World Magazine - issue 32

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Explore All Oman’s Secrets There are some places in this world that just have to be experienced for yourself as no amount of words can truly define the exquisite beauty that unfolds before you... that place is Oman. Where the traditions of an ancient land & its people perfectly merge within these modern times, less than an hour’s flight from Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

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FromTHE Publisher

P

eople, people, people – that’s the mantra of businessman philanthropist Sir David Levene, who has The Last Word on page 226 of this issue.

Sir David believes People – with a capital P – are key to the success of any business.

I agree and it made me reflect on the people who help to make World an ongoing success: our talented design team, editors and staff writers and our contributors from New Zealand and around the world.

Being a food enthusiast myself, Thomas Hyde’s story on the growing collection of eateries by celebrated chefs at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands made me think it’s time I revisited the Lion City. Tom also trials the world’s most expensive burger – in New York, of course (right).

Food and travel make a great combo and we have some terrific travel tales. There’s Todd Pitock’s “quest for awe” in Botswana and Deborah Telford’s take on tango and steak in Buenos Aires.

As always, we have a stunning line-up of top hotels and resorts. Check out Larry Grobel’s insider take on The Brando, an exclusive new resort on Marlon Brando’s Tahitian island; Patrick Smith’s view from London’s newest landmark, The Shard; and Tom’s visit to a majestic

mountain resort in Oman. Closer to home, we step inside St Marys Residence, a sophisticated home-with-a-view in Auckland’s St Marys Bay (left).

Four Seasons hotels and resorts are among our favourites here at World and our Concierge section backgrounds the luxury brand and highlights the properties we’ve enjoyed over the past months (my own favourite: Hualalai in Hawaii).

It’s not all food and travel, though. You’ll find stories on Prada, Dior and Louis Vuitton, features on interior design, mouth-watering cars and, of course, people, like golfing photographer David Cannon and global entrepreneur Peter de Savary. Enjoy.

Don Hope

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ISSUE

32

CONTENTS 24 26

26 34 43 34

50 59 68

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CHIC BOUTIQUE A heritage of timeless elegance, luxury and innovation are reflected in Dior’s new Auckland store.

MEGALOPOLIS West meets East in Raf Simons’ Esprit Dior Tokyo 2015 Collection, inspired by a futuristic city of style.

PRADA COMES ASHORE The global fashion leader opens its first boutique in Auckland. Michal McKay investigates the luxury brand.

BESPOKE TRAVELLER Michal Mckay explores the luxurious world of tailor-made luggage à la Louis Vuitton.

PASSION & INTRIGUE A small group of artisans at Boucher & Co create exquisite bespoke furniture and coachwork with some hidden delights.

THE CUSTOM KITCHEN Sub-Zero & Wolf make home refrigeration and cooking equipment designed with the most demanding cooks in mind.

PERSONAL SPACE The best of Auckland can be seen and enjoyed from a smart new residence in exclusive St Marys Bay.

ISSUE

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CONTENTS 75 81

81 90 98 114

114 126 131

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REALITY CHECK Justine Tyerman bunks down at one of Sydney’s most spectacular harbourside apartments.

IT’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL A lavish new book captures the Rolling Stones’ incredible 50-year journey with 500 pages of pictures by some of the world’s greatest photographers.

THE GREATEST RACE Sailing’s supreme endurance event, the Volvo Ocean Race, ignites stopover cities like no other sport. In March, the spotlight was on Auckland.

FLYING COUPÉS David Linklater surveys the latest crop of two-door excitement machines.

RARE, BOLD & BEAUTIFUL To connoisseurs of classic cars, the Pebble Beach Concours is the ultimate celebration of historic, iconic and very valuable automobiles.

MY WORLD Peter de Savary, British-born entrepreneur, sailor and international hotelier.

THE PERFECT SHOT Photographer David Cannon shares some favourite memories and a few of golf’s most iconic images.

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ISSUE

32

CONTENTS 148

BEYOND THE CELLAR DOOR A new wine and tourism venture highlights Australia as a first-class gourmet destination. Tricia Welsh hit the trail.

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154 166 172 166

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PRIDE OF LION CITY Some of the world’s best food is now found in hotels – witness the growing collection of fine eateries at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands.

I LOVE NY BURGERS Only New York City could serve up a US$250 hamburger and get away with it. Thomas Hyde lashes out and chows down.

HIGH ON LONDON Patrick Smith checks in to one of Europe’s newest and most spectacular hotels way up in a jagged glass tower called The Shard.

PARADISE REGAINED Lawrence Grobel returns to the Tahitian island he visited as a guest of Marlon Brando in 1978 – this time in air-conditioned comfort.

STEPPING OUT IN BUENOS AIRES You can’t visit this Argentinian metropolis without eating a fat, juicy steak and watching a sizzling tango, writes Deborah Telford.

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THE FINEST LINENS IN THE WORLD Cavit & Co, 547a Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland, Ph +64 9 358 3771 Cavit & Co, 18 Buckingham Street, Arrowtown, Ph +64 3 442 0128 www.cavitco.com www.frette.com

ISSUE

32

CONTENTS 196

A QUEST FOR AWE Todd Pitock finds exhilaration and wonder in the people and otherworldly landscapes of Botswana.

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GREEN MOUNTAIN HAVEN

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Travel in Oman has reached new heights with the opening of a spectacular lodge in the Al Hajar mountains.

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WORLD CONCIERGE Spotlight on Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

THE LAST WORD People, people, people – Sir David Levene.

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PUBLISHER Don Hope Ph +64 9 358 4080 donhope@paradise.net.nz ART DIRECTOR Desmond Frith JKFrith Design FEATURES EDITOR Thomas Hyde TRAVEL EDITOR Patrick Smith

WINE AND FOOD EDITOR John Hawkesby MOTORING EDITOR David Linklater TIMEPIECE EDITOR Bani McSpedden CONTRIBUTORS Jeni Bone, Frances Chan, Kent Gray, Lawrence Grobel, Michal McKay, Todd Pitock, Royce Rumsey, Tricia Welsh, Deborah Telford, Justine Tyerman,

ADVERTISING Debra Hope Ph +64 21 930 717 debrahope@paradise.net.nz

DISTRIBUTION Netlink Distribution Company PRINTING PMP Limited

ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATOR Nicky Joyce Ph +64 9 634 9867 nicky.joyce@fairfaxmedia.co.nz PRODUCTION Sara Hirst - PRODUCTION MANAGER Debbie Curle - PREPRESS

www.worldmagazine.co.nz

World is published quarterly by Fairfax Magazines, a division of Fairfax Media, 317 New North Rd, Kingsland, Auckland, New Zealand (PO Box 6341, Wellesley Street). Advertising within this publication is subject to Fairfax Magazines’ standard advertising terms and conditions, a copy of which is available online at www.fairfaxmedia.co.nz or by calling 09 909 6800.

FAIRFAX NORTHERN REGION MANAGER 9Vk^Y EZccn FAIRFAX MAGAZINES COMMERCIAL MANAGER Ä 9jcXVc 7gdj\] FAIRFAX MAGAZINES EDITORIAL DIRECTOR – Kate Coughlan This magazine is subject to the New Zealand Press Council. Complaints to be first directed to “donhope@paradise.net.nz” with “Press Council complaint” in the subject line. If unsatisfied, the complaint may be referred to the Press Council, P O Box 10 879, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 or by email at: info@presscouncil.org.nz Further details and online complaints at www.presscouncil.org.nz” SUBSCRIPTIONS: Ph +64 9 926 9127 worldsubs@fairfaxmags.co.nz ISSN - 1176 9076 ©2015 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

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CHIC BOUTIQUE

A HERITAGE OF TIMELESS ELEGANCE, LUXURY AND INNOVATION IS REFLECTED IN CHRISTIAN DIOR’S NEW AUCKLAND STORE.

C

hristian Dior’s first dedicated Auckland boutique opened at the end of last year at 45 Queen Street, where its elegant two-storey façade graces the central city’s main shopping street.

Its floor-to-ceiling, double-layer translucent glass walls are covered in a white silkscreen evoking the House’s emblematic Cannage motif, while the interior emulates Dior’s legendary boutique on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the perfect setting for artistic director Raf Simons’ designs.

The complete range of Dior leather goods and accessories, fashion, shoes and jewellery are displayed in light-filled salons throughout the boutique. Meanwhile, a dedicated VIP salon can be sectioned off to provide an exclusive level of service with complete privacy in an intimate and stylish setting. Phone (09) 373 4849.

Modern elements combine with signature 18th-century detailing to give the boutique a feeling of lightness and reďŹ nement.

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MEGALOPOLIS WEST MEETS EAST IN RAF SIMONS’ ESPRIT DIOR TOKYO 2015 COLLECTION, INSPIRED BY A FUTURISTIC CITY OF STYLE.

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Burgundy bonded cotton jacket with off-white knitted cashmere dress and black sequin collar; beige, pink and burgundy jacquard knit vest over silver sequin top with white cotton pants; heather-grey crochet dress with pink silver sequin top.

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he Esprit Dior Tokyo 2015 Collection, dubbed Megalopolis, evokes a new kind of “floating world”; a place of leisure and pleasure mixes with the practical and everyday. Dior calls it “utilitarian glamour”.

“Tokyo is a place that has been and is so constantly inspiring to me,” says Dior artistic director Raf Simons, “… the freedom of styles, the new architecture of clothing that you can see forming in the street as well as in city’s fashion design history…

It’s a place that is both extreme and exhilarating.”

Here, a radical contrast of styles is embraced and formed into single and singular silhouettes where fantasy and reality coexist.

Black and red knitted cashmere dress over navy sequin top.

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1) The link makes a reappearance, worn as an index finger ring set with softly hued stones, or in ornamental form as a metallic zipper pull. 2) The new Diorama bag comes in twinkling colours that echo the sequins of the collection’s clothes. 3) Rings, worn on two, three, four fingers or stacked, and mounted with onyx, chalcedony, marble and quartz, showcase unexpected colour combinations and create a new kind of hand jewel.

4) The elegant and reinterpreted pantos shape of the show’s sunglasses blends architectural lines and couture spirit.

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5) The silhouettes are a contrast of matte and shine, evening and day. 6) The elegant boots from the show feature distinctive heels and simple lines to lengthen the leg and enhance the figure. 7) Bold ring statements contrast with soft tartan-esque wools. 8) The Lady Dior bag is practical in a giant version for everyday use, or as a miniature ornament with sequinned patches and a wide strap. 9) The reinvented Cannage motif on the new Diorama bag is the signature of an unmistakably contemporary couture style.

Off-white checked wool pea coat with black sequin top.

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Dark red coated cotton coat with a black coated cotton collar and silver sequin top.

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www.dior.com

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PRADA

COMES ASHORE THE GLOBAL FASHION LEADER HAS CHOSEN AUCKLAND AS THE SITE OF ITS NEWEST BOUTIQUE. MICHAL MCKAY INVESTIGATES THE LUXURY BRAND AND THE COUPLE BEHIND ITS REMARKABLE SUCCESS.

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LEFT: Mario Prada started the business in 1913 as a specialty purveyor of luxury leather goods.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Miuccia Prada, Mario’s granddaughter, is known to be a maverick risk-taker with an unfailing eye for future chic.

or the average Kiwi, the name Prada resonates not so much as a fashion house but as the fierce contender in the America’s Cup series sailed off Auckland in 2000. Luna Rossa, owned by those rockstars of style, Miuccia Prada and her sailing-fanatic husband, Patrizio Bertelli, was the star of the sea, eclipsing 10 opponents to become the first Italian boat to race in the memorable final. Team New Zealand may have won, but the Italians won our hearts with their sheer gioia di vivere and determination. And a bucketload of style that could not be outclassed.

That 18-month-long introduction to Prada has finally seen the realisation of a permanent presence in Queen Street, Auckland, not too far from the Luna Rossa base of 15 years ago.

And though it may have been a boat that gave us that first taste of what the Prada name

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represents globally, the utterly elegant shop confirms the brand’s status in the heady world of high fashion.

The history of Prada is remarkable. From its birth as a specialty purveyor of luxury leather goods over a century ago, it has evolved into a global superbrand with outposts in 78 countries. The Auckland store is the newest – representing all the label stands for in class, quality, understatement, innovation and inspiration.

It was Muiccia’s grandfather who founded the business in 1913 selling luggage to the European cognoscenti. Based in the prestigious Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, the company even then boasted the finest materials, the best manufacturing techniques and cuttingedge design. In 1919 Prada received the equivalent of a royal warrant from the House of Savoy. The trademark logo you see today bearing the coat of arms and the knotted-rope insignia in an upside down triangle is testament to that regal appointment.

Mario’s granddaughter seems to have ineritied his illustrious genes. After earning a PhD in political science from the Statale University in Milan, Muiccia joined the family business and soon became recognised as a force to be reckoned with.

When she met Patrizio Bertelli in 1978 (a notoriously hard-nosed businessman who started his own leathergoods company when he was just 17) and married him, the alliance marked the beginning of a global phenomenon that has since defied every dire fashion and financial prediction.

What is their secret? Miuccia Prada is known to be a maverick risk-taker with an unfailing eye for future chic and a woman who actually considers the word “commercial” a back-handed compliment.

Patrizio Bertelli is a realist and a brilliant financier who has a constant eye on producing design-led product that actually sells. Together they form an indomitable team in the worldwide fashion game, where their influence reaches way beyond retail.

Prada really took off in the early 1990s with a black nylon bag bearing the now instantly recognisable triangular metal motif. Its carry-all practicality appealed to a fresh customer base – one that didn’t need to display its wealth. For a decade it reigned as every fashionista’s dream accessory.

Today, of course, Prada is on the lust-list of every fashion follower, straddling the market to encompass everyone from the wealthy establishment matron to the young up-and-coming trendsetter with sky-high aspirations. Success, however, has not come without its stumbling blocks. By the time Miuccia and her husband took over the business, it was struggling. The fact that

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ABOVE: Prada’s runway collections are among the most hotly anticipated in show schedules of Paris, London, New York and Milan.

BELOW: Global, cross-generational appeal.

they turned the family firm around from a $450,000 sales base to what is now a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate employing more that 7,200 people and producing over 7.5 million items a year can be directly attributed to their unique partnership.

There is no doubt this brand is unlike any of its luxury competitors. When Prada walked the runways, the elegant, clean simplicity of cut on display forced the

fashion world to sit up and take notice. Its individuality has taken it far into the premium class; its signature aesthetic being collections that are quietly opulent, using luxury materials and fine workmanship in an almost anti-status way. Though it may have taken some time for the rest of the world to wake up to the strangely beautiful Prada ethos, today those runway collections are probably the most hotly anticipated in the entire show schedules of Paris, London, New York and Milan. A good part of this success is due to Miuccia Prada’s extraordinary ability to anticipate the new and desirable well before anyone else, often changing her view radically within a six-month period – and with a result that is always acutely understated, adding up to what could even be called a “working-class” philosophy.

There is no doubt the Prada appeal has evolved over the decades utilising many innovative and surprising fabrics and designs. Myriad embellishments such as mirror fragments and latex beads are Miuccia’s as is the use of of crunchy polyesters and nylons, along with a slew of other techno developments. And the range of looks can be as wide and variable as Geek Chic, minimalist or pure flamboyance.

The accessories – virtually the heart of Prada, given its history – are perennial bestsellers; leather goods, shoes and bags form a vital core of the business. But product extensions such as eyewear, fragrance and mobile phones have also entered the race and are equally sought after as status symbols. The playful little sister range, Miu Miu (Miuccia’s nickname), is another, as is the younger handbag lines Granello, along with Prada Uomo and Prada Donna.

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ABOVE: Prada accessories are perennial bestsellers.

Leather goods, shoes and elegant bags like those pictured here form a vital core of the business.

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But fashion is not the only area where the house of Prada exerts extraordinary influence in the design world. The year 2000 may have been a memorable one for the team responsible for operating Luna Rossa’s spectacular success on the water, but it also saw brand Prada embarking on a new creative journey. By joining forces with such cutting-edge architects as Herzog & de Meuron and Rem Koolhaas, the resulting Epicentre stores in fashion capitals such as New York and Los Angeles (Koolhaas) and Tokyo (Herzog & de Meuron) provided and continue to offer unique sensorial and audiovisual experiences, seducing customers in a manner hitherto unrealised in the retail world.

Waist Down, an exhibition featuring outstanding examples of Prada skirts from 1988 to the present day, was a foray into the art world fuelled by Miuccia’s belief that one should regard the skirt as a mise-en-scene.

Each season her shapes defy convention, forcing us to reconsider their power and possibilities through their curious contradictions, which consistently defy cliché and convention. Prada Transformer is another. A tetrahedronshaped pavilion designed to house four events devoted to art, film, fashion and the broader culture of Prada, it was a collaboration between Miuccia, Patrizio and Rem Koolhaas that for the first time unified all the various and divergent activities of the company. Set up in the historic grounds of the Gyeonghuigung Palace in Seoul, it exemplifies everything Prada stands for – excellence, innovation and culture. Then there is the company’s entry into the world of entertainment, marked by experimental and fascinating films that incorporate the Prada ethos in one way or another. Other global projects uniting fashion, design, art and architecture include The Double Club and The Congo Club, which employ the power of art in the

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realm of entertainment by engaging guests in a Prada moment via a remarkable nightclub and restaurant.

But the epitome of all things Prada is probably the Fondazione Prada. And the most unforgettable.

Conceived by the remarkable Prada/Bertelli pairing, the foundation is a non-profit organisation that has staged major contemporary art exhibitions in Milan for the past 15 years. Originally established as Prada/Milanoarte, the exhibition space (a renovated industrial building) was devoted to contemporary sculpture. It became the Fondazione in 1995 when the focus broadened to include art, photography, cinema, design, philosophy, science and architecture. The couple is recognised for a passionate interest in modern and contemporary art and this forms the grid of the initiatives the foundation undertakes – the aim being to provide the most conceptually ambitious artists of the day to realise unique events. Anish Kapoor, Dan Flavin, Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer and Enrico Castellani are just some luminaries of the art world whose creations have been exhibited. And during Venice Biennale in 2009, the work of American artist John Wesley formed

one of the largest and most complete exhibitions ever realised to celebrate this significant artist’s contribution to modern art.

Prada’s pursuit of excellence in all areas is at the heart of the brand, pushing it far beyond the physical limitations of shops and showrooms. The Prada world is one of almost fashionless fashion: simple, elegant and very quiet. Despite her fame, Miuccia Prada is known to be incredibly grounded. “I love fashion, but I think it should stay in its place, not rule your life,” she says. “It’s a very nice part of your life, but I think it should be fun.”

The new Auckland Prada store, with its characteristic black-and-white marble chequered floor, includes a selection of the most desirable pieces (the $3,795 Saffiano Double bag and a pair of red flats for $610 among them). With its private viewing area on the first floor accessed by a crystal elevator or black marble staircase, this is a place to discover the innate power of seduction that belongs to brand Prada.

ABOVE & LEFT: Prada Transformer, a tetrahedronshaped pavilion in the grounds of Seoul’s Gyeonghuigung Palace, houses events devoted to art, film, fashion and the broader culture of Prada.

www.prada.com

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The new collection from Laura Kirar for Baker. The Bie Accent Table and Narwhal Chair.

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THE BESPOKE TRAVELLER

MICHAL MCKAY EXPLORES THE LUXURIOUS WORLD OF TAILOR-MADE LUGGAGE À LA LOUIS VUITTON.

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L

ouis Vuitton was a royal packer for Princess Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, so he knew a thing or two about luggage. Having decided at the age of 16 to become a trunk master, in 1837 he apprenticed himself to the packer and trunk maker Romain Maréchal. In those days, people travelled mainly in carriages, ships and trains and baggage got a fairly rough ride, so travellers sought experts to pack and protect their belongings. The atelier of Monsieur Maréchal catered to the rich and famous. It also provided a springboard into Louis Vuitton’s illustrious career in a hands-on industry that required immense skill and expertise – fashioning custom-designed trunks for discerning and demanding clients.

In 1854 when Maison Louis Vuitton opened in Paris, at 4 Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, bespoke was the rule and travel an essential part of its ethos. Louis himself was an innovator. In the carriage and coach era, trunks needed curved lids to slough off the rain, but when trains, ships and cars took over, he was the first trunk maker to produce trunks with flat lids to facilitate stacking.

And he was quite probably the first to consult a fashion designer on how best to treat a garment in a trunk. Next he introduced a waterproof-treated canvas to cover a wooden frame and so lighten the load. Such attention to detail and style helped establish the Louis Vuitton name as Europe’s premier manufacturer of luxury luggage.

Today, Louis Vuitton is recognised as a fashion icon.

But it stands out from the elite group of luxury labels by affording customers an avenue to have their special piece of Louis Vuitton tailor-made.

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PREVIOUS PAGE: The entertaining Art de Vivre Trunk.

ABOVE FROM LEFT: Maison Louis Vuitton opened in Paris in 1854; Patrick Louis Vuitton oversees the bespoke and made-to-order departments; LV registered trademark; early photo of the workshop at Asnieres.

BELOW: Unmistakably Louis Vuitton: specialised trunks and cases old and new.

“It is the ultimate luxury to have an item created specifically to meet your needs and desires,” says Louis Vuitton Oceania CEO Philip Corne. “When you hold this highly personal possession in your hands for the first time the connection with the brand and its obsession with creativity, quality and craftsmanship is evident. Louis Vuitton has offered a made-to-order service since the creation of the company in 1854.

