It's before sunrise in New Zealand's Bay of Islands and I've crept downstairs at the Boathouse, one of four residences at The Landing - thelandingnz.com - spread over 405 hectares of soft coastal hills, reclaimed wetlands and prime wine-growing vines.
Outside the Pacific Ocean rasps gently on the dark brown sands of Wairoa Bay. Inside my 14-year-old daughter Freya sleeps soundly in a ground-floor bedroom and the huge open-plan kitchen I am writing in awaits the arrival of local chef Carla to cook us waffles and poached eggs for breakfast.
It's been more than 20 years since I was last in New Zealand and I'd almost forgotten the understated excellence with which Kiwis do luxury accommodation. The Landing not only encapsulates the most opulent digs in one of the world's most compellingly beautiful locations but also comes with everything (and I mean everything, from private chefs providing meals to wine tastings at the onsite winery to half-day boat tours among the 144 offshore islands) taken care of.
We even got taken on a Kiwi spotting tour last night, discovering two of these curious-looking, skewer-beaked ground-dwelling birds foraging for grubs on the property's huge lawns. The females of this species are bigger than their male counterparts, partly because they have to carry huge eggs (almost as big as those laid by emus) that the male then sits on for 80 days to incubate.
AUCKLAND'S BEST
We began our week-long visit in Auckland, staying at The Landing's sister property - thehotelbritomart.com - in a tenth-floor suite named Wairoa, after the bay I am looking out at now, at first light. Sharing similar decor, furnishings and art work in the much busier surroundings of the redeveloped Britomart area, the five-star hotel is located in a once dilapidated precinct, beside Auckland harbour. In 2023 the hotel was voted New Zealand's top accommodation by Trip Advisor.
In town primarily to see Angus and Julia Stone perform at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, the Hotel Britomart provided a lovely central base from which to explore. With impeccable environmental credentials, from its "five green star" design and build to maintaining the highest eco standards, it has sustainability at its core. As does its restaurant Kingi, where we feasted, on a lively Friday night, on locally-sourced seafood including green-lipped mussels and a tagliatelle featuring paua (the Mori name for abalone) and squid.
On our first night we hung out on our outdoor rooftop terrace, beside a fire, with standout views of the city and Auckland's Sky Tower, all lit up. The following morning, after looking around the Britomart markets, we took the lift to the 60th floor of the Sky tower for 360-degree views over New Zealand's largest city, sprawling around the waterside.
BAY OF ISLANDS
The four-hour drive up here through Northland, which many Kiwis consider this country's most scenic region, and which I have long wanted to visit, was easy. We stopped twice, once at the frothy, tumbling Whangarei Falls (Wh is pronounced as an F in Mori) and then in the seaside town of Paihia. We'll return to Paihia today to visit the nearby Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the birthplace of New Zealand, where the first accord between the Maori - who arrived here 800 years ago from Polynesia - and the British colonisers, known as the Pakeha, was signed in 1840.
Where we are staying, at The Landing, is hugely historically significant, with the remnants of Maori settlements dating back hundreds of years and Te Puna village, located here, considered the capital of the country in the early 19th century.
Encounters with Captain Cook and with French explorers took place all around the beautiful Bay of Islands, from 1769 onwards, and in 1814, the arrival of Reverend Samuel Marsden, from the colony of New South Wales, in Hohi Bay, a short walk from where I am writing this, marked the beginning of European settlement in what would become New Zealand.
The sun is up now and lighting up the green, mounded islands in the bay and I feel blessed to be sitting here, in this deeply significant place, taking it all in from the waterfront Boathouse, at the Landing, ahead of another day of exploring this outstandingly beautiful New Zealand region.
