Features

A good idea plus the challenge of constantly improving the product are what keep a multi-million-dollar company afloat. Words Sam Davison; Photos Miz Watanabe.

Joshua Kauta and his whanau train dogs and hunt pigs on their remote Bay of Plenty farm. Joshua is also a specialist bookbinder with a love of fragile heirlooms – a perfect example of that old adage. Words Sue Hoffart; Photos Simon Young.

New Zealanders are well used to wearing merino sportswear and outdoor clothing but it is one young designer’s mission to dress many more of us in high-fashion New Zealand merino. Words: Kate Coughlan; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

Memories of happy childhood holidays built into a bach at Piha create a sense of security on Auckland’s boisterous west-coast beach. Words Claire McCall; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

Even in John Perriam’s wildest dreams 30 years ago he would never have contemplated that the vast semi-arid Bendigo Station could offer so many diverse opportunities as it does today. Words: Kate Coughlan. Photos: Stephen Jaquiery & Guy Frederick.

Ed Lamont doesn’t do things by halves. There’s no end to the projects he has in mind and he’s tackling them all at full speed. Words: Lyn barnes. Photos: Mike Heydon.

* See the end of this article for ways to spend a weekend in Arrowtown

SO MUCH FOR RETIRING at 45. Ed Lamont has been far too busy. The former racing-car driver and founder of motor retailing magazine Auto Trader could have cruised for the rest of his life when he sold his publishing business in 1993. But Ed’s a man who needs to have a project and a big one at that. And as with businesses in his past life, he means business; he likes to get a job done and done well. If that means upsetting someone, then so be it. “People say I’m a grumpy old bugger but it’s more about attention to detail, especially if something is being done wrong or can be improved,” says the immaculately groomed 60-year-old.

Mount Soho Winery, two kilometres from Arrowtown, is Ed’s latest venture. North-facing, the secluded 48.5-hectare valley farm has 180° views of the spectacular mountain range that starts with Coronet Peak on the left, places Mt Soho straight ahead and Cardrona to the right. The towering schist-columned main entrance way of the new winery building looks south to the Remarkable Range and Queenstown’s highest ski field. So it’s not hard to imagine how dramatic the winery courtyard looks when re-enactments of The Lord of the Rings are held there for private functions. Gandalf and Frodo look-alikes appear over a ridge to mingle with guests while three black stallions gallop around the courtyard decorated in gold, green and tartan.

IT TAKES CREATIVE COURAGE to build the home of your dreams, especially when your inspiration comes from the much-admired styles of France and Italy, and to place it on New Zealand soil. Such projects can often suffer from souvenir syndrome, plucked from their origins to look forever ill-at-ease in their new surroundings.

Lavender Hill, the French/Italian-style home of David and Judy Sheary on Waiheke Island, feels totally authentic and sits as easily on the landscape as a work by Brunelleschi in a Florentine courtyard. That’s partly because it is sited among rolling slopes of vineyards and olive groves, a typically Mediterranean view. Lavender Hill borders its version with the blue-green of Tamaki Strait and the deeper blue of the Hauraki Gulf.

It was while travelling through Provence in France and Tuscany in Italy that David and Judy developed a love of the Mediterranean.

They were drawn to the architecture of the old stone houses, the landscapes, the lavender and the olives. “The history of the place is fascinating,” Judy says. “You walk up the marble steps to a cathedral and they have been there for hundreds of years. You wonder how many feet have walked over them.” David is keen on photography which deepened his fascination with the architecture and the landscape. For Judy, lavender represents the Mediterranean.

It’s not just the weather that makes Northburn Station sizzle. Its family-run catering and cellar-door operation is Central Otago’s hottest new food and wine venue. Words: Suzanne Mahaffie;  Photos: Mike Heydon.

TOM PINCKNEY JOKES he knew his wife Jan was special the first time he saw her. “I thought to myself: ‘This girl can really cook. I’d better hold on to her’.” The young bachelor farmer was at his Uncle George’s 70th birthday party in the Rocky Gully ski hut on Coronet Peak. Jan’s company was catering for the event. Tom was captivated by the gorgeous blonde working furiously in the tiny kitchen and his instincts proved to be spot on. Jan’s talent with food, along with her marketing background from advertising days in Wellington and Auckland, have been a winning combo.

Ten years, three children and a mountain of hard work later, the couple are proud owners of The Shed, a function venue and wine and farm-gate shop on their 13,000-hectare high-country station near Cromwell. Northburn is still home to 10,000 merino sheep (the famous Shrek lives just over the hill at Bendigo) but by diversifying into wine and hospitality the Pinckneys are no longer so reliant on the fickleness of international commodity prices. “In the early days we were totally trapped into the wool price,” says Tom. Now at least, he says, they are masters of their own destiny.

A commercial palm garden that is also listed among New Zealand’s Gardens of National Significance, Palmco is a triumph for its owners whose lives are devoted to planning, visiting and writing about gardens. Words by Lyn Barnes; photographs Sally Tagg.

When the government wants to impress overseas guests with food and wine, it turns to a former cowshed in Te Horo. Words by Lyn Barnes; photos Nicola Edmonds.