Sustainable and Environmental Initiatives

With John’s passion and knowledge of the outdoors and his love for the environment, it is only natural that we place great importance on ensuring that the running of our lodge has minimum impact on the beautiful Queenstown environment.

Our aim is to balance this respect we have for our environment without affecting the comfort and enjoyment you will have staying with us. To this end we maintain simple but effective practices, these standards focus on such areas as:

• Energy efficiency
• Conservation initiatives
• Waste management
• Community activities
• Water conservation

Our practices are reviewed regularly and improvements sought as we endevour to further expand our commitment to responsible and sustainable practices.

Our initiatives include…

• The lodge is fully insulated with double glazing throughout.
• Since arriving here 3 years ago we have planted hundreds of trees and plants, many of them native. We have an ongoing planting programme.
• Last year we started our own organic orchard with apples, plums and pear trees.
• Since arriving we have established and expanded our Lodge vegetable and herb garden. We follow organic practices.
• All of our water is filtered from a natural bore. No chemicals are added.
• Our waste water is naturally processed through an approved system. All toilet systems have half flush options.
• Cold water wash option in laundry and outside drying when possible.
• We have a gas hot water on demand system for all guest rooms.
• The north facing aspect of the Lodge along with tiled concrete floors, ensures we have an effective passive solar natural heat sink.
• We use very efficient reverse-cycle heat pump systems to ensure guest comfort if natural ventilation and heating is not sufficient.
• Renovations and improvements have be based on using such local products such as marcrocarpa wood and schist stone.
• Top environmentally rated log burner
• Energy and water efficient rated appliance
• We recycle our waste – cans, bottles, bulk paper and cardboard are recycled, all kitchen food waste is either fed to our neighbour’s hens, put in our worm farm or composted.
• We use eco friendly biodegradable products for our amenities and cleaning products.
• If we cannot grow our own produce we endevour, to source what we need from the local area such as the farmer’s market, choosing organically grown items where possible.
• We make a lot of our own sauces, chutneys and freeze excess produce to avoid buying packaged produce where possible.
• Where practicable we utilize low consumption light bulbs.
• We have a policy of using local tradesmen and service providers.