Kay and Trevor

Matahi Lodge, Luxury Accommodation in Katikati, Bay of Plenty, NZ

Trevor dug the cellar into the slope himself; the ceiling is fragrant Lawson cypress, insulated with cement and a layer of turf. Trevor proudly opens the double doors to invite you enjoy his treasure.

In their cellar, the vintage from last year matures in barrels. The walls are stacked with bottled wine. Trevor laughs as he tells the story of the early days with their first guests. They hadn’t started bottling, so accessing the vintage involved sucking on a plastic tube to siphon from the barrel to the carafe. The guests loved it; Trevor grins as he tells of performing this ritual several times for photo opportunities.

Kay recalls purchasing the Italian Press and their first little barrel as a milestone. The early vines are individually owned by friends and neighbours. A $10 deposit got you a plastic tag with your name on it. These same friends are engaged in the harvest and the enjoyment of the fruits of their labours.

Full of fun and humor, Trevor’s fire evacuation policy involves ensuring the guests are aware of the location of his collection of vintage wine. Leave your valuables and grab as many bottles as you can on the way out.

Kay and Trevor were given a forward push by Kay’s cousin John. Over a glass or two at The Junction Wines in central Hawkes Bay, John Ashworth, former All Black front row, enthused to his mate that forming a vineyard was the best decision he and Jo had ever made. Trevor came striaght home to draw up plans for a few vines.

Kay is a keen golfer but Trevor loves the camera. They have a driving range to practice for the golf course next door. Trevor demonstrated his prowess with a hole in one for our cameras.

Trevor has developed a landing strip for light planes to accommodate his friends from his air traffic controller days and his Rugby Referee network.


Kay said they had never had a guest they didn’t enjoy, as we leave Trevor tells us to “come again, you don’t need a reason”.

Matahui Lodge, Luxury Accommodation in Katikati, Bay of Plenty, NZ

Te Popo Gardens

Te Popo Gardens

Lorri says she is not really a people person. She invites you to meet her garden. Her husband Bruce is a chartered accountant.



Te Popo is her labour, her creation and the work of her husband Bruce. For thirteen years, Lorri has been the composer; nurturing and planning the Te Popo lullaby. A peaceful place to stay.

The garden is 5 acres set amongst 35 acres of woodland. It was recognised by the New Zealand Gardens Trust as a Garden of National Significance in 2005.

  Lorri explains the garden began with Graeme and Janet Marshall. Every tree and shrub was planted for the nectar or seeds that feed the birds that inspired Janet’s internationally renowned bird art.

Flynn, the wire-haired Fox terrier, willingly takes garden tours. Lorri says he will wait for you or even come and get you if he thinks you are lost. He bounces through the bluebells on his tip toes.

In the canopy, pine needles net the wind, providing a whispering backdrop to waves of birdsong.

The eye falls to brilliant carpets of Bluebells and blue Ajuga. Pathways draw you through, and past, and over. The swing bridge tests your sense of space again, pegged above the narrow ravine. Not satisfied with the high ceilings and low floors, Lorri is working on an amphitheatre of terraces where the best seats look down into magnolias.

Eucalyptus scents the air. Juxtaposition of colour, texture and form relate, surprise and please the senses.

Tariff $175 double; $125 single, breakfast included. 

Evening meals $45 per head 

Discounted rates apply to low season bookings (May - Sept) and multiple nights

Jo and John Ashworth

John has painted a canvas to tell the story of the Junction Vineyard.

He draws together the Ruggles Truck from Joanne’s family, his Cantabrian Rugby Roots and the north facing red metal terraces of their farm.

Jo’s Family originally owned the Ruggles and Jo and John were able to bring it back into the family.

“It was going to Invercargill to a Truck Museum. Bill Richardson heard our story so he stopped, bought it back and said if we really wanted it we could have it.”

It took John a while to come around to using his All Black pedigree to promote their wine. Now he modestly says “we are pushing the rugby along a little bit.”

