3/10: Queenstown's Unbelievable 'Little Paradise Garden'!

I am simultaneously finishing a travel blog about the fantastic 4.5 month long trip Steven and I took last fall to Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, much of Central Asia and then the final six weeks in Spain and Portugal. If you're interested in checking that exciting adventure out, here's the link:
www.bergersadventures6.blogspot.com

After one of the most enjoyable tours I'd ever taken through Skippers Canyon with Queenstown Heritage Tours, Diane and I decided to follow our guide's recommendation to drive along the Glenorchy Rd. west of Queenstown at least as far as Little Paradise Garden since he'd raved so much about it. The drive took us along Lake Wakatipu with stunning views of the mountains that seemed to rise right out of the lake above Queenstown and the communities beyond the city.

Soon we approached Wilson's Bay. I wondered whom it had been named after. 

Selfishly, I was glad I wasn't driving so I could gaze in wonder at the beautiful views and didn't have to concern myself with paying attention to other drivers.

Hardly thirty minutes outside of town we reached the gardens Wolfy, our guide in Skippers Canyon that morning, had urged us to visit. After seeing the sign that said "3000 Roses, Point of Interest," we never dreamt we'd end up being so entranced with our self-guiding tour of the garden that we'd stay so long and never actually make it to Glenlorchy. 

The preceding views were certainly of sufficient interest for both of us to decide we wanted to pay the very reasonable fee and enter the gardens through this intriguing gate.

A sign indicated the line of white stones was exactly on the 45 parallel, i.e. the same distance to the equator as it was to the South Pole. If you could drill 12,870 kms through the center of the earth, according to the sign,  you would come out near the coast of Spain.

We were greeted by Christy, the co-owner of the home, a native Filipino woman who explained that with her Swiss-born husband, Thomas, they had bought the 26-year-old "gardening house" that had no garden. They have since almost spent the same amount of time making it into a house of their dreams. While giving us a tour of their home - normally only open in the spring and summer although we were there in the fall - she gave credit to her husband for his amazing vision. He was solely responsible for creating a work of art out of each piece in the home and also in the acres of gardens we'd yet to explore. 

The post holding up the house had been covered by coulter pine cones, which we read were native to southern California.

The formerly plain walls had been covered with small stones Thomas had painstakingly recovered from the lake to then create, with beech wood carvings, a scene of their adopted New Zealand. The gorgeous beech wood floors had come from dead trees Thomas had recovered from the garden. 

Even the bathroom didn't escape his artistic touch!

When you flushed the toilet, it pushed new, fresh water across a  LIVE fish tank with goldfish! 

Detail of the horse's mane or was it his tail?!

Tucked away in the corner of the spectacular wall was a molding of Thomas' hand and a hammer to show he'd crushed by hand each and every piece of natural stone in the wall art. 

Christy showed us a couple of the guest bedrooms that weren't occupied as their home was also a lodge. How hard it must be to be constantly 'on' and welcoming as strangers show up with no advance warning for a tour of the home and a visit to the garden even though a good part of their livelihood depended on just that. In my mind, I likened it to having a constant 'open house' with everything always having to be immaculate. 

Imagine staying in such a place that had so much character wherever you looked! The swans on the headboard had been carved by Thomas our of one piece of wood and were set against totora grass that one sees all along roadsides throughout the country. 

The view out that room's window gave us a hint of the joy we'd soon experience when exploring more of the garden!

Christy mentioned the goat skin floor rug had come from Thomas as he was also a hunter.

All the plants were living - nothing artificial here, that was for sure!

No run-of-the-mill door knobs would suffice in the Little Paradise Lodge of course; each was made from driftwood!

In the living/dining room was the couch Thomas had made from a pine tree and a table made from a willow tree, both of which had once been in their garden. I would never in a million years have had the imagination to think of creating a space in the middle of the table to put plants! What a creative genius Thomas was!

Christy showed us how Thomas had copied this same photo onto their cabinets using stones from the lake!

If one has to do dishes, it's hard to think of a more picturesque view than this one out their kitchen window.

Christy mentioned that one piece of wood had been used to create this other table.

Thomas had positioned the bed in the second of four guest rooms in such a way that people lying in the bed could see the stars at night because there was no light pollution so far out of the city!

I read that Thomas often gives tours of their home but we only managed to see the artist this one time as he was starting to show off his handiwork to Matt and Idilko, the other couple with us on the Skippers Canyon tour that morning who had also decided to stop by because of Wolfy's recommendation. 

Christy then told us we were welcome to wander around as long as we wanted in the five-acre garden that Thomas was also responsible for designing and maintaining. I asked her if she had given suggestions or hints to Thomas of what she'd like to see or have in the house and she smiled and inferred he had his own vision and wasn't receptive to her ideas! How difficult it must be to live with such a strong personality but they evidently made it work over the last 26 years.

I wondered if Thomas and/or Christy practiced yoga or just admired its poses for him to create such exquisite pieces.

As Diane and I were left to our own devices in the garden, we never did find out how Thomas had created the 'hair' adorning these sculptures. It must have been extraordinarily fragile as there was a sign requesting visitors not touch it. It looked like crushed stones but we weren't sure.