“The crafting of personalised products is an increasingly sought-after service by the most discerning of clients. At Louis Vuitton we take extreme pride in fulfilling our clients’ most exceptional requests, helping to satisfy their specific needs, expressing their individuality and realising their dreams.”

Bespoke and made-to-order are distinctive parts of the Louis Vuitton tradition. Countless custom-made trunks exist in the Louis Vuitton archives, each with its own story to tell. LV design annals include the legendary foldout trunk bed, designed by Louis and his son Georges to provide comfort to intrepid travellers and explorers.

Globe-trotting photographer Albert Kahn had a trunk specially made to contain all his equipment. Then there are trunks designed for the rich and famous to store

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LEFT & BELOW: Every LV special order is made at Asnieres, where 200 craftsmen cut wood, sew hides, glue leather onto boxes, hammer tiny rivets and assemble pieces.

anything from tennis racquets to hats, silverware, cologne, hairbrushes, wine and much more. Rolling Stone Keith Richards has a bespoke LV guitar case. Designer Marc Jacobs’ beloved dogs, Neville and Choo Choo Charlie, have their own custom-made carriers.

To clarify: made-to-order is an exclusive service offering customers the opportunity to interpret, in other materials, selected items from the permanent collection. The range is vast. Custom-made pieces are unique, one-off creations that interpret a customer’s vision utilising techniques and design codes along with the unquestionable quality that lies at the heart of the LV brand. Both divisions are based on the concept of travel.

Customised or not, it’s hard to miss a Louis Vuitton bag.

There is the LV logo designed by grandson Gaston Louis Vuitton at the start of the last century. The five types of canvas designed to foil counterfeiters are recognised as typically LV and are used to cover so many of the known shapes, including the Speedy, Keepall, Steamer and Pallas. But the monogram is perhaps the most distinctive emblem of the Louis Vuitton label, the legacy of Louis’ son Georges, who designed it in 1896. History, tradition and longevity: true symbols of consistency and quality.

But while an LV trunk may be easy to spot, it conceals many secrets within: the criss-cross quilted “malletage” linings that demand the highest level of craftsmanship; the canvas straps designed to hold everything safe in its place (fulfilling the wish of Georges that “the main thing is to allow your personal effects to travel in the greatest possible comfort”); or the unpickable lock invented by Georges in 1886.

Every Louis Vuitton special order is made in Asnieres,

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just out of Paris, which is both a family residence and the cradle of the company. Here, some 200 craftsmen cut wood, sew hides, glue leather onto boxes, hammer tiny rivets and finally assemble trunks.

Following family tradition, the bespoke and madeto-order departments are overseen by fifth-generation family member Patrick-Louis Vuitton, himself a trained and talented craftsman. Every family member in the company starts at the bottom and works through all departments. They are paid accordingly and there are no short cuts. This acts to guarantee the family beliefs in quality, excellence and distinction are passed from generation to generation.

It can take 25 people to customise a belt; it requires 70 steps to make a wallet and anything from eight weeks to

ABOVE & LEFT: You can always get what you want – if you belong to the rich and famous club like Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who owns a bespoke LV guitar case.

two years to complete an order. Custom-made shoes and belts can take up to four months.

The made-to-order collection offers customers the chance to browse and choose between a variety of shapes with a selection of materials (leather hides such as the classic Epi, canvas or exotic skins), sizes, linings, colours and custom hardware, ultimately offering up to 40,000 or so possible combinations. When colours, linings and materials have been chosen the order is dispatched to Paris to be processed. For monogram lovers, the owner’s initials may be discreetly embossed inside.

Clients can monitor their order from start to finish and before their bag leaves Paris they receive a photograph of it. Only when they are completely satisfied will the finished product be sent out. A celebration with

champagne and canapés upon arrival is the final toast, with a keepsake box and silk pillow for storage. Aftercare advice and service is par for the course.

For clients who want alligator skin, LV sources this from an alligator farm that maintains good environmental standards. Ten per cent of the eggs they buy are returned to nature. The rest are allowed to hatch and the reptiles nurtured to faultless maturity.

A special division at LV handles the records of every customer, itemising their individual likes and dislikes, gifts already purchased, secrets and wishes, birthdays, anniversaries and any other gifting opportunity. Louis Vuitton pieces are often handed down to children and grandchildren to become family heirlooms. Heritage and luxury – the heartbeat, it seems, of Louis Vuitton.

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THE

STAGE IS SET

The release of over 300 freehold luxury residential suites, above the iconic and soon-to-be-restored St James Theatre Floor to ceiling double glazing, timber floors and Italian tile bathrooms will all grace these stunning inner city sanctuaries. Filled with light, the open plan creates the setting for a sophisticated world-city lifestyle.

Each apartment has been designed to maximize the views. Most will look out to the harbour, with the remainder having views of Albert Park, Mt Eden and One Tree Hill.

You enter your apartment through a luxurious lobby with 24 hour concierge service. A gymnasium, sauna and indoor heated swimming pool are all for residents’ use as is a secure rooftop garden.

St James Suites is a dramatic new presence on the Auckland stage, an iconic building to complement the much-loved St James Theatre above which it stands.

To see your name in the cast of privileged buyers, contact us 0800 St James | stjamessuites.co.nz Show suite at 312 Queen St, open daily 11am to 5pm City Realty Ltd

Bayleys Real Estate Ltd Licenced under the REAA 2008

PASSION & INTRIGUE

A SMALL GROUP OF ARTISANS AT BOUCHER & CO CREATE EXQUISITE BESPOKE FURNITURE AND COACHWORK WITH SOME HIDDEN DELIGHTS. JENI BONE HAS THE STORY.

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O

n David Boucher’s business card his credentials read “P.C.P.D”. Rather than conferring on him any erudite academic honours, his post-nominal title is infinitely more prestigious and equally rare.

“Person in Charge of Passion and Design,” he explains, the quirk only adding to his intriguing profession: “master of mechanical furniture”.

“I am the conductor of the orchestra. I lead a small group of artisans in highly specialised, detailed work. I devise the concepts and we work together to create extraordinary experiences for our clients. Passion is what unites us.”

By “us”, Boucher means his small team of six artisans at Boucher & Co, whom he describes as “multi-talented but specialists as well”.

“One specialises in shagreen [untanned hide], which we use for Rolls-Royce, another in carving and casting for items such as a handle, which involves carving the master mould, then casting and turning it into the metal component. Then there’s the making of secret

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compartments which is a world of its own.”

Rolls-Royce is not the only select luxury brand in Boucher’s coterie; a recent addition was Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin – and his connoisseur clientele who span the globe from the Gold Coast to the Swiss Alps.

Entirely self-taught, Boucher is deemed the best in the world at the craft he has honed for 40 years.

Fusing contemporary designs with art deco elements in bespoke furniture with fascinating hidden chambers, Boucher acknowledges his work appeals to a mere sliver of a niche.

“It only appeals to a certain market who are willing and able to pay for such items; collectors who are passionate about detail and want something that’s a one-off, that was made especially for them and that will never be replicated.”

Items such as the coffee table for a European client which, at the push of a concealed button, raises its top to reveal a miniature working version of the Orient Express train circling on its track around a diminutive replica of that client’s home.

“You do get attached,” he admits. “When you spend every day for three years on honing every surface of a coffee table, adding secret compartments, they become like my children.”

After four decades, does he remember every one of them? “I think I do. I have come to the end of a piece and we’ve been packing it for shipping and I have had to wipe away tears. My wife Margaret tells me to ‘get over it’, pointing out that if we don’t sell it, we don’t eat. But I get emotionally attached to each piece and don’t want to let go of them.”

Boucher says with a mix of pride and yearning for the creations he has passed on, “My clients tell me it takes their breath away. When they first see it, they’re dumbfounded. But then it gets better. When you open it up, there’s another surprise inside. By pressing a hidden button, or a combination known only to them, the doors open. Or the front appears to have doors, but they swing sideways. I made a Davenport desk that opens with a secret button, using weights and balances.

Then on the side there’s another hidden compartment that opens to reveal the lady’s sewing machine.

“I love creating that visual dissonance. You don’t get it the first time, it takes a while and it continues to intrigue people. My clients say they never get tired of looking at their pieces because there is so much to take in. Some even forget all the intricacies and have to contact me to remind them!”

One client in particular retrieved a Boucher piece from a long spell in storage. He was confounded by the secrecy of his compartments, all 38 of them; it took a two-hour, long-distance phone call for Boucher to lead him through their labyrinths. “He just couldn’t get his head around it. That client calls me the Mad Professor,” chuckles Boucher, entirely content with the tag.

The son of a Stanthorpe, Queensland, farmer, Boucher attributes much of his genius to growing up on the land, where being remote and short of money, his dad had to invent makeshift tools and repair everything by hand.

Farmers by day, running an orchard and mixed farm, by night his family ran the local theatre company. “They were known as the ‘Gamatonics’,” he recalls, “which stood for the Glen Aplin Memorial Association, who’d built the hall. As for ‘tonic’, well, everybody needed a tonic after World War II. Things were so terrible. Our theatre provided some escape.”

There, behind the scenes, Boucher says, he “watched the magic unfold and became hooked”.

“The special effects were incredible. The audience saw lightning and heard thunder, and I saw the mechanics at the back. There was a wire connected to a battery which created a spark and lit magnesium which went off with a big flash. We wobbled a sheet of tin for thunder; and for wind it was canvas over a cable drum, mounted and spun.

“I was mesmerised by the wonderment of the detail.

I guess I continued that into my 20s and channelled it into furniture.”

Just out of his teens, Boucher moved to Dalby, 210km west of Brisbane, and carried out furniture restoration work for his local community. The one-off pieces he created in his spare time developed a following and

ABOVE: Boucher & Co workrooms where artisans toil using centuries-old traditions.

OPPOSITE PAGE: David Boucher with the Boucher-inspired Rolls-Royce Ghost.

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garnered him clients all over Australia. He became known for employing designs, details and colours that nobody else was doing.

Then he discovered art deco.

“It blew me away. It really was an epiphany for me,” he says with same gusto with which he first embraced the elegant lines, geometric shapes and bright colours of the decorative yet refined 1920s movement.

“It’s so hard to do well. The symmetry and precision were a challenge. It’s so ethereal, simple, elegant, sharp, clean and uses strong colours and textures. Today, my designs stem from my own creativity, overlaid with the principles of art deco.”

In the early 80s, lamenting what he calls “the wasted space” within his pieces, Boucher started exploring the concept of incorporating secret compartments.

“I knew it would take a long time and we would have to be meticulous. It had to be engineered, and yes, I did become obsessed with the idea. It started to grow in my mind and I asked ‘why not’?”

ABOVE , CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Detail of the Millennium Signature Desk; Burr walnut desk and chair; Shagreen Signature Cube Watch Box; Starship Desk.

LEFT: Palace of Secrets oval desk.

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He says people who come across his work are initially surprised that he’s Australian, rather than Italian or German. “They’re shocked that we’re doing this kind of work in Australia. We have worked for royal families and very wealthy clients in the US and Europe. Our clients don’t mind where we’re based, it’s such a global marketplace.

“The good thing about being Australian is that we don’t have cultural limitations or expectations. Cultural freedom allows us to be good at these things and develop our creativity.”

With two galleries in Sydney, the Boucher & Co workshop remains in Toowoomba, “a beautiful creative hub”, where Boucher and his team of craftsmen do things “the old-fashioned way”.

“We don’t use CAD [computer-aided design], it’s all done by hand. But I do use a Wacom digital drawing tablet with a 22-inch screen, which really helps me show clients their piece in situ.”

Entirely self-taught, Boucher relished the chance to visit craftsmen in various regions throughout Italy, only to realise the confines of their heritage.

“A man in one village made the table tops and a man in another village specialised in the legs. I enquired as to whether they would make different-style legs on a certain table and the answer was ‘Oh, no, that’s the way they have been made for 300 years’. Fortunately, we don’t have that burden of tradition.”

Boucher & Co are in demand for bespoke pieces for princely homes and luxury superyachts. “These are people who want to customise their interiors with something nobody else has. It’s high-end work. The majority of people might be happy to buy things from Asia and save money, but there is still a market for exquisite furniture, and I hope that continues.”

Every piece of furniture – and he proudly affirms he has never made the same piece twice – is built to withstand the harshest environments. “We use stainless steel, not nickel, which is ideal for waterfront homes and yachts. I’m a purist. I have found a certain type of stainless steel that is yellow-based and warm, rather than using chrome, which is blue-based and cold. It’s all part of the detail, which our clients appreciate.”

Boucher insists there is still a place for his laborious and esoteric art. “Especially now, with companies taking us globally.”

Compared to mass-produced or even hand-crafted

items from Europe, the US and Asia, Boucher’s work is ultra-premium. “I am passionate about keeping these skills alive and not seeing them vanish. There will always be a place for mass-produced furniture, but in the same way there is still a need for bespoke pieces.”

Rolls-Royce, for one, agrees. Just like his circle of craftspeople, a new wave of whom have discovered him on Instagram. “They just found me,” he says.

Rolls-Royce found him, then commissioned bespoke coachwork for Rolls-Royce Ghost, Wraith and Phantom models.

In preparation for becoming ambassador for his brand

Amboyna Wing Chair

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LEFT: Macassar Ebony Pyramid with concealed set of drawers and secret compartment.

and theirs, Rolls-Royce required Boucher to undertake intensive brand and communications training.

“I was reluctant at first, but it’s vital if I want this skill set to flourish. This changed my direction somewhat and I now regularly speak at events.”

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The next series of events for clients of Rolls-Royce will take place in New Zealand in June and July. Boucher is in the process of completing some major pieces and shipping others over.

“It will be a new marketplace for us,” he states, adding that Rolls-Royce owners are exceptionally responsive to his craft.

“Rolls-Royce owners understand craftsmanship and fine detail – they’re accustomed to it. They know what to look for and they get excited and involved with the entire process.”

Boucher is close to finishing a commissioned piece for Vacheron Constantin: an exquisite cabinet for a clock unlike anything that has ever been produced.

The 500,000-euro piece is a mantle clock in solid rock crystal, containing an extraordinary mechanical system. It has a 30-day power reserve, and that power is perfectly governed over the 30 days – neither too fast at the start, nor slowing down towards the end of the cycle. Secret compartments?

“Of course,” says Boucher. “We have combinations and compartments. To look at, it’s a chest of drawers, with no visible way of getting in. It’s the ultimate expression of what can be done. Like the calendar that is accurate for 400 years, after which you have it adjusted. This is what we’re about.”

The Vacheron Constantin piece will be ready by October, when it will be unveiled to clients of the prestige marque in Sydney and Brisbane.

“It’s all happening,” says Boucher. “We’ve taken 40-something years to become an overnight success. My reassurance is that our pieces will endure for many lifetimes.” www.boucherandco.com

THE KITCHEN MANY OF THE GOOD THINGS OF LIFE ARE CREATED IN THE KITCHEN AND SHARED AROUND THE FAMILY TABLE. AND IT HELPS TO HAVE WORLDCLASS APPLIANCES TO HAND. ENTER SUB-ZERO & WOLF, WHOSE HOME REFRIGERATION AND COOKING EQUIPMENT IS DESIGNED WITH THE MOST DEMANDING COOKS IN MIND. MICHAL MCKAY HAS THE STORY.

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become the brand of choice in many luxury homes not only in the United States but throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle and Far East and Oceania.

When the family-owned company acquired Wolf in 2000 the serious foodies – both domestic and commercial – sat up and took notice. Wolf had acquired a reputation reaching back some eight decades. Synonymous with the best equipment used by the professional crème de la crème in restaurants and hotels, when Wolf joined Sub-Zero, those oven designs were adapted to become available to every knowledgeable in-home cook in America. As corporate companions and kitchen soul-mates, the marriage of these two brands proved to be the ideal union in realising the company’s aim of kitchen excellence.

W

estye F. Bakke’s credo was to make those special times of sharing food, drink and bonhomie the very best they could be. To the founder of the Sub-Zero Group, opulence in the home meant more than just fine materials and striking design or classic aesthetic. His vision was to turn those magic moments into pure sensual pleasure.

A brilliant engineer and world pioneer in food preservation through the utilisation of ultra-low temperatures, he not only revolutionised home refrigeration but with his innovative introduction of the built-in refrigerator in the mid 50s, transformed kitchen layout. The first freestanding freezer was built in the basement of his home in Wisconsin – for a very personal reason: he needed to store insulin for his diabetic son, Bud. That was back in the 1940s. Since then Sub-Zero has ABOVE: Sub-Zero founder Westye F Bakke (right) and grandson James, who runs Sub-Zero & Wolf’s Madison, Wisconsin, headquarters.

ABOVE: Sub-Zero freestanding wine storage unit looks good in any setting.

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Sub-Zero – the only brand with dual refrigeration and all the benefits this brings – also produces freezers and wine storage units in a huge variety of styles and designs. Wolf, with its ability to produce precision in heat, steam and airflow, also provides all the mechanics and physics any food aficionado could dream of.

Bespoke is a standard part of both brands’ design vocabulary, allowing kitchen connoisseurs free reign in the placement of drawers, units, ovens and stove tops. Materials, state-of-the-art technology and craftsmanship are all of the highest calibre and appliances are tested beyond the nth degree to ensure a lifespan of at least 20 years.

Operating on the typically American mantra of being the biggest and

the best, the company’s research and development teams listened to the demands and needs of the overseas markets they were moving into. The past two years have seen them introduce a record number of designs to satisfy diverse requirements, religiously maintaining stringent quality control. Each new model is put to the test for two years and monitored by the company’s own technicians before being allowed into a home.

As icons of design, both brands are world-class.

Sub-Zero focuses on function – keeping food fresher longer. A simple statement.

But a complex structure sustains it with separate sealed systems that create optimum conditions for both fridge and freezer. A combination that led to it becoming one of the

ABOVE & RIGHT: Barista-quality coffee at the touch of the button.

This built-in system even steams and heats milk automatically.

LEFT: The under-counter wine storage system means wine at hand in any room of the house, at precisely the right temperature.

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Clean, cool and contemporary, with built-in appliances that have become favourites with discerning cooks and chefs around the world.

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most imitated home-product designs ever, with its bold louvered grille and dual compressors.

The name Sub-Zero came from the new standard for the safe storage of frozen food. No longer was the common criterion of zero to 10 degrees Farenheit acceptable. Freezers had to be able to keep food at a constant temperature below 0 degrees F. Of course, over time these values have been expanded and developed into a multiplicity of cooling systems with integrated refrigeration merging seamlessly into décor, plus wine storage. Among them are the 200 Series of under-counter models, the award-winning 500 series, the design-flexible 600 series, the integrated 700 series and, most recently, the state-of-the-art 400 series of wine storage units. So innovative are they that the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright commissioned Sub-Zero

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equipment for his visionary homes built during the home automation boom of the 1950s.

The average household throws out a huge amount of food a year. This brand, with its technology based on that used in spacecraft, reduces this wastage tenfold.

By analysing usage patterns, it figures out the optimum defrost cycle; it uses filters that scrub the air of mould, viruses, bacteria and the ethylene gas that speeds spoilage. Hi-tech filter systems produce the purest drinking water. And the magnetic seal serves as the best energy saver. Even the largest Sub-Zero product uses less electricity than a 60-watt bulb.

Wolf, too, has been much copied by a multiplicity of appliance designers. And though the classic professional look has evolved into sleek and contemporary, the functional imperatives of its ground-

Sub-Zero & Wolf award-winning kitchen design; dual range, an example of the systems, sizes and functions available in cook tops and ovens.

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breaking forebears – intuitive technology, superb ergonomics and no superfluous embellishments – are still retained.

The design range covers the gamut from modern, classical, professional, compact or just plain grand.

It can be an imposing centrepiece, freestanding or built in. And the Wolf brand caters for every cooking preference – gas, electricity, dual fuel, induction or steam. With integrated modules for steaming, stirfrying, induction cooking or indoor grilling, there is also the chance to choose infrared grill, infrared griddle, gas burners (with dual control and a double set of holes for light simmering or fast cooking) and French top (which allows for extreme heat in the centre or the lowest simmering point outside).

At Sub-Zero & Wolf’s Madison, Wisconsin, headquarters (now run by Westye’s grandson, James Bakke) a full training facility allows four or five chefs at a time to work with the latest in cooking and refrigeration equipment. Retailers are also educated so customers are left in no doubt about any aspect of the equipment, options on installation and aftercare. The world’s bestknown technical designers work in the studios producing inventive developments, fully supported by a company with only one goal: to be the best.

And that’s before the incorporation of the company’s kitchen design principles, recognised as the most innovative of any in the world. Every two years SubZero & Wolf hold an international design contest in America, open to all inventors and designers around the world, with benefits to winners in numerous categories of cash prizes, publicity and universal recognition.

It is also an inventive way of ensuring Sub-Zero & Wolf are at the top of the game when it comes to discovering and perhaps acquiring the most creative minds and imaginations. In 2013, the brilliant Kiwi kitchen design firm of Morgan Cronin won the Asia Pacific regional contest and represented the area in the United States contest. The company not only met many like-minded designers but boosted recognition of New Zealand as a player in the international arena.

Other well-known kitchen architects such as Mal Corboy and Studio Italia are known to use Sub-Zero & Wolf as their go-to brands when working on top-level kitchen developments.

