New luxury lodge opens in New Zealand - Matakauri Lodge

Luxury travellers to New Zealand will have a spectacular new destination - Matakauri Lodge near Queenstown, when it’s unveiled on 27 August.

Matakauri Lodge is the newest addition to the New Zealand luxury lodge collection of US investor Julian Robertson and family - owners of Kauri Cliffs, in the Bay of Islands, and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers.

The recent acquisition extends the Robertsons’ accommodation portfolio into New Zealand’s South Island, and is seen as a logical complement to their two North Island properties - both sought after destinations for discerning guests wanting exclusive accommodation, fine dining and onsite internationally acclaimed golf courses.

The Robertson family would be delighted to offer guests "an opportunity to experience the spectacular South Island of New Zealand", managing director Jay Robertson said.

Lakeside retreat
Matakauri Lodge - described as a lakeside retreat - sits in a dramatic sub-alpine landscape, fringed by forest to one side and the waters of Lake Wakatipu on the other.

The lodge has sweeping views across the lake to the rugged peaks of the Remarkables range but, in spite of its wilderness location, is only 10km from the South Island resort town of Queenstown.

The surrounding region is renowned for its premium wine and food. It is also New Zealand’s premier winter sports destination, and a popular summertime holiday spot for walking and trekking, golfing, water sports, and adrenalin adventures.

Contemporary architecture
Matakauri lodge - originally built in 2000 - was New Zealand’s first organic spa, and was named in Tatler’s 2008 'Top 101 Hotels of the World'.

Constructed in a contemporary New Zealand design, the strong simple forms of the lodge have been designed to minimise the visual impact on the landscape and maximise views of the natural location.

The lodge has accommodation in 11 luxurious suites, plus a stylish and spacious main lodge.

Three guest suites are located in the main lodge, and eight more in private cottages nestled in native forest and overlooking the lake. Each suite has a private porch, bedroom with sitting area and open fireplace, walk-in wardrobe and bathroom.

Facilities include a full-service luxury spa, fitness centre, outdoor infinity swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and walking trails. While the Matakauri property does not have onsite golf facilities, Queenstown offers several high end golf courses.

Extensive refurbishment
Since the new owners acquired the existing property 12 months ago, Matakauri Lodge has been closed for extensive refurbishment.

The new interiors have been styled by New Zealand interior designer Virginia Fisher, whose signature contemporary casual style features in high-end lodges in New Zealand and overseas.

An emphasis on natural materials, warm colours and textures, reflects "the ruggedness that is very Queenstown", she says.

Fisher describes the lodge’s new style as "crisp and clean and full of natural light ... gutsy and contemporary .... a touch of glamour here and there."

Fine food & wine
British-born chef Dale Gartland, who has worked at Kauri Cliffs and The Farm, will head the Matakauri kitchen.

Gartland - who also has the role of group chef for the three lodges - has won accolades for his food, including Conde Nast Traveller (UK) Gold List ‘Best for Food’ in 2009 (The Farm) and 2010 (Kauri Cliffs).

The 31-year-old chef learned his classical French techniques working at a series of well-heeled English country hotels before moving on to Gidleigh Park Hotel - a Relais & Chateaux property where he worked under Michelin two-star chef Michael Caines - and then to Kauri Cliffs, New Zealand.

Gartland, who has shared his kitchen with celebrity guest chefs including Rick Stein, Peter Gordon, Neil Perry and Guillaume Brahimi, says Matakauri will offer a fresh tasting menu each day, and a choice of dinner courses.

While he doesn’t want to give away any secrets, the chef admits there will be a "simple and modern approach to New Zealand / European cuisine" and that he will remain committed to using the best regional and New Zealand produce - "letting the ingredients speak for themselves to give guests an honest taste of New Zealand".

"Finest local ingredients will remain the main inspiration for the new menus at Matakauri, where dishes will make full use of the local flavours and reflect the rustic character of the region and New Zealand," Gartland says.

Luxury Lodges of New Zealand

New Zealand's famous lodges are a unique collection of properties, often located in secluded, remote places where you can indulge in great comfort despite the rugged landscapes that surround you.

The pages on our website will reveal a fascinating diversity of lodge experiences, ranging from working farms and sheep stations to Alpine retreats and stone and timber homesteads.

Although no two lodges are the same, our hand-picked collection all share a passion for offering guests a friendly welcome and some of the best food and wine in the country. As the foundation of a touring itinerary there are no finer places to stay.

Contact us now on 0207 483 6555 or email nz@bridgeandwickers.co.uk


To order a copy of our New Zealand brochure, call us or click here

NEW ZEALAND ESCORTED TOURING

If you prefer to explore New Zealand in company, enjoying the companionship of travelling as a group as well as the benefit of having an experienced tour director and driver, we can offer you a choice of escorted tours available through the best local companies.



