Millbrook Resort
This five-star golf resort and luxury lodge is built on the site of a wheat farm established to feed hungry miners during the region’s first gold rush. French brothers Peter and John Butel developed two farms on the 450-acre site in 1864. Mill Farm also included a watercourse, which would in turn provide Arrowtown’s water supply, plus a saw milling business, a flour mill and an electrical supply.
In World War I, the farm served as a hospital for injured Kiwi soldiers returning from Europe, but after World War II the land returned to its farming roots. In 1987 the farm was sold, and Millbrook resort opened in 1993. The award-winning resort now offers visitors luxury accommodation, on-site restaurants, a day spa, and a health and fitness centre, alongside two internationally acclaimed championship golf courses.
The rustic remains of the farm have been beautifully restored and incorporated into the modern setting, while its entry avenue features trees planted in 1867. Old farm buildings have been converted. The old stables and granary are now a café, the old flour mill is the Millhouse Restaurant, the smokehouse and blacksmith’s shop are a bar, which the old homestead is now the resort reception. Take a self-guided historical tour of the resort.
Millbrook is one of the progressive local businesses working to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact. Initiatives at the resort includes growing organic produce on site, composting organic waste, reducing irrigation and the use of fertiliser and other chemicals on the golf courses, electric golf carts and hybrid mowers, and predator trapping, while their Greener Stay programme educates guests on ways they can minimise their impact.

Eichardt’s Private Hotel
In 1859, one of Queenstown’s earliest settlers, William Gilbert Rees, built a homestead on the shores of Lake Whakatipu and erected a woolshed on the site now occupied by Eichardt’s Hotel. However, within just a few years, Rees found himself at the centre of New Zealand’s biggest gold rush. With his homestead declared an official goldfield, Rees quickly turned his woolshed into the Queen’s Arms Hotel to service the hundreds, and soon thousands, of miners, traders, packers and wagons that were pouring into the town. It’s no exaggeration to say Queenstown’s famous nightlife scene began at this hotel.
By 1869, Rees had sold the hotel to Albert Eichardt, a Prussian ex-officer, who rebuilt it in brick and stone in 1871. Eichardt married the formidable Julia O’Meara, who transformed the hotel from a miner’s pub into a tourist hotel. Julia became the matriarch of Queenstown and 700 people attended her funeral when she died after a fall in 1892.
Eichardt’s is now listed by the Historic Places Trust, and is a significant Queenstown landmark, offering visitors boutique accommodation and gourmet dining. Enjoy the sense of history as you take tea by the fire in the understated luxury of the bar and wonder at the antics the stone walls have seen over the years.

The Dairy Private Luxury Hotel
Originally a 1920s dairy – the local Queenstown corner store – The Dairy Private Luxury Hotel sits right in the centre of Queenstown. Surprisingly private and quiet despite its location, the hotel is easy walking distance to the many bars, restaurants, cafes and shops.
Featuring 13 luxury ensuite rooms and a private library, The Dairy’s striking art deco frontage welcomes you to an experience that combines contemporary glamour and ski lodge vibes with vintage charm. Baroque floral wallpapers bring country house chic with a hint of punk. The 1920s bones of the building are set off with period touches such as piles of wooden skis, and a selection of old-fashioned Kiwi sweets in the bar in the den give a nod to the building’s heritage as the community’s hub for treats.

