Lake Wakatipu and Walter Peak

Why it matters

A long lake with a story in its shape. The Queenstown Lakes District Council calls Lake Wakatipu New Zealand’s third largest lake: 80 kilometres long, 293 square kilometres, and averaging 300 metres deep for over half its length. Destination Queenstown, the region’s tourism body, says a glacier carved it in the last ice age. The Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown tells an older account. A taniwha, the giant Matau, stole Manata, a chief’s daughter. Her sweetheart, the warrior Matakauri, waited for a nor’west wind, when the giant slept, and set fire to his bed of bracken. The fat of his body fed the flames until they burned a deep hole, and snow melting from the hills filled it. Look at the lake’s outline, the museum says, and you see a giant lying down. Only his heart did not burn, and it beats still: watch the lake closely and you will see it rise and fall.

Two names, neither yet official. The museum writes the lake as Whakatipu Waimāori (Lake Wakatipu); operators and the council often write Whakatipu. The New Zealand Gazetteer records Lake Wakatipu and has collected Whakatipu Waimāori for the same lake, and lists neither as official. We use Lake Wakatipu, the recorded name.

Walter Peak was a stopping place long before it was a farm. The museum says Māori used the Whakatipu as a base for seasonal hunting and gathering and for pounamu, found in plenty in the Routeburn and Dart valleys at the head of the lake. RealNZ, which runs the farm today, says Walter Peak’s sheltered bays were camping sites on journeys to the Mararoa and Oreti rivers. William Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann reached the lake in 1860, and legend has it, Destination Queenstown says, that they tossed a coin for its two sides: Rees took the side where Queenstown now stands, von Tunzelmann Walter Peak. RealNZ says stock deaths, snowstorms and lack of money forced him off the land. The Mackenzie family took the station on in the 1880s and farmed it for 80 years; at its peak, RealNZ says, it ran 40,000 sheep over 170,000 acres. Walter Peak takes its name, RealNZ says, from Rees’s son.

And a ship that outlived the need for it. The TSS Earnslaw was commissioned by New Zealand Railways and made her maiden voyage on 18 October 1912, says Tohu Whenua, a programme of landmarks that tell New Zealand’s stories. Destination Queenstown adds that she was built in Dunedin, taken apart and carried by train to Kingston, at the lake’s southern end, to be put back together. About 50 metres long, she was the biggest boat on the lake, known as the Lady of the Lake, carrying people, sheep, cattle, mail and supplies in the days before roads. Nearly scrapped in the late 1960s, she was bought by the company now called RealNZ and restored. Tohu Whenua lists her among its landmarks.

What it’s like

The ship is part of the trip. RealNZ describes a working steamship you are free to wander: go down to see the engines at work in the engine room, browse the old photographs in the onboard museum, or take a wine, a beer or a snack at the Promenade Café and Bar. On the way across, it says, the views take in the Remarkables, Cecil Peak and Walter Peak itself. Tohu Whenua mentions the captain’s commentary.

At Walter Peak, the farm. On the Farm Tour a rural host meets you off the boat. RealNZ promises sheepdogs mustering sheep in a demonstration from the amphitheatre, Highland cattle, sheep and alpacas to meet up close, and freshly baked scones, cakes and slices for morning or afternoon tea, with time to wander the lakeside gardens before the boat back.

Or the homestead table. The Gourmet BBQ Dining is a buffet lunch or dinner in the Colonel’s Homestead Restaurant, first built in the early 1900s for the Mackenzies and reconstructed after a fire in 1977. RealNZ says the food is grilled over a wood-fired barbecue: salads, vegetables, meats and seafood, vegetarian dishes and desserts, on a menu that changes with the season. Afterwards comes a sheep-shearing and farm dog demonstration and a walk in the gardens, which Destination Queenstown says the New Zealand Gardens Trust named a Garden of Significance in 2020.

Two more ways to spend the day. The Walter Peak Horse Trek is a guided 40-minute ride over high-country farmland to a lookout above the lake, more suited, RealNZ says, to first-time or novice riders. From late November the Garden to Table Experience walks you through the gardens, has you plant a native tree or shrub and ends with a light lunch or afternoon grazing.