He is enthusiastic about the development of his wine. He talks of the cool nights and hots days that are good for Pinot, the long cool growing season allows for intense aromatic award winning wines.

His grapes are subject to a changeable climate that results in either gooseberry tones similar to Marlborough or the tropical fruit flavours of Hawks Bay.

His son Leith is the wine maker, combining the knowledge he has gained in studying the craft in NZ and France.

The Junction Vineyard, owned by former All Black front row forward John Ashworth and family, is located at the junction of State Highway 2 with State HIghway 50 on the windswept stony gravels of the Takapau Plains in Central Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

This small, boutique vineyard enjoys the long, cool Central Hawkes Bay growing seasons, allowing son and winemaker Leith to naturally produce award-winning, intense, aromatic wines which are very distinctive and unique for you to enjoy.

Wines currently available:

2006 Pinot Gris
2007 Pinot Gris (Bronze 2008 Royal Easter Show)
2006 Riesling Three Sisters
2007 Riesling
2008 Side Step Gewurztraminer
2007 Sauvingnon Blanc
2008 Free Run Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Corner Post Sauvignon Blanc
2008 CHB Chardonnay
2008 Front Row Pinot Noir

Junction of Highway 2 & highway 50,
r.d.2 takapau, central hawkes bay,
new zealand.
0064 68558321

http://www.junctionwines.com/

Trout and Heather

Trout & Heather were married by a Wizard, a Witch and a Nun. They complement each other in an extraordinary way. They share an eclectic art & craft business that merges into lifestyle and leisure.

Trout has held a lifelong interest in fishing. He loves being able to walk out the gate and down fishing at the river in 15 minutes.

The Waipawa River regularly provides for the dinner table. Heathers wood shavings are an ideal fuel for the fish smoker. When we first met Trout he generously sent us home with a parcel of freshly smoked trout garnished with watercress.

He has collected antique fishing equipment & memorabilia for many years. Realising that this material is of interest to a great many people, he began to assemble his fishing installations.

They are composed of a selection of items such as fly wallets, fly reels, old lures, silk lines, gut casts, brass reels, fly vices, fly tying equipment & bamboo rods.

They have proved much sought after, not only by keen fishermen & collectors of memorabilia, but others who recognise their artistry & hold nostalgia for the fine traditions of the past.

Former owner of the very successful Oxus Antiques in Queenstown, Trout now consolidates his energies on his fishing interests, conducting considerable research from the banks of the Waipawa River.

Trout enjoys taking people camping on the river. It is a therapy, the water is a great healer. He says “you can relax around a campfire” Heather adds “with a few whiskeys if your want.”



Heather has worked with wood for many years. Training initially as a joiner, she became interested in hand tools & traditional ways of working with wood. She built her first pole lathe in 1999 & began making treenware.

A pole lathe is the earliest way of doing woodturning. It is beauty in its simplicity, operated by a treadle, with a springy pole providing the return. Treen is the old English word for tree, & treenware is anything made from a single piece of wood for domestic use.

This combination of pole & treen lead to a specialisation in spoons. Heather has developed many beautiful & useful spoon designs; Olive spoons and Ladles. The bowls of the spoons are carved with handtools, in a variety of fruit & nut woods.

Baby spoons ideal for feeding and especially good for teething babies to rub on their gums.

Robin and John

Everyone's got a story to tell.

John loves the outdoors, he is an avid hunter and fisher. A trained motor vehicle mechanic, he gave it away to follow his passion for hunting.
As a young man, he worked in South Westland hunting on foot and from helicopters in the venison boom.

John has always looked for opportunities to spend his life doing what he loves. He had a go at farming for a couple of years and spent a season lobster fishing.

When he married Robin they managed a fishing lodge in Artic Canada for 4 months. John thought he wouldn't mind having a lodge of his own in New Zealand.

John describes walking into a nice piece of property, overlooking the Hanmer Valley. To finance his dream he worked on a lucrative little niche market. John captured and exported live Chamois to international zoos to pay for the foundations of the Lodge.

