Grand Mercure Puka Park Resort's main lodge.
Grand Mercure Puka Park is the perfect retreat from the city or the surf, writes David Barrington.
A two-hour drive from Auckland, Pāuanui is the playground of boaties, water-lovers, beach-goers and the young at heart.
From the Dubai-style man-made waterways, where every house comes with its own private boat jetty, to the long strip of beautiful sand at Pāuanui Beach, it’s a spot that offers a beachtown feel at a high-end price.
In summer, it offers sunshine, surf, fishing, dog walks on the beach, sand in the hair and sun-kissed skin at the end of a long day.
However, away from the water (as far away as anywhere in Pāuanui can really be) is the Grand Mercure Puka Park Resort.
Set on a hill in lush native bush, the resort lodge and its 48 chalets are a place to slow down and reflect, to put your feet up with a beverage and apply some after-sun. That’s if you even left the resort in the first place – because, once checked in and ensconced, you may not want to.
A stay at Puka Park can all too easily be self-contained. There is a heated pool for year-round swimming, a tennis court (and a table tennis table inside if it’s too hot or too wet outside), a sauna, a gym and an on-site restaurant. And that’s all before you’ve made it to your room, which is welcoming and generously sized.
Location:
At the end of a residential street, in the foothills of Mt Pāuanui, you enter the driveway and are immediately surrounded by thick native bush. A short drive later and you happen upon the main building, the Lodge, where you’ll find friendly reception staff.
Perfect For:
A weekend break from Auckland or a base from which to explore the Coromandel Peninsula. It’s great for families (kids are welcomed enthusiastically) or for couples or singles.
First Impressions:
Nothing is a problem. Park your car at the bottom of the hill and the staff will take you and your luggage to your room by golf buggy. The chalets are spread out around the 10ha property, all separated from one another by bush and fern-lined paths.
The Room:
The accommodation consists of two types of chalets, which can be rented separately or as adjoining rooms (a bedroom side and a suite side). Both are built with pitched timber-framed ceilings and windows that look out on to the bush. Sitting on one of the balconies gets you even closer to the foliage – you might feel as if you are perched in a bird’s nest or, more likely, a particularly well-appointed treehouse.
The bedroom has a large, comfortable bed, while the suite has a just-as-comfortable sofa bed. Each has a large flat-screen television with Sky TV installed. Tea- and coffee-making facilities are provided, and on the suite side, there is a kitchenette with a hob and microwave plus all the necessary cookware. There is also a small dishwasher to make the dirty dishes disappear with ease.
The rooms have no minibar, but do have a fridge for anything you bring yourself.
Other items to hand include an iron, an ironing board and a hairdryer.
There are also two Toi Toi apartments, which combine aspects of the bedroom and suite, and the large superior two-floor Royal Puka Suite.
Bathroom:
Each side of the chalet has a large shower with a monsoon showerhead and heated bathroom floors, while the bedroom has a large bathroom and bath.
Facilities:
Tennis court, table tennis table, gym, spa and sauna, heated outdoor pool, free Wi-Fi. The resort has bikes for guests to borrow to cycle around town.
Food and Drink:
In the Lodge is Miha restaurant, where the fare is billed as a Pacific Rim flavour with a modern European twist. The menu changes seasonally. The most toothsome dinner item during our visit was the rib-eye steak, which was cooked to perfection, while the kids’ menu offered a spaghetti bolognese that was very well received too.
Miha restaurant is also where you’ll find breakfast. It’s a buffet set-up that includes cereals, fruits, pastries, overnight oats, toast, muffins, jams and cooked options such as eggs, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans and hash browns.
Lunch is served at Miha between 12-2 or you can fix yourself something in the kitchen in your room, forage at the shops in town or go large enough at breakfast to see yourself through to 4pm, when the bar in the Puka Room offers a happy hour and bar snacks.
The bar serves a range of wines and beers, including local favourites and craft options that can be enjoyed on the large open-air deck.
In the Neighbourhood:
That beach is a stunner and can get very busy in summer. Given Pāuanui’s high-end status, the local shops aren’t up to much, but, if you do fancy eating outside of the resort, there are some nice beach bars, ice-cream parlours and independent bakeries across the water in Tairua, which can be reached by ferry (leaves every hour in the summer season from Pāuanui Wharf) or a 20-minute drive.
Go a bit farther, and you have everything the Coromandel has to offer, whether that’s kayaking at Cathedral Cove, taking the narrow-gauge train at Driving Creek Railway or stand-up paddle boarding on the Tairua River estuary.
Sustainability:
The resort is set in bush that hums with native bird species – the tūī are the soundtrack to the daytime, while at night it is possible to hear and even see ruru, the small brown owl native to New Zealand. There are identification plaques at the base of some trees and plants to inform guests of taonga species. Puka Park works with Predator Free Pāuanui to keep invasive species at bay, and kiwi have recently been heard and reported within the resort’s boundaries.
The bathrooms have no single-use toiletries: all hand soaps, lotions and shampoos are dispensed from refillable bottles.
Accessibility:
The property has a raised aspect and private vehicles are not allowed to drive up to the chalets, access to some of which may include a steep slope. However, between 7am and 10pm, staff are more than happy to take guests to and from their rooms in one of the resort’s golf buggies – all it takes is a phone call to reception. The rooms closer to the Lodge, and therefore easier to reach, are 46-49, 34-45 and 44 and 45.
Price:
Chalets range from $250 to $450 per night.
Contact:
For more information, visit pukapark.co.nz, email reservations@pukapark.co.nz or call 07 864 8088.