New Zealand's Luxury Lodges
Written by Amanda Jones for Travel & Leisure magazine
Having grown up in New Zealand, I feel I can rightfully say that, back then, the country was lamentably unrefined when it came to country accommodations. Any Kiwi farmer with a spare room out back could go into business as a “country lodge,” resulting in a nation teeming with artless homestays. You’d arrive at night after getting hopelessly lost (no road signs), step out of your car and into a cow pie, be presented with a pint of milk, a can of insect spray and be shown your room by flashlight. Breakfast would be something crumbed, fried and garnished with canned pineapple slices. Any wonder I didn’t go back for a decade or two?
Recently, I did return and much has changed. In 1984, the remodeled Huka Lodge raised the national standard. Then came smaller properties like Grasmere and Punatapu, and in 1998, Wharekauhau, the top-notch pastoral estate. Here, the top new spots.
Wharekauhau
For the past 17 years, Bill and Annette Shaw have run one
of New Zealand's top country lodges on their 5,000-acre sheep
station in the pastoral Wairarapa. Popularity inspired the
Shaws to rebuild Wharekauhau (pronounced forry-ko-ho)--this
time on a grand scale. The result is an Edwardian-style mansion,
complete with grand hall, yawning fireplaces and mullioned
windows --only ten-minutes by helicopter or a two-hour drive
from Wellington. 10 cottage suites overlook rugged Palliser
Bay, with ultraprivate rooms, save for the flocks which wander
past your patio. You can withdraw to your fireside sofa or
venture out to fish, golf, ride horses, or hike the Rimutaka
ranges. Dining is Kiwi lodge-style: guests mingle at long
tables over cervena, New Zealand's coveted venison, and refined
reds from the much-hailed Martinborough wineries down the
road. Here’s a chance to mingle with the landed gentry.
Wharekauhau Country Estate, Western Lake Rd., Featherston; 800/525-4800 or 64-6/307-7581, fax 64-6/307-7799; doubles from $280 per person.
Blanket Bay
Three decades ago, Californians Pauline and Tom Tusher (formerly
President of Levi Strauss), had the foresight to purchase
55 acres of lakefront on Lake Wakatipu, forty minutes north
of Queenstown. “There was nothing here then, just a hell
of a lot of sheep,” says Tom. The good news is not much
has changed, except that after retirement (and a rumored uber-package
from Levi’s), the Tushers bought the adjacent 60,000
acres with all those sheep and decided to create a lodge,
the calibre of which New Zealand had rarely seen. They retained
Jim McLaughlin, Idaho’s architect-to-the-stars to design
an edifice which can’t escape comparison to the hunting
lodges of the American West—complete with 30-foot high
Great Room (with compulsory stuffed ducks), antler chandeliers
and walk-in fireplace. To their credit, the Tushers insisted
on sourcing materials locally (ducks and antlers included).
Instead of the predicted logs, the exterior is dominated by
layers of South Island schist rock. This, combined with the
dormered slate roofline, give the impression that the lodge
has burst forth from the craggy mountain range behind.
The interior has that been-around-generations elegance about it. Nothing flashy, just terribly good taste put together painstakingly. Floors are milled from old wool shed planks and the stout roof beams salvaged from early-day wharves and railroad bridges. Furniture is either New Zealand-sourced antiques or colonial period replicas. Bedrooms are commodious with massive glass doors flinging open over a reflection pond, the lake and the magnificent Humboldt mountains. The service at Blanket Bay is impeccable, with the just-hint-and-it -will-appear sensibility of a thoroughly top-notch hotel. What to do other than bask and eat gourmet Pacific-Rim cuisine? Have Choppy, the local (female) helicopter pilot land on the front lawn and spirit you off for some backcountry fly-fishing. For the active, attack the nearby Routeburn Track, one of the most picturesque hikes in the country (ask chef to load a backpack with trout and sauvignon blanc).
PO Box 35, Glenorchy; 64-3/442-9442, fax 64-3/ 442-9441 www.blanketbay.com; doubles from NZD$1,090. Tariff includes breakfast, cocktails and dinner.