Each company offers a variety of itineraries as well as groups of differing size and style of travel. We can help you select an itinerary that best fits your dates and requirements. Details of some of the tours we offer are listed on our website as well as on pages 26-27 of our new brochure.

Options include:

Scenic Tours: Best for - Excellent Value For Money

A wide range of itineraries for groups of up to 48 travellers (Price – 20 days from £3130 per person including breakfast and some dinners). They do not produce a printed brochure but our consultants can send you an electronic version. Click here for details of their most popular tour.

APT: Best for - variety as well as smaller groups (up to 30)

 An extensive range of  tours with premier plus options for those who prefer to travel in a smaller group (up to 30, Price – 18 days from £4532 including all meals) in addition to their regular premier level of touring with up to 48 passengers (Price – 17 days from £3383 per person including all meals) . Let one of our consultants know if you would like to receive a copy of their brochure and click here to see details of what's included on their New Zealand Wonderland tour.

The Great New Zealand Travel Company: Best for - small groups

This company uses mini coaches with never more than 16 passengers (Price 20 days from £3665 per person including breakfast and 2 dinners) - again we have copies of their brochures which we would be happy to send.

Grand Pacific Tours: Best for - Luxury Coaches

As well as a choice of tours for groups up to 48 passengers (Price – 19 days from £2365 per person including breakfast and most dinners), Grand Pacific has an 'Ultimate' range of tours utilising one of the most luxurious coaches on the market, each fitted with just 20 fully-reclining leather seats similar to a traditional size airline business class seat (Price – 19 days from £3610 per person including breakfast and most dinners). The coaches also have their own galley and state of the art entertainment system. At present Grand Pacific do not have a brochure but we can send you an electronic copy covering all their itineraries.


Please let us know which of these options suits your requirements or let us know if you have seen a particular tour that isn't featured here and we'll put together a tailor-made quotation including flights and stopovers if required.

Call 020 7483 6555 or email nz@bridgeandwickers.com.

New Zealand's best boutique lodges

From The Sunday Times

December 13, 2009

Forget backpacking: the country’s wilderness is best enjoyed from a hot tub, with a glass of sauvignon

We arranged for Max Anderson to travel down to New Zealand and this is what he wrote in the Sunday Times:

The New Zealand lodge is almost a travel genre in its own right; and, like the safari lodge,the ranch and the spa resort, it comes with a set of defining experiences. Chief among these is wilderness, something that NZ — populated by just 4m people — has in excess. The North Island is as emerald as Ireland in spring, with a lively topography sculpted by volcanoes; the South Island is dominated by the snow-capped Southern Alps, ranges as commanding as their namesakes.

Traditionally, the lodge was a Highlands transplant where the well-heeled enjoyed the fruits of hunting, a clubby sort of place, hung with antler racks and stuffed fish. Today, the trophies are the lodges themselves, precariously hung on coves, ridge lines and mountains.

Here, then, are six lodges offering something fresh and fine. The experiences are as rich and “gourmet” as the price tags suggest; but while wealthy guests like to lodge-hop (slowly killing themselves with kindness), three nights at a single lodge in the midst of, say, a camper-van holiday would be just as rewarding.

The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Hawke’s Bay

Cape Kidnappers is what happens when Manhattan money piles into a 6,000-acre sheep farm on cliffs overlooking a premium wine district. The Farm is “agricultural chic”: hyper-designed, and a hit with even the most conservative of its 56 guests. When they installed a golf course on a series of “fingers” poking into blue skies over Hawke’s Bay, Kidnappers rocketed up American golfers’ must-do lists. When Farm guests aren’t receiving extra-fine service, they’re exploring the property. Walks lead to forested gorges, hidden beaches and cliff plateaus that are snowy with squawking colonies of gannets.
Don’t miss: the kiwi experience. There are 37 kiwis on Cape Kidnappers, all regularly weighed and measured. Radio-tracking, catching and handling the national icon is a thrill as rare as the bird itself.Doubles from £780

Whare Kea Lodge and Chalet, Otago

You wake at Whare Kea to a Disney tableau of mountains, lake and lawn, populated with bunnies, quails and goldfinches — all of which are sent scurrying in terror by the arrival of a thudding helicopter. It’s arriving to take you on a 20-minute flight over snow-cloaked mountainsto a black speck clinging tothe side of Dragon Fly Peak.
It’s your overnight chalet accommodation and, at 5,700ft, very much a rare-air experience (the only other access is via a two-day hike) — that night, your chef will prepare five-star fare and the night sky will put on a stellar performance. Back at the lakeside Lodge, the mood is casual and contemporary. The 60-acre grounds are filled with native plants and lambs, and the mountain-view spa would be a very good place to die.
Don’t miss: riding around nearby Rippon winery, one of the world’s most beautiful vineyards.
Doubles from £610, chalet stay £2,160, all-inclusive

