TREADING LIGHTLY
As we rethink the environmental costs of tourism, New Zealand is leading by example with a concerted push for sustainable travel. By Mark Sariban.
As we rethink the environmental costs of tourism, New Zealand is leading by example with a concerted push for sustainable travel.
QUEENSTOWN IS BEST known as New Zealand’s adventure travel capital, with its ski fields on the imposing Remarkables and surrounding mountains, jet-boat rides and, of course, bungee jumping. But this South Island town has also become an epicentre for sustainable tourism ventures addressing the growing demand for more environmentally responsible holidays. Here you can do the rounds of certified-organic wineries making magnificent pinot noirs and white varietals and take a tour of rugged Queenstown back country in a Tesla Model X powered by renewable energy, and return to town for a night of locally sourced fine dining before retiring to a five-star hotel that’s enthusiastically embraced sustainable practices.
Encouraging the drive to more responsible tourism is a national government with an appetite to address the challenges of climate change and which has committed the country to becoming a world leader in climate action. Then there’s the partnership between Air New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, the Department of Conservation and the Maori tourism body, among others, to develop the Tiaki Promise. This initiative encourages both overseas and Kiwi travellers to experience the country in a considerate way that protects New Zealand’s environment for future generations and respects local cultures. Visitors are asked to commit to the Tiaki Promise at the beginning of their journey to New Zealand – go to tiakinewzealand.com for full details.
ORGANIC WINE TRAIL
The Central Otago wine region is home to dozens of world-class wineries, including more than its fair share of organic producers. In fact, around 25 per cent of the vineyard land area in the region is certified organic or biodynamic, well above the national average. Appellation Wine Tours (appellationwinetours.nz) can create a customised itinerary to visit the cellar doors of some of the leading sustainable wineries of Central Otago. This may include Quartz Reef (www.quartzreef.co.nz), a pioneer in biodynamic wine-making under Austrian-born Rudi Bauer. Bauer converted the first vineyard in the region to organic production, a process he started in 1989 and which took three years to complete. You can sample Quartz Reef’s award-winning biodynamic sparkling wines, pinot gris and pinot noir at its tasting room in the town of Cromwell.
Then there’s Peregrine (www.peregrinewines.co.nz), on the main road out of Queenstown in the Gibbston Valley, which was certified organic across its range of whites and pinot noir in 2017. Peregrine director Fraser McLachlan says being organic “is a no-brainer for us”. “As a kid I sprayed herbicide [in the vineyard] but I didn’t understand it, and now that we’ve converted to organic I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s just as commercially viable as non-organics, once you get through the conversion process, but it’s better for the environment and it’s better for our staff, to know that they’re not having to inhale or touch poisonous products, and know the soil is being looked after as well.”
For Carrick, a small Bannockburn winery (www.carrick.co.nz), the need to care for the soil also prompted a move to organic and biodynamic practices. All its wines have been certified organic since 2011. “The soils here are really poor: they’re old glacial loess, really sandy, high in minerals but low in organic matter,” says Carrick winemaker Rosie Menzies. “So to encourage organic matter in
the soil, organics is really important, as is biodynamics.” Alongside pinot noirs, chardonnays and rieslings, Carrick also produces a surprisingly drinkable natural wine, the Billet Doux pinot noir – sample them at the winery’s restaurant, which serves hearty fare such as slow-cooked lamb for lunch daily using produce from its kitchen garden.
RENEWABLE OFF-ROADING
Minimise your carbon footprint while still exploring the high country beyond Queenstown with a private tour in a Tesla Model X electric car. Nomad Safaris (www.nomadsafaris.co.nz) runs a number of zero-emissions itineraries in its bright-red Model Xes, which are powered using electricity from renewable sources. These range from jaunts to nearby Skippers Canyon to a half-day ‘Enviro Experience’, in which a Model X, with its independently powered front and rear wheels, deftly navigates rock-strewn dirt tracks to ascend Queenstown Hill. Here you can help with local efforts to remove wilding pine tree saplings – invasive conifers that pose a grave ecological threat to native plants and animals. Nomad Safaris managing director David Gatward-Ferguson says he and his wife Amanda launched electric-powered tours because they are “quite driven to improve what we do in any way we can … we believe we should do all we possibly can to leave the world a better place than we when joined it”, and plan to replace all of the conventional 4WDs in their fleet with electric vehicles.