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In 2014, Sub-Zero & Wolf won the prestigious GOOD DESIGN Award – one of the oldest and most renowned design excellence programmes and a hotly contested prize. Several thousand contenders were whittled down by the judges from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Sub-Zero received its accolade for its integrated refrigeration line and Wolf for its E series ovens. Meanwhile, in its 2014 Event Design Awards, held in Milan, Event Marketer magazine gave the brands the Gold Medal for Best Trade Show Environment.

But what makes Sub-Zero & Wolf hands-down winners in the competitive kitchen stakes is their flexibility and adaptability. Flush or freestanding installation, integrated décor, finishes in stainless steel or pretty much any material that takes a cook’s fancy, plus a huge range of cooking technologies, are what win the group its many accolades. For any creative cook these are brands without equal when it comes to igniting passion in the kitchen.

F O O D

I S

A R T.

E L E V A T E

I T.

In craftsmanship and technology, Wolf stands alone.

Its professional performance helps you make the most of every meal.

wolfnz.co.nz

PERSONAL

SPACE THE BEST OF AUCKLAND CAN BE SEEN AND ENJOYED FROM A SMART NEW RESIDENCE IN EXCLUSIVE ST MARYS BAY.

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ABOVE: Former Relais & Châteaux executive chef Lance Tripp oversees the Residence’s modern kitchen; interior design blends a chic European aesthetic with subtle Asian and Pasifika motifs.

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rom the private roof terrace of St Marys Residence on this warm, blue-sky day, three distinctive features of Auckland stand out amid terrific 360-degree views. Billowing sails of yachts dance under the graceful arch of Auckland Harbour Bridge and Rangitoto’s volcanic cone rises on the Hauraki Gulf’s near horizon.

To the right, meanwhile, the Sky Tower keeps watch

New Zealand and overseas, Michael Coutts and Manjit Kaur, the owners and hosts of St Marys Residence, have transformed a heritage home in the gracious city fringe neighbourhood of St Marys Bay into a sophisticated urban haven. After carefully researching Auckland’s highend accommodation scene and identifying key trends in the New Zealand tourism sector, they have launched their “home away from home” as a discreet, fully serviced,

over central Auckland, an area newly revitalised with restaurants, bars and cafés.

It’s an iconic picture of a cosmopolitan South Pacific metropolis emerging as a true international city – and it’s a pleasure to enjoy it from the comfort of Auckland’s newest and most elegant private retreat. It’s also a short hop to the CBD, with its conference facilities, theatres and venues for concerts, international shows and major sports events.

Following careers working for leading hotel brands and successfully negotiating the corporate world in

spacious (341 square metres) and secure alternative to a luxury hotel suite or penthouse apartment.

“Excellent luxury lodge accommodation is dotted around many beautiful parts of New Zealand,” says Manjit, “but our desire was to create a unique urban escape showcasing Auckland’s natural, cultural and culinary highlights.”

The results of their vision are stunning. Relaxing alfresco lounges, terraces and dining areas emphasise laidback luxury, simplicity and elegance, while the colour

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palette projects a warm and welcoming ambience.

Interior design blends a chic European aesthetic with subtle Asian and Pasifika motifs throughout the three levels of the house, which is let on an exclusive basis.

This single-party reservation policy ensures guests’ complete privacy during their stay, regardless of the number of suites booked.

The Pacific Ocean Master Suite opens onto private

The open-plan Great Room, with its impressive slate fireplace, is the Residence’s social hub for dining and entertaining. French doors open to a Mediterraneaninspired manicured garden that’s perfect for exclusive corporate events and product launches, intimate weddings or special family occasions.

The Residence’s modern kitchen, under former Relais & Châteaux executive chef Lance Tripp, reflects the

indoor/outdoor lounge areas. Complete with an outdoor gas fireplace, the roof terrace showcases those panoramic sea and city views. On the ground floor, the Courtyard Garden Suite flows through to a small, enclosed garden with a peaceful water feature. A third well-appointed suite provides additional accommodation for family and friends travelling together or for a corporate traveller’s support staff. The Den/Media Room is the ideal private retreat, meeting room or perhaps an interview room for visiting celebrities.

global culinary ethos of the well-travelled hosts, who count restaurants owned by Tetsuya Wakuda, Neil Perry and Heston Blumenthal among their favourites.

“Our experiences in dining at some of the finest restaurants in the region have informed our approach to cuisine at the Residence,” says Michael. “We’re very keen to use New Zealand artisanal and organic produce, and to give our guests a strong sense of seasonality and local provenance.”

Complimentary evening canapés on the roof terrace

ABOVE: The open-plan Great Room, with its impressive slate fireplace, is the Residence’s social hub for dining and entertaining.

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might combine a bold Kiwi craft beer or elegant New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with bite-sized whitebait fritters on delicate mini brioches. Manjit’s cosmopolitan Singaporean heritage could inspire grilled prawns imbued with subtle Indian spices, and afternoon tea might pair select teas from the Paris tea emporium of Mariage Frères with Michael’s “world famous in St Marys Bay” vanilla and prune tart.

Breakfast is a wonderfully leisurely affair (although an “express” option is also available for guests in a hurry). Surprising dishes could include breakfast couscous combining pomegranate seeds with pistachios and cardamom-infused milk; an organic free-range omelette with shiitake mushrooms and robust local sausages; or Mt Alpine smoked salmon with avocado, caviar and quail egg. Artisan honey,

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slow-pressed juices, sustainable, preservative-free and flavour-packed ingredients always feature on the Residence’s seasonal menus.

Guests staying at St Marys Residence enjoy customised Auckland experiences. An exclusive driver service is provided for airport transfers and for transport to dining, shopping or business meetings around the inner city and a dedicated concierge can recommend the best local experiences, depending on guests’ personal interests – from inner-city art galleries to the vineyards of Waiheke Island or the restaurants of the new Wynyard Quarter.

Michael and Manjit like to think of St Marys Residence as a relaxed haven from which guests can enjoy the best of New Zealand’s most exciting and cosmopolitan city. www.stmarysresidence.co.nz

INTERIOR DESIGN S E R V I C E

TRENZSEATER looks forward to offering you a full Interior Design Service, internationally acclaimed and recognised for the 2nd year in a row in the ANDREW MARTIN INTERIOR DESIGN REVIEW book!

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TRENZSEATER TRENZSEATER Christchurch I 121 Blenheim Rd, Riccarton, Christchurch 8041. T. (03) 343 0876 TRENZSEATER Auckland I 80 Parnell Rd, Parnell, Auckland 1052. T. (09) 303 4151 Opening hours: Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturday 10am - 4pm, Sunday 11am - 4pm

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REALITY CHECK

JUSTINE TYERMAN BUNKS DOWN AT ONE OF SYDNEY’S MOST SPECTACULAR HARBOURSIDE APARTMENTS. PHOTOS: Robert Walsh

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foghorn woke me from my dreams and I opened my eyes to see a huge white cruise ship gliding past the window of our Sydney apartment. When we’d arrived at La Corniche the previous night we’d found the views so mesmerising it seemed a sacrilege to shut them out, so we’d slept with the curtains and doors to the balcony wide open. Now we watched as hundreds of passengers filled the liner’s decks, excited at the imminent prospect of sailing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House.

I was happy to be awake early in such sumptuous surroundings and besides, I had many things to achieve in a short time – a workout it the gym, some laps in the pool and a pampering beauty treatment, followed by a momentous decision about what to wear

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for a celebration lunch cooked by celebrity chef Clancy Atkinson.

Our fabulous Luxe Houses property came with a concierge and a tantalising list of services, including having their chef-to-the-stars cook for us. It was my birthday, so the concierge had arranged for Clancy to do lunch for three “at home”.

This was one of many delightful surprises at the überluxurious Sydney harbourside apartment, the flagship of Luxe Houses’ portfolio of private rental properties in Australia and New Zealand.

The jaw-dropping view from almost all 14 rooms and wraparound balconies at the McMahons Point apartment is the first thing that strikes guests when they arrive by private lift at the circular marble entranceway.

The panorama was quite literally staggering – I took

a step or two back as my eyes struggled to take it all in.

The Opera House was perfectly framed by the Harbour Bridge, the iconic shell-shaped roof glowing in the last rays of the sun. Ferries buzzed back and forth across the harbour and, as daylight faded, Luna Park came to life in a dazzling display of lights.

The next surprise was the sheer size of the apartment, which takes up the whole floor at La Corniche, one of Sydney’s most sought-after waterfront apartment buildings. At 300 square metres, it is super-spacious, especially the living, entertainment and dining area with its marble floors and Italian sculptures.

I claimed the best seat in the house, the comfy leather armchair with footstool in the window beside a set of powerful binoculars mounted on a tripod.

The others sprawled on the generous white leather

L-shaped couch in front of a wall-mounted TV set and played with the sound system linking all parts of the house.

The palatial master bedroom with dressing room had a super-king bed and sheets so thick I thought they were doubled, while the plush carpet looked soft enough to sleep on. A balcony offered a different angle on the same spectacular view and a spacious tiled en suite had a glasswalled hydrotherapy shower and spa bath large enough for six. You can sightsee while you soak or shower.

The second bedroom has a balcony with a lovely view, and an en suite with a spa bath, while the third bedroom has an en suite and, interestingly, a piano. There’s also a guest bathroom near the apartment entrance.

My foodie husband and daughter spent much of their time exercising the impressive array of German Gaggenau

The jaw-dropping view from almost all 14 rooms and wraparound balconies is the first thing that strikes guests when they arrive at the McMahons Point apartment.

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RIGHT: Jessica Kirkpatrick founded Luxe Houses in 2011 after noting a demand from luxury travellers for fine bespoke accommodation.

OPPOSITE PAGE: You can’t escape those views at La Corniche, whether you’re in the huge living/ dining area, at the marble bar, in bed or even in the bath.

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appliances and the Nespresso machine in the wellequipped kitchen with its acres of marble bench space. I was fascinated by the nooks and crannies of the butler’s pantry and laundry adjoining the kitchen.

The handsome oval walnut table in the boardroom adjoining the living area would be an excellent venue for a small conference, apart from the distraction of that view.

You just can’t escape it without lowering the blinds. A pair of massive antique doors is an imposing wall feature in the room but, surprisingly, they do not appear to conceal a secret passageway for La Corniche’s many celebrity guests to come and go undetected.

A heated indoor pool, Jacuzzi with supercharged bubbles, a sauna and gym are handily located a few steps down from the apartment.

I leafed through the list of bespoke services at our disposal: apart from Clancy’s fancy lunch, dinners or cocktail parties, there were hair, skin, beauty and massage treatments, a personal shopper, cruising aboard a luxury superyacht, flights by private plane, or even some acrobatic manoeuvres high above the harbour in a fighter jet, should we so desire.

Being a Top Gun fan from way back, I was sorely tempted to pick the latter but played it safe with some female pampering and the lunch instead.

Our timing was perfect.

Clancy just managed to fit us in after his three-month stint as private chef to Gerard Butler and before catering for a birthday soirée at La Corniche that Ronan Keating was throwing for his girlfriend.

Clancy worked for Gucci and other luxury brands for six and a half years before taking up the position as official chef for Luxe Houses. Sweet natured, amusing and unpretentious, Clancy does not fit the modern image of a temperamental celebrity chef at all. He’s a real gem.

Our delicious Gourmet Spring Lunch was presented on elegant Pillivuyt French porcelain plates by the picture window overlooking the harbour, but for once the view was upstaged by the food.

I can still taste the fabulous fresh flavours: Goats’ cheese, braised leek and mint pie with handmade olive oil pastry; Salad of shaved cauliflower, fennel, green apple and hazelnuts with sweet and sour honey dressing; Chargrilled asparagus with parmesan, pickled red grapes, baby cos and pickling juices. And then the sweet stuff

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– Banana gelato popsicle dipped in Belgian chocolate; White chocolate, cranberry and quinoa cookies; and fresh blueberry and bitter chocolate brownie.

The clever entrepreneur behind the Luxe Houses brand is Australian Jessica Kirkpatrick, who founded the company in 2011 after spotting the emergence of the domestic and international luxury traveller seeking bespoke accommodation.

“Our Luxe Houses portfolio provides these discerning travellers with a five-star hotel experience in some of Australia and New Zealand’s most opulent private houses,” says the 34-year-old.

“We are the first port of call for stars, black-book celebrities, VIPS and well-to-do expats seeking outstanding accommodation. And we spoil guests with our exclusive

concierge service. No one else is doing that in Australia.”

Luxe Houses holds the keys to sought-after properties like fashion icon Collette Dinnigan’s former pad in Paddington, stylish Tamarama mansions and Bondi Beach apartments overlooking the sand and the sea.

Businesses, too, use Luxe Houses for corporate, public relations and media events, VIP client entertainment, product launches, advertising campaigns, movie/photography shoots and conferences.

Later that evening we had drinks with friends at La Corniche’s marble bar as the lights of the city danced across the waters of Sydney Harbour. A helicopter landed nearby. Was it picking up guests for a trip to the airport (easily arranged by the concierge) or maybe bringing the Ronan Keating party a day early? If so, they’d just have to share – the bedroom with the piano was free… www.luxehouses.com.au

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SUP ER

RS TE AS

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IT’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (BUT WE LIKE IT)

A LAVISH NEW BOOK CAPTURES THE ROLLING STONES’ INCREDIBLE 50-YEAR JOURNEY WITH 500 PAGES OF PICTURES BY SOME OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST PHOTOGRAPHERS.

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H

eavy, man! The book, that is, all 518 pages of The Rolling Stones, the latest sumosize volume from art publishers Taschen.

The price of the Collector’s Edition – limited to 1,600 copies, each signed

by Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie – is pretty weighty too: £3,500, or around $5,300 in our money. A true (or truly rich) fan might even choose to splurge on the Art Edition – the same opulently produced hardcover Collector’s Edition in its clamshell case but with a signed 50cm by 50cm artist’s proof of an iconic Stones photograph thrown in, a snip at £7,000-£12,500 depending on the print.

But, hey, as Mick once said, you can’t always get what you want. Ordinary mortals can buy the XL Edition, also in hardback, with three foldouts, for about $150.

PREVIOUS PAGE: Cover of the book’s XL Edition, taken from the shoot for the 1967 album Between the Buttons. ©Gered Mankowitz RIGHT: The Stones in performance in Copenhagen in May 1966. ©Bent Rej

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All this talk of cash and kilos, though, does little justice to a book that took four years to produce and which beautifully charts “the soundtrack to our lives”, as an essay in the book suggests. Following an introduction by former US President Bill Clinton, The Rolling Stones continues through three Acts: “Time is On My Side”, 1962-69; “Wild Horses”, 1969-78; and “Mixed Emotions”, 1978-present. Within these pages are hundreds of photographs of the band, from sullen, suit-wearing youths to craggy, still-cool pensioners. Taken by the

OPOSITIE PAGE: Keith and Mick doing publicity for the 1983 record Undercover. ©Bill King/The Rolling Stones BELOW: From the famous photo session for the game-changing album Beggars Banquet, London, 1968. ©Michael Joseph

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ABOVE: Denmark Street, London, 1964.

The Tin Pan Alley Club was a creative hub for musicians at the time and the street also contained Regent Sound Studios, an early recording base for the Stones. ©Terry O’Neill/Getty

likes of David Bailey, Cecil Beaton and Annie Leibovitz, the pictures range from commercial shoots and album covers to more intimate shots taken relaxing, on tour, backstage or in performance.

Essays by Luc Sante, David Dalton and Waldemar Januszczak throw more light on the Stones, their music and their influence on modern culture.

Half a century of rock ‘n’ roll, who would have thought? As Keith Richards said in 1988: “This is a job. It’s a man’s job and it’s a lifelong job. And if there’s ever a sucker to prove it, I hope to be that sucker.” www.taschen.com

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THE GREATEST RACE

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SAILING’S SUPREME ENDURANCE EVENT, THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE, IGNITES STOPOVER CITIES LIKE NO OTHER SPORT, WITH AN ENTIRE VILLAGE CREATED IN HOMAGE TO COMPETITORS, SPONSORS AND THEIR STORIES. IN MARCH, THE SPOTLIGHT WAS ON AUCKLAND. BY JENI BONE. PHOTOS: Ainhoa Sanchez and Ian Roman/Volvo Ocean Race

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lose to midnight on 28 February, after 20 days at sea in Leg 4 of the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) from Sanya, China, only eight minutes divided the top three teams crossing the finish line into Auckland. Within hours all six teams had arrived safely and were ready to celebrate.

Spanish entry MAPFRE emerged victorious despite major setbacks during Leg 4 in what has been deemed one of the tightest-fought finishes in the event’s 42-year history.

MAPFRE’s trials started soon after the fleet left Sanya on 8 February. Their boat lost all communications for three days, which prevented them from receiving weather data to help them plot their course. Once that was rectified, heavy conditions led to crew member 22-year-old Guillermo Altadill injuring his hand. It was put in a splint and Altadill assured waiting media and fans in Auckland he would see a doctor – “after the party”.

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Aboard runner-up Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR), on the boat affectionately known as Azzam there was also plenty of upheaval. Just a few hours before the start, Adil Khalid, the race’s sole Emirati sailor, was struck down by a stomach bug, thrusting Alex Higby, a member of the ADOR onshore team, into his place.

All day Saturday, as they approached Auckland, ADOR skirmished with MAPFRE, at times just one nautical mile apart, but Walker and his crew could not keep the Spanish team at bay.

ADOR skipper Ian Walker praised his crew for their focus and determination. For Walker, being runner-up second time in a row was an incentive for the Auckland in-port race the day before the start of Leg 5 on March 15. That’s when the real challenges would begin: the treacherous Southern Ocean route to Itajaí, Brazil, would likely be fraught with tempests and freezing temperatures courtesy of the Roaring Forties around Cape Horn to South America.

One of Britain’s most successful sailors, Walker is reprising his role at the helm of Azzam, crewed by a blend of seasoned sailors and keen new talent. The former Olympian is eager to make it third time lucky after two campaigns as a Volvo Ocean Race skipper.

Abu Dhabi’s second place, slipping in to a brilliantly lit Auckland just four minutes ahead of Dongfeng Race Team, was enough to push them into joint first place in the standings, tied with Dongfeng.

Team Alvimedica claimed fourth place, just under 1 hour 20 minutes behind Dongfeng, with Team Brunel and Team SCA bringing up the rear.

For those who don’t follow what is considered the Everest of sailing, the triennial round-the-world yacht race began in 1973, then known as the Whitbread Round the World Race. It is deemed one of the Big Three events in the sport along with the Olympics and the America’s Cup. Each edition keeps the public allure fresh through embracing high-tech communications

– onboard reporters, cameras mounted on deck, a constant stream of images and data charting their courses on social media and even a race tracking app.

Auckland is the ideal stopover venue, given New Zealand’s history with the race and Kiwis’ stature in sailing spheres. New Zealand sailors have been involved in nearly every edition of the race and, along with South Africa, have hosted nine of the 12 events.

Sir Peter Blake and Grant Dalton became household names in New Zealand with wins in Steinlager 2 (1989/90) and New Zealand Endeavour (93/94).

Auckland stopovers are iconic: they draw crowds in their hundreds of thousands to what essentially is a two-week celebration of New Zealand’s maritime might.

What appeals to even the most hardened land-bound cynic is the real human achievement of its competitors, pitted against each other and whatever Mother Nature can hurl at them. There is nothing “virtual” about 10-metre-high waves cracking on the deck of a 20-metre

Approaching midnight on 28 February, Spanish entry MAPFRE sails into Auckland to take Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race in one of the event’s tightest-fought finishes.

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ABOVE: To mark its continuing partnership with the VOR and its role as Official Timekeeper, IWC has launched the special-edition Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph “Ocean Racer”.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team celebrate after their arrival in Auckland. The city laid on a feast of entertainment, cultural and sporting events during the two-week stopover.

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boat, its eight crew (11 in the case of the all-female Team SCA) forced to cooperate and coexist in its cramped hull for 20 or so days without respite.

It’s an arduous and compelling race: 38,739 nautical miles (71,745 kilometres), taking in 11 ports in 11 different countries – from the start in Alicante, Spain, last October, via South Africa, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States, Portugal and France to the finish line in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June.

With the cost of entering a team in the tens of millions of euros, sponsorship is crucial, but the rewards are tantalising. This is a sporting event that delivers an estimated 200 to 300 per cent return on investment.

Official race timekeeper, sponsor of the 24-hour speed record challenge and official sponsor of ADOR, Swiss watch brand IWC Schaffhausen leverages its involvement through corporate hospitality and promoting its brand and timepieces at each of the stopovers, conveying the company’s expertise and values.

To mark the continuation of its partnership with the Volvo Ocean Race and its role as Official Timekeeper, IWC has launched a special-edition watch – the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph “Ocean Racer”.

Sponsorship and partnerships chief for IWC Schaffhausen Yan Lefort explains the strategy behind

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the watchmaker’s relationship with the Volvo Ocean Race as a deep synergy of brand values.

“In terms of engineering, passion and pioneering spirit,” he says, “there are a lot of messages that we can leverage. The Volvo Ocean Race offers a deep match in terms of brand values at a corporate level, but also at a product level it provides the perfect emotional message for our Portuguese family of watches. Portugal is historically linked to sailing and navigation and time is crucial in navigation.”

The first Yacht Club watch was introduced in 1967 and became one of the most popular IWC model. As tastes changed, in the late 1980s it was phased out. In 2010, the Yacht Club model was successfully reintroduced as part of the relaunch of the classic Portuguese family, and it is once again one of IWC’s most popular models.

The new special-edition Ocean Racer, with its intricate silver-plated dial and blue numerals, hands and indices, is the sporting incarnation of the decades-old product line with the aesthetic codes and heritage of a company founded in 1868.