How to visit

From the middle of town. The Earnslaw leaves from the RealNZ Visitor Centre at Steamer Wharf, 88 Beach Street; with a ticket already bought, RealNZ asks you to meet in front of the TSS Earnslaw. If you are driving, RealNZ suggests allowing an extra 30 minutes to find a park: there are paid parking buildings on Man Street and Church Street, and the Boundary Street and Ballarat Street car parks, which suit motorhomes, are about 15 minutes’ walk away. The boats and Walter Peak are cashless. The crossing takes 45 minutes on the steamship and 35 on RealNZ’s catamaran, the Spirit of Queenstown. Because the boat leaves from the town centre and you are back within four hours, we treat Walter Peak as part of staying in Queenstown rather than a trip away from it. We have not been on the Earnslaw or to Walter Peak ourselves, so this page is research, not a visit.

What there is to do. Adult prices are for the steamship sailings on RealNZ’s booking pages, read for 15 September and 3 October 2026, unless marked otherwise. For 15 September, children aged 5 to 15 are charged NZ$59 for the cruise, NZ$79 for the Farm Tour and NZ$119 for the barbecue, and infants NZ$5; the cruise’s child fare rises to NZ$64 on 1 October.

If you use a wheelchair or have limited mobility. Both boats are boarded by ramp, but RealNZ says neither is fully wheelchair accessible and neither has an accessible toilet; on the Earnslaw, the decks are joined by narrow stairs. The BBQ restaurant is wheelchair accessible, though the path up from the wharf is inclined gravel. The Farm Tour is on gravel paths that unaided wheelchair users cannot manage, and RealNZ says Garden to Table, which crosses uneven tussock, is not suitable for wheelchair users or those with limited mobility. RealNZ asks you to tell it your needs when you book.

By road, the long way. Walter Peak can be driven to from Te Anau, RealNZ says, on a gravel backroad past the Mavora Lakes and Mount Nicholas Station, in around four hours.

Making the most of it

Choose the length of your day. The 90-minute cruise gives you the ship and the lake. The Farm Tour, which RealNZ says is popular with families, adds the animals, the dogs and morning or afternoon tea. The barbecue is served indoors, so rain does not spoil the meal, only the walk to and from the boat and the dog show afterwards.

Book ahead. RealNZ says space on the boats is limited and recommends booking. When we looked on 11 September, every Farm Tour sailing on 3 October already had a waiting list. In mid-September the booking page offered cruises at 11am, 1pm and 3pm and the barbecue at 11am, 1pm and 5pm; times vary by date, so check yours.

Dress for four seasons. Weather at Walter Peak can change quickly, RealNZ says, and hot days can bring cold evenings. It suggests non-slip shoes, a warm jacket, sunscreen and sunglasses; riders need covered shoes and long trousers, and helmets and wet-weather gear are provided.

Bring a bike, if you are riding on. Riders on the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, one of the Great Rides on our cycling routes page, can cross on the Earnslaw to Walter Peak and set off on the backcountry road from there, the trail’s own site says. Bikes are welcome on the boats, it adds, but space is limited, so book them on too.

Know how cold the water is. The council lists Lake Wakatipu among its lakes popular for swimming and boating, and gives the water temperature as 8 to 10°C. Treat that as cold. On the water, the council’s rules say life jackets must be worn on boats of six metres and under, kayaks included, while under way, and paddleboarders must wear a life jacket or a full wetsuit at all times. Fishing needs a licence, and Queenstown Bay is closed to fishing all year. In these mountains, the council warns, mobile and radio coverage can be limited. To enjoy the lake from its shore instead, Destination Queenstown suggests the Lakeside Trail from Jardine Park in Kelvin Heights, three and a half to four hours return.

Nearby

Steamer Wharf is in the heart of Queenstown. For the lake from above, the gondola on Bob’s Peak rises 480 metres over it, with Walter and Cecil Peaks across the water. At the head of the lake, about 45 kilometres from Queenstown, Glenorchy looks up the valleys where the museum says pounamu was found. And at the southern end is Kingston, where the Earnslaw was put together.