Wharekauhau, Wairarapa

Architecturally, this is a curate’s egg, nested between ferocious bay and strident mountains, but for all its oddness, Wharekauhau is a beacon of comfort and cheer. Most lodges won’t take under-13s, but this one keeps them — ergo parents — totally happy, with all-action distractions including riding, quad bikes and tours of the sheep station (5,500 wild and woolly acres).
Indoors, it’s the simple things that work best — the big, goofy labrador, the 24-metre heated pool and the movie and popcorn nights in the attic, leaving parents free to enjoy the work of Anthony North, a forager/chef de cuisine who does sensational things with the local bounty.
Don’t miss: Texel lamb. It’s marbled, like the finest steak.
Doubles from £420, children’s doubles from £360

Blanket Bay, Otago

The savage, snowy peaks crowded around this mountain country lodge have appeared in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, while the suites have done service to some of Hollywood’s top players. Helicopters take you into remote locations and jet boats fire you up the Dart Valley; but to get properly Lordly over the scenery, try riding horseback into the foothills. The sublime lake-view spa will soothe post-saddle aches. A lodge at the peak of its game, Blanket Bay is rightly celebrated, but it’s also surprisingly relaxed.
Don’t miss: a 4WD trip upthe Rees Valley with Dick Watson, an old bushman and gold-getter. LOTR fans will be thrilled to learn that he was also a Rider of Rohan in The Two Towers.
Doubles from £640

Manawa Ridge, Coromandel Peninsula

Using love, Zen and exotic timbers, Carla and Willem van de Veen have handcrafted a Gaudi-esque eyrie with 360-degree views over the Kaimai Ranges and Pacific bays. But the soothing artistry of the place soon has you looking inwards: to the music-filled courtyard, the cushion-filled watchtower and three suites with furnishings that are artworks by any other name. (A bathroom basin is fashioned from a giant tree burl.)
In the Asian-inspired garden, Carla is happy to help you paint, draw or sculpt using volcanic rock 1.3m years old; Willem will lead you across the insanely angled 250-acre farm to collect herbs for dinner. A steep 45-minute walk has you in Homunga Bay: edged by soaring gulleys and ancient pohutukawa trees, with a waterfall spilling onto yellow sand, it should have been photographed to sell products invoking perfection. But it hasn’t.
Don’t miss: a starlit bath in your private, pebble-skinned spa.Doubles from £285

Otahuna Lodge, Canterbury

In three short years, this has become a jewel in the crownof luxury lodges, and there’s not a piece of polished steelin sight. Otahuna is an 1895 manorial show stopper, revived by two thirtysomething New Yorkers who spent £4.5m on making “old school” fashionable again.
Whether you’re in one of the seven lavish suites, the elegant dining room or the 30-acre grounds, you’re left feeling distinctly regal. Ironically, period photos show that guests such as the Duke of York, later George VI, never had it this good. Dining is extra-special: the chef, Jimmy McIntyre, invites guests to pick their favourite veggies from the kitchen garden, then devises five-course dinners around the selection.
Don’t miss: the reflection of Otahuna in the lake.Doubles from £660


Max Anderson travelled as a guest of Bridge & Wickers. All prices are for two people sharing, in high season (usually November to March)

Our new NZ brochure has arrived!

Our latest New Zealand brochure arrived today, packed full of wonderful itineraries that we can tailor-make to suit your plans. Visit our website to order your copy today and be one of the first to receive it!

We're expecting the brand new Australia brochure to arrive by early January, so if you order this at the same time, we'll send you a copy as soon as it arrives.

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New Zealand!

Prior to our brand new New Zealand brochure arriving, be sure to take a look at a recent New Zealand supplement we produced here

It's packed full of suggested self-drive itineraries, beautiful hotel and lodge accommodation throughout the country plus some special itineraries based around leisure pursuits such as trout fishing and golf and lots more besides.

We also have a new addition to our website linked in with our current 'Our New Zealand' campaign fronted by Jerry & David - let us know what you think!



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Campervantastic around glorious New Zealand - Daily Mail article by Charlotte Gill

The first rule of campervanning around New Zealand? Wave every time you pass a fellow camper.

The penny only dropped a few days into our road trip around the South Island, but for the rest of our ten-day trip, we went waving mad.

My husband, Will, and I were anxious to do things right. We'd made a good start with our choice of van: the new Kea was posher than most, with a stylish interior, lots of space (we opted for a four-berth, even though there was only two of us) and tinted windows - so your neighbours couldn't see you getting changed in the morning. There was even a TV and DVD player.

