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."

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