The Old Ferry Hotel
Originally on the banks of the Shotover River, The Ferry Hotel was built by local ferryman Frederick Foster in 1863 to service travellers heading to Queenstown in search of gold.
Conveniently, when the first bridge was built across the Shotover it brought all its traffic past The Ferry Hotel too. The original hotel was destroyed by fire in 1872 but was quickly rebuilt and continued to service customers until 1912, when the old bridge closed.
In 1915 a new bridge was built further upstream, and the hotel was cut in half and moved by traction engine to its present-day location. There, it continued to operate until 1971, when another bridge was built close to the hotel’s original site. Its owners weren’t keen on moving the building again, so the hotel served its last drink and went quiet for twenty years.
The Ferry began welcoming visitors again in 1994, when it opened as a boutique bed & breakfast. Now offering a peaceful rural setting an easy drive from Queenstown, the hotel features plenty of photos documenting the building’s heritage and the history of the region.
Hulbert House
Hulbert House is a beautifully restored luxury Victorian villa, with a history as colourful as its beautiful rooms that dates back to 1888.
Situated within walking distance from Queenstown’s vibrant centre, Hulbert House was built during the height of the Otago gold rush era by Queenstown gold trader, Horatio Nelson Firth. When Firth was jailed for embezzlement, his wife began running the property as a guesthouse. In 1924 it became a private nursing home, then a maternity home in 1945. It was owned briefly by the Salvation Army, then became backpacker’s accommodation, before reinventing itself as a boutique hotel in 2013.
Superbly restored by renowned New Zealand designer Neil McLachlan, each of the six unique suites have been named after someone of significance to the boutique hotel. All suites offer stunning views overlooking Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown. Ornate chandeliers and historic photographs from Queenstown’s gold rush era feature throughout the house, with furniture and decor imported from France.
Committed to the environment, the team compost organic waste to feed the kitchen garden which provides its chefs with fresh, seasonal food all year round. They’re on a journey to zero waste, conserving water, avoiding plastic packaging, sourcing organic produce locally, offering electric car charging, and using reusable and recyclable products wherever possible.

Historic Stone House
The Historic Stone House was built in 1874 for Frederick Daniel, who became the Mayor of Queenstown in 1879. In the late 1880s Daniel became embroiled in a scandal, when the Lake County’s County Clerk at the time misappropriated funds and destroyed rates books to conceal theft. While Daniel’s was not convicted for the theft, his reputation was damaged, and the property was acquired by the bank when he couldn’t meet his payments.
Today, there’s no trace of those unhappy occurrences. The beautifully preserved heritage building is built of volcanic breccia rock and local shist. It features three boutique apartments a short two-minute walk from the centre of Queenstown. With stunning views and a hot tub in the garden, the house combines traditional 1870s architecture with 21st century comforts.
Mt Nicholas Station
One of the most historic and largest stations in New Zealand, Mt Nicholas Station dates back to the 1860s and spans 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares), from the shores of Lake Whakatipu to inland Southland.
With its towering mountain peaks, glistening lakes, beautiful river valleys, native forest and fourteen kilometres of beachfront, Mt Nicholas offers guests a large range of experiences.
These include mountain-biking, hiking and heli-adventures. The family-run, fully operational high country station also offers farm tours.
Due to its relative isolation, the station is largely self-sufficient. Hydro-electricity is produced on the farm and established gardens, free-range hens and farm-raised high country meats provide all the fresh and seasonal meals on the station.
The refurbished White’s Bay Cabin offers spectacular panoramic views of the lake and mountains, and dining options include a family dinner with the hosts, gourmet meals delivered to the cabin, or delicious picnic hampers.
Larger groups up to 20 can also be accommodated in The Shearers’ Quarters, which is also situated right on the lakefront.

New Orleans Hotel
The only historic hotel still operating in Arrowtown, the New Orleans Hotel was established in 1866 within four years of gold being discovered in the Arrow River in 1862.
Originally known as Fox’s Diggings after goldminer William Fox, the Arrowtown settlement had swollen to 6,000 people by January 1863 and contained numerous hotels. By the late 1870s only six hotels remained, including the New Orleans. The hotel became the Central Hotel in the 1920s, but its name was changed back in the 1970s.
Offering a range of 3 and 4-star accommodation and stunning views of the Arrow River, the hotel offers easy access to the historic precinct of Arrowtown, including the Chinese miner’s village. The hotel serves traditional pub fare from its in-house bar and restaurant and offers the welcoming ambience of a historical country pub, with roaring fire, battered leather armchairs, vintage glass light fittings, and a reassuringly solid wooden bar.
