Blanket Bay

The road from Queenstown follows the western shore of Lake Wakatipu for 45 minutes, round bluffs and past beaches of grey shingle, before it reaches Blanket Bay. The lodge stands on the lake just short of Glenorchy, near the point where the Dart and Rees rivers run in from the mountains, and from its great room the whole range of the Humboldts fills the view across the water.

History

Blanket Bay was built by Tom Tusher, an American who had been president of Levi Strauss & Co., and his wife Pauline, who had bought land on the lake in the 1990s. It opened in 1999 as one of the first of the new generation of New Zealand luxury lodges, alongside Huka Lodge and Kauri Cliffs. The Tushers kept ownership and ran the lodge with their own management, resisting expansion so that it kept to a handful of rooms. It joined Relais & Châteaux and has been a fixture on the lists of the world's leading small hotels since the early 2000s.

Architecture and design

The lodge was built in the manner of the great mountain lodges of the American West, in schist stone quarried locally and in recycled timber: the posts and beams of the great room came from old wool sheds and railway bridges. The great room rises two storeys under a timber roof, with a stone fireplace and a wall of glass to the lake. Guest accommodation is in the main lodge and in separate chalets set in the trees along the shore, all with the same orientation to the water and the mountains.

Rooms and suites

Rooms are in three groups. Lodge Rooms and Lodge Suites are in the main building, with timber floors, stone fireplaces and balconies over the lake. The Chalet Suites stand along the shore, each with a sitting room, open fire and a large terrace. The Blanket Bay Villa, a stand-alone house, has two bedrooms, its own kitchen and dining room and a private garden on the lake. Suites can be joined for families. The total count is small, in the low teens, which keeps the lodge quiet even when full.

Dining

Dinner is a daily set menu built on Central Otago produce, served in the dining room, the wine cave or on the terrace, with lamb, venison and salmon and a cellar strong in Central Otago pinot noir. Breakfast and lunch are informal. Guests often eat together at the long table when the lodge is full of one party, and the kitchen will pack lunches for days in the mountains.

Wellness

There is a heated outdoor pool, a hot tub, a sauna and a steam room, and a treatment room for massage. The lodge arranges fly-fishing on the Dart, Rees and Greenstone rivers, jet-boat trips up the Dart, horse riding at Glenorchy and, in winter, heli-skiing in the surrounding ranges, with the helicopter landing on the lawn.

Weddings and events

Blanket Bay takes weddings, almost always with exclusive use of the lodge, with ceremonies on the lakefront lawn and dinner in the great room. Its small size makes it a frequent choice for board retreats and family gatherings that book the whole property; the lodge has no separate conference centre, and the great room and dining room serve for meetings.

Location

Glenorchy, five minutes further along the road, is a village of a few hundred people at the head of the lake and the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park and the Routeburn Track. The country around the lodge was used for the filming of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy: Isengard and Lothlórien scenes were shot at Paradise and in the Dart valley. Queenstown Airport is about an hour's drive, with flights from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne; many guests arrive by helicopter in 15 minutes. For a luxury hotel in Glenorchy, the remoteness is the point.