SLEEP EASY
The Rees, half-hidden below the road into town from Queenstown airport, is one of only a handful of five-star hotels in the country to attain Tourism New Zealand’s Qualmark Gold sustainability certification (www.therees. co.nz). Across the Rees’s mix of luxe hotel rooms, apartments and residences looking over Lake Wakatipu to the Remarkables, the under-floor heating, wall-mounted heaters and gas fireplaces can all be controlled remotely – realising energy savings that are just one of the myriad measures the hotel has taken in its quest to become carbon neutral. And at the Rees’s True South fine-dining restaurant, which, as you would expect, sources its produce locally, flip the menu over and you’ll find a comprehensive list of the kitchen’s suppliers in the region, complete with succinct descriptions and contact details for the businesses. The drive to become more environmentally responsible “is something we have the buyin from our customers and our team”, says Roman Lee-Ho, director of operations at the Rees. “We’re responsible for huge waste in the hotel industry and I think the very least we can do is look at ways to better cater to our international visitors. We surveyed our past guests and a lot of people who came back to us talked about sustainability and environment – so it’s important in the marketplace.”
EAT AND DRINK LOCAL
In Queenstown proper, the most tempting eco-friendly dining choice is Rata (www.ratadining.co.nz), which has for many
years created adventurous fare with a commitment to source organic ingredients and follow sustainable practices, such as having a no-waste policy and ensuring traceability of ingredients – the kitchen also offers a vegan menu. Further afield, a few minutes’ drive down the road to the airport past the Rees, is the Sherwood (sherwoodqueenstown.nz). This mock-Tudor former motor inn has been reinvented using low-impact upcycled and recycled materials as a laidback, solar-powered ‘community hotel’. Locals and visitors are welcome at its award-winning restaurant, which uses all organic, all seasonal produce sourced locally. Even the fish are line-caught (sometimes to order by the chef) exclusively from South Island waters. The Sherwood’s bar focuses on natural wines, and has pioneered arrangements with some Central Otago wineries to have leading wines delivered in bulk to reduce the impact of transportation.
INTO THE WILD
The bustling tourist town is also the perfect starting point for forays across the South Island. The Lindis (www.thelindis. com), a five-suite lodge at the foot of the glacial Ahuriri Valley, is a two-and-a-half hour drive from Queenstown through some spectacular countryside. Arriving at the Lindis via a few kilometres of gravel track off the sealed road, it’s hard to pick out the low-set lodge, as the undulating wooden roof mimics the gentle rise of the surrounding hillocks. Inside, each suite and the guest lounge and dining room, which are all warmed with an underground heat-transfer system, looks out over two flanks of snow-capped mountains and a river braiding its way across the valley floor. This river is a major drawcard for its world-class fly fishing (on a catch-and-release basis for minimal environmental impact), and guests can jump on an e-bike or saddle up a horse to explore the expansive farm holding in which the Lindis sits. The lodge is bordered on three sides by conservation parks and is well away from sources of light pollution, so the stargazing here is spectacular.
TAKE OFF AND OFFSET
One of the obstacles to minimising the environmental impact of your trip is, of course, the fact that air travel is so energyintensive. Alongside its FlyNeutral carbon off-setting program, Tiaki Promise partner Air New Zealand is rolling out all manner of initiatives to reduce emissions and waste, some more visible than others. Besides switching to plant-based compostable cups made from paper and corn, which means 15 million less coffee cups going to landfill every year, the airline’s Project Green has diverted nearly 900 tonnes of inflight waste, such as unused coffee and sugar sachets and sealed napkins, from landfill since its launch in late 2017. And recent trials of the use of edible vanilla-flavoured coffee cups by New Zealand innovators Twiice have proved a hit with passengers. So one day you may well find yourself saving your coffee cup not just from landfill but from composting as well.
Air New Zealand flies direct to Queenstown year-round from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Visit airnewzealand.com.au for the best deals and to book.
“We believe we should do all we possibly can to leave the world a better place than when we joined it”