Although IWC has initially committed to one year with the race and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), backers of ADOR, Lefort is confident IWC will continue its involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race for many years to come.

“It’ll be assessed very quickly, and we’re already in the process of assessing the long term and seeing how we can go further, but at the moment we’ve very happy with what Volvo Ocean Race delivers.”

For the 2015 Auckland stopover, activities were centred around the Viaduct precinct. The Race Village was the epicentre, comprising pavilions with displays, an entertainment stage. A cross-section of the actual Volvo Ocean 65 boat allowed visitors to see inside these amazing cylinders sailors call home for eight months.

To amplify its appeal, Auckland lay on a feast of entertainment in the form of sporting events, stage shows, cultural festivals and big-name concerts. The City of Sails unfurled its multihued spinnaker with a welcome fit for heroes. www.volvooceanrace.com

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PORSCHE

GT3 RS

Porsche has broken down the barrier between motorsport and road driving even further with the new 911 GT3 RS. Every part of the RS is optimised for circuit driving, while remaining completely road-legal. The 368kW/480Nm 4.0-litre engine is matched to a specially tuned PDK gearbox and thrusts the car to 100km/h in just 3.3 seconds.

The RS features a number of lightweight design elements. The roof is made from magnesium, while the engine and luggage compartment lids are carbon fibre. The body shape is closely related to the 911 Turbo, but with specific aerodynamic aids for the RS application.

A 300mm-wide recess extends over the bonnet and

roof, while the front wheel arch has a vent that extends into the upper section of the wing to increase downforce.

The RS has rear-axle steering and Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, as well as wider front and rear tracks for even greater handling stability than the standard GT3.

The interior is based on the GT3, but with some significant changes. The full bucket seats are based on the carbon-fibre chairs of the 918 Spyder supercar, while the car also comes as standard with the Club Sport Package that brings a roll-cage, preparation for a battery master switch, fire extinguisher with mounting point and a six-point safety harness for the driver.

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ferrari’s first-ever mid-engined V8 model, the 308 GTB. It also marks the debut of the next chapter in that story, the brand new 488 GTB. Designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre, the 488 GTB is highly aerodynamic, yet also pays homage to the heavily sculpted look of the original 308 – including the large air intake scallop, which is a clear visual reference to that classic 1975 model.

The 488 GTB features a new 3.9-litre V8 with a turbocharger – another new direction for Ferrari. To ensure the power delivery is as strong and consistent as a naturally aspirated engine, the gearbox has variable

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FERRARI

488

GTB

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torque management technology that ensures its 760Nm is delivered evenly across the rev range.

The car features a further enhanced version of Ferrari’s Slide Slip Control, a sophisticated electronic system that enables virtually any driver to indulge in wild oversteer drifts and then bring the car safely back into line.

Classic Ferrari touches in the cabin include a clear separation of the dashboard and centre tunnel, a multifunctional steering wheel and wraparound seats.

There’s even an avant garde touch to the 488’s ignition key: its shape is inspired by the V8 engine’s cylinder banks.

GT4 PORSCHE CAYMAN

The Porsche Cayman has always been acclaimed as a great driver’s car.

But now, Porsche is promoting this mid-engined model to true highperformance status with the launch of the Cayman GT4.

The GT4 stands well above other Cayman models. Its 3.8-litre engine derives from the 911 Carrera S and produces 283kW. The car produces downforce at both ends: the front is distinct from other Cayman models with a lower spoiler and additional intake, while the rear features a highly aerodynamic wing.

The GT4 chassis rides 30mm lower and the suspension employs many components from the highly acclaimed 911 GT3, including an extra-large braking system. All aspects of the suspension are set up to make the GT4 motorsport-ready.

In fact, the new model has already lapped the legendary North Loop of the Nurburgring racing circuit in 7 min 40 sec, placing it in the premier league of performance coupĂŠs.

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LEXUS

RC

F F-brand cars represent the performance pinnacle for Lexus: following on from the IS-F sedan and the LFA supercar comes the latest in the line, the RC-F coupe.

The RC-F is the ultimate expression of Lexus’ new two-door and shares little with the rest of the RC range save the basic platform and body shape. Power comes from a new 5.0-litre V8 engine boasting 351kW/530Nm and featuring unique technology that gives the best of both worlds: at low speeds it runs in the Atkinson cycle, similar to the petrol engine in the Toyota Prius, to save fuel. But when high performance is demanded, it instantly switches to the conventional Otto cycle.

The RC-F is designed to bridge the gap between serious track car and everyday road machine. It has unique suspension and chassis features, including a Torsen limited-slip

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differential and the option of a multistage Torque Vectoring Differential (TVD) that can actively feed more power to the outside rear wheel, improving cornering speed and stability.

The RC-F has wide-body styling and distinctive stacked exhaust pipes, along with a rear spoiler that automatically raises at high speed when extra stability is required.

Even the paint is high-performance on the RC-F: it’s a unique five-layer system that is used for the first time on a production car.

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MERCEDES-BENZ

S 63 AMG COUPÉ

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The S-class AMG coupé is the pinnacle of MercedesBenz’s passenger-car range; it’s as much about sheer luxury as about high performance.

Sitting above the S-class sedan in the model range, the coupé comes in two AMG-enhanced versions: the S 63, with a 5.5-litre biturbo V8 engine, and the flagship S 65 with a 6.0-litre biturbo V12. The coupé is 90mm shorter than the sedan and 90mm lower, giving it a sleeker appearance.

Key to this model’s specification is the first production application of Mercedes-Benz’s Curve Tilting Function. An extension of the Active Body Control fitted to top-line S-class sedan models, Curve Tilting Function uses forward-facing cameras to anticipate changes in the road ahead and adjust the suspension accordingly. In Comfort mode it scans the road surface to ensure a smooth ride, but in Dynamic mode it anticipates corners and tilts the car inwards – like a motorcycle – to ensure maximum cornering speed and occupant comfort.

Curve Tilting Function operates between 50km/h and 180km/h, leaning by up to 2.65 degrees in corners.

Also unique to the coupé is the extravagant option of an LED Intelligent Light System featuring 47 Swarovski crystals: 30 rounded jewels in the turn indicators and 17 angular crystals in the daytime running lights.

GT MERCEDES-AMG

S

The GT coupé represents a number of firsts for its maker. It’s a model that introduces a new brand: from this point forward, all new models from the ThreePointed Star’s high-performance division will be known as Mercedes-AMG cars rather than Mercedes-Benz.

The GT also marks the debut of a brand-new engine from AMG: a 4.0-litre biturbo V8 that makes 380kW in the flagship GT S model. Equipped with a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, the GT S can accelerate from 0-100km/h at near-supercar pace: 3.8 seconds.

Like the SLS before it, the GT S has been developed completely in-house by Mercedes-AMG: it’s not based on any current Mercedes-Benz production model, although the new V8 powerplant will provide the beating heart of many new Mercedes-AMG models to come, including the C 63 AMG sedan and wagon.

The chassis is largely made of aluminium, making the GT S strong and light. It comes as standard with the AMG Ride Control suspension, including threestage damping, and an electronically controlled rear differential.

While the GT S is about hard-core performance, the interior is bathed in luxury: Nappa leather upholstery, carbon and aluminium trim elements, and an 8.4-inch screen for information and entertainment functions.

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BMW It wears a new badge, but the BMW M4 – previously known as the M3 – retains all of the performance and virtuoso handling expected of a car from BMW’s legendary Motorsport division.

The new model has downsized engine capacity from the V8 of the previous M3 to a 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight six, resulting in 25 per cent improved fuel economy. Yet with 317kW/550Nm (torque is up over 40 per cent compared with the old V8) and weight reduced by over 60kg, it’s also faster than ever before: 0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds.

A host of technological developments ensure

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the M4 boasts excellent track-day credentials. The electromechanical steering system is new from BMW M and adjusts the level of assistance according to speed, maintaining the level of communication required by enthusiast drivers.

The standard M Adaptive suspension can be configured to Comfort, Sport or Sport Plus, providing a broad mix of talents between everyday driving and high-performance circuit work.

Key to the M4’s handling is the Active M Differential, which works with extreme speed and precision to apply anywhere from 0-100 per cent lock on the rear axle, preventing wheelspin and optimising traction.

The standard head-up display comes with M-specific functions such as gear display, revcounter and optimum shift indicator.

i8 BMW

It might be a production model, but the BMW i8 represents a slice of sports-car futurism.

Like its stablemate, the i3 city car, the i8 is the product of BMW’s i-brand, which aims to put sustainability first but without compromising performance or driving dynamics. The i8 shares virtually nothing with other BMW models: it’s based around a bespoke carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) structure and is driven by a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

An electric motor drives the front wheels and can power the i8 for up to 35km between charges. At the back is a 170kW/320Nm three-cylinder engine, driving the rear wheels for a true sports-car feel. So the i8 can be front-drive (on pure battery power), rear-drive (working solely on the petrol engine) or four-wheel drive when both powerplants are working together.

The bespoke CFRP construction ensures the i8 is a lightweight machine, despite carrying 96 lithium-ion batteries in its frame. Performance is almost worthy of BMW’s M-division, with 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds.

Inside, the i8 is familiar BMW but with some high-tech touches. The main instrument display, for example, is virtual; the colours and configuration change depending on whether the driver has selected eDrive, Comfort or Sport modes.

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ASTON MARTIN

VULCAN

The ultimate machine for the gentleman racer?

Aston Martin’s dramatic new Vulcan is a supercar that is designed exclusively for track use. It has been engineered using the brand’s extensive motorsport experience, with a 7.0-litre V12 making nearly 600kW and full carbon-fibre construction.

The ultra-exclusive nature of Vulcan – just 24 examples will be built worldwide – means that every vehicle will be tailor-made for its owner. Through the VIP sales programme, Aston Martin claims there will be an “almost infinitely flexible” range of colour and trim options for the car.

Aston Martin will offer a graduated range of performance and handling enhancements to suit each buyer’s abilities and track activities. Before taking delivery of their cars, Vulcan owners will be offered the opportunity to take part in an extensive driver-training programme with Aston Martin Racing team drivers. They will start with other track-capable models like the V12 Vantage S, One-77 and Vantage GT4, before graduating to the Vulcan.

For those keen to explore their limits in safety, there will also be the opportunity to refine driving skills in the Base Performance Simulator, as used by some of the world’s top racing drivers.

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LAMBORGHINI

HURACAN LP 610-4

As replacement for the long-running Gallardo, Lamborghini’s new Huracan LP 610-4 takes a bold step into the future. On top, it picks up many of the sculptural styling cues from the Lamborghini’s flagship Aventador; underneath, it boasts a new 5.2-litre V10 with direct-injection and full-time four-wheel drive.

The hybrid chassis of the Huracan employs a combination of carbon fibre and aluminium, resulting in light weight (less than 1,500kg) and searing performance from the 448kW engine and new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission: 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds, 0-200km/h in 9.9 seconds and a top speed of 325km/h.

Three different driving modes can be chosen via a steering wheel-mounted button, ranging from road to racetrack. This system is called Adaptive Network Intelligent Management, or ANIMA – which is also Italian for “soul”.

Lamborghini describes Huracan as a “luxury super sports car”. Stylised hexagonal forms are used throughout the cabin and a massive 12.3-inch screen serves as the virtual instrument panel. This can change colour and configuration depending on which functions are chosen by the driver.

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F-TYPE JAGUAR

AWD

To all who thought the V8 Supercharged Jaguar F-Type R could not be tamed: the company has launched an all-wheel-drive (AWD) version of this super coupé, enabling even better use of the 427kW generated by its 5.0-litre powerplant.

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While AWD is a first for the F-Type, Jaguar Land Rover has a wealth of experience in AWD technology. The F-Type system brings massive benefits in traction, but its primary purpose is for agility and precision. The addition of the extra hardware has had hardly any effect on weight distribution, shifting it forwards by just 1.2 per cent.

In normal driving, 100 per cent of power is still directed to the rear axle. But when required, an electronic coupling enables smooth transfer of power to the front – a process which is hardly discernible to the driver.

Jaguar has developed a new AWD control system for the F-Type R called Intelligent Driveline Dynamics (IDD).

It manages the interaction of the AWD hardware, rear electronic active differential and the stability control system.

The AWD model is differentiated by a deeper bulge in the bonnet, new side vents and special 20-inch alloy wheels.

The electronically controlled dampers have also been recalibrated to better suit the handling character of the AWD system.

CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH. To celebrate our shared passion for precision, craftsmanship and luxury, Jaguar is partnering with Murray Crane. For a limited time, each new Jaguar XF is accompanied with an exclusive Crane Brothers suit inspired by Jaguar, made just for you.

Visit jaguarxf.co.nz to ďŹ nd your local dealer.

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MAG16139/W

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40 Great South Road, Newmarket Phone 09 526 8991 Email porschesales@continentalcars.co.nz www.continentalcars.co.nz

RARE, BOLD

& BEAUTIFUL

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TO CONNOISSEURS OF CLASSIC CARS, THE PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS IS THE ULTIMATE CELEBRATION OF HISTORIC, ICONIC AND VERY VALUABLE AUTOMOBILES. STORY AND PICTURES BY ROYCE RUMSEY

1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti

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very year the Carmel community hosts this globally significant event, culminating in the Concours d’Elegance. This year’s 64th edition was especially notable for a Ferrari being named Best in Show for the first time ever – the 1954 375 MM Coupé Scaglietti of Jon Shirley.

Also gracing Pebble’s 18th fairway and the Tour d’Elegance was the biggest collection of Ferrari Testarossas in history. This included all of Maranello’s works competition cars and marked the restoration debut of 0724TR, returned to its Ecurie Nationale Belge motif by Paul Russell.

Indeed, Pebble Beach was awash with legendary racing cars, such as a trio of 115hp Mercedes-Benzes: 1-2-3 victors of the 1914 French Grand Prix.

Stuttgart also stunned the crowds with its debut appearance of the world’s only 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamliner, originally built for a high-speed endurance race between Berlin and Rome. The event was interrupted by World War II and never took place; the car ended up in parts in a Mercedes-Benz museum warehouse until a few years ago when a fastidious restoration was started. It was completed just last year.

It takes quite a car to impress the attendees of Pebble Beach, but Rob Lee’s matching pair of 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Fernandez et Darrin Coupe de Villes, built for the Rothschilds, caught everyone’s attention. Many thought they deserved Best in Show status.

These two are among the most expensive cars ever built – and it showed.

The powerful V12-engined J12 was one of the most expensive pre-war chassis builds and the coachwork by Fernandez et Darrin was finished with an absolute disregard for cost.

Extraordinary cars by any measure – but also just another week at Pebble Beach.

ABOVE: 1952 Jaguar XK120 Record Car.

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ABOVE: 1914 Mercedes 115 HP Demarest Grand Prix race cars.

ABOVE: 1956 Maserati 350S.

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ABOVE: 1958 Ferrari 0728TR. BELOW: 1938 Mercedes 540K Streamliner.

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ABOVE: 1957 Ferrari 250TR. BELOW: 1958 EcurieNation Belge.

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Rolls-Royce SpringďŹ eld Silver Ghost Salamanca Town Car

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BELOW: 1939 Talbot Lago T150CSS Pourtout Coupé.

BELOW: 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Fernandez et Darrin Coupé de Ville.

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MY

WORLD

PETER DE SAVARY, BRITISHBORN ENTREPRENEUR, SAILOR, INTERNATIONAL HOTELIER.

P ABOVE: Peter de Savary and Azzurra Castle, one of his properties on Grenada, the Caribbean island he now calls home.

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eter de Savary – or PdeS as he prefers to be called – is known around the world in a number of discrete areas and industries he’s been involved in over more than 50 years: petroleum, shipping and shipyards, property, import-export, clubs, hospitality and golf courses, to name some of them.

Add to these international deal broker, sailor, philanthropist and cigar aficionado and you have something of the flavour of a man who led the British team in the 1983 America’s Cup Challenge, is a former chairman of Millwall Football Club and once owned both Land’s End and John O’Groats, at either end of Britain.

Born on a farm in Devon in 1944, de Savary was sent to one of Britain’s top schools, Charterhouse, from which he was expelled at the age of 16. He took himself off to Canada, where his divorced mother and his stepfather lived. He was married by the time he was 18 and moved back to the UK with his wife and baby daughter to work for his father. On a trip to Canada in 1969 he took over a small import-export agency doing business in Africa and on a subsequent flight to Nigeria he met and went into business with the brother of the Nigerian president supplying wheat, flour, steel, cement and other goods to Nigeria and other African countries. He was a millionaire by the time he was 30.

Since then he’s bought and sold numerous businesses, from shipyards to clubs to golf courses and castles. His CV is too long and diverse to list here and we suggest you check out his website (www.desavary.com) for the full story.

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CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: Cherokee Plantation, an exclusive de Savary club in South Carolina; The Old Swan and Minster Mill, in Britain’s Cotswolds; PdeS the yachtsman sailing in the Bahamas; Mt Cinnamon, Grenada.

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He still owns a number of upmarket properties, including the Vanderbilt Residences in Newport, Rhode Island, and Port Louis, Mount Cinnamon, Tufton Hall and Grenada Beach Club on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where he’s become a citizen and maintains a family home.

We spoke to PdeS by phone while staying at a UK hotel belonging to his wife, Lana – the beautiful Old Swan and Minster Mill in Oxfordshire. PdeS was on holiday aboard his lovingly restored 100-year-old schooner Silver Spray, moored off the Spanish island of Mallorca. At rest and presumably resting, this life-long entrepreneur and the self-styled “buccaneer” nevertheless still spends much of his life commuting around the globe…

“Yes, I’m certainly travelling somewhere for most of the year: in America, in the Caribbean, in Europe. I might be in Azerbaijan. I could be in the Middle East. I’m in an international business and I travel where I need to travel – so basically from Los Angeles to Central Asia and a little bit north and south…

“I’m an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs put deals together, hopefully make the deals work, hopefully make a bit of money doing it and move on to another deal. I’ve been involved in numerous businesses over the year and continue to be so – all kinds of interesting real estate, including hotels, resorts, golf courses, that

sort of thing, and casinos – I’m involved in a large casino transaction overseas at the moment. My background also includes putting people together who have something to offer each other or need something from each other. I’m the broker in the middle, if you like. That could range from finance to government to corporate entities looking for funding… So in the classic sense I’m an old-fashioned entrepreneur.

“I’ve been at it a long time – I’m now 70 and I’ve been going since I was in my late teens – so I know a lot of people around the world and I would like to think I have a good, honest and honourable reputation… But to be quite honest, I’m not in the business of disclosing to the public exactly what I do or whom I do it with. The very reason people deal with me is because I’m low-key in those business activities and discreet, confidential and that’s the strength of my relationships…

“What keeps me working? I suppose it’s habit – my way of life has been a habit over many, many years…

And despite the despondency when something doesn’t work out as you’d like it to – and if you’re doing deals around the world, not every deal is a roaring success – there’s an adrenalin rush to all this. The challenge of the opportunity, the people one deals with through them and the thrill of success produces big adrenalin rushes…”

ABOVE: The lovely Old Swan and Minster Mill, a de Savary family property in the Cotswolds.

OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Mt Cinnamon, Grenada; lounge and croquet lawn, Old Swan and Minster Mill; The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, Abaco, Bahamas; the dramatic 18th hole at Abaco Bay.

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The golf course at Carnegie Abbey, a private golf and sporting club at Newport, Rhode Island, has views over Narragansett Bay. Another de Savary project.

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“So in a way you’re a bit addicted to it, hence the habit and hence the pleasure when you do something well and people show you their appreciation. It’s hard to think, ‘well I’ve been doing this all my life, am I going to stop doing it just because I’m old?’

“I think those people who think they’re old are old and probably do retire and give up. I accept I’m old, however I don’t feel old, I don’t think old, I don’t behave old. I want to be doing all the things that young, attractive people do and participate in them. And I suppose as long as I have that attitude and the ability to do that I will continue.

That’s what it’s all about – there are those that live and there are those that half-live.

“Money? All it means to me is to pay your bills, meet your liabilities and look after your family and those others you care about and to live the sort of life you would like to lead. I’m not a believer in ridiculously extravagant styles at all but I have a wonderful lifestyle, and I’m very, very appreciative… I love boats, I love horses, I love the countryside. I decline 95 per cent of the [party] invitations I get. Cocktail parties and being seen with all kinds of famous people in supposedly famous places doesn’t do it for me. I’d rather be on an outer island in western Scotland sitting in a pub.

“I have a limited number of friends, not many, but the ones I have I really like. I don’t need pretend people – and if you’re successful, people want to talk to you and it’s

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really funny how they weren’t all talking to you before, and when your day of glory is gone it’s funny how they don’t talk to you very much then, either.

“I’d say the most important thing in my life these days is staying healthy. I had a major operation last year – I was paralysed pretty much from the waist down due to the crushing of nerves in my neck and was on my way to becoming a paraplegic. Very frightening; very terrifying. And by the skill of the medics I’m about 70 per cent back to where I was [before the accident]. I still have a daily level of discomfort and inconvenience, so I’m continually reminded of how grateful you should be for having good health.

“Following that, well, obviously, you have close friends, you have family – these things are very important – and your reputation and integrity. Because as you get older you start thinking, ‘how will people remember me?’ You realise that your reputation is very important and hope that your behaviour and what you’ve done will be a bit of a legacy in a positive way…

And I think it makes you more inclined to help others, too, if you realise the fortune you’ve had in your life, the many winners you’ve had, and then you find people less fortunate than you, less healthy than you, who’ve just never had a leg up or an opportunity. And if you can be kind and helpful to them, I think it’s something you focus on a little more as you get older.”

