying, family vacations or multi-couples getting away from it all – with four bedrooms (including bunk room with four king singles) and three and a half bathrooms plus a mud room and laundry and lock up garage.
Three Peaks House is from $2,250 per night, 3 night minimum. (Peak time rates & minimum stay requirements apply)
*Rachael Oakes-Ash was a guest of Release NZ who specialise in Luxury Holiday Rentals and Experiences and are also a registered realtor agency for those looking to invest in the Wanaka lifestyle.
