Skyline co-founder recalls hard days as gondola established

Skyline Enterprises' co-founder Jon Dumble being filmed recently at the Bob's Peak operation. Photo / Supplied

The opening of Skyline Queenstown's original gondola cableway, 50 years ago this month, might seem like an age ago. But it remains a vivid memory for co-founder Jon Dumble.

Gondola company Skyline Enterprises' sole surviving co-founder was first enticed to Queenstown to drive buses.

Former Aucklander Jon Dumble was head steward at the then-THC's Milford Sound hotel when he met Ian "Hammy'' Hamilton, who owned the Wakatipu Scenic Tours bus company.

Dumble moved to Queenstown in 1961 and drove all over the South Island.

Out on a boat on Lake Wakatipu Hamilton, who had started a road up Queenstown Hill, decided instead to build it up Bob's Peak, the common name for Skyline Hill.

Once the road was in place, Dumble drove VW Kombis for Hamilton's new company, Skyline Tours.

A huge character, Hamilton "broadcast'' music and announcements over downtown Queenstown from Bob's Peak.

After Hamilton's death in a road accident, Dumble carried on the broadcasts, but played a more classical style of music.

He had earlier purchased Hamilton's Skyline Tours shares and when the Chalet opened on Bob's Peak in January 1964, he lived on-site for three years and managed it.

His family came down to help - his sister drove buses and his mother cooked at the Chalet.

In January 1966, before Skyline Tours got a liquor licence, Dumble was caught serving alcohol to two police officers.

Police raided the Chalet the next day and he was convicted, effectively of sly-grogging, in the Invercargill Magistrates Court.

Mr Dumble said he had made about 7000 trips up Bob's Peak.

"I would drive up, cook a batch of scones, and then drive my passengers down.''

The steep road did not help.

"I had to do all the road maintenance - I had a shovel in the back of the bus - and the maintenance on the buses was horrendous.

"It became impossible to cope with the numbers as Queenstown tourism grew.

"There had to be more access available, and the only solution was the gondola, so that caused the enlargement of the company to form Skyline Enterprises, which bought out Skyline Tours.''

Jon Dumble working on the Chalet at Bob's Peak in November 1963. Photo / Supplied

Dumble headed the new company's gondola proposal alongside the late Hylton Hensman and Cliff Broad, who died this year.

The opening of the gondola cableway on November 17, 1967, was a proud moment for the three men.

Dumble was Skyline Enterprises' first managing director, although he did not have an office.

"I just went from one job to the next one.''

Although the gondolas were a success, Dumble jumped off the corporate ladder.

At 31 he was burnt out and said having worked for large enterprises in Auckland "it didn't appeal''.

"At the time the issue of shares was being done, I had to build a house for my mother and myself, so I didn't have the cash.''

In the following years, Dumble, who turns 81 this month, continued working in tourism, whether driving buses or taxis, catering or working in hotels, including a stint in the United States.

He was the last manager of Queenstown's Eichardt's Hotel, under Mount Cook Group's ownership, before it became a public bar downstairs and a nightclub upstairs.

"My brother-in-law, who had come from Greece, was the head chef and I had to sack him.''

Dumble said it was never envisaged Skyline would become so huge.

"That is, to a large extent, the result of the drive of Hylton and Cliff, and Barry Thomas, and the various boards that there have been over the years.''

He said he and one other shareholder unsuccessfully opposed Skyline's move into casinos because he had a "philosophical objection to gambling''.

At Skyline's well-attended annual meetings Mr Dumble had regularly posed questions during general business over the years.

"People expect me to ask questions and if I didn't, I would be asked why I didn't.''