Matakauri Lodge: On a billionaire's holiday

Matakauri Lodge on Lake Wakatipu.

Let's talk about the wine and the view, says Jesse Mulligan, from his oversized bath.

The irony of a lodge aimed at the very wealthy is that money is almost invisible. Once you've paid your room rate (around $3000 per night for our deluxe room; $16,000 in the four-bedroom owner's cottage), almost everything is taken care of. As a result, the environment feels like the opening episode of Netflix show The Good Place — everything is designed for your happiness, and should you need anything at all at any time of day or night, just whisper your desire and it will appear.

As a committed reporter with your interests in mind, I've stayed at a number of luxury resorts over the past few years and of all of them, Matakauri does the best job of retaining character and personality — a difficult job when you're in an industry worn down by the bland demands of the ultra-rich. As in the best fine-dining restaurants, the staff here aren't starchy, but read the moods and personalities of their individual guests, sometimes risking a joke or informal moment to add warmth to the experience. Though the rooms are impeccable, we tended to look forward to cocktail hour when you can lounge in the common area and interact with the staff and other customers who, it has to be said, tend to be much nicer than some of the types you meet in five-star hotels.

Everybody asks where you are from, nobody asks what you do for a living. Sometimes you pick up a bit of their story from overheard conversations — the direct flight from Houston has apparently attracted Big Oil executives to this part of the world — but mostly they want to talk about the wine, and the view.

Matakauri Lodge.

And that view is incredible. Matakauri is on the coast of Lake Wakatipu, 10 minutes past Queenstown towards Glenorchy. The dining room, deck and pool all look out over the lake towards Mt Cecil, a mountain of considerable scale on the other side.

"How many Sky Towers do you think you'd have to stack up to get to the top of that mountain?" I asked my wife, indulging in some typically romantic wedding-anniversary chat. "Three, four?" The answer was eight.

Every now and then you'll see old-time paddle steamer the Earnslaw puff its way past in the distance. Meanwhile, Mt Cecil changes colour and shade every five minutes as the sun lowers in the sky. Dinner is punctuated by men with SLR cameras excusing themselves to nip out and take the definitive sunset picture.

The lodge hosts a maximum of 32 guests, and is usually full during peak season. You'll sometimes get lucky in spring and autumn, which are the best times to visit anyway — cool enough to walk the lake path without breaking a sweat, warm enough that you can take your canapes outside before dinner. The weather was perfect for an afternoon by the pool, lounging in the sun when it was out and alternating between swim and hot tub. There is a fully equipped gym poolside, which I'm told gets some use, though the luxurious day spa and yoga facilities seem more popular.

Typical guests tend to be the "helicopter over Milford Sound" types, but the lodge is well set up for more hands-on exploring. You can reach the Routeburn track — one of the Great Walks — in 60 minutes, walk for a couple of hours and then sit next to a waterfall and eat a fantastic lunch the Matakauri kitchen has packed for you, before returning to your car.

They're virtually a 24-hour operation that kitchen, starting with a buffet breakfast supplemented by a menu of cooked items, serving lunch to house guests and curious visitors, then finishing with a five-course tasting menu created daily by chef Jonathan Rogers from the best of local produce and Matakauri's onsite garden.

The food is as good as you'll find in Auckland's best restaurants, and does a good job of fulfilling Rogers' vision that diners eat a memory-creating meal that captures "time and space" — the season and the region.

Many guests choose to eat this meal in their rooms and when you're set up in the oversize bath with the windows open and an unobstructed view of the lake, you can see why the comfort of this personal space might be difficult to leave.

Like I say, you can do whatever you most want to do, in whichever way you'd most like to do it. It's the sort of luxury you can't even imagine until you've experienced it, and which I will remember for a very long time.

Checklist

DETAILS
Matakauri Lodge's "Stay 4, Pay 3" deal runs until September 30, representing a saving of 25 per cent.