This was published 7 years ago
Treetops Lodge and Estate: New Zealand's wilderness luxury niche
By Alison Stewart
Treetops Lodge, New Zealand, is on the doorstep of the spectacular Rotorua lakes geothermal and volcanic region.
A chef who has cooked for British, Dutch and Malaysian royalty is now cooking for us, fashioning culinary artworks from ingredients we have "hunted and gathered" for an ultimate wilderness dining experience. Well, not so much hunted, but certainly gathered.
We're on an estate-to-plate cooking extravaganza, an "ultimate wilderness experience" with Treetops Lodge chef Rhys Thornton and his fine-dining colleague Felipe Ponce.
It's one of the New Zealand luxury lodge's signature experiences and is giving us city-dwellers some confronting lessons about food choices. For instance, that nice piece of venison fillet normally "hunted" from our city butcher is today coming from something like that upended five-year-old white hart stag, shot yesterday on the estate.
The lodge offers enchanting views out of every window.
We have no right to be squeamish – we are carnivores by choice.
Treetops Lodge and Estate is in the style of New Zealand's plethora of uber-luxury boutique estates, which the Kiwis do exceedingly well.
The 1000-hectare estate with its 800-year-old native forest, about 13 kilometres south-west of Rotorua, is nestled in a half-moon valley on the edge of the Rotorua lakes volcanic area.
Head chef Jason Brown doing his thing.
Lodge owner and naturalist John Sax, nursing a dream to create a lodge in the style of the world's great self-reliant country estates, set off on a hike some years ago through the dense podocarp hardwood forest of majestic tawa, rimu, matai, tree-fern, mangeao and miro trees. He was seeking the perfect spot to create an eco-resort and hunting lodge that celebrated New Zealand's cuisine and love of outdoors adventure.
He found it on the Mamaku Plateau edge, overlooked by the Horohoro Bluffs. His 32-guest lodge in the sheltered southern valley end avoids the south-westerlies, which tickle the treetops but leave the lodge undisturbed.
There's an African game lodge feel to Treetops' decor, with Maori influences. The Great Room has nine-metre redwood ceilings with massive rimu roof trusses. Hand-carved poupou corbels – the load-bearing warriors of Maori culture – support the trusses.
Treetops Lodge's well-appointed billards room.
A colossal stone fireplace is the place for aperitifs and canapés with other guests, some with familiar faces. Robert Redford stayed for 12 weeks, filming Pete's Dragon.
Nature has crept into the design. The carved entry doors depict the valley, while door handles and light fittings are leaping trout. A trout-rich spring gushes under the lodge and down into the valley. The main lodge has four lodge rooms with eight separate, gigantic villas dotted around. An owner's retreat sleeps eight.
There are seven streams, four lakes, the exquisite Bridal Veil Falls and 70 kilometres of adventure trails. Activities include trout fishing, clay pigeon shooting, archery, horse trekking, Maori-inspired spa treatments; the signature experiences and the lodge cuisine are outstanding.
Fallow venison loin, braised shank kromeski, smoked pumpkin puree, red wine Jerusalem artichoke.
Then there's hunting, perhaps a bit contentious for gun-shy Australians, but a drawcard for international visitors who spend big on controlled hunts with guides and trackers.
Thankfully, what is hunted is eaten fresh, or rendered into salami, sausages or bacon, just as estate produce is rendered into pickled radish, wasabi and manuka honey. Treetops emphasises sustainable, local, seasonal produce and game.
Traditional Maori ingredients feature – we love the horopito (pepper bush), pico-pico (tender fern fronds), peppery kawakawa and the delicate purplish cellophane karengo (wild nori).
Treetops Lodge's library.
Maori culture specialist and lodge manager, Te Kariki (Riki) Mitchell takes us on a Maori food and heritage meander. He points out the ancient rata stump, once used for Maori upright burials. There's the glowworm dell, with its night constellation of starry critters. He explains the cultural significance of fern species including the silver fern and the black mamaku fern.
Finally, it's Rhys and Felipe's turn. Both are passionate about the provenance of food and committed to estate produce.
We've already had a taste of Rhys' culinary genius, sitting at the rata kitchen bar for his six-course NZ-wine-matched degustation, which began in the Great Room by the fire with sparkling wine and canapés – mussels with chilli jam, coriander and pickled ginger, scallops with pico-pico rub and karengo and quail with tapenade.
Dining under the waterfall.
The degustation includes roasted estate beetroot with toasted walnuts, feta, watercress and Treetops rocket pesto, and salmon pave, estate wasabi dressing, radish beans, pak choy and fennel.
For our estate-to-plate safari, Rhys and Felipe take us by four-wheel-drive into the hunting blocks (which are locked and signposted during hunting) and up into a hide. This is wild country, home to water buffalo, wild boar, pheasants, ducks and turkeys, red deer, fallow, white hart, sika, rusa, samba elk and chamois.
Afterwards, Rhys harvests the delicious, leek-flavoured innards of the indigenous cabbage tree, before showing us how to properly butcher a red deer haunch and white hart fillet. I prefer the vegetable garden forage for cos, baby kale, mizuna, broad beans and beans, plums, potatoes, beetroot, watercress and more.
Herd is the word.
Back in the kitchen, Rhys has us prepare and plate the salad, while he sautés the red deer, white hart and a slow-cooked rusa for a comparative tasting, before serving our venison salad, dressed by Felipe's balsamic, thyme and orange dressing.
Our lovely valley-view villa, with its massive bedroom, sitting room, spa-bathroom, fireplace and kitchenette is temporarily deprived of water due to a digger slicing through a water pipe. But it's all for a good cause – the laying of fibre-optic cable for proper Wi-Fi to benefit future guests.
Felipe's six-course dinner extravaganza served in the wood-panelled library with its Maori treasures and fireside gumboots signed by former prime minister John Key is happy consolation.
The country estate-themed decor of Treetops Lodge.
Recently introduced dining options will include a five-course Bridal Veil Falls dining experience with private chef and waiter. Prepare to diet.
TRIP NOTES
MORE
Remeux caramelized white chocolate pistachio compressed dessert.
FLY
Air New Zealand flies daily from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Auckland. See airnewzealand.com.au
STAY
Treetops Lodge & Estate has doubles from $NZ581 per person. Includes full breakfast, one of two featured Treetops signature experiences, which change daily, pre-dinner drinks and canapes, and gourmet estate-to-plate dinner using estate-reared fresh produce. See treetops.co.nz
Alison Stewart was a guest of Tourism New Zealand, Destination Rotorua and Treetops
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.