Poronui Station, a 6475ha fishing and hunting operation on the Napier-Taupo road, is for sale for a cool $62 million. It is owned by US businessman Mark Blake, his brother Todd and sister Wendy, who bought it in 1998 for $9.5 million. The Poronui sale was announced as Canadian singer Shania Twainwas given Government appproval to buy leases on 25,000ha South Island high country for more than $21 million. The Blake family has poured millions into building Poronui into a hunting and fishing tourist paradise. The tourism business, Poronui Ranch, centres on world-class fly fishing in the Mohaka and Taharua rivers. Sika and red deer provide good hunting. Poronui is a working beef and cattle farm with eucalypt and pine plantations and 2400ha of ancient beech forest. The Blakes have created the tourism business from what was a rustic camp. The fishing lodge has room for 14 guests in seven one-room, low-tech, chalets. There is a safari campsite at the confluence of the rivers. Poronui also offers claybird shooting, gamebird shooting and horse-riding. A resource centre by the lodge has stables, a gym, billiard room, sauna, a barbecue and entertainment area. Lodge guests are encouraged to eat together in the luxury dining room sampling Hawke's Bay wines from a 10,000-bottle underground wine cellar. The private home on the station overlooks the Taharua River. It was built four years ago and designed by Queenstown architect John Blair. It has five bedrooms and five bathrooms, two entertainment areas, library, cigar room and five-car garage. The station is about 30 minutes from Taupo. Colliers International New Zealand sales director John Goddard said marketing would target rich people in the US, Asia, Australia and Europe. He expects a high level of interest in the sale. Green Party co-leader Rod Donald said the "obscene" amount of money being asked for the lodge would further push real estate out of the reach of New Zealanders. "What it does reinforce is that New Zealand is a playground for the rich and famous," he said. Mr Donald challenged Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen to negotiate as good a public access deal for Poronui as he has for Twain's land.
