Video: The Lindis Group
New Zealand · Lakes, Passes & High Country
Otago’s high country of lakes, schist ranges and mountain passes, and beyond the Lindis Pass the Ahuriri Valley, home of The Lindis.
Now in Central Otago
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New Zealand · Lakes, Passes & High Country
Central Otago is the South Island at its most elemental: schist ranges and tussock basins under huge skies, glacial lakes at Wakatipu, Wānaka and Hāwea, vineyards of Pinot Noir on the river terraces, and Queenstown and Wānaka as its lakeside gateways. The seasons are sharply drawn here, hot dry summers, golden autumns and winters of snow on the ranges, when the ski fields open above the lakes.
North of Wānaka, the road climbs over the Lindis Pass into the Ahuriri Valley, where The Lindis rests on the floor of a glacial basin within the 6,500-acre Ben Avon Station: eight rooms, the Ahuriri River at the door, horses in the stables and the Southern Alps on the horizon. It is the high country of long rides, quiet water and the Milky Way, arranged privately with your advisor.
Between Lake Hāwea and Lake Wānaka, Mt Isthmus Villa is a sole-use house of four suites on a private 7,000-acre high-country estate beneath Isthmus Peak, with a private chef and Villa Host, about twenty minutes from Wānaka.
The days are as wide as the land. At The Lindis there is fly fishing on the Ahuriri, private treks from the lodge’s stables, lunch at the Black Diamond pavilion hidden in the valley, and guided stargazing beneath skies that border the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. From Mt Isthmus, the climb to Isthmus Peak takes five to six hours from the door; helicopters reach the Siberia Valley for a hike and a jet boat down the Wilkin River, or the Matukituki Valley for a glacier landing and a ridgeline walk; and the Hāwea River and the Blue Pools are close by.
Central Otago is also one of New Zealand’s finest wine regions, known above all for Pinot Noir. For vineyard stays elsewhere, see South America Wine Country and Chianti.
Within New Zealand, Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu lies about an hour from Wānaka over the Crown Range, and the vineyards and sheltered coves of the Bay of Islands make a warm northern counterpoint. Our New Zealand guide joins them.
Why visit
Featured properties
Your advisor works directly with each house, from a Pod for two at The Lindis to the whole of Mt Isthmus for a family, and sequences the drive over the pass or the helicopter between them. Central Otago pairs naturally with Queenstown & Lake Wakatipu, or with the Bay of Islands when the journey should run from the subtropical north to the Southern Alps.
Ben Avon Station, Ahuriri Valley, near Omarama · Otago, South Island, New Zealand · five suites and three Pods
Five suites and three glass Pods on a 6,500-acre high-country station in New Zealand’s Ahuriri Valley, beneath some of the darkest night skies on earth. Two MICHELIN Keys.
Between Lake Hāwea and Lake Wānaka · Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand · a sole-use villa of four suites
A sole-use villa of four suites beneath a copper roof, on a private 7,000-acre high-country estate between Lake Hāwea and Lake Wānaka, with a private chef and Villa Host.
A remote glacial valley high above Lake Wanaka · South Island, New Zealand · four private chalets, reached only by helicopter
Four private chalets in a remote glacial valley high above Lake Wanaka, reached only by helicopter, on a 50,000 acre working high country station run by the Wallis family.
On a ridgeline above Lake Wanaka, Motatapu Valley · about 25 minutes to Wanaka, 10 to 15 minutes by helicopter from Queenstown Airport
An exclusive-use, fully hosted homestead of five suites on a ridgeline above Lake Wanaka, within a 55,000 hectare private conservation estate, with a private chef, a pool and a spa pool.
The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
When and how
Each season keeps its own calendar. We plan the transfer around it.
Best time to visit
Summer, December to February, is hot and dry, often 20 to 30°C (68 to 86°F) in the Ahuriri Valley, with long evenings and trout season on the rivers; from November to April, heli-hiking and guided fly fishing are at their best. Autumn brings gold to the tussock and the vineyards.
Seasonality
Winter, June to August, brings snow, ski days and the clearest night skies, with heli-skiing in the Southern Alps from June to September; spring, from September, is cool and green. Festive weeks around Christmas and New Year fill first, and winter weekends are popular with skiers.
Airport / logistics
Queenstown (ZQN) is the nearest airport, about 1 hour 50 minutes from Auckland. From there, The Lindis is about 2 hours 15 minutes by private transfer over the Lindis Pass, or a direct helicopter flight; Wānaka is 1.5 hours by road. The final stretch is a well-kept gravel road, best in a 4WD.
Month by month
Seasons follow the notes above. Average daily high and monthly rainfall for 2015 to 2024 from ERA5 reanalysis, via Open-Meteo.
Luxury experiences
Suggested journeys
Days held in sequence, not a list of nights.
From the Journal
Where we write about this place: the seasons, the houses and how the days are best arranged.
Related destinations
Landscapes that sit well beside this one.
Destination
The Southern Alps and great lakes of New Zealand’s South Island: a private villa on a hill above Lake Wakatipu, and a high-country station in the Ahuriri Valley.
New Zealand
The Southern Lakes around Queenstown, where The Villa at Blanket Bay keeps four King suites on a hill at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
New Zealand
New Zealand’s subtropical far north: 144 islands, sheltered coves and historic Russell, home to Paroa Bay and Sage Restaurant.
Plan My Trip
Tell us the season, the company, and the feeling you want to keep. We will write back with a considered path, not a link to a search.
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