Peter de Savary was talking to Patrick Smith.

THE PERFECT SHOT WHEN SEVE BALLESTEROS HOLED OUT TO WIN THE 113TH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE OLD COURSE AT ST ANDREWS IN 1984, DAVID CANNON WAS THERE. FOR THE PAST 32 YEARS THE GAME’S PRE-EMINENT PHOTOGRAPHER HAS BEEN PRETTY MUCH EVERYWHERE IN THE GOLFING WORLD CAPTURING THE GAME’S GREATEST PLAYERS AND COURSES. HE SHARES SOME OF HIS FAVOURITE MEMORIES WITH KENT GRAY – AND A FEW OF GOLF’S MOST ICONIC IMAGES. PICTURES: GETTY IMAGES.

How did you get involved in the game?

I was introduced to golf in our glorious garden in Ascot by my father at a very early age with a cut-down wooden 3 wood which had the lead weights removed. I soon got in trouble as a three-year-old when I found a box of brand-new Dunlop 65s and proceeded to unwrap each one and hit them into the bushes all over the garden and, devastatingly, one through the sitting-room patio doors! It was airstream balls only after that, I can assure you.

How did you get the photography bug?

By accident, I suppose. When we were on holiday in Scotland each summer, I was always the chief family

Tigers games. So soon I was selling my car and buying a Canon AE1 and a 135mm lens. I managed to get an invite to carry his bags to a brilliant game where the New Zealand All Blacks played the East Midlands at Welford Road and I just sat in a corner and Neville gave me three rolls of film and said, “just sit there and snap away”. He told me to remember two things: “focus on the eyes” and “fill the frame” – such brilliant advice! Luckily enough, I got one really decent shot that appeared in the Sunday Express the next day, so this was the moment I knew where I wanted to go.

Many people would say you have the best job in the world, shooting golf for Getty Images.

I cannot argue with that. They are a great company to work for. They give us such amazing support with the best camera lenses, and excellent staff to back us up. Without the team behind us we would not be where we are.

What’s it like, essentially living the life of a tour pro?

Our days are longer than the tour pros’ and in a way much more physical. The best light is just after dawn and just before sunset, so I am on the course very early till very late.

I think golf is probably the hardest sport to cover, week in, week out, with five to six full working days each week of at least 12 hours. But it is very rewarding.

David Cannon

snapper with our Instamatic... Following this I had a lovely girlfriend who played for Leicestershire who needed some pics done for the local society magazine and, knowing my sister had a fairly decent Zenit camera, I tried my arm snapping her in action and instantly fell in love with challenge of capturing the moment. From that moment on I was totally in love with photography and especially sports photography.

How did you get into the professional photography game?

I was lucky enough to be introduced to Neville Chadwick who ran Leicester New Service photography. This was so lucky as he covered all the Leicester City and Leicester

Your favourite destination?

That’s difficult. I totally love Australia and New Zealand, so they would be hard to beat, but the African countries – South Africa and Kenya especially – are stunning too. I love photographing on safari and have not done enough of this yet. North America is incredible as it gives you almost all the climates in one country and out of the big cities it is really stunning as well. But, surprisingly, I love nothing better than going to the north of Scotland. The Western Isles in high summer have to be seen to be believed.

What do you look for in a good action shot?

The peak of the moment, with a clean or perfect background.

Like your tournament coverage, your course photography is truly inspiring. Is that a special part of the job, getting out early and away from it all to capture the world’s best courses in all their glory?

The first and last hour of light are my “witching hours”. I like nothing better than being out on a golf course at sunrise or sunset all on my own… Well, maybe with my dog Mashie as company. Then it is truly perfect!

OPPOSITE PAGE: Jack Nicklaus holes a birdie putt on the 17th green at the 1986 US Masters in Augusta. Nicklaus went on to become the oldest-ever winner of the tournament.

THE PERFECT SHOT

DAVID CANNON

ABOVE: Greg Norman sinks to his knees on the 15th green after narrowly missing the hole with his chip shot during the final round of the 1996 Masters at Augusta National.

with Faldo winning; and the 1988 Masters when Lyle won. There are so many, it’s hard to say, but last year produced two, with Rory winning at Hoylake and then the PGA at Valhalla.

How does a photographer re-invent the wheel when you are essentially shooting the same subject over and over?

It’s all about light – every day we go out the light can be totally different and the chances of a golfer being in the same spot with the same light are almost nil. So that’s the starting advantage we have.

Who are the best players to work with?

Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Justin Rose, Rory, Greg Norman. The list is endless, actually.

And the toughest?

By a mile, Tiger Woods, but he is great to photograph!

Lanny Wadkins and Howard Clark have to be the twitchiest with us. Monty [Colin Montgomerie] was Monty but I loved shooting him.

ABOVE: Members of Team Europe celebrate their first Ryder Cup victory at The Belfry, Warwickshire, 1985.

FROM LEFT: Seve Ballesteros, Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and captain Tony Jacklin.

THE PERFECT SHOT

Last August’s US PGA Championship was the 100th major you’ve photographed. Tough question, but which major moments stand out for you?

The 1984 Open Championship with Seve winning at St Andrews; the 1988 Open with Seve winning at Lytham; Norman’s 1986 win at Turnberry; the Masters in 1996

Who is your favourite player of all time and why?

Seve. The best in everything. I miss him so much. Every single day I walked onto the course with him, I knew I would come back with a stunning image. He was my all-time sporting hero and still is.

ABOVE: Colin Montgomerie ‘walks on water’ as he approaches the 17th green during the Pro-Am in the Murph’s Irish Open, 1996.

BELOW: A rainbow on a very stormy evening over looking Hell Bunker on the par 5, 14th hole on the Old Course at St Andrews, 2009.

DAVID CANNON

Will Tiger win another major?

I hope so, but I fear not.

Will Rory live up to the hype?

All being well. He is by far the best I have seen since Tiger and actually I do think he will live up to the hype. But whether he gets 14-plus Majors, that is a mighty big ask.

Which tournament is your favourite to cover?

As a photographer, the Masters is hard to beat. But I have a very soft spot for the Dubai Desert Classic.

And if you had just one round left to play, where would it be?

Turnberry, Ailsa Course.

THE PERFECT SHOT

What is left on David Cannon’s bucket list, professionally and personally?

Professionally, just to keep going until I keel over. I love photographing golf so much. I guess I am beginning to get conscious of leaving a legacy for the sport I love so much, so I intend covering at least another 50 Majors and making more nice big books on the sport. Personally, just to stay healthy. I recently re-married, and Zoe and I have a five-yearold son, Toby, so I have to stay well and enjoy their love as long as I can, while not forgetting my two older children, Chris and Milly. In fact, Chris is playing professionally and has just earned a tour card for the Asian Tour. So I would love nothing more than to photograph him in The Open Championship one day soon!

LEFT: Tiger Woods holds up his trophy after winning the PGA Championship, at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, 2000.

This was Tiger’s third win in a record four consecutive Majors.

ABOVE: Bubba Watson takes a moment on the 18th green after winning the 2014 Masters by a three-stroke margin at Augusta National, 2014.

LEFT: Rory McIlroy celebrates in the dark on the 18th green with his caddie J.P. Fitzgerald, after his one-stroke victory at the 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, 2014.

DAVID CANNON

THE PERFECT SHOT

UNFORGETTABLE HOLES

DAVID CANNON SHARES NINE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE HOLES HE HAS CAPTURED OVER HIS ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER AS A GOLF PHOTOGRAPHER.

The par-3 11th hole, “Alps”, at Royal Liverpool Golf Club This hole plays as the 13th hole in The Open Championship, which was played at Hoylake last year. This is one of the most scenic holes in England and is certainly a really tough test. The hole photographs really well in the morning, or in the afternoon as the sun sets over the River Dee estuary.

I have played this hole hundreds of times, having been a member of the club for years.

DAVID CANNON

THE PERFECT SHOT

The par-4 8th on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai I have witnessed this hole from its opening in 1988 and have seen so many extraordinary changes. The hole is a truly great par-4, and a wonderful one to photograph. I have been lucky enough to work for the club for a long time, so have managed to capture the hole developing over the years and still maintaining its position as one of the great par-4s of the European Tour.

The par-3 7th at Kauri Cliffs, New Zealand This is the sister course of Cape Kidnappers and when I was asked to go there after getting such great shots at Cape Kidnappers, I went with a slightly negative perspective, in that nothing could be as good as Cape Kidnappers. I was lucky enough to be visiting when the owner, Julian Robertson, was there from his home in New York. I fell in love with the course, which is more subtle than the raw ruggedness of Cape Kidnappers, but in a way much more beautiful. By sheer luck, Mr Robertson had his own private helicopter on site so I got a truly beautiful early-morning flight with absolutely stunning views of the course and the wondrous Bay of Islands stretching out behind. The par-3 7th perches on the edge of the sea and photographs so well – as well as playing absolutely brilliantly.

DAVID CANNON

The par-4 7th at Crans Montana Golf Club in Crans Sur Sierre, Swiss Alps This is probably one of the great scenic golf holes in Europe. The course has been part of the European Tour as the venue for the European Masters and every year it gives glorious mountain views. I tried very hard to get a different angle when shooting this hole and actually used a much longer lens than usual, a 200mm, in order to make the mountains “bigger”. The photograph was taken literally at first light as the sun lit the tops of the mountains and the green.

The par-3 14th, “Calamity”, at Royal Portrush This hole is one of the world’s great par-3s – fantastic to photograph and so tough to play. It is aptly named, as it can ruin many a scorecard; especially if you hit the ball to the right and down into the large gully.

The par-3 12th at Royal Birkdale The par-5 9th at Leopard Creek in South Africa This is a great par-5 that winds its way downhill to probably the most perfectly designed clubhouse I have seen anywhere. The view from the tee looking down to the green, with the clubhouse and the Kruger National Park behind, is one of the greatest views I have seen in Africa. The course is right on the edge of the Kruger and in the evenings you can see lots of wildlife actually on the course.

THE PERFECT SHOT

This hole is lovely to photograph, as it nestles in amongst some great natural dunes. The hole has some deep bunkers that protect the green, which is cut into one of the natural sand dunes.

This hole works well to photograph both early and late in the day.

The par-4 10th on the Ailsa Course at The Turnberry Resort in Scotland My favourite course in the world; and this hole is one of my most loved places to sit and watch the world go by, whatever the weather. The view with the lighthouse behind and the majestic island of Ailsa Craig in the background on a summer’s evening is definitely where I would choose to place my tripod or putt on the green as the sun begins to set behind the Island of Arran.

THE PERFECT SHOT

DAVID CANNON

The par-5 15th, “Pirate’s Plank” at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand When I visited here in 2004, I spent six days waiting for the sun to come out! I have to say, when the sun eventually appeared, the course looked absolutely amazing, especially from the air. I had a great helicopter pilot who had a crop-sprayer chopper that was the dirtiest aircraft I had ever seen, but he was brilliant and I got some of my best-ever aerial pictures. This hole is so well named, stretching 550 metres along a sliver of land to a green perched on top of 360m chalk cliffs.

THE PERFECT SHOT

For more information on the new Cayenne S E-Hybrid contact Continental Cars Porsche or visit www.porsche.co.nz

0S\]^ ^RO VSQR^XSXQ >ROX ^RO ^R_XNO\ >RO XOa -KcOXXO = / 2cL\SN Two types of drive system. One result: pure power flow. Owing to plug-in hybrid technology, the new Cayenne merges driving fun with efficiency.

Its pure electrical range: up to 36 km (NEFZ). Fuel consumption: on average 3.4 litres per 100 km (NEFZ). That‘s how the Cayenne reinvents itself and forges ahead. Straight into the future.

MAG16144/W

40 Great South Road, Newmarket Phone 09 526 8991 Email porschesales@continentalcars.co.nz www.continentalcars.co.nz

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BEYOND THE CELLAR DOOR

AN INNOVATIVE INDUSTRY-LED ENTERPRISE AIMS TO PAIR WINE AND TOURISM IN A BID TO HIGHLIGHT AUSTRALIA AS A FIRST-CLASS GOURMET DESTINATION. TRICIA WELSH HIT THE TRAIL.

BELOW: D’Arenberg Waco biplane flying towards Carrickalinga.

BELOW RIGHT: Local marinated squid charcoal grilled with zucchini flowers and new season’s greens, The Lane.

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP RIGHT: D’Arenberg vineyard overlooking McLaren Vale.

CENTRE: Learn how to make feta, camembert and ricotta at Udder Delights, Hahndorf.

CENTRE RIGHT: Patriarch D’Arry Osborn regales guests with stories about D’Arenberg wine names.

BOTTOM: Cabernet vines at The Lane.

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feel like a slightly mad scientist. On the work bench in front of me are several bottles, numerous glasses, a graduated cylinder and pipette – but it’s the measuring jug emitting billowing plumes of atmospheric CO2 vapour that is a tad disturbing.

“It’s to help minimize oxidisation during the bottling process,” explains Jack Walton, senior winemaker at D’Arenberg winery in South Australia’s McLaren Vale.

I’m participating in a blend-and-bottle-your-own-wine experience at The Blending Bench in smartly converted old stables of the 1912 winery complex, tasting and determining what ratios of three different Shiraz samples might produce my perfect red.

Our small group of would-be winemakers takes blending cues from Jack as well as Chester Osborn, chief

4WD vineyard tour before blending our own wine and finally lunching on chef Peter Reschke’s outstanding regional fare.

Not far away in the Adelaide Hills, we have an educational cheese tasting with jazz pianist-turned cheesemaker Sheree Sullivan in the basement of her Udder Delights café on the tree-lined main street of picturesque Hahndorf. We buy superb handcrafted cheese to take home and vow to return to participate in a fourhour master class learning how to make our own feta, camembert-style cheese and ricotta at home.

Nearby, we join Helen Edwards and sons Marty and Ben for a wine tasting among the vines on their family owned vineyard, The Lane, before moving into the winery itself to sample young wines direct from stainless steel fermentation tanks. Established in 1993 by Helen and

winemaker and the fourth-generation of Osborns in this picturesque winery about 45 minutes by car south of Adelaide. Patriarch D’Arry Osborn, 87, joins us for lunch at the eponymous D’Arry’s Veranda restaurant and reminisces about the early days when he used to milk the cows and make butter on the family farm.

It’s just one of the experiences available at a select number of wineries around Australia being promoted through Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia (UWEA).

On a recent visit to South Australia with a few friends – all food and wine lovers – I checked out a few of the offerings and they certainly beat the simple cellar door wine tastings that will, of course, always be popular.

While still at D’Arenberg, we could also have booked a flight over the wine-rich coastal region with its cliff-edged beaches in a 1930s open-cockpit Waco biplane, or taken a

her husband John, this small boutique winery produces outstanding premium single-vineyard wines with intriguing labels such as Beginning, Gathering, Reunion and 19th Meeting, all with family related background stories, which Helen delights in sharing. The winery recently released a sparkling Cuvée Helen in her honour. Later, while absorbing the million-dollar view over the vineyards, we enjoy some of the wines paired with an innovative degustation lunch menu of regional fare such as local marinated squid chargrilled with zucchini flowers and new season’s greens, roasted carrot with quinoa, hummus and puffed rice, panfried snapper with smoked eggplant and roasted pork belly with pickled cucumber and wombok.

We take the scenic road to the Barossa and check in to The Louise, a Relais & Chateaux luxury vineyard retreat, for the night. Again we dine on fine regional cuisine with

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ABOVE: Wine tasting in the cellar of Seppeltsfield wines.

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matching wines in the on-site Appellation restaurant (think Coffin Bay oysters, Hutton Vale lamb and Barossa grain-fed chicken).

Next morning, we skip breakfast and head for Jacob’s Creek, where executive chef Genevieve Harris has set up cooking stations and a breakfast table in the thriving kitchen garden. We sip Jacob’s Creek sparkling Reserve as we don aprons and set about our tasks: some grate kipfler potatoes for roesti while others prepare baked eggs with spinach and lachsschinken (smoked pork loin), accompanied by asparagus and tomatoes fresh from the garden.

No visit to the Barossa would be complete without a visit to historic Seppeltsfield. We follow the signature avenue of palms to the 1851 winery that has just undergone a massive $3 million redevelopment which includes a new 120-seat Fino restaurant with open kitchen, alfresco and private dining areas, a new cellar door and beautifully landscaped gardens with ponds and waterfalls.

We combine a Centenary Tour of the beautiful property with a Taste of Your Birth Year Tour that includes a glass of tawny port from our respective vintages. Seppeltsfield is the only winery in the world to release a 100-year-old, single-vintage port each year, its unbroken collection dating back to 1878.

According to winery tourism and events manager Nicole Hodgson, it’s one of the few times people don’t lie about their age: “The older the port, the better it tastes,” she says.

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There are currently just 14 member wineries of UWEA around Australia. Executive officer Sally Cope suggests they might restrict membership of the invitation-only consortium to a maximum of 20 wineries to keep it prestigious.

Others members include Leeuwin Estate, Voyager Estate and Vasse Felix in Margaret River (WA), Fowles Wine in the Strathbogie Ranges, De Bortoli Wines in the Yarra Valley, Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove on the Mornington Peninsula (VIC), Penfolds Magill Estate (SA), Moorilla Estate and Josef Chromy Wines (TAS) and Audrey Wilkinson in the Hunter Valley (NSW).

Prices of the various experiences vary from $50 for the Taste Your Own Birth Year at Seppeltsfield to $3,990 for a Platinum Winery Experience at Leeuwin Estate, which includes a helicopter flight from Perth.

Other experiences cover the full gamut of things vinous such as private tastings, long lunches with winemakers, vineyard and winery tours, fly-fishing, matching wine with game and light-aircraft and helicopter tours of wine regions.

The beauty about these winery experiences is that several are offered in each region, so they can be enjoyed either one at a time or grouped together over several days to make a wonderful wine-filled holiday. Bookings are made direct through the respective wineries.

The author was a guest of Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia.

See www.ultimatewineryexperiences.com.au for details.

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THESE DAYS, MANY OF THE WORLD’S BEST RESTAURANTS ARE FOUND IN TOP HOTELS – WITNESS THE GROWING COLLECTION OF EATERIES BY CELEBRATED CHEFS AT SINGAPORE’S MARINA BAY SANDS. THOMAS HYDE TUCKS IN.

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egendary chefs Daniel Boulud, Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck, Tetsuya Wakuda and Singapore’s own Justin Quek have all launched restaurants at Marina Bay Sands. Now, three more top restaurants have joined the collection, under the direction of American David Myers, Australian David Thompson and that indefatigable Brit, Gordon Ramsay.

In a city renowned for its food, Marina Bay Sands, the magnificent tri-tower complex of hotel, shops and casino – not to mention its much-photographed rooftop infinity pool on the 57th floor – has become a one-stop shop for those seeking Singapore’s best new restaurants.

American David Myers trained in France before returning to the US to work in New York for the great French chef, Daniel Boulud. Myers also studied under

world that together have garnered seven Michelin stars.

At Marina Bay Sands, Ramsay has opened a counterpart to his hugely successful Bread Street Kitchen, in London.

Marina Bay Sands has more than 60 dining outlets, including the Food Court and quick eats like the Toast Box, where you can enjoy a traditional Singaporean breakfast. But with these three celebrated chefs taking the stage alongside those already in the spotlight, Marina Bay Sands can probably lay claim to having the largest and best collection of restaurants of any hotel in the world.

Tamir Shanel, the man behind its food and beverage (F&B) strategy, has had that very goal in mind since he arrived in Singapore from the US in 2009, a full year before the hotel opened. Tamir came to Singapore from Las Vegas, where he had opened a Four Seasons hotel before going on to manage F&B for three of the city’s most notable hotel-

celebrated Chicago chef Charlie Trotter before opening his own Michelin-starred restaurant in Los Angeles, where he was named LA’s Chef of the Year. His passion for new takes on Western and Japanese cuisine has inspired Adrift, his latest incarnation in the lobby of Marina Bay Sands.

Long Chim is the new entry here from Australian-born David Thompson, a Michelin-starred chef best known for Nahm, his multi-award-winning Thai restaurant in Bangkok.

Nahm was ranked 2014’s number-one restaurant in Asia in the respected S. Pellegrino’s Asia 50 Best Restaurants. But where Nahm is a tribute to more traditional Thai cuisine, Long Chim pays its respects to traditional Thai street food, albeit with a little more style.

Gordon Ramsay needs little introduction; an internationally renowned chef whose name is associated with a number of love-him-or-hate-him television programmes and 25 signature restaurants around the

casinos: the Venetian, the Palazzo and the Sands. Despite his extensive experience, Singapore was a new challenge.

As he told World: “I spent my first year here tasting menus from all the high-end restaurants. The food was good but the overall selection could be improved. So for that reason, I believe the food scene in Singapore has shifted since we opened Marina Bay Sands.”

How so?

“For the first time, we brought in world-renowned chefs. Of course, the issue is not whether someone is a celebrity or not. The issue for us is one of superior service and quality. But then these chefs would not have become celebrities in the first place had they not achieved a high level of consistency in those ways. So I feel we have created an entirely new food destination where people can come and enjoy great food without having to pay an arm and a leg.”

