Jordan, 32, last Thursday opened Glenorchy Physio, which operates every Thursday from rooms in Argyle St, beside the medical rooms used by community nurse Debbie Swain-Rewi.
He was fully booked last week, and is again today, proving the service is much-needed at the top of the lake.
Originally from a small farming community about two hours from Perth, Powell attended Curtin University in Bentley, Perth, graduating in 2013.
After three years in his first job, Jordan started his own clinic, in Perth, and worked with some elite sports teams, including the Sydney Blue Sox baseball team and the USA and Canadian ice hockey teams when they toured Australia.
But six years in, Jordan became disillusioned and realised he wanted to work to live, not vice-versa. In between, Covid arrived.
He’d asked his wife, Meesha, a pelvic health physio, if she could live anywhere in the world, where she’d choose. She picked Queenstown.
They bought a house near Moke Lake, online, and hopped on the first flight they could.
"We moved over, literally, straight after Covid — we were the first flight out of Australia that was into New Zealand, so we’ve been here since March ’22," he says.
"It’s been amazing, we love it ... can’t ever see us leaving, to be honest, it’s paradise."
While the couple intended to work part-time, there were no pelvic health specialists here, so Meesha started The Pelvic Physio Queenstown.
Jordan says at times she’s had a month-long waitlist.
Meantime he started working three days a week for Back on Track Physiotherapy, on Gorge Rd, and realised there was a gap in the market.
A good chunk of his local patients hail from GY — they’d drive about an hour for a 20-minute appointment, at some expense.
And there are plenty more there who need physio, but till now haven’t been getting it because they can’t justify a trip to town during work hours, it’s too far to drive, or they can’t drive due to their injuries.
So, he decided to set up shop in Glenorchy to make it easier for them to get access to healthcare services — he’s offering sports physio, rehab services, health and wellness consults, treatment for vertigo, dizziness and headaches, and dry needling.
And while he planned to work "part-time forever" in Queenstown, having recently been named the head physio for the Ice Blacks, New Zealand’s national ice hockey team, for 2025, he’s also still working three days a week at Back on Track.
Intending to open Glenorchy Physio on Thursdays from noon till 7pm, he says if there’s sufficient demand he’ll consider extending the hours.
As to the response from the community, Jordan says it’s "heart-touching".
"[Last Thursday] everyone came in was [so grateful] — [saying], ‘we seem to be the forgotten cousin of Queenstown’, ‘we used to have a physio then they left’, ‘it’s just amazing having you here’.
"That lit me up."