Views of Lake Wakatipu across the road:

View back to the house cum lodge:

If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see the sign Thomas made suggesting people try this pose. I don't know how long ago I was that agile! Darlene and Maureen: Perhaps the two of you can both do some of these because of your yoga classes now?

The fish pond:

!!

No need to worry which direction we should go next as the garden wound its way up an adjacent hillside.

Gloria: How I thought you and Paul would have loved to roam this little piece of paradise after seeing what you've both done to your beautiful garden in Ottawa over the years.

Matt and Ildiko were also just as entranced with the garden as Diane and I were. Ildi mentioned that they had met on a gaming forum online when she was living in her native Transylvania and Matt was in his native Australia. After meeting in person, they lived for a time in London as they figured it was sort of halfway for each of them! They now live in Adelaide, located about 8 hours west of Melbourne in South Australia. 

The crocuses we saw in New Zealand were ginormous compared to the wee variety of the flower we see blooming right now in Denver. 

Christy had told us earlier there were more than three thousand varieties of roses in their five acre garden!

We were so glad we happened to run into Matt and Ildi again because they were able to identify some of the plants and trees we'd never seen before. It was nice to finally know this was a flax plant as we'd seen it along so many of the roads we'd driven in New Zealand but had never known what it was.

I felt like we were in a fairy tale garden or following a rainbow to its pot of gold; in this case the arrow led us up a hill!

Almost hidden away in the vast garden was this sign indicating the five bedroom lodge and property were for sale. I wondered how long it had been on the market and whom they might ever find wanting to live on such an unique property as the upkeep would be never-ending on the garden alone.

Imagine building this fairy tale staircase up the eucalyptus tree! Entry was barred, of course, but how much fun it would have been to have a bird's eye view of the gardens and the lake from the top perch.

Steven and I have traveled to both Argentina and Chile but I don't remember our ever seeing this Chile Pine or Monkey Puzzle tree. We will be back in both countries in November after we visit the Antarctica and Patagonia so will have to be on the lookout for the tree then. 

Thomas had chiseled into a large rock a description of the tree which, at one of the oldest tree families, can grow to be 2,000 years old. Since it's been around for around 90 million years, it's known, he wrote, as a living fossil. 

The monkey puzzle tree is considered to be a sacred tree in indigenous cultures for its edible seeds and valuable timber. Its circumference is up to 2.5 meters and can grow up to 50 meters or about 150 feet high.

A shot of Ildi taking a photo!

Thomas had also made a sign identifying this as a Giant Himalayan Lily that dies after seed production. Here in his garden, he noted the plant reaches a height of 4.2 meters and grows about 6 cm a day. 

Another of Thomas' signs explained that this circle marked the middle between the South Pole and the equator and that it stood on the 45th parallel. 

Various bird life, including peacocks, roamed the garden keeping us company although it was hard to get a photo of them as they just wouldn't stay still for long!

Thanks to Ildi as she knew this was a mature lancewood tree. 

She pointed out the young lancewoods start out very differently.

The Circle of Life and Generation Gardens represented four generations gathering together and Thomas' desire that trees should always be planted to honor a new life brought into this world.

Rambling and rustic doesn't begin to describe this unique spot perched by Lake Wakatipu. We were so taken by the beauty of the property and the way it has been designed to make the most of its location. The creativity and passion that Little Paradise Garden exuded was a tribute to Thomas and Christy. Kathy and Jim: I urge you not to miss this little piece of heaven on earth if you're anywhere close to Queenstown on your trip to New Zealand this fall as it's just 28 kms away. I have to think it will also be one of your trip's highlights as it was for both Diane and myself. 

If we'd had more time, it would have been wonderful to continue the lakeside drive toward the scenic village of Glenlorchy but that wasn't the case so we made our way back toward Queenstown. 

We stopped on the way at Bob's Cove Track as it looked like it would be a pleasant stroll through the woods to the lake and would take far less time than going to Glenlorchy and then backtracking all the way to Queenstown. 

The trail took us to an old limestone kiln. We read that although lime mortar is rarely used now, it still holds together some of Queenstown's most historic buildings like the city hall, court house and library. Bob's Cove limestone was also widely used throughout the town for street curbing, lintels and doorsteps.

A park sign indicated the mammoth Cabbage Tree grows to 17 meters high and flowers from November to January. The native Maori ate its dried pith and roots and European settlers used the trunk as chimneys on their huts. The tree was so big that we could only see its 'hairy' branches initially as we walked along the trail.

It wasn't until we'd strolled halfway around the small bay that we realized what a lovely shade of bluish green the water was!

We'd had a pretty early start that day with our tour of the fantastic Skippers Canyon and had heard several positive reviews of Pedro's House of Lamb so picked up a pan of lamb and roast potatoes for dinner to enjoy back in our hotel room. The idea was way better than the reality as, although it was very tender, it tasted like a glorified stew unfortunately and wasn't worth the money we both agreed. I love lamb and had so looked forward to feasting on it at least once while we were in sheep-filled NZ but that wasn't to be.

The view of sunset from our balcony was as pretty as a picture, though.

Next post:  The very different Queenstown Gardens, the Shotover River and more!

Posted on April 6th, 2019, from San Francisco as Steven and I flew out from Denver to see our son, Alexander, and his wife, Cory, for the weekend.