We'd set ourselves a jam-packed itinerary. After travelling halfway around the world, we wanted to make the most of our time. Our starting point, Christchurch, one of the island's most historic towns, dating from when it was settled by the British in the 1800s, has a really bohemian feel - a great gallery and arts centre, and stylish cafes galore.

The next day, we picked up our campervan - very easy to drive, with a rear-view camera to avert reversing disasters - and were off to Kaikoura, a town of about 3,000 people two hours' drive north. En route, we called in at one of the legion of respected wineries to pick up a few bottles of top-notch plonk.

In Kaikoura, we met Maurice Manawatu, a Maori from the Ngai Tahu tribe, whose ancestors settled in New Zealand 800 years ago. Maori culture is everywhere in New Zealand, and his fascinating tour taught us about their customs, beliefs, history and their love of music.

The following day started early with a hearty breakfast and then it was on with the wetsuits to brave the chilly ocean. We were about to go swimming with dolphins at Dolphin Encounter, a company which operates open-water day trips.

The dusky dolphins that live off the coast here are completely wild, and there's no guarantee they will want to play with a bunch of clumsy humans. But we were in luck - as we slid off the back of the boat, we were surrounded by 40 playful 'duskies'. They swam round us in circles as we blabbered away - as per instructions - to entertain them.

Later that day, we hopped on quad bikes for a breathtaking whizz around Glenstrae Farm, a coastal sheep farm with stunning sea views.

Before leaving Kaikoura - which is Maori for 'eat crayfish' - we set out to meet its other famous local, the sperm whale, on an early morning boat trip with locally based Whale Watch and got lucky again with sightings of three different whales.

After spending the night in Hokitika (pronounced 'hockey ticker'), a small town on the west coast famous for its jade, we headed south to the town of Franz Josef and mountain country, though sadly we couldn't see them through the clouds.

Our hopes for a heli-hiking trip on the glacier were dashed by the rain. And, boy, did it rain. So we comforted ourselves with a visit to an indoor 'glacier experience' centre called Hukawai - 'frozen water' in Maori - and tried our hand at ice-climbing, which was rather daunting, but fun.

As we drove further south to the pretty town of Wanaka, on the shores of a lake of the same name, we passed waterfall after waterfall crashing down the sides of rocky mountains.

From there, it was on to Queenstown, where we decided against a bungie jump and opted for a jet river boat - scary enough for me.

From the water we had ample opportunity to admire the mountain vistas - the backdrop to the Lord Of The Rings film trilogy, as the locals never tired of telling us.

This is New Zealand's fjordland - there are inlets all down the coast - and from Queenstown we took an excellent guided bus and boat day-tour with Real Journeys to Doubtful Sound. Milford Sound is more famous, but lots of people we consulted prefer Doubtful and we weren't disappointed.

The highlights were spotting bottlenose dolphins leaping in the air and watching a colony of New Zealand fur seals basking on the rocks during an unusually sunny interlude. We also sailed past Secretary Island, one of the few places in New Zealand where all the plants and wildlife are native. When Europeans arrived, they introduced a range of plants and animals, including stoats, rats and rabbits, which have virtually wiped out the indigenous birds, including the famous kiwi.

Then it was back eastwards again via the quaint, former gold-mining town of Arrowtown and through a snow blizzard to Lake Tekapo - famous for its piercing blue waters - and a final stop in pretty Akaroa, a former French settlement on a peninsula 50 miles south of Christchurch. We covered 1,000 miles - and what felt like at least three dazzling countries: one day Scotland, next the Alps, then through a rainforest to emerge in the Lake District.


Travel Facts


Bridge & Wickers (020 7483 6555, www.bridgeandwickers.co.uk) offers ten-day hire of a two-berth vehicle from £460 per person travelling in March

Air New Zealand Premium Economy News

Premium Economy is now even more premium......




Air New Zealand have increased the baggage allowance in Premium Economy so now it's the same as Business Premier .
If you haven't flown in Premium Economy with Air New Zealand before, here are a few things you're missing out on: 50% more seat recline than Economy, exclusive check-in and the same stunning Kiwi style food and wines you get in Business Premier.

Discover more here including flying style tips from Gok Wan!

Share your top recommendations and win some NZ wine!

We would really like to hear what you thought was New Zealand’s best kept secret?

This could be anything from your favourite accommodation, restaurant or tour to the most wonderful sights and amazing experiences - we have our own favourites but it will be great to hear yours too.
We'll publish the best replies on our website and, if yours is a winner, we’ll send you a couple of bottles of fine New Zealand wine as a thank you!
Please leave a comment below or send us an email
We look forward to hearing from you!