Toni Glover owns Glenorchy's Kinloch Wilderness Retreat with husband John. Photo / Supplied
Toni Glover owns Glenorchy's Kinloch Wilderness Retreat with husband John. Photo / Supplied
Elisabeth Easther talks to Toni Glover, co-owner of Glenorchy's Kinloch Wilderness Retreat.
In 2000, Toni Glover and husband John bought and restored the historic lodge at the top of Lake Wakatipu, an hour's drive from Queenstown between the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks. With their ethos centred around guardianship of the land, Kinloch Wilderness Retreat offers guests an opportunity to connect with nature, while enjoying great food and hospitality.
The last two years have been testing times, how has life treated you at Kinloch Wilderness Retreat?
When I was 14, my father had a heart attack, leaving Mum to raise me and my younger brother and sister. Today I often reflect on how stress can help you grow. I think of the trees in Biosphere 2 in Arizona. They grew fast, straight and healthy, but they all fell over when they were about 15, because they'd had no wind or storms to toughen them. That's a good analogy for life. My dad was a very positive person and I think I inherited my positivity from him.
Positivity is an excellent attribute for working in travel. Was it always your intention to work in that sector?
When I was younger, I was really into music and I did Grade 8 in piano accordion. It's such a gorgeous, complex instrument, everything you're feeling goes into the music. But music didn't feel like a career so I studied sales and marketing at Auckland Technical Institute instead.
What was your first travel job?
At a small travel agent in Panmure, selling holidays to anyone who walked in off the street. Despite a wonderful boss and commercial success, I knew I wanted to travel.
Across Australia and Asia, then to the UK where I spent seven years doing sales and marketing for a small wholesale travel company working on everything from commercial negotiations to being a pioneer in the age of the web.
Travel is clearly a strong thread in your life. What draws you to it?
When it's done right, travel should be restorative and lead to personal growth. Also, when people experience other cultures, that can help foster peace. But I knew when it was time to come home, and I'm glad I did because in 1999 I met John.
How did your paths cross?
A big group of us were skiing at Whakapapa, staying at Ngauruhoe Ski Club, where John happened to be working. He was taking a career break from a stressful job in the UK, which was why he was working at the lodge. One thing led to another, and while he had a few life things to sort out, he emigrated the following June.
Was it obvious, from the start, that you should be business partners as well as life partners?
We both love skiing and the outdoors, so when he returned, we took a three-week South Island ski trip. We started in Queenstown but there wasn't a lot of snow, so we sat down with pen and paper and worked out what we wanted from life. We decided we wanted to buy some land and build an outdoor pursuits lodge in Wānaka or Glenorchy.
How far did you get with that?
On another bad snow day, we visited a real estate agent on Shotover St. We were looking at Glenorchy, but asked about Kinloch and they told us the lodge was for sale. It'd been on the market for five years but the owner wanted too much for it. Roll on another bad day at Coronet Peak and we drove to Kinloch to look at the lodge and the scenery blew us away. Then the area's only two fulltime residents approached and said they knew where the keys were, so they could show us around.
Not exactly. It was so cold. The roofs leaked. There was rotten wood and graffiti, mismatched everything and the place stunk of dead things. We knew it would be a huge undertaking, but after a lot of thought and investigation, we put in an offer and drafted up a business plan. It wasn't simple, but we took possession on October 2, 2000 and immediately started taking guests.
What does business look like today?
Our EcoScapes have been our saviour with new "passive pods" providing an incredible "view with a room". We call our Wilderness Rooms the perfect "last hut" experience and our Heritage rooms are for small weddings and house parties. Guests can dive into freezing cold Lake Wakatipu, then sit in a hot spa or do yoga and there are so many walks right on our doorstep. We also bought The Lake House and The Trading Post in Glenorchy in 2007, then in 2008 the GFC took us by storm. We had some great years too, followed by horrendous flooding in 2018 and 2019. In some ways flooding was worse than Covid. The Kiwis were great, but some international guests held us accountable. It was also good resilience training.
What positives have you taken from recent tribulations?
Our family was together for lockdown and we live in the most beautiful part of New Zealand surrounded by mountains, water and bush. I'd walk every day and meditate. There was also time for gardening and we got a lot done that we wouldn't usually have time for.
The area is very important to Māori, who gathered greenstone from the Olivine Ice Plateau, and it has a lot of heart. The Cosmos Peak mountains have incredible energy which means we can work long days when we need to.
What's changed with Covid?
Covid was a doddle compared to the flooding, but business has definitely been up and down - today we have five guests, when usually we have 50. We're lucky to be a family business and able to scale when needed.
Your hopes for the future?
Ultimately we'd like to sell the Lake House and Trading Post and invest more into Kinloch. We'll keep concentrating on helping people experience the restorative powers of nature, because whether you're lying against a tree or sitting by the water or near a mountain, being in nature has a profoundly positive impact.
