Unique chance to take a peak inside exclusive Queenstown homes

Gibbston’s ‘Turret House’ which featured on Grand Designs NZ in 2017 is among the houses to be...
Gibbston’s ‘Turret House’ which featured on Grand Designs NZ in 2017 is among the houses to be opened up. Photo: Supplied
Exclusive access is being granted to some of the Whakatipu’s most impressive and interesting homes this coming Sunday, fundraising for Shotover Primary School.

Organiser Jane Hamilton says the Shotover Primary Friends of the School’s house tour is no ‘‘cookie-cutter’’ event, with seven homes being opened up for ticket-holders on March 14.

There are two artist’s residences, including the property owned by Vaj Ekanayake and his late husband, Tim Wilson.

Wilson was one of New Zealand’s most celebrated oil painters who died last July, aged 59, following a nine-year battle with cancer.

Also included will be Gibbston’s ‘Turret House’ which featured on Grand Designs NZ in 2017.

A BYO picnic lunch is also planned at the historic Homestead at Lake Hayes, originally built in 1906 and set on six hectares at the southern end of the lake, as part of the day.

Hamilton says adults and senior pupils from the school will be volunteering at all the properties, while many of the homeowners will also be on hand to answer questions from tour-goers.

She believes it’s the first time a Whakatipu school’s done a fundraiser of its kind and the school’s fundraising group thought it was a great opportunity to try some thing ‘‘that didn’t rely on parents dipping in to their pockets’’.

She’s hoping the event will appeal to a wide range of people from the Whakatipu and beyond, and says they’d like people to get a group together to travel together on the self-drive tour to reduce car numbers and make it a day to remember with friends.

Homes will be open from 10am till 4pm.

Maps and information on the properties will be available to tour participants from the  school from 9am.

The day finishes with a tipple at The Hayes, in Lake Hayes Estate.

Tickets for the Wakatipu House Tour 2021 cost $64 plus booking fees through eventfinda.

Hamilton says if the Whakatipu’s is in Alert Level 2 or higher the tour will be postponed, and all ticket-holders will have the option of having tickets refunded.

tracey.roxburgh@scene.co.nz