OVERVIEW

High Country Sheep Station & Home Overview

Closeburn Station is a 15-minute drive from the all-year resort centre of Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island. The hilly front section of the privately-owned property, where the residential area is located, overlooks picturesque Lake Wakatipu on the road to Glenorchy, which lies at the western end of the lake.

The 27 building sites are tucked into natural folds or rises of the land. Over 20 homes have been completed. In an increasingly congested and uncertain world, Closeburn offers owners an escape into a secure, private, and calm oasis, surrounded by magnificent scenery, with an electronic front gate controlling entry of outsiders into the residential zone.

The Closeburn Station high-country farm covers about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of iconic valley and mountainous terrain where sheep and cattle graze. Each of the 27 owners is a shareholder with a freehold building lot and a 1/27th share of the farm. Homeowners and their guests have access to an array of facilities on common land parts of the station, meaning those that are not private. Among the facilities is a spacious two-storey ‘barn’ for entertainment and gatherings. It has a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, shower, and meeting room, with fast-internet access, a large movie screen that pulls down from the ceiling, a billiard table, easy chairs and furniture, and heating for winter including a classic wood-burning stove.

Close to the barn is a synthetic grass tennis court. It can also be used as a basketball, badminton, or miniature soccer/hockey arena. The station has three lakes stocked with trout and four comfortable ‘huts’ with cooking, living, and sleeping areas. They are modelled on shepherds’ huts – places of refuge and camaraderie for those with strong legs and stout hearts who for decades have mustered and cared for livestock in the high-country. There is a riding arena near the residential area. A network of walking, riding and 4wd tracks weave through the property, which has an experienced manager and an assistant, both of whom report to the Board.

Shareholders elect from their number a Board of Directors who volunteer their time to oversee developments on the station. There are seven directors in 2021. They come from various countries and professional backgrounds. An annual general meeting is normally held in the Barn in October or November. However, the last meeting was held via Zoom because of the disruption caused to travel by the coronavirus pandemic.

Closeburn Station has been a high-country sheep and cattle station for well over a century. When it became privately owned with the agreement of local authorities and the NZ Department of Conservation, public rights of way along two walking tracks through the farm were preserved. This access does not intrude on the privacy of Closeburn’s residential area, but it continues a New Zealand tradition of sharing access to places of outstanding beauty.