Matakauri
Closer to Queenstown and less formal than Blanket Bay, Matakauri
is a spanking new lodge teetering right over the waters of
Wakatipu. More typical of a wholly New Zealand experience,
the lodge is constructed around the incomparable view—180
uninterrupted degrees of the Remarkables, Cecil and Walter
Peaks. And since there’s not an architect living that
could trump this vista, the design is an uncomplicated, straight-lined
affair predominantly built from glass. Native wood and stone
are used where absolutely necessary. The result is understated
while obviously upmarket. The four villas and three suites
are designed for open air breezes in the summertime and intimacy
during the frigid winters (consider skiing Queenstown’s
slopes—in August). Each villa has rich timber trim against
pale walls, a sitting area, open log fireplace, under-floor
heating and bathrooms wherein you should plan on spending
a large portion of your stay. Book the Manata or Cecil Peak
villas with sliding windows beside a two-person tub (complete
with aromatherapy candles) for bathing al fresco , with only
cheeky fantail birds as voyeurs. The water below is so crystalline
you can see the trout trolling for dinner. Retire in front
of the floor-to-roofline glass of the main living room with
a book from the library, sup award-winning local wines and
watch the rosy southern sun sink behind a landscape Bill Clinton
himself deemed “enchanted.”
PO Box 888, Queenstown; 64-3/441-1008, fax 64-3/441 2180, www.matakauri.co.nz; doubles from NZD$600. Tariff includes breakfast, cocktails and table d’hôte dinner.
Whare Kea
Whare Kea, a six bedroom house-cum-lodge is a glorified version
of the New Zealand homestay notion—only you get to take
the house and ditch the family. Owned by prominent Australian
retailers who use it as a winter ski retreat, Whare Kea can
be rented in its entirety or by individuals. The building
stands perched on a cliff over Lake Wanaka, a sparsely-developed
area a two hour drive north of Queenstown (where well-heeled
urbanites are fleeing now that Queenstown has “gotten
glammed up”).
Architect, Australian John Mayne, based his design on the utilitarian space of the New Zealand farm shed. Hard to believe when you’re inside, gazing out the all-glass and metal pipe walls filled with a fantasy vista of the lake and soaring Southern Alps. The interior has a carefree familial atmosphere, with sat-in sofa’s, historical prints, photographs and maps, and help-yourself bar. The bedrooms have a lighter-than-air Nordic feel, each with that same breathstopping view. But if it’s solitude you’re seeking, be aware that meals are served with guests seated as a group, which could demand greater reserves of energy than some travelers have to offer. Whare Kea staff are friendly and casual and the cuisine is fashionably inventive. Those wanting to run the gauntlet of New Zealand’s notorious (and liability-less) near-death-experience sports, Wanaka is the latest epicenter. Choose between heli-biking, hydro-sledging, canyoning, parapunting and on and on. For the tamer among us, there’s very civilized hiking and wine-tasting.
PO Box 115, Lake Wanaka, 64-3/ 443-1400, fax 64-3/443-9200, www.wharekealodge.com; doubles from NZD$800. Whole lodge: $2,400 per day. Tariff includes breakfast, lunch, table d’hôte dinner.
Paratiho Farms
When American’s Robert and Sally Hunt left what they
say was a crime-defiled America to seek paradise, they were
in the position to stay in the world’s best hotels looking
for it. Instead of finding their ideal, they found a matchless
location and decided to build a lodge of their own. Paratiho
is located on a working farm near Motueka, a one-pub town
on the sunny Northern coast of the South Island. The lodge
is palatial in many aspects, stuffed to the gills with treasures
and art with signatures like George Rickey, Hans Hoffman and
Alexander Lieberman. Outside, the sculpture garden alone evokes
Storm King. The building was designed by Sun Valley architect,
Jack Smith in a style he terms as “New Zealand design
in metaphor,” although the pink monolith with verdigris
roof can come as a shock, smack in the middle of 2,000 acres
of lush pasture. The interior of the main lodge is almost
unbearably rich at first—classical mixed with modernist,
Europe with Asia, contemporary canvases flanked by Fortuny
drapery. Only with time can you fully appreciate the preeminence
of the collection. The six suites, housed in three free-standing
cottages, are the most thoughtful mini-homes you could hope
to find, complete with Persian rugs, fireplace, four-poster
bed and fundamentals such as crystal whiskey tumblers, iron-on
mending patch (you are, after all, on a farm) and a silver
nutcracker. The cavernous bathrooms are the piece de résistence,
with claw-foot tub, monsoon showerhead, makeup vanity, and
bi-fold glass doors which peel back onto a private fern garden.
The courtly Hunts dine nightly with guests as in-house chef
Will van Heeswyck serves five courses of the country’s
finest food and wines. Paratiho also has a full-service spa.
