Nick Walton experiences New Zealand’s newest luxury lodge all to himself
Helena Bay isn’t like New Zealand’s other luxury lodges, those stately, homely places, weathered by time and fortune, that cater to affluent travellers looking to fly-fish, hunt, feast on local produce or simply drink in the country’s stunning landscapes. It’s more contemporary, more reserved, more elusive. So elusive, in fact, that I drive right past the entrance as I wind down narrow Russell Road, a tiny byway that clutches the flanks of steep hills as it tumbles into the remote and impossibly beautiful bays of Northland’s east coast.
Secret hideaway
Doubling back, I discover subtle gates and manicured lawns that look rather out of place, and I’m vetted by CCTV before making my way through thick forest to the shoreline of one of the region’s isolated slices of paradise, the lodge’s namesake. “I think they like to keep things pretty subtle, otherwise we’d have coachloads of people at the gates and people trying to get in, and we can’t have that,” says a young staff member as I question the calibre of my GPS. “We like things nice and private around here.”
Private’s right. At a cost of US$35 million, the luxury lodge caters to just 10 guests at a time, or one, should they book the whole estate. It’s the New Zealand retreat of a Russian steel billionaire who likes to keep a low profile, Alexander Abramov. He built the lodge simply so he might enjoy this remote corner of the world from time to time in unashamed luxury.
I’m guided by immaculately uniformed (and mostly kiwi) staff through the lodge’s towering doors, intricately carved by local indigenous artisans, to find that I’m the only guest. It’s a unique opportunity to experience Helena Bay as I suspect it was intended. While I’m assured by Scottish general manager Neil McFarLane, a no-nonsense former superyacht captain handpicked by Abramov, that the billionaire allows other guests to stay while he’s visiting (anonymously of course), I’m thinking to myself, rather selfishly, “Why would you?”
I find it remarkably easy to slip into billionaire estate-owning character, replacing the persona of an impoverished travel writer with that of a well-to-do oligarch retreating from busy corporate life. Once I’ve settled into my ocean-facing Junior Suite, with its super king-size bed, Christian Fischbacher robes, Hefel of Austria linens and mosaic-lined bathroom, I strike out to inspect the property, wondering how a typical billionaire spends his days off?