Matakauri Lodge review, Queenstown, New Zealand: World-class luxury lodge should be on your bucket list

CHECK-IN

Before their arrival at Matakauri Lodge, about 10 minutes' outside Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island - about three hours flying time from Australia's east coast - guests are asked about their mode of transport, providing a large hint as to its target clientele. Will you be arriving by helicopter? Er, no. I'll be coming not by chopper but by Corolla. A Hertz Toyota Corolla. But I still get an amazing arrival on dusk, as Queenstown's surrounding peaks that rise powerfully above central Lake Wakatipu are spectacularly tinged chocolate, vanilla and strawberry like gargantuan Neapolitan ice-cream scoops. What a treat.

THE LOOK

Exclusive luxury lodges are to New Zealand as ryokans are to Japan. There's no handbook for how to create one of these lodges except that it must be unequivocally indulgent, giddily expensive and possess the ability for its stupendous setting to not only momentarily rob you of your breath, but to run away with it like an All Blacks winger. Early versions were hunting and fishing-fixated and decorated with ghastly animal trophy heads. Matakauri, in sharp contrast, was designed by Virginia Fisher, the doyenne of Kiwi interior chic, and is unfailingly contemporary in its use of stone, timber and glass with calming, lightly-hued Scandinavian-like tonings throughout. However, impressive as it is, after more than a decade under its current ownership a refresh, while by no means urgent, can't be too far away, particularly when it's blessed with a clientele with the highest expectations.

THE SUITE

My enormous deluxe suite-cum-villa suite, set apart from the others and is reached by an extended pathway from the main lodge building, is nestled in landscaped gardens with every conceivable accoutrement awaiting you inside. The bedroom is on a mezzanine level with shutters affording privacy and darkness, while the twin-basin bathroom - itself almost as big as some hotel rooms - features an oversized tub right next to floor-to-ceiling windows. Morning reveals arresting views of Lake Wakatipu, the snow-smothered Remarkables ranges and Cecil and Walter Peaks.

FOOD + DRINK