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Tetsuya Wakuda, Daniel Boulud, David Thompson, Mario Batali, Gordon Ramsay, Justin Quek, David Myers and Wolfgang Puck.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

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due in large part to their attention to detail: the entire choreography from start to finish is without loose ends.

Freshness is the key, while sustainability is a core value.

The tuna used in what turned out to be one of the best Niçoise salads we have had, was line-caught.

Jonathan Kinsella is executive chef at the new db Bistro Moderne. He is a Daniel Boulud protégé who came here direct from the db operation in New York. I was curious to know how the relationship with New York worked.

Daniel Boulud is a two-Michelin stars chef. How is his extremely high standard transferred to Singapore?

“Daniel comes here twice a year and his director of operations is here twice a year,” Kinsella said. “At other times constant communication is vital. We talk by phone to discuss the menu once a week. We also

DB BISTRO MODERNE

MODERNE TIMES

We began our restaurant tour at the Parisian-style db Bistro Moderne, a re-interpretation, if you will, of chef Daniel Boulud’s original db Bistro Moderne in New York, best known perhaps for its gourmet hamburgers. Chef Boulud, after all, created the original gourmet burger that has since set off a worldwide trend in designer burgers. That said, we settled for something less filling: a salad Niçoise.

The success of all restaurants at Marina Bay Sands is

OSTERIA MOZZA

have a cloud for all of his 17 restaurants around the world, so any of his chefs can access any dish being prepared anywhere in the world. That’s the culture of our company. There’s a lot of sharing, which leads to a consistency of quality throughout.”

The secret to a great Niçoise? “Use fresh tuna and puree capers and mayonnaise with lemon juice.”

Our lunch at db Bistro Moderne turned decadent with a lychee and blueberry Vacherin for dessert. The fruit and berries were carefully stacked by hand over a base of sorbet and cream-filled meringue. “It’s a Michelin-star dessert,” Kinsella said. “Only, here we add lychees, because it is a local fruit.”

OSTERIA MOZZA

At Osteria Mozza that evening we learned something about the art of hand-cut ice. Osteria Mozza is the Mario Batali, Nancy Silverton and Joe Bastianich contribution to Marina Bay Sands. It’s modelled on their highly successful Los Angeles restaurant of the same name.

Batali, Silverton and Bastianich are all James Beard award winners and they are each accomplished authors.

Silverton has published eight books, Bastianich is a leading writer on wine and his Restaurant Man remains a bestseller. On TV, Batali hosts Iron Chef America, Bastianich is a judge on MasterChef. Batali and Bastianich partnered to open Babbo in New York, which went on to be named Best Restaurant in America.

Osteria Mozza by Mario Batali debuted at 35 on S. Pellegrino’s 2013 50 Best Restaurants in Asia. As we sipped a pre-dinner cocktail at the restaurant’s stylish bar, general manager Owen Edson, also from Los Angeles, made a point about the ice in our glass – one solid block of crystal-clear ice.

Again, attention to detail. “We use only hand-cut ice,” he said. “Because it doesn’t melt as fast and dilute the drink.”

Cocktails downed, we were escorted to a table where, instead of knocking ourselves out over the extraordinary menu, we simply left it to the chef to decide. We noted the background music. Not the sound of a violin or an accordion as you might expect from an Italian eatery but classic hits rock ‘n’ roll. “Mario Batali likes to cook to rock ‘n’ roll,” Edson said.

Presumably, Osteria Mozza’s executive chef, David Jordon Almany, must love rock ‘n’ roll too. We never asked, although we did learn that his resumé included stints at the Savoy in New York and Zuni Café in San Francisco before becoming a disciple of Mario Batali.

On the night, Chef Almany presented us with grilled octopus and roasted scallops; Caprese salad of buffalo mozzarella with tomato and basil pesto; Ricotta and egg ravioli with white truffle; and, finally, panroasted Iberian pork chop, washed back with a single-vineyard Barolo. It was altogether an unmitigated statement that here, in a shopping mall in Singapore, was quite possibly the best American-Italian restaurant in all of Asia.

As in Los Angeles, Osteria Mozza has its more casual sibling next door – the Batali-Silverton-Bastianich Pizzeria Mozza, specialising in hand-crafted artisanal pizzas baked in one of two wood-fired ovens burning almond wood imported from California. Executive chef Karla Mendoza worked with Nancy Silverton for 10 years before coming to the Lion City. Pizza is the signature dish, but we were pacing ourselves with a salad of radicchio, Sungold tomatoes, salami, aged provolone, ceci and pepperoncini.

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CUT

A CUT ABOVE

After a stroll out to the inimitable Gardens by the Bay, we resumed our journey in food at CUT by Wolfgang Puck. It’s the famed chef’s take on a classic American steakhouse and is reckoned by many to be one of the best restaurants in Asia. Executive chef Joshua Brown worked directly with Wolf, as he’s known to his staff, for many years, including a six-year spell at Spago, Puck’s legendary restaurant in Los Angeles.

Chef Brown stepped away from the kitchen long enough to say hello and for us to ask a couple of quick questions. Noting the menu identified the source of each beef cut, we asked why was it important to declare where meat came from.

“As you can guess, meat comes from many different regions and farms,” he said. “The Illinois beef here is 100 per cent Angus, the Snake River Farms beef is a cross between Wagyu and Angus and the Kobe is 100 per cent Kobe that must comply with strict guidelines to be certified as Kobe as opposed to Wagyu.”

The menu says the steaks are grilled over hardwood and charcoal and finished under a 1,200-degree broiler.

What’s the advantage there? we asked.

“We grill over hardwood because it produces a clean smoke flavour,” Brown said, “and after it has been grilled to the desired state we let it relax to let the juices redistribute through the meat. We then use the broiler to blast it with quick heat.”

His Maine lobster with black truffle sabayon was followed by a tasting platter of three fine cuts of True A5 Kobe beef from Hyogo Prefecture, American Waygu from Snake River Farms and USDA Prime Illinois corn-fed beef.

And for dessert, Baked Alaska. If we had died right then we’d have left this Earth entirely happy.

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TETSUYA STYLE

As readers of this magazine may already know from previous stories, Tetsuya Wakuda is the founder and driving force behind the wildly successful restaurant on Kent Street in Sydney that bears his name. Tetsuya’s is consistently rated among the best restaurants in the world.

In 2010, he opened Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands. Last year it rose to number seven on the

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S. Pellagrino list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. On the day of our meal, the chef was overseas. But no matter: here, too, consistency rules, so with or without the presence of the Japanese-Australian celebrity chef, we enjoyed one of the finest meals imaginable – cooked in front of us by a Tetsuya protégé in what we first took to be the popular teppanyaki style. But it was not.

Teppanyaki is a performance with endless arm and hand movements, flips and flops, cutting and more flopping that is altogether an impressive show for small groups of diners. Here, however, cooking was done on a silent induction grill and the movements were calm and carried out with Zen-like precision in a private dining room. It was more personal and more relaxed. Still, watching the chef doing his thing was compelling.

WAKU GHIN

By design, no two restaurants at Marina Bay Sands are alike. Each fills its own unique space in the collection for its menu and, we noted, distinctive décor. At Waku Ghin, the menu allows for variations on Western and Asian dishes; on seafood, meat and vegetarian cuisine. Waku Ghin is not a solo act as much as a symphony.

Five staff, each with a specific role, waited on us during the meal and each dish was matched with a wine or sake: Marinated botan (sweet) shrimp with sea urchin and Oscietra caviar with a flute of Louis Roederer Brut Premier; Australian abalone with fregola and tomato with a glass of Domaine Perrot-Minot 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin; Japanese Ohmi Waygu (from Shiga Prefecture) with a sweet sake… And so on. The orchestration continued for another hour through an elegant, flavourful 10-course degustation dinner unlike any we had experienced before.

Food of the gods in the Lion City.

WAKU GHIN

SKY-HIGH DINER

As a young man whose grandmother instilled in him a passion for food, Singapore-born chef Justin Quek found work at the famed Oriental Hotel in Bangkok before heading off to become an apprentice at Le Clos Longchamp in Paris.

Since then he has worked at Roland Mazere’s Le Centenaire in the Dordogne, for Jean Bardet in Tours and at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. Chef Quek was the very first recipient of the title “Chef of the Year” at the inaugural World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence.

He is known in Shanghai and Taiwan as the founder of the best French restaurants in those cities.

As he writes in his book – a coffee-table tome full of recipes, photographs and a brief memoir of his time cooking for Singapore’s long-serving Prime Minister, Lee

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Kuan Yew – he arrived in France at a time when chefs like Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse were leading a movement from traditional to modern French cuisine. “Much of my own cooking today,” he writes, “is about reinterpreting tradition.” He continues that quest today as celebrity chef of Sky on 57, the breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner restaurant on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands.

“Marina Bay Sands invited me back and I agreed,” he told World. “But I said I wanted to do French-Asian, not the Singapore food of my past, because gourmands today travel all around the world. I believe creating a strictly French four- or five-course meal is narrow.”

His set menu for lunch on the day we visited included a Scallop ceviche with lemon dressing, caviar and green apple; Foie gras xiao long bao (dumplings infused with goose liver); Lobster wok-fried in Asian black-pepper

sauce; and a Singapore-style laksa. “The lobster dish is very popular here,” he said. “We import about 400 kilos of lobster a month!”

Direct from Maine, he added.

“Coming back to Singapore has been a rewarding experience because I see a lot of changes in the dining scene here just in the last few years,” Quek told us.

“When I first started as a trainee there were few foreign chefs setting up restaurants here. Today, we see many interesting concepts and a number of talented chefs being successful here.”

Sky on 57 was busy for lunch, which didn’t surprise us: five-star food and service with a view that offers a compelling panorama of the city. Visit the hotel’s website for a virtual tour of the restaurant and see it for yourself. www.marinabaysands.com

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ONLY NEW YORK CITY COULD SERVE UP A US$250 HAMBURGER AND GET AWAY WITH IT. IT’S PART OF A NEW TREND IN HIGH-PRICED GOURMET BURGERS. BUT IS THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE FILLED BUN WORTH THE BUCKS? THOMAS HYDE LASHES OUT AND CHOWS DOWN. 166

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lider S y Bell k r Po

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T The dining room at Beer & Buns, known throughout NYC as serving the most expensive burger in the world – the US$250 Indulgence Burger (opposite page).

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he iconic Chrysler Building rose above us on one side of the penthouse while the Empire State Building stood tall on the other, each so close we felt we could reach out and touch them. We were being shown through bedrooms with marble bathrooms, a fully equipped designer kitchen and an outdoor rooftop terrace that allowed guests a fresh, 360-degree perspective on the New York City skyline.

We were not staying in the penthouse, mind you – it wasn’t open yet. But we had checked in to a chic room on a lower floor of The Tuscany, a hotel on East 39th Street in Manhattan. Personally, I prefer Manhattan’s east side to midtown, which is overrun with tourists, or the gentrified west side that’s overrun with Wall Street types.

To me, the east side is more like Old New York, so that’s where I looked to find a hotel. My homework led me to The Tuscany, a place so new, I’d guess few readers

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of this magazine will have heard of it. When I produced my business card, the manager invited me to view the penthouse. By chance, we arrived when they were holding a media/PR day up there later that day.

How did I learn about The Tuscany? By researching hamburgers. I was accompanying my wife, who was in New York on business. What would I do while she sat in meetings? Go to the top of the Empire State Building again? Been there, done that. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Same, although I did check to see if any exhibitions drew my interest. Take a city tour on a double-decker bus? It’s just not me. What angle on New York might I take that World readers had not already read about a thousand times?

Burgers are experiencing a renaissance in America. Gourmet burgers are trendy. So the question was: where does New York stand on that count? I set out to see.

No beetroot, of course, because to suggest beetroot on burgers to Americans is to expose oneself as a visitor from another planet. And it makes no sense explaining to New Yorkers how we do burgers in New Zealand, because, frankly, they don’t care.

I was in luck, though. From The Tuscany, I had only to walk 30 metres along East 39th to find Beer & Buns, a new one-of-a-kind gourmet burger joint inside The Court, a hotel managed by the same company that looks after The Tuscany.

Beer & Buns is not a franchise, though I was told the aim was to open another outlet somewhere in Manhattan soon. For now, there’s just the one. And there may be no better expression of the gourmet burger revival than Beer & Buns, because it’s known throughout the city (and Google) as serving the most expensive burger in the world.

It’s called the Indulgence Burger and it costs US$250, a price tag that forced me to pull out the currency calculator. More than NZ$300! For a burger! The obvious question was: why?

In order to find out – that is, to speak with the chef who created it – I had to order one; a visit from the chef comes with the price. According to the taxi driver who later drove us to the airport, “for that price you ought to have been given a lot more than that, know what I mean?”

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tle Chipo

Thai-born chef Wisit Panpinyo uses only the finest ingredients in the dozen or so gourmet burgers on the Beer & Buns menu.

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The chef’s name is Wisit Panpinyo. That’s a Thai name, although he’s been in New York nearly 30 years, always working in kitchens. In fact before he turned up at Beer & Buns, he’d spent 10 years at the ritzy Four Seasons New York.

“I like to combine different ingredients to try something new,” he told me. “In this case I wanted something that was ‘wow’, you know?”

The Indulgence Burger must be booked. You can’t just show up and order one. There are a dozen or so other gourmet burgers on the menu you can order without booking and from the photos they all looked sensational.

But the Indulgence has to be pre-booked, in part so the chef can plan his schedule and organise the ingredients required to prepare it. Not to mention explain to customers why they have to miss a car payment to have one.

“I make it with Kobe beef,” Chef Panpinyo explained.

“Kobe beef is the best in my opinion, but in New York it costs $135 a pound. It’s very expensive. I add to it some sirloin to give the burger a more meaty texture and some prime rib to give it a more fatty taste.

“All the meat is fresh on the day. I add foie gras and black truffle. The truffle costs me $40 for a fifth [of an ounce]. I shave it down. Last thing is, top the burger with Beluga caviar, between $90 and $120 an ounce.”

“Make sure you cook it really slow,” he explained, as if I were about to rush home and make one.

The brioche-like bun was buttered and spread with a thin layer of Thousand Island dressing before the very

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r Burge n e k Chic

pricey ingredients were assembled in an impressive heap.

Chef Panpinyou had been at Beer & Buns only six months and in that time had sold “about three or four” Indulgence Burgers a month. “One day,” he added, “a group of four businesspeople turned up and they all had one! It is a novelty, you know?”

A US$250 novelty. Only in New York. I was grateful for a recent windfall that allowed me to, well, indulge in the most expensive burger in the world. Still, the essential question remained: was it any good? Well, it did melt in my mouth, leaving the black truffle and caviar to produce a long after-taste. It was very good. And very filling. No need for the gourmet fries that came with it. As for beer, I washed it down with a glass of New Planet.

Was it the best burger in New York? I cannot say, because I never did get to The Burger Bistro on the Upper East Side, to the Little Owl in the West Village or to the hugely popular (wait in line) Shake Shack in midtown, each one claiming to serve New York’s finest gourmet burgers.

No matter, I had no money left, anyway. Just as well my wife was able to cover dinner that night at Rasa, a new “authentic Malaysian” restaurant in Greenwich Village that’s one of the hottest new eateries downtown.

It was Chef Panpinyou who suggested it, because the chef there, Tommy Lai, is a mate of his and the first Malaysian Michelin-starred chef to work in New York. No burgers, only tapas-style dishes – of which the Rendang beef, bamboo sticky rice and Penang Assam laksa were divine.

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HIGH ON LONDON

PATRICK SMITH CHECKS IN TO ONE OF EUROPE’S NEWEST AND MOST SPECTACULAR HOTELS WAY UP IN A JAGGED GLASS TOWER CALLED THE SHARD.

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he view from my room in the ShangriLa Hotel has to be one of the world’s most spectacular bedroom vistas.

Walking through my doorway on Level 36 of The Shard, I was stopped by the sight, through floor-to-ceiling windows, of a mighty metropolis disappearing into the distance. The scale was amazing, but as I moved closer to the glass and peered down, the true quality of the scene became apparent: there – right there! – was the Thames, river barges and tourist boats sliding silently by. The Tower of London and Tower Bridge were to my right; beyond that, Canary Wharf. Directly below me were London Bridge and the floating museum of HMS Belfast. Southwark and Millennium bridges crossed the Thames to my left and further west I could glimpse the great wheel of the London Eye. The spiralling glass tower dubbed The Gherkin rose across the river, as did the dome of St Paul’s, which would become a shining highlight of my nighttime view.

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Shangri-La guest room: luxury and a jaw-dropping panorama.

“Tell:scopes” on The Shard’s viewing deck provide information on 200 iconic London landmarks.

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The building I was gazing down from is itself a London landmark – the great city’s newest and most striking architectural addition. So far, though, I hadn’t been able to gain a decent perspective on this 87-storey glass pyramid rising ethereally from a redeveloped London Bridge Quarter.

I’d arrived by Tube at London Bridge Station and walked around the corner to the glass entrance of the Shangri-La on St Thomas Street. After a security check in the marble lobby on the ground floor, a high-speed lift had whisked me up to reception on Level 35. Soft music, soft carpets, warm, modern décor, contemporary art on the walls and that view – albeit not quite as astounding as it would seem from the privacy of my room a few minutes later.

My Premier City View room was 58 square metres of 21st-century luxury and technology: a 46-inch LED TV and audio system, Nespresso coffee machine and, in the big marble bathroom, an electronic “Washlet” toilet (with heated seat) and a second TV discreetly hidden within the mirror over the vanity. Beside the bed I found controls to lower and raise blinds over the room’s glass walls and on the desk a pair of binoculars for the view. Also waiting on the desk, a beautiful china tea set in a discrete leather case, with a teapot full of hot jasmine tea.

I couldn’t have asked for more, although I gather the hotel’s luxury suites are something else again.

London mayor Boris Johnson and the building’s joint owner and developer, Irvine Sellar, did the honours at the opening of the 310-metre Shard in February 2013.

Its designer, architect Renzo Piano (who also designed the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the beautiful JeanMarie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Noumea), describes his sheer glass shard as “disappearing in the air like a 16th-century pinnacle or the mast of a very tall ship, the architecture… firmly based in the historic forms of London’s masts and spires”.

The Shard, which replaced a 1970s office tower, is at the heart of the $3.95 billion London Bridge Quarter, a “mixeduse vertical city” that includes business and residential spaces, bars, restaurants and a transport hub.

That evening I left the hotel and walked back around the corner to Joiner Street and the entrance to The View From The Shard. It’s an interactive visitor attraction that takes you on a trip through The Shard, past animated maps and video screens showing information on London and the much talked-about tower and up to a sophisticated viewing gallery on the 69th floor.

Four high-speed lifts, travelling at six metres a second, get you there in around a minute. These “kaleidoscopic” lifts use video screens and mirrors to create the effect of soaring through some of London’s iconic ceilings and roofs. As we raced upwards we passed through the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Rubens ceiling at the Banqueting

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House in Whitehall, the spiral staircase at Monument and the British Museum’s Great Court glass roof.

At Level 33 we transferred to another lift, following a blue ribbon on the floor representing the Thames, with London mapped out in graffiti around it.

Level 68 is called Cloudscape and here the view through the glass walls is obscured by images of the different cloud formations we might see from the two floors above.

Level 69 is the main viewing deck, a triple-height, lightfilled space with 360-degree panoramas of the capital: to the north, Wembley Stadium and Alexandra Palace; to the east, the Olympic Stadium, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and the Thames Barrier; the southern view takes in Battersea Power Station and The Oval cricket ground; and to the west, St Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.

The gallery’s 12 digital telescopes – or “Tell:scopes” – provide close-up views and information on 200 iconic London landmarks. Aim the scope downwards and the view appears on an LED screen. Click on a landmark and up comes a brief story about it – no squinting required.

Level 72, at 244m, is as high as you can go and is partly open to the elements. Looking up, I could see the steel frame and glass panels vanishing upwards towards the building’s apex. The View From The Shard, I was told, is the highest vantage point in Western Europe.

My day so far had included a flight from Dubai, a rushhour Tube ride and a journey to the top of The Shard and I was more than ready for my “body-contouring” Shangri-La Bed (with 300-count Frette linen).

Next morning before breakfast, I checked out the hotel’s beautiful Infinity Skypool on Level 52, with its scroll-like ceiling and views of St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and Westminster. Next door is a state-of-theart fitness centre. The water in the pool was soft and just cool enough to kick-start my day. It was peaceful, too and a good preparation for the busyness waiting on the streets far below. In the evening, the softly lit poolside lounge becomes a cocktail setting par excellence as an annex of Gong bar.

It was a Saturday morning and Londoners and tourists were out and about in equal numbers, some of them ogling the line-up of smart cars – a late-model Roller, an Aston Martin, a bright yellow Lamborghini and a red Ferrari California – sitting outside the hotel.

It’s a short walk from here to Southwark Street and the art deco Borough Market, one of the oldest and largest produce markets in London. It was crowded with shoppers and full of good smells from stalls selling everything from bread and pastries to cheese, charcuterie, fruits and veges and – I kid you not – roasted goat. There are also cafés, bars and restaurants. The market is a great place, I was told, for a decent breakfast or lunch.

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Pass through the market and you come to Clink Street, with its Clink Prison Museum. Turn right towards the river and you’re on Bankside, a peopleonly promenade that follows the Thames around to Shakespeare’s Globe, the Millennium Bridge and the wonderful Tate Modern art museum, which occupies the old Bankside Power Station. Along the way are old pubs, street performers and crowds of happy-looking punters.

