- Geoff McDonald and his wife Rose are selling their renovated historic cottage in Gibbston.
- They bought the 1870s gold miner’s cottage in 2017 for just under $2m.
- The property, listed for around $3m, has attracted interest from local and international buyers.
International tourism chief Geoff McDonald and his wife Rose have listed their stylishly renovated historic cottage in Queenstown Lakes.
Start your property search
The couple told OneRoof that they had decided to downsize from the four-bedroom home at 1800 Gibbston Highway so they could spend more time travelling.
They bought the 1870s gold miner’s cottage in 2017 for just under $2 million when McDonald was appointed chief executive of Skyline, which manages the popular luge runs in Queenstown and Rotorua, as well as tourism ventures in Canada, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, and Europe.
The cottage sits on a 4646sqm site that has many fruit trees. It’s next door to Gibbston Valley Winery. Photo / Supplied
The original cottage has been updated with paint and skylights. Photo / Supplied
McDonald was overseas when OneRoof called, so Rose told OneRoof about the property and its significance.
She said buying a heritage cottage on a lifestyle block was never part of the plan before 2017. “We had lived most of our lives overseas. We’d been in Asia and Europe and had spent 10 years in Melbourne,” she said.
The family was familiar with Queenstown, though, having enjoyed several skiing holidays there. “Geoff gave [real estate agent] David Penrose our brief. David came back and said, ‘Well, it’s not quite to brief, but I think you’ll really love it’.
Discover more:
- Sam and Hannah Whitelock find a buyer for their $15m ‘trophy farm’
- Ex-Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard selling his Queenstown masterpiece for over $8m
- NZ’s first ever Home of the Year snapped up in 11 days, sale price blasts past RV
“We’d lived in big cities, Shanghai and Singapore, London and Melbourne, so we were like ‘Oh wow’ when we saw it.”
The home sits on a lush 4646sqm section close to Arrowtown. The McDonalds revamped the driveway, added a hot tub and garden shed, but credit the previous owners for the cottage’s modern iteration.
The previous owners added two new wings of glass and corrugated iron around the original cottage to house two large bedrooms, an updated kitchen, laundry and bathrooms, and created sheltered garden courtyards and porches.
The original stone cottage was updated with stylish pavilions for bedrooms. Photo / Supplied
The 1910 lean-to has been updated. Photo / Supplied
The cottage is also next door to the vineyard that put Gibbston Valley on the map. “Our friends and family love it, and we’re at the stage in life where we can still manage it all. We’re trail runners, mountain bikers, skiers, and we don’t mind a drop of wine. So Gibbston is perfect for that,” Rose said of the cottage and the neighbourhood.
“The Gibbston bike trail is just across the road, and when we had the Gibbston Valley concerts, we had a full house. There is so much to love about living here, we just pop into Arrowtown for dinner or the pub or movies.”
Rose said the cottage was built in the late 19th century by an immigrant family looking to make their fortune in Queenstown. “An Irish family called the Cosgroves came here for the gold rush. They had the claim just underneath [Kawarau’s] bungy bridge. The original cottage was just a rectangle, with a large open fire and two little bedrooms, for four kids,” Rose said.
At one point in the 1950s, the cottage was owned by the Kawarau Rabbit Board to house their rabbit hunters. For 20 years, from the 1980s it was owned by the Dunedin-based Shacklock family – the manufacturers of the famous New Zealand cookers – who restored and updated the basic holiday crib.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent David Penrose said the cottage was a rare find and had a price indication of around $3m. “People are looking for a point of difference, and I have had tremendous interest in the cottage from both local and international buyers – lots of expat Kiwis.”
He added: “Gibbston Valley is the gateway to Queenstown, connected to Arrowtown and the airport. Not everyone wants to be in the heart of Queenstown; they want the enjoyment of the scenery and the biking trail and the wineries down the road.”
- 1800 Gibbston Highway, in Gibbston, Queenstown, is for sale by negotiation