Once they started building, they found it had to be completed faster than expected. The dry nor-west wind threatened to warp the timber and John had to launch himself out of choppers again, catching more chamois with net guns to pay the builders.


Robin is the strong backbone of their business. She's his muse, manager and support crew.
"I'd be lost without her."

John says "We're pretty rich from the point of view of the people we meet and the lifestyle that we've got. That’s our wealth."

"Everyone's life is different, everyone's got a story to tell."

Isolation, but no hardship

Robyn’s gaze sweeps across the mountain pastures. 

She enjoys the natural beauty of their alpine home.
Her professional eye calculates the health of the ewes and their new lambs; always alert for changes that may require her assistance.

Robyn runs the sheep station and Angus Stud with her husband Johnny.

Her feminine creativity runs to garden art.

Two miniature Trafalgar Lions stare out from the platform of the relocated cottage, they have a long wait for a train. 

The cottage was originally a New Zealand Railway House, but has now retired to the silence and splendid isolation of the hill country farm.

Isolation, but no hardship; the cottage has electricity and a “Fatso” cast iron log burner to keep it warm.

Robyn has softened the otherwise spartan feel of the cottage with freshly decorated walls, original paintings and old fashioned rose-print fabrics.

Farm fresh eggs complete the welcome in the kitchen.

 The winding road to the cottage is sound with only one dry creek bed that fords easily. The road climbs sheep covered ridges and decends into green gullies.

The farm has been in the family for 109 years. Johnny’s father founded their Angus breeding line in the 1930s.

They now have a Stud of Australasian renown.

250 cows that winter on the hills, without reqiring supplementary feed.

60 bulls per year meet the stringent criteria of the stud principal and are sold in the annual bull sale on the property in June.

Around the homestead in spring, new calves frolick in the lush green pastures.

Pam and Mark

Mark must come from entrepreneurial stock. He slips easily into talking about his brother Kim who made an astonishing movie, Shadowlands, with a camera mounted on a helicopter flying through the fiords. Because there was nowhere to play it, Kim built a cinema.
There was no bar to celebrate in, so he built one of those too. Mark jokes that he is the best patron.

In a remote place like Te Anau, transport by helicopter seems logical. Mark has been based there since he was 15 and has been flying choppers since he was 22.

Mark put the first notches in his belt in the days of venison recovery. 

The culture of that era has been described in the novel Hawks by Andrew Grant: "This was a time when the cowboys rode choppers instead of horses and used semi-automatic weapons, not six guns. They lived, worked and sometimes died in the most rugged and spectacular corner of this country - the vast Fordland wilderness." Hawks, Andrew Grant 1999.
The art of capturing live deer meant honing up new skills and working with a mate who could jump out of the chopper at the fleeing animal. Not a job for the faint hearted: for more stories click here

Mark worked for a helicopter company in Alaska, contracted to the US Government transporting Biologists and Vets in a programme to fit radio collars and track elk, caribou, wolves and grizzly bears.

Visiting Colorado, Mark was intrigued by a Log Cabin. He determined that, when he found the right place in New Zealand, he would have a go building one himself. The 10 acres in Te Anau, remote and framed by the natural landscape certainly fit the bill. Mark and Pam enjoy their own log home and have a log cabin for guests.

When he is not at home in New Zealand Mark works as a chopper pilot, shifting drill rigs in Alaska. 


Pam sometimes travels with Mark as his manager.
At home she is a keen golfer, living next door to the course.
Mark reckons she has her work cut out keeping an eye on him.

Pam and Mark offer a luxury two bedroom log cabin - a King loft and a King bedroom that sleep up to 5 people.
The Cabin is spacious and fully equipped with all modern amenities, telephone and wifi.

Relax and enjoy complimentary New Zealand wine by the fire or enjoy it in the sunshine on the deck. Breakfast supplies are provided to you daily and include fresh farm eggs, bacon and venison sausages, freshly baked bread, croissants, home-made muesli and fresh seasonal fruit.


$400 for 2 people
$50 extra per person