I visited the Globe, had lunch in a pub and spent hours in the Tate Modern, then meandered back to the ShangriLa with plenty of time for a cup of tea and a lie down before evening drinks and dinner.

Gong is London’s new go-to champagne and cocktail bar and when I arrived I was shown to a table by its 52ndfloor windows. Another absorbing view from London’s highest bar and a perfect spot to dream away an hour over a Bellini or two before dinner.

Ah yes, dinner. This entailed a trip back down to level 35 and Ting Restaurant, where sometime Ritz and el Bulli chef Emil Minev presides over an Asian-influenced

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European menu. I went for the set four-course affair, with matched wines poured by a knowledgeable sommelier: Crab with miso mayonnaise, quail egg, cucumber; Foie gras ballontine, parfait, spiced bread, lemon, port; Cornish brill, pearl barley, dashi, edamame bean, shiso; and for dessert, Chocolate Sphere with mango, passion fruit, praline and hot chocolate sauce.

The night had closed in during dinner and when I got back to my room the city was a glittering maze laid out below me and stretching away as far as the eye could see.

The lights on the bridges were reflected in the river, office blocks lit from within and St Paul’s sitting like a floodlit jewel amid strings of twinkling street lamps.

I climbed into bed and pressed the switch to close the blinds. Then I thought better of it: when would I get another chance to wake up with the city of London filling my windows? www.shangri-la.com; www.theviewfromtheshard.com The author flew to London courtesy of Emirates, which flies daily from Auckland and Christchurch via Dubai directly to Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham.

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PARADISE REGAINED

LAWRENCE GROBEL RETURNS TO THE TAHITIAN ISLAND HE VISITED AS A GUEST OF MARLON BRANDO IN 1978 – THIS TIME IN AIR-CONDITIONED, INSECT-FREE, ECO-FRIENDLY COMFORT.

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F

ive years ago I got a call from Mike Medavoy, the CEO of Phoenix Pictures, one of the big-time players in Hollywood. Medavoy was a studio exec at United Artists, co-founder of Orion Pictures, and chairman of Tristar before this, and was involved in producing 16 Academy Award films, among them Philadelphia, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Raging Bull, Annie Hall, Silence of the Lambs and Apocalypse Now. “I just read your Conversations with Brando,” Medavoy said. “I enjoyed it. But I don’t agree with what you wrote at the end, about him not being happy with the development of a resort on the island.” The reference was to Brando’s private island, Tetioroa, an atoll 48 kilometres north of Tahiti’s capital, Papeete.

Brando had named Medavoy one of the three executors of his estate – which came as a surprise to Medavoy – and after Brando’s death in 2004, plans began to turn his island into an eco-friendly luxury resort.

After his call, I got to know Mike Medavoy and saw how seriously he took his role as a gatekeeper of the Marlon Brando brand.

The resort was called The Brando, and when it opened for business in July last year, he suggested I go

there and see for myself what they had done to improve the island since the time Brando was there. So I went.

Or, more accurately, I returned, for my Conversations with Brando were done on this island over 10 days in the summer of 1978.

From the air, it looked the same. One could hardly see the 35 new bungalows that were built, because they didn’t line the beach or protrude into the lagoon, as so many resorts do in French Polynesia. But once on the ground I immediately noticed a difference. There were no flies or mosquitoes! When I first went there, Brando met me at the airstrip and even carried my bag to my palm-thatched hut. I probably got bitten a half dozen times on the short walk. The hut I stayed

in lacked air conditioning and it was hot and humid.

Once, Marlon came by and said, “There’s not enough air flowing through here,” and called for one of the workers to bring a machete and cut out another window.

That helped circulate the air, but it also brought more mosquitoes into the room. By the third day Marlon noticed the bites on my arms and legs and had a net installed over my bed.

This wasn’t a problem at The Brando because Richard Bailey, the chairman and CEO of Pacific Beachcomber Hotels, understood what made guests happy – and that meant securing the privacy of each of the 35 bungalows, eliminating the bugs and cooling the rooms.

To get rid of the flies and mosquitoes, he brought

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ABOVE: The Brando is a far cry from the crude digs the author found here on his visit in 1978, but the beauty of the lagoon is unchanged.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tetioroa, Marlon Brando’s private island paradise 48km north of Papeete. Brando loved it here; a place where he could simply be himself.

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ABOVE: Laid-back island activities include cycling through palm groves, lagoon sports, tennis and spa pampering.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Romantic alfresco dining on the beach at The Brando and (below) a beautifully appointed bathroom in one the luxury resort’s 35 bungalows.

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in the machinery to remove 1,500 tonnes of landfill garbage that had accumulated over the years Brando was there. Get rid of the waste, you get rid of the flies.

Get rid of the fallen coconuts that breed mosquitoes and you get rid of the mosquitoes. And using cold seawater as the way to air condition the bungalows – an idea Marlon had when others scoffed at him – made the place comfortable. Build a giant central swimming pool and individual plunge pools for each bungalow.

Create a jaw-dropping spa and fitness centre and build a tennis court. Have a boat available for tours of the other 11 islands that surround the atoll. Install Wi-Fi and big-screen TVs. Have bicycles and electric carts available.

Hire a top-rated master chef and employ 160 people to cater to your 50 or so guests. Then make it an allinclusive stay (meaning the drinks you consume at the bar and restaurants or have brought to your room, the 24-hour room service, the food and desserts, the juices, beer and peanuts in your refrigerator and the wine and champagne in your room are all included in the around

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NZ$4,000 a day price) and you’ve created a small piece of paradise in the vast Pacific Ocean.

Brando wasn’t opposed to having a hotel on his island – in fact; he already had one when I visited in 1978. But what was there was crude and elementary compared to what Bailey has created. It’s expensive, yes.

But the money goes to help fund two environmental societies, a research lab and scientists to study how to preserve the environment. And because it’s small, it has to be exclusive. Thirty of the bungalows have only one bedroom, with a living room, an elegant bathroom, an outdoor private bathtub, a media room and a private pool. The other five bungalows have two or three bedrooms. They are all completely private and you can skinny dip in your pool without fear of anyone seeing you. “I don’t believe there are many places left in the world where you can go to a resort and take your clothes off and run around on the beach,” Richard Bailey told me. “I thought this should be a place where, if you want to do that, you can.”

At night you can walk from your room into the warm lagoon and wade waist-high for hundreds of yards. You can walk around the island, paddleboard out to the coral reef, get up close to the numerous species of birds on Bird Island, or just lay on a comfortable beanbag looking up at the stars.

I remember going on a picnic with Marlon and his Tahitian “wife” Tarita and their two children, Cheyenne and Teihotu. Cheyenne wanted a Coke and Marlon tried to open the bottle with a bottle of Fanta. When the top opened, the Coke sprayed all over him. “Here you go,” he said to his daughter, “try the Fanta.” When Tarita caught a fish, Marlon squirmed as she chopped off its head to prepare it for our lunch. “Isn’t that horrible?” he asked.

“But that’s the nature of the beast. They don’t want to eat cornflakes.”

Brando loved Tetioroa. He would greet me each morning saying, “Another day in Paradise.” He loved taking walks, showing me the turtle cages and the pier where he often sat to look at the lagoon, with the

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hermit crabs he liked to study. “Once I was the only person here,” he told me. “I was absolutely alone on this island. I really like being alone.” He knew about the island’s history (it was used as a royal playground and there’s evidence of temples that were built there) and he promised the previous owner, a blind woman named Mrs Duran, that he would take care of it.

“Marlon had trouble trusting anybody,” Richard Bailey told me. Bailey worked with Brando over nine meetings discussing how he could build a luxury resort and meet Marlon’s anti-pollution standards. “He liked it here because he could walk around and people didn’t care that he was Marlon Brando. He never had that anywhere else.”

When tragedy hit his family and he wasn’t able to return to Tetioroa, he asked Richard Bailey to make the planned resort as self-sufficient and environmentally safe as any resort in the world. Mike Medavoy thought Bailey was the right person for the job. And the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) platinum label The Brando has received confirms that.

“Today,” Bailey said, “the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is pretty much the label. Why do we need a label? Because people are not generally

experts and don’t believe us. If we say we’re good, they say, you’re just green-washing and everybody says that.

We felt it was important to have a third-party validator, so we went for the LEED label. It’s a system of points for energy, water, air quality and materials. For energy, if you produce 15 per cent of your own energy with renewable methods, you get all of the point allocation under the LEED system. But if you go from 15 to 100 per cent renewable energy produced on site the way we have, you don’t get any more points.

“We deconstructed all of the basic requirements – power, water, waste water, etcetera – and used that approach in terms of conserving energy. So from a LEED standpoint, we’re off the scale. I make the claim that we’re the only 100 per cent energy carbon-neutral resort in the world, and no one has yet contested that. For luxury resorts, I’m pretty sure we’re the only one. They’re now evaluating whether to create a new label.”

When Leonardo DiCaprio came to the island, the first thing he did was thank Richard Bailey for donating three nights to the highest bidder at an auction benefitting DiCaprio’s foundation dedicated to protecting Earth’s wild places. It went for $350,000. That’s approximately 35 times more than a normal paying guest would pay. By that standard, the price for three nights at the most ecofriendly, romantic island in the world seems like a steal! www.thebrando.com

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STEPPING OUT IN

BUENOS AIRES YOU CAN’T VISIT THIS ARGENTINIAN METROPOLIS WITHOUT EATING A FAT, JUICY STEAK AND WATCHING A SIZZLING TANGO. THE TRICK IS NOT TO ATTEMPT BOTH AT ONCE, WRITES DEBORAH TELFORD.

PHOTO: AFP/Stringer/Getty Images

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W

hen the impeccably coiffed, ruby-lipped concierge at our hotel let slip that most locals don’t bother with the ubiquitous dinner-and-dance tango shows touted to visitors in the Argentine capital, we pressed her further.

In perfect English, she directed us to the Centro Cultural Borges where a touring Argentine dance troupe was performing a medley of tango styles, showcasing the skill, strict etiquette and seductiveness of Buenos Aires’ soulful native dance – without any of the usual cheesiness served up to tourists.

Buenos Aires’ main cultural centre, named after renowned Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, is improbably located above Galerias Pacifico, one of glitziest, busiest shopping centres in this most European city of the Americas. Today, shoppers scurry about beneath some of Buenos Aires’ most important frescoes and the large cupola of the beautiful Beaux Arts building.

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Only a few decades ago it was used as a torture centre by the military junta – one of several that ruled Argentina during its chequered past between 1930 and 1983.

After taking our seats we sat riveted amongst an enraptured audience of locals watching smouldering tango performances for half the price of a touristy dinner-and-dance show.

The tango, born in the 1880s in the jails, brothels and rough neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, evolved from a clash of immigrant cultures that included Italians, Spaniards, Poles, Jews and former African slaves, all trying to make sense of their new lives in this steamy river city and ocean port on the edge of the Rio De La Plata.

The dance, which still lures people from all over the world to Buenos Aires to learn its challenging steps in the city’s milongas (dance halls named after its most frenzied, quick-stepping version), had by the early 20th century insinuated itself into upper-class Argentine society and the salons of Paris.

At the same time, Argentina was becoming one of

the world’s richest nations, bankrolling its strong taste for opulent European culture with booming agricultural exports and revelling in its reputation as the Paris of South America. The Belle Époque that World War I halted in Europe continued in Argentina until the 1940s.

Today, the city’s palpable air of faded glory echoes that grandiose period of Argentina’s past.

The 13 million population of South America’s secondlargest metropolis after São Paulo sprawls over 190 kilometres – some living in elegant art deco and art nouveau buildings cosseted by stately parks, but many subsisting in crumbling colonial barrios and dodgy shantytowns.

Our Four Seasons hotel is next to Recoleta, one of the city’s most exclusive suburbs with some of its most magnificent, French-inspired architecture. It is also the only hotel in the area with open views from every room, an outdoor swimming pool and a spa overlooking its clipped formal gardens.

As well as guest rooms and suites in the Four Seasons tower, you can join the ranks of celebrities

such as Mick Jagger, Robbie Williams and Luis Miguel and stay in La Mansion.

This magnificent former home of a wealthy Argentine rancher was built during World War I as a wedding gift for him and his bride – along with the church where they were married. In 2007 it was faithfully restored to its former splendour with the addition of state-of-theart technology.

Recoleta’s shops include Patio Bullrich shopping mall, an elegantly refurbished former cattle market with an excellent delicatessen and some top rate – and surprisingly well-priced – restaurants.

Two must-visit restaurants are the Italian Sottovoce, which has a sidekick specialising in seafood, and the New York-style trattoria Fervor, serving excellent versions of Argentina’s signature parilla (grilled meats).

Close by, in an elegant courtyard lined with art galleries and upmarket artisan shops off Rue Des Artisans, is Comme Il Faut shoe shop, which makes the Manolo Blahniks of tango shoes and has customers worldwide.

ABOVE: Four Seasons Buenos Aires, among the city’s best hotels, occupies a privileged site near Recoleta’s upmarket shops and restaurants.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The tango, born in the jails and brothels of Buenos Aires, still lures people from around the world.

PHOTO: Gary Yim/shutterstock.com

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ABOVE: Two mustvisit restaurants are the Italian Sottovoce and the New York-style Fervor, serving excellent versions of Argentina’s signature parilla (grilled meats).

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Teatro Colón (top) is one of the world’s five best opera houses for acoustics and more opulent than Milan’s La Scala.

Bottom: Famous First Lady Evita Peron is remembered at the Museo Evita.

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But you don’t have to like dancing to succumb to a pair of Comme Il Faut’s limited-edition stilettos that come in three different heel heights, sturdily built for some serious strutting.

From the window of our hotel room we can see and walk to the world’s widest avenue, Avenida 9 de Julio, which is named after Argentina’s 1816 Independence Day and has a 67-metre-high obelisk at its centre to commemorate the city’s founding.

We’re also within walking distance or a quick taxi ride of some of the city’s best museums and galleries, including the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) and the city’s world-famous opera house, the Teatro Colón.

Once you have your bearings, walking and taking taxis are the best ways to get around Buenos Aires. A guided open-top bus tour when you first arrive is a great way to get a feel for the city’s layout and help you decide where to spend more time.

The Teatro Colón, on Libertad and Avenida de Julio, is a must. First opened in 1908 after taking 20 years to build, it is one of the world’s five best opera houses for acoustics and more opulent than Milan’s La Scala.

Luciano Pavarotti had only one complaint about the seven-level, 2,487-seat theatre, which is made of three types Italian marble, with stucco and plaster on its upper

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walls for optimum sound: “The acoustics are dangerous,” he said, “because they are perfect.”

The theatre reopened in May 2010 after closing in 2006 for a renovation which took four years, more than 15,000 workers, 130 architects and engineers, and $100 million to complete. Hundreds of thousands of hand-laid Venetian tiles pave the floors, the ceiling in the Gold Room is lined with 24-carat gold, the central dome is the work of famous Argentine painter Raúl Soldi, and the grand central chandelier has 700 lights.

In stark contrast to this opulence are the ground-level “widow boxes” where women stood behind blacked-out grills and listened to the opera during two years of compulsory mourning when they were forbidden to show their faces in public.

In a more liberal spirit, in the 1940s Eva Péron, Argentina’s famous First Lady, opened the theatre to workers on Mondays for free.

A taxi ride away in the chic, edgy suburb of Palermo, the Muséo Evita chronicles the life of Péron – one of Argentina’s most complex and controversial figures.

The museum tells the story of the former movie starturned social reformer and people’s politician through images, film footage, paintings and personal memorabilia that includes dozens of ostentatious dresses, hats, accessories and jewels.

Less ostentatious is her tomb at the Recoleta Cemetery, where she is buried in a family crypt that is surprisingly modest compared with the lavish rows of marble mausoleums surrounding it.

You could spend hours wandering through the cemetery’s labyrinth of streets and passageways where presidents, military generals, artists and aristocracy lie interred in tombs replicating architecture from Greek temples and Egyptian pyramids to art nouveau vaults.

One of the many highlights is the tomb of Argentine boxer Luis Angel Firpo, who once knocked American heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey out of the ring.

Walking with the dead induces an appetite. So we take another short taxi ride to MALBA (pictured below) and

PHOTO: Michael Lewis/Corbis

PHOTO: Jermey Hoare/Alamy

stop for lunch at its French-inspired bistro, Café des Arts, before strolling through the art gallery.

Built in 2001 as the Argentine economy was collapsing, MALBA’s airy, modern building houses more than 200 prized Latin-American artworks on three levels, including those

by Diego Riviera, Frida Kahlo and Antonio Seguí, along with mixed-media and digital 21st-century art chronicling the chaos that consumed Argentina during “La Crise”.

By dinnertime we are hungry enough to ignore warnings about the oversized, unimaginatively served slabs of meat that are a staple of the Argentine diet and decide to brave a steak house.

At La Cabrera, in Palermo Soho, we order a robust Malbec from a wine list that looks like a tabloid newspaper, and size up the classic beef cuts on offer.

Our sizzling steaks arrive on wooden boards, seared to bloodied perfection, with untraditional side dishes including roasted garlic, pickles, pumpkin mash with raisins and sundried tomatoes.

It’s midnight by the time we leave, feeling replete and ready for sleep. But the bars and dance clubs in this insomniac city are only just starting to stir and there is much, much more for us to explore.

Deborah Telford travelled to Buenos Aires with LAN Air and was hosted by Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires. LAN flies daily from Auckland to Santiago with onward connections to Buenos Aires.

A QUEST FOR AWE

TODD PITOCK FINDS EXHILARATION AND WONDER IN THE PEOPLE AND OTHERWORLDLY LANDSCAPES OF BOTSWANA.

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T

he Makgadikgadi, a vast salt pan deep in Botswana, must be what the planet looked like before humanity appeared, and what it will look like after we’re gone.

This is what I think as I try to wrap my head around the sight in front of me. The immensity is hard to take in. An urban dweller’s mind needs signs, or trees, something to give the world measurable parts. But here, horizon to horizon, lies an undifferentiated landscape, an ancient desiccated sea of salt and other minerals without any reference points other than

the mottled shadows from clouds. “Now you understand that no matter what anyone ever tells you, the world really is flat,” says Ralph Bousfield, the guy who led me here.

“It is completely flat – an undeniable fact, as you can see.”

We are steering quad bikes along a single set of tracks that trace a line into the far horizon, like a seam stitching together the primordial and the post apocalyptic.

“Columbus didn’t know what he was talking about,” I say, “because he never came here.”

“Exactly.”

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I travel to see places of epic scale and numinous beauty, to leave the world I’m used to for the chance to look through the membrane of the everyday and be reminded of much bigger things. But travelling for that feeling of wonder has become ever more elusive. Consider how travel has changed. When French writer Gustave Flaubert first glimpsed the Sphinx, he was so overcome that he trembled. If anyone trembles at the Sphinx now, it’s on seeing the many purveyors of souvenirs and camel rides. We’re dulled by curated experiences. We have access to too many photos and paintings of the world’s special places; we’re overexposed before we’ve even arrived. We’ve already seen it all.

“This country fills my heart,” my friend Staci had Skyped from Botswana, “I don’t want to leave.”

The more she talked, the more this Texas-sized nation in southern Africa seemed the place to turn me around. So I’ve come to Botswana with the hope that awe awaits.

Exhilaration quickly takes hold of me on the Makgadikgadi (meh-CAH-dee-CAH-dee), one of the bleakest landscapes at what feels like the end of the world. It looks like the Great Nothing.

In fact, this 15,000-square-kilometre wedge of the Kalahari – Earth’s fifth largest desert – was covered by an immense lake 10 million years ago. From this area, according to ancestral DNA markers, our human ancestors may have emerged.

Nor is the apparently bleak expanse barren. Within the great pan grow grasslands; palm and baobab trees reach for the sky. Through them an unexpected variety of animals roam, meerkats to big cats. The pan experiences two seasons: dry and rainy. As the rainy season ends, thousands of zebra migrate across the flats. Then there are the indigenous San, or Bushmen, nomadic once but mostly subsistence farmers now, who know how to find what they need to survive. The entire chain of life is playing out here.

Awe isn’t limited to landscapes; it also is sparked by people, especially people who connect to the essence, the wisdom, of a place. People of awe perceive shapes and stories in stone mountains, hear animals speak, and gaze up to the stars for personal messages from their ancestors.

One afternoon Bousfield introduces me to some Bushmen, whose ancestors have crisscrossed the desert for millennia.

The men wear beaded headbands, are girded in antelope skins and carry sticks. Bousfield notes they don’t always dress like this – the modern world has reached here too – but it’s their heritage. The sticks, used to clear pathways and pull up buried roots, seem also to keep them in touch with their cultural roots.

The elder, Kgamxoo Tixhao, has a bulbous belly suspended over a thong. It is evident his authority comes from his advanced age and his knowledge of traditional customs. He speaks only Taa, the Khoisan language of clicks, so a young woman named Xushe translates for us. I learn that Kgamxoo

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doesn’t know how old he is because Bushmen don’t mark time in years. He figures he’s pretty old, though his skin is smooth and the others still admire his hunting prowess. With each question I pose, he and Xushe volley a few exchanges, laughing.

She then gives me very brief, sober translations that leave me thinking something is lost in transmission. Or, maybe that I’m not yet worthy of fuller answers.

So we walk. Xushe grabs a plant she believes is an aphrodisiac.

“If you like a boy and want him to like you, do this!” she says, and playfully blows the plant on a man named Cobra, who appears to be twice her age and speaks English. His grey hair is arranged in miniature dreadlocks.

