In this spectacular part of NZ, billionaires are building apocalypse bunkers. You can stay too.
Maori men were packed off alone to the black sand beach to become at one with the Earth. These days the world’s billionaires are doing the same thing.
A couple of days into our stay at Wharekauhau Lodge we begin to get the impression there’s been a disappointment around here lately. After some questioning we nail down the problem. “Ed didn’t come in the end,” someone murmurs sadly. “We were hoping. But Peter gave him his house instead. Which is just over the bay. So I guess he had a good reason.”
The Ed in question is English pop star Ed Sheeran, while Peter is the acclaimed Kiwi film director Peter Jackson. Ed was in New Zealand recently, it seems, and Wharekauhau Lodge is the kind of place celebrities and other high-net-worth individuals, including royalty, come to unwind when the day job is done. “Apparently Ed ran into Peter in Wellington, and so we missed out,” someone else tells us, similarly glum. “Shame.”
You know you have arrived somewhere out of the ordinary when the world’s genuine A-listers are on first-name terms with the staff. “It rained the whole time Wills and Kate were here,” confides Wharekauhau’s affable general manager Richard Rooney. “Absolutely teemed. You couldn’t even see the bay. You’ve got it so much better.” That was sour luck for poor Wills and Kate, for indeed they really did miss out. Rooney walks us through the rambling Edwardian-style homestead and pauses for a minute as we look out over Cape Palliser, the dramatic wineglass-shaped bay on which the estate is positioned. His eyes almost mist over. “Not bad, is it?”
No, it’s not bad, not at all, this lush pastoral estate wedged between the black sands of a shoreline known as Ocean Beach and the volcanic peaks of the Wainuiomata coastline on the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island. Behind us, sawtooth cliffs jut out of the earth, lushly populated with the native ferns that grow like weeds here, while in the other direction, the sea blinds with its luminance, the dazzling aquamarine of the inshore waters ending in a pronounced line where the sapphire ocean suddenly meets it. The sky, huge and shimmering, fills now and then with long white clouds that blow away and then roll back over with sudden storms that almost immediately give way to bright sunshine, and rainbows.
Wharekauhau – pronounced, improbably, something like “Forry-co-ho” – translates in the Maori language as “place of knowledge”. According to lore, young Maori men were packed off alone to the black sand beach to find themselves in the midst of all this beauty, and so become at one with the Earth.
These days the world’s billionaires are doing the same thing. Around here, the super wealthy are preparing for the end of the world by buying up properties in which to feel safe in dangerous times. Wharekauhau Lodge, about 90 minutes from Wellington and one of a handful of places the public can stay near here, is owned by American billionaire Bill Foley, whose other possessions include Las Vegas’s ice hockey startup the Golden Knights, and the UK soccer team AFC Bournemouth, as well as some local wineries.
Next door to Wharekauhau, which is still a working farm, Titanic director James Cameron owns a ranch – a property that has gone vegan, just like the director – while around the country other (mostly Silicon Valley) billionaires are purchasing old sheep stations for “apocalypse bunkers”. Honestly, I see the attraction.
The hotel has booked us in to ride around the 120ha property on quad bikes, arranging Welly local Sherelyn as our guide. Sherelyn, the grooviest granny I’ve ever met, kits us up and congratulates us on the fine weather before we hit the trails around the farm, hooning past plump cattle and docile sheep, through rocky rivulets that feature in The Lord of the Rings, along a ridge where we stop to watch a pod of about 100 dolphins play in the shallows, and finally down to the beach where we speed alongside waves that barrel ferociously onto shore. Only madmen would swim here, Sherelyn warns us, mentioning she once took her bike too close to the water and was almost swallowed whole by the sea.
She tells us about the early settlers who came to this remote place and tried to break it. The original Wharekauhau sheep station, settled in 1844, was a source of wealth for its owners, but to get wool off the land the hardy settlers had to navigate this treacherous onshore break in small wooden boats, with the help of horses. The stories of casualties and shipwrecks are harrowing.
These days Sherelyn mostly escorts shattered American executives around the property. “This place breaks them,” she tells us. “A lot of them just come and sit here and cry.” Why do they cry? She shrugs. “They’re so uptight when they get here. But then they relax. They think about their lives. I think they just can’t believe a place like this still exists.”
I know what she means. When the end of the world comes, you’ll know where to find me.
Checklist
Getting there: Wharekauhau Lodge (also known as the Warekauhau Country Estate) is a 90-minute drive from Wellington. The hotel can arrange transfers, which you will need as the road from the airport traverses Rematuka Hill. It’s a winding thoroughfare through the wilderness intrepidly navigated by our driver, Darko, who, incidentally, also drives James Cameron to and from his property (Jim calls during our drive out). You can also chopper in if that’s your speed.
Stay: Wharekauhau Country Estate (wharekauhau.co.nz) was a sheep station from 1844 but the decline in NZ’s sheep industry saw the need for the property to diversify into hospitality. In the 1980s, the farmhouse was moved to a less advantageous location on the estate and the current lodge was built. The hotel now has 16 suites, each a roomy 70sqm. The house has beautiful communal areas and dining spaces decorated mostly in English country house/Hamptons style; there’s also a pool, spa and wellness centre. From $A2000 a night inclusive of dinners, pre-dinner canapes (with pre-dinner drinks) and full country breakfast.
Eat: You will be eating a lot of lamb; go with it, it’s the world’s best. The food at Wharekauhau is in the excellent hands of Chilean-born chef Norka Munoz, who more or less offers a private chef service for each guest. You can order fine-dining four-course dinners or opt for tailor-made homestyle dining, both of which are served mostly with local wines. Either way, the food is outstanding. I can’t recall having better hotel food.
Do: Book the quad biking. It is so much fun. You’ll feel like you’re in Jurassic Park, minus the fear. Also highly recommended is a visit to Bill Foley’s nearby Martinborough winery, The Runholder (therunholder.co.nz), recently reopened after renovation. The winery produces pinot noir, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Try, too, the delicious Lighthouse Gin (lighthousegin.co.nz) in the onsite distillery. Stay for the food of Australian chef Tim Smith, who creates a menu of full-flavoured dishes, including wood-fired lamb ribs with harissa.