545 Waiwhero Road, R.D. 2, Upper Moutere, Nelson. 64-3/528-2100, fax 64-3/528-2101, www.Paratiho.co.nz. Doubles NZD$1,850. Tariff includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, all beverages and wine.
Glenora Estate
Although probably not technically a lodge because they don’t
serve dinner, Glenora is a must-know for the traveler passing
through Auckland with a few days to kill. A 35-minute ferry
ride away from the city center is Waiheke Island, weekend
escape of the city’s elite. And on the Western-most end
is Glenora Estate, a dead ringer for a hundred-year-old French
farm house—with New Zealand verve. When visiting Europe,
owners Sally and Derek Holland fell in love with the imperfect
antiquity of the houses. “We were determined to go home
and build a roughcast farmhouse with a thatched roof floating
on top,” says Sally. The Hollands purchased eight acres
of native bush overlooking sparkling Church Bay and set about
building a pre-aged farmhouse (avec clay roof, thatch required
too much maintenance). With true Kiwi ingenuity, they launched
into the finished construction themselves. Derek laid the
sandstone floors, cracking some for a worn look, and Sally
grouted and acid washed them. She mixed horsehair with the
limewash which covers the thick plaster walls, and black-caulked
the demolition floor boards to give a heritage feel. They
filled the place with French antiques, had Waiheke artisans
hand-craft the finished carpentry, and then Sally put her
tasteful touches to the quirky object scattered about. The
final project was to plant a vineyard out front. In the main
building there are two guest rooms and a separate “Brittany
barn” in the potager garden. As far as finding dinner,
one of Auckland’s best restaurants, the Mudbrick, is
just minutes from Glenora.
Church Bay R.D 1, Waiheke, Auckland; 64-9/372-5082, fax 64-9/372-5087;
doubles from NZD$300. Tariff includes breakfast.
Kauri Cliffs
Add the name Kauri Cliffs to the swelling list of New Zealand’s
luxury lodges. A grand mansion in the sublime bucolia of Northlands,
North Island, it boasts one of the world’s latest “must-play”
golf courses, with fifteen of the eighteen holes teetering
over the Pacific Ocean. American owner and former fund manager,
Julian Robertson, built the place because he and wife Josie
wanted to “share the God-appointed fairways with others.”
The lodge is colonial Kiwi-style—tin roof, sweeping pillared
verandahs, timber floors, an abundance of fireplaces, huge
floral ensembles, and beamed rooms furnished in one-off antiques
for a lavish-private-home feel. Eight cottages nestle among
native bush, each housing two ecru-hued suites, with view-grabbing
windows and porch over the golf course. Despite being in the
“backabeyond,” you’re assured gastronomic greatness
thanks to innovative chef Paul Jobin. For the non-golfer,
there’s a swimming pool, tennis, game fishing, scuba
and some of the finest nature the country has to offer.
PO Box 800, Kerikeri, New Zealand, 64-9/ 405-1905; fax: fax 64-9/ 405-1901; www.kauricliffs.com (NOTE TO EDITOR...this website is diabolical, they are apparently working on putting a new one up right now); Email: info@kauricliffs.com; doubles $1,700 (New Zealand dollars), includes cocktails, breakfast and dinner. Golf rates $400 (NZD).
Treetops Lodge
During the Americas Cup, yachtie millionaires in need of terra firma
had themselves helicoptered to Treetops, the latest of New
Zealand’s superlodges in the central North Island. Deep
in “Middle Earth’s” ancient forest outside
Rotorua, the lodge is an outpost of adventure—without
having to forfeit the foie gras. For the active, there are
seven streams, four lakes, three waterfalls, and 60 miles
of walking track under a sun-pierced canopy of fern trees.
Alternatively, commune with all that nature through the floor-to-ceiling
glass frontages of the vast stone and timber lodge, or while
soaking in the spring-fed jet tubs of the secluded villas.
Interiors are all about comfort and neutral elegance, with
yards of overstuffed sofas, yawning fireplaces, native wood
furniture, carved beams, and fossil-stone bathrooms. Nothing
here attempts to outshine the perfection outside. The open
kitchen whips out gourmet meals using the country’s most
extravagant ingredients: green-lipped mussels, local pheasant,
impossible-to-resist triple cream cheeses, and award-harvesting
wines. And its all comes served with that Kiwi flair for friendly
graciousness. So friendly that the millionaires can be spotted
hugging the staff upon departure.
351 Kearoa Rd., RD1 Horohoro, Rotorua, New Zealand; 64-7/333-2066;
www.treetops.co.nz; doubles from $1,025 USD.