He Tangata: Eve Reilly of Poronui Lodge

Eve Reilly, horse trekking in Crete.

Elisabeth Easther talks to the manager of Poronui Lodge

I grew up in Ireland, in County Tipperary with three older brothers and a younger sister.

Growing up in the country, my childhood was very rural, riding horses, cooking on campfires and having adventures. I remember from a very young age having a great love for the outdoors. In the early days, for our holidays mum and dad used to take a house on the Waterford Coast. We'd head off for three weeks and there'd be fishing and swimming — Mum taught most the children in the region to swim. She was also the local Girl Guide commissioner and for my first time overseas, we went to the Girl Guide chalet in Switzerland. Mum took a whole group of us and there were guides from all over the world. That was in the 1970s and it was absolutely fantastic.

Mum was one of 11 and she taught us skills from a very early age that stood us in good stead throughout life, and not just the skills themselves but also to be open to adventure and taking risks.

My dad was a wonderful raconteur, and having people to stay was very much a part of the experience at home. It's so funny thinking about it, I can see how the life I live now came together, it was in my DNA. In the mid-1970s we set up our home as a country house hotel in Ireland and that's how I cut my teeth on hospitality. Our very first guests were recreational French fly fishermen.

After school, I qualified as a Montessori teacher and a friend I trained with was working in New Zealand and I thought I'd visit her. This is the end of 81, and I thought I'd just stop by for a few months then carry on but New Zealand got under my skin. I totally fell in love with the country, the people, the way of life. I spent a lot of time skiing, going on wonderful kayaking and rafting trips.

New Plymouth was a fantastic place. I remember one morning I was skiing on Mt Taranaki, then in the afternoon I was on a windsurfer on the water looking up at Mt Taranaki and thinking "I was up there this morning".

Eventually I went back to Ireland and had a foray working up in Finland in a Montessori school in Espoo. The job was fun but the adventures were wonderful. I borrowed a bicycle and did a wonderful camping trip; fronting up with my bike and panniers and little ferries would take me to islands. I remember at one stage thinking I must stop eating all the wild strawberries or I'll get nowhere.

But I decided I needed to return to New Zealand and I worked part time for Montessori, I worked on a docking gang, I cooked for shepherds and worked on farms, I even had a baked-potato machine. Then I heard Simon Dickie — Poronui Lodge's owner at the time — was looking for someone to be his chief cook and bottle washer. That was in 1993.

Poronui is 16,000 acres of playground and people come here to follow their passion — fly fishing, horse riding, hiking or hunting. Maybe they're trying something for the first time. Or they just want to curl up in front of a cracking fire with a good book. Or spend a morning with the head chef doing a manuka honey tasting. Bees are one of our farming enterprises and it's a wonderful story.

What started from really humble beginnings has grown into a world-renowned destination, in no small part due to the calibre of the team who really understand the essence of hospitality.

This isn't a job, it's a way of life and I think those who stay with us really buy into that. This is home for me, I love the adventure and the challenge. We're only 40 minutes from Taupo — or four hours from Auckland — and when you're here, it's like reaching the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Further information: See poronui.com