Coronet Peak’s driving force

• Published date: 11 August 2022
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

‘‘So it was an experience ... you didn’t ski down the hill because you had to wait in a queue for 50 minutes again, so you skied as far as you could, going across, and traversing, and turning, and crossing backwards and forwards,’’ Sir John says

Fast forward almost 70 years, and it could be said Coronet Peak, New Zealand’s first commercial skifield, under Sir John Davies’ leadership has been one of the single most-important driving forces for Queenstown’s winter tourism and economy.

In those early days, Sir John says Coronet was busy, but a ‘‘basic operation’’.

The base building — known as ‘‘the pie palace’’ — sat 50 people, who dined on meat pies, made by Rees Street baker Bob Robins, and ‘‘a great big pot of tomato soup’’.

Sir John initially chased a farming career, working on properties in Southland and Central Otago before moving with his wife, Trish, to the Whakatipu in the early ’60s, looking to buy a farm here.

But life took a different turn when, while fielding for Wakatipu Cricket Club in ’64, Sir John caught wind from Warren Cooper, who was keeping wicket, a 40% stake in Wakatipu Transport was up for sale.

‘‘I said to the guy that was selling it, ‘could I have a go at buying it?’

‘‘I went to the bank on Monday morning to see if I could get some money and they asked me ‘what assets have you got’ and I said, ‘a Volkswagen and six dogs’.’’

The loan was approved and, over the next decade, Sir John built up Wakatipu Transport before merging it into Northern Southland Transport, formed Queenstown Concrete, and purchased Southland Bin Services.

He went on to become a Queenstown borough councillor, and then, in ’83, mayor, a position he held for six years.

Being voted out in ’89 was ‘‘in hindsight, the best thing that ever happened’’ because it encouraged him ‘‘back to work’’, with a focus on tourism.

‘‘If you go back 40 years, very few people came to Queenstown — it was a different era.

‘‘The road from Christchurch to Queenstown over the Lindis Pass was unsealed, so it was a challenge to get people [here].’’

But as improvements in the aviation sector and increased international services saw visitation start to grow, the resort begin to transition into a year-round destination.

‘‘It was certainly led in the early days by Coronet, and then Cardrona, and then The Remarkables and Treble Cone — those four ski fields have changed the whole aspect of tourism in Queenstown and Wanaka,’’ he says.

In the ’90s, Davies grew a portfolio of tourism ventures, most...