Cobra stops and points. “House of a scorpion,” he says.

“It is sleeping now. We make a fire, and it will come out.”

“I think they want to stop and have a smoke,” Bousfield confides.

Kgamxoo, whose brother starred in the award-winning 1980s film The Gods Must Be Crazy, squats and begins twisting a stick between his palms over a nest of twigs. In seconds the nest is smoking. It wasn’t so long ago that people gasped when the throw of a switch lit up a city; I have the same reaction now as I watch a fire come into being the way it has for most of human history.

Cobra picks up the smoking twigs and blows. The fire ignites, and soon some hand-rolled cigarettes are being lit.

Smoking is one of the few pleasures for Bushmen; they and their people are poor. This reality has made them vulnerable to the intrusions of modern life, threatening their ancient ways, animistic beliefs and hunting skills. The Bushmen population of 55,000 is a tiny fraction of Botswana’s two million citizens. Only a slim minority of that minority retains a connection to life in the bush.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy is not this country today,” Jeff Ramsay, an adviser to Botswana President Ian Khama, told me.

“That really doesn’t exist any more.”

Cobra returns to the scorpion “house” and digs out a dustcovered creature the length of his palm with pincers and a tail curled to strike. He subdues it, then stuffs it into his mouth and works his mandibles as if chewing. I hardly know what to say.

However, he isn’t eating the scorpion; he is rinsing it with his saliva so we can see it better. When he pulls it out, the scorpion is bright yellow, with black eyes on a tiny, eerily expressive black face.

Cobra lets it pinch his finger.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” I ask.

He shrugs as if to say, no, not really. I wince, but one measure of a Bushman is his ability to take pain. It’s through suffering that the ancestors decide whether a person is worthy of crossing into other worlds and visiting them. Cobra is an elevated individual. He is also, I think, a bit of a performer, despite being dressed in ordinary work clothes, not bush skins.

The sun sits on the edge of the horizon, spraying saffron

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on the burning embers because he moves so slowly; it is almost as if he is standing on them. He is not tolerating pain; he doesn’t even notice it.

Earlier, back in the bush, I’d asked Kgamxoo if communicating with ancestors was through words or something one just understood. Were the ancestors people one knew, such as a mother or a father, or people from a general past? The only part of his answer I’d been able to make sense of was that ancestors sent pain and sickness to test a person’s worthiness to enter their realm.

The desert has become so profoundly quiet that when there’s sound, it seems to bounce back off walls of surrounding darkness. Suddenly, Kgamxoo bends down, gathers dust and wipes it on his face. Then he walks behind us, puts his hands on our heads and recites an incantation. I feel the grit of dirt on my scalp. All I can think is that here, awe – that blend of astonishment and reverence – is the true quest.

Slowly, the fire flickers out. Soon, the nighttime air feels like cold breath.

As I walk back to the camp, stars shoot across the dark horizon. At first, after the high energy of the

and pink light, then rolls off into the night, dropping us into darkness. What comes next is either a mystery or an astonishing bit of performance art; as an outsider, it’s hard for me to know.

Tonight the Bushmen are preparing to visit their ancestors. Piling up pieces of dry wood, they make a fire. The women sit and begin to clap and sing; I sit with the women. The men tie rattles around their legs and march in short, hard steps, stomping the ground, circling the seated women. At first the mood is lighthearted.

Everyone laughs, the singing is cheerful. Then the singing, clapping, stomping and rattling rise in intensity, turning the song into what sounds like a lamentation, layers of singing and pleading that I feel through my whole being.

The fire’s intensity also is growing, the flames crackling in a kind of dance of their own. I can feel the heat on my hands and face.

Kgamxoo’s body glistens with sweat. His face, etched and furrowed now, like an ironwood carving, has changed. His eyes appear distant and haunted. I reassure myself there is a rational explanation. Maybe it’s the exertion of the dance, or the heat. Whatever, Kgamxoo is here yet not here. He staggers, listing forward. He steps towards the fire. It’s not quite right to say he walks

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ceremony, everything seems absolutely silent. I hear only the sounds of my footsteps on the crusty desert floor. But as my senses adjust, I realise the atmosphere is vibrating. It is a rising hum of insects. Whereas we diurnal creatures perceive the night as inactive, here nocturnal creatures are taking over the landscape. Then an awesome sound tears the curtain of the dark: a pride of lions roaring into the night.

The following day finds me deep in the Great Nothing. Bousfield and I navigate our quad bikes across dunes shaped like horseshoes and past ancient riverbeds and lakes at the bottom of the Okavango Rift, an incipient fault in the landscape. We continue on to a broad savannah. Then the salt pan begins. A light wind kicks up. In the distance, little white cones of dust are gathering into a big brown sandstorm that dims the wattage of the sun. My head is swaddled in a cotton kikoi and I wear sunglasses, but sand invades me anyway.

I taste dirty salt and my eyes feel as if someone is trying to strike a match on them. The storm sails over us. I want to close my eyes and stop, but we need to get through it, so I squint at the ground and keep rolling, hot tears pouring down my cheeks.

The world is coming to an end.

Bousfield and I push on, and finally the storm is gone or we have escaped it. We find our way to a grove of baobab trees, their elephantine trunks topped by gnarled branches. Baobabs, iconic of southern Africa, can live more than a thousand years. After they die, they will leave no visible sign they were ever here except a patch in the ground.

We settle in among the trees. A profusion of stars perforates the black cosmos. The Milky Way, visible through baobab branches, spills across the heavens. I look to my right, to my left. Everywhere, I see stars. Bushmen say when you die you become part of the stars.

Eventually I fall asleep. When I wake, I gaze at the dawn sky and it occurs to me that there may be a reason why Kgamxoo didn’t really answer my question about communicating across worlds. Maybe this is what awe is – a portal to revelation, coming into landscapes that are peculiar and vast, where the absence of external barriers breaks down the internal ones, and we feel something universal. Awe points us back into ourselves. “[If] you gaze for long into an abyss,” wrote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “the abyss gazes also into you.” I grasp for some intimation of meaning, but it stays just beyond the reach of words.

OPPOSITE PAGE AND ABOVE: Dreadlocked Bushman Cobra with scorpion, first smoked out of its “house” and then rinsed off in his mouth before being displayed for the camera.

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GREEN MOUNTAIN HAVEN TRAVEL IN OMAN HAS REACHED NEW HEIGHTS WITH THE OPENING OF A SPECTACULAR LODGE IN THE AL HAJAR MOUNTAINS. THOMAS HYDE REPORTS.

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OPPOSITE PAGE: Alila Jabal Akhdar has a breathtaking location, perched above a magnificent canyon in Oman’s Al Hajar mountains.

With its luxurious suites, restaurants, infinity pool, spa and gym and the natural beauty of its surroundings, the lodge’s opening was eagerly anticipated.

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lila Jabal Ahkdar, the first lodge hotel from the Alila resort group outside of Asia, teeters on the edge of a 1,000-metre vertical drop in Oman’s Al Hajar Mountains. The hotel is a two-hour drive from the international airport at Muscat but the last hour or so is up a steep, winding road where only four-wheel-drive vehicles are permitted to go and a police checkpoint at the foot of the mountains makes sure of that. World was told the checkpoint was for safety.

Jabal Ahkdar – or “Green Mountain” – is a bit over 2,000m high and although it is only one among many peaks in the Al Hajar range, like all the others in this rugged backbone of Oman, it is extremely dry and dusty until the rains come.

Up here, heavy rainfalls can last only 20 or 30 minutes but, like magic, they leave behind fresh greenery, spectacular waterfalls and flood agricultural river beds, or wadis, below. In the early morning in winter it’s possible for guests at Alila Jabal Ahkdar to wake up and see the surrounding landscape covered in light snow.

The hotel opened in May last year. At the time, it was described by one highly regarded travel magazine as “one of the most anticipated hotel openings in the world”. That may be because Oman is an increasingly popular place to visit, for a variety of reasons. Tourism has increased by an annual 10 per cent or more in recent years.

Alila stands out among a new wave of hotels for its utterly awe-inspiring location. The brand also has a proven track record for smart, environmentally sound design that complements the natural beauty of the locations wherever their hotels are found.

Here, the hotel, its guest suites and restaurants, its infinity pool, spa and gym and associated walking trails are perched on the edge of what can truly be described as the “Grand Canyon of the Middle East”. It’s an extraordinary location, to say the least. Just the logistics of building a hotel in such an adverse setting is a story in itself.

We didn’t dwell on that, however, as we had no sooner checked in than one of the staff was offering up a cup of traditional Arabian coffee, as is the custom in any Omani household; guests arrive to gifts of perfume, coffee and sweets.

Here, coffee is poured with the left hand while the cup is held in the right; to serve coffee any other way, we were told, is bad luck. What makes Arabian coffee different? An infusion of rosewater and cardamom seed.

Mark Edelson, president of Alila Hotels & Resorts, has been quoted as saying: “Our goal is to send our guests home with spiritual and emotional memories, not just souvenirs.” That pretty much sums up our experience after just a two-night stay. Here, spiritual and emotional

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memories are possible if only because of a single overriding quality of the location: quiet.

Alila Jabal Akhdar may be the quietest hotel in the world. Given the perpetual noise we live with every day it was genuinely different to stay somewhere totally tranquil and unhurried. Alila Jabal Ahkdar felt remote even if it was only an hour’s drive down the hill from a major highway.

Oman (population 3.3. million) has made a great effort in

recent years to boost tourism. We first visited here a few years ago and discovered the exceptional Six Senses Spa Resort at Zighy Bay. We returned a second time not long after that for a guided tour down the coast from Muscat to the Dhow-building port of Sur, visited ancient forts and castles and finally returned through the mid-desert to the heritage city of Nizwa. There, we toured the town’s iconic fort and strolled through a crowded souk that was as old as the land itself, selling all manner of things, from locally grown produce, livestock and gold jewellery to carpets, fabrics and cheap souvenirs.

According to one government report, 2.2 million international visitors turned up here in 2013 – 14 per cent more than in the previous year. There are a number of

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reasons for this, from a major promotional spend and new international hotels and services to better-organised outdoor activities (such as 4WD off-road adventures) that rival New Zealand’s international reputation for adventure tourism.

But most of all, I’d guess Oman’s new-found popularity has a lot to do with Omanis themselves. This is not the Middle East of religious extremism and danger; Oman is different. Omanis are not Sunni or Shi’a Muslims caught up in a confused and violent relationship with each other or the West.

The great majority of Omanis are Ibadi Muslims, known for their modesty, tolerance and grace. Omanis are warm and welcoming hosts to all – proud of their culture and heritage and keen to show it off without boasting. They are especially proud of their revered leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, a generous monarch greatly respected both at home and abroad.

In short, Oman is a country of peace and order with all the trimmings one would hope to find on a special holiday: scenic mountains, endless white-sand beaches, dramatic sites for scuba diving and other water sports, spectacular dunes for

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off-road adventures, ancient ruins, medieval forts and castles and now one of the most extraordinary hotels in the world.

Alila Jabal Ahkdar had no sooner opened than it was fully booked. At breakfast one morning we heard French, German, and Italian and noted that the staff, forever alert and on the ball, were as multilingual as the guests.

As noted, the hotel is committed to sustainability, designed in a way that makes it almost indistinguishable from its impressive landscape – built with locally quarried stone and, from the main lobby to its 86 guest suites, a superb low-profile interpretation of Oman’s traditional fort-and-castle architecture.

Oman’s iconic irrigation system, the falaj, where channels carry water from natural waterfalls and springs, is represented here too, its gentle burbling the only sound breaking the perpetual quiet. Omani pottery, textiles, copper ornaments, tile flooring and Balinese hardwood beams suggest a Zen retreat and at the same time give the place an authenticity that nicely complements its exterior.

Further afield, as we learned from a half-day excursion organised by the hotel, shrubs and small plants somehow

find life among the dry rock and are a source of food for the domesticated goats and donkeys that roam freely (and charmingly) among the hills.

The signature tree is the juniper (accordingly, the name of the hotel restaurant), and we stopped to photograph one our driver believed to be more than a 1,000 years old. Up close, its rock-hard, gnarly trunk suggested he could be right.

“Life here has changed a lot in the last 10 years,” said our driver, Salim, who grew up in a village not far from the hotel.

“The coastal road from Muscat down to Salalah is open now,” he added, “and there are more people coming to Oman.

So we have to manage that in a way that preserves our traditional way of life.”

After our second restful night, we enjoyed a final breakfast of Norwegian smoked salmon on grilled sourdough bread with scrambled eggs, roasted tomato and more Arabian coffee, before setting off back to Muscat. The flight from Muscat to Dubai or Abu Dhabi is less than an hour, which for travellers just passing through, makes a few nights in Oman an alluring way to break up the long haul. www.alilahotels.com/jabalakhdar

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CONCIERGE

SPOTLIGHT ON

FOUR SEASONS HOTELS & RESORTS

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t all began in 1961 with a modest motor hotel in became our strategic edge. To deliver on that promise, downtown Toronto. Today, a little over 50 years on, we realised we needed to harness the ‘best of the best’ – employees who are dedicated, committed and inspired to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is approaching its deliver great service.”

100th property and is regarded around the world as The company’s ironclad mission statement: “To treat one of the foremost names in luxury accommodation others as we’d wish to be treated ourselves.” and travel.

Last year the company, its hotels, restaurants As it expanded, Four Seasons became the first hotel and spas, added a host of new company in North America to honours – from, among others, introduce now-standard items such Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes Travel as bath amenities, robes and hair Guide, Travel+Leisure, the Times dryers. It was also the first to provide and Telegraph newspapers and European-style concierge services TripAdvisor – to the long list of “Best and 24/7 in-room dining. Other of” awards garnered over the years. trend-setting advances included twice-daily housekeeping, and a That first property in Toronto round-the-clock laundry and drymay have looked pretty ordinary cleaning service. The first customon the outside, but inside it offered made Four Seasons mattress debuted something completely new – in 1984 and last year it introduced personalised service, setting the the hospitality industry’s first fully stage for many more innovations customisable sleep experience: in hospitality.

The success of the company’s innovative technology that allows Four Seasons founder and chairman Isadore Sharp. first hotel in Europe, the Inn on the guests to choose the firmness of Park – now known as Four Seasons Hotel London at their hotel bed, something that will come on-stream in all Park Lane – cemented the company’s future course. In a locations in 2015. market dominated by big, traditional chains, the hotel’s In 2012, the brand introduced private jet tours and this intimate size, spacious rooms and friendly, attentive year the hotel industry’s first fully branded private jet – the staff made it an instant success. Four Seasons had found Four Seasons Jet – will begin flying guests on around-theits niche: mid-size hotels of exceptional quality offering world and themed regional tours, with stays exclusively at unrivalled service.

Four Seasons hotels and resorts (see page 225).

Four Seasons founder and company chairman Isadore Meanwhile, back on the ground, here are a few of the Sharp put it this way: “Early in the company’s history we Four Seasons hotels and resorts that have impressed our decided to focus on redefining luxury as service, and that writers during the past year:

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Four Seasons – Florence

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FLORENCE

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If you had just one day to spare in Florence you might profitably spend it in this graceful hotel full of the spirit of Renaissance Italy. In a city that teems with tourists for much of the year, Four Seasons Hotel Florence is a peaceful walled retreat that includes 4.5 hectares of gardens and two centuries-old palazzos, all within easy reach of the city’s historical centre.

After fighting my way to the top of the Duomo, wading through the opulence of the Pitti Palace and ogling the countless masterpieces in the Uffizi, I was relieved to fall into the Four Seasons’ cool embrace.

The hotel doesn’t shout its presence. Sitting off the tourist trail on Borgo Pinti, it would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. Once past its unpretentious façade, however, the glories of the 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca are revealed. Here are centuries-old artworks, frescoes, stuccoes, bas-reliefs and silk wallpapers returned to their original glory in a meticulous seven-year restoration project.

The hotel occupies two protected buildings, the Palazzo della Gherardesca and the Conventino, a 16th-century palace that was once a convent. Between the two is the park-like Giardino della Gherardesca, Florence’s largest private garden, restored to its 19th-century Romantic style, with paths, lawns, great trees and shady benches, pools, statues, a fountain and a small Greek temple. Also within the walls are a swimming pool, an award-winning spa and fitness centre.

The hotel has 116 guest rooms in the two buildings, including 42 suites, some of which are staggering in the richness of their frescoes and Renaissance-style furnishings.

At the centre of Palazzo della Gherardesca is a glass-roofed inner courtyard, now a guest lounge and cocktail bar. In the garden, Al Fresco Restaurant operates during summer as a typical Italian trattoria at lunchtime and pizzeria and barbecue at night. Il Palagio, meanwhile, is the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant serving fine regional cuisine beneath vaulted ceilings and Murano glass chandeliers.

If you fancy walking in the footsteps of generations of Florentine nobles, an Egyptian pasha and the odd pope, this place has it all. Without the crowds. – Patrick Smith

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PRAGUE This discreet hotel does not flag its presence; rather, it very subtly embraces its incredible location overlooking the picturesque Vltava River, a few metres from the Old Town end of pedestrian Charles Bridge. It took Four Seasons some 10 years to find an appropriate hotel site and when they did they linked together former office buildings and residences from three different centuries.

Spared from the ravages of war, the city’s mix of architecture is extraordinary. Hence, a modern main building today connects a beautiful 18th-century baroque building, a neoclassical building and a neo-Renaissance one to offer accommodation in 141 rooms and 20 suites.

Some feature rich brocades and chandeliers, others combine black-and-white tweed carpets with toile and stripes to produce an elegant contemporary feel. The two luxurious premier suites have recently been redesigned and refurbished to embrace their classical history and feature contemporary artworks by Czech artists.

New executive chef Luca De Artis brings his culinary

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skills to the hotel’s CottoCrudo restaurant, via the kitchens of Alain Ducasse in Paris and a Four Seasons sister property in Istanbul, with authentic and modern Italian fare using artisanal supplies flown in from Piedmont and Tuscany.

The hotel spa uses Omorovicza spa cosmetics, based on mineral-rich thermal waters from Hungary, giving guests a true regional, central European experience.

Feeling energetic? Why not join one of the hotel’s two athletic concierges early on Wednesday mornings for a jog along the river to keep fit while discovering the city before it wakes up – and well ahead of the tourist crowds that will inevitably descend a little later. And if you have a special celebration coming up, consider a private night at the opera for up to six guests experiencing Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the exquisite Estates Theatre – considered one of the most beautiful in Europe – before returning to the hotel in a vintage Rolls-Royce and retreating to the rooftop terrace for a gourmet dinner under the stars, accompanied by musicians from the theatre’s acclaimed orchestra. – Tricia Welsh

MILAN Here is a hotel of sublime character, with a history that reaches back to the 15th century but carefully restored to cater for 21st-century expectations. Anchored unassumingly amid some of the world’s most beautiful fashion houses, the building was originally a refuge for a religious order. Later, among other incarnations, it was used as a barracks and a business centre before falling into a sorry state of disrepair.

The hotel opened in 1993 after 10 years of painstaking renovation, with a brief to retain the authentic character of solid Milanese architecture.

Guests could be excused for thinking they have stepped back in time. The spacious cloister spills out onto a delightful Italian garden where the only sound you’ll hear is birdsong.

Here, in the heart of the city, time has not just stood still but has been enshrined in spacious grandeur and Italian Renaissance splendour. With 118 rooms, including 50 suites, it is a hotel with a level of intimacy that is

engaging and homely yet is large enough to feel the pulse of a vibrant international community.

Four Seasons prides itself on being able to accommodate the most bizarre requests. For example, a recent guest who stayed in the exquisite Presidential Suite left his pet parrot there while he spent a few weeks on the coast. The parrot, I was told, was looked after with the same level of care and consideration as any other guest.

Milan is a Mecca for Italian and Mediterranean food and wine and the hotel’s La Veranda restaurant is the perfect place to try the best of both. From Escalope of roasted salmon with rosemary, or Shrimp with sautéed spinach and couscous with vegetables, to all manner of delectable pasta and a raft of breathtaking desserts, there is always something to take your taste buds to another dimension.

All this seated in a scented garden with a sense of being in a tranquil place of beauty that will never change.

If you crave somewhere to stay where everything is easy, lovely, understated and calm, yet in the centre of a marvellously busy city, Four Seasons Milan is where you ought to be. – John Hawkesby

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Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, the only AAA Five-Diamond and Forbes Five-Star Resort in Hawaii, now adds Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report Reader’s Choice Award to its long list of accolades. Readers of the Report recently voted this extraordinary hotel the number-one beach resort in the world.

Located on the Kona/Kohala Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, Four Seasons Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu, as it’s formally known, has 243 guest rooms and suites and has launched a Suite Concierge programme for guests in its 51 suites.

All accommodation captures the essence of Hawaii in spirit and design. Take a dip in the warm Pacific Ocean if you wish or choose from a variety of cool swimming pools.

HUALALAI Classes in cooking and art, a cultural centre, tennis, fishing for blue marlin and a drive through the otherworldly Volcano National Park are just a few of the highlights awaiting guests with a sense of discovery and adventure. New Zealanders may be especially keen to visit the Captain Cook Monument close by.

We chose to play golf. The resort’s Jack Nicklaus Signature Course is a scenic, impeccably manicured oceanside course with fairways framed by black lava. In January each year, the resort hosts a PGA Champions (senior) Tour event that includes a stay, play and watch package for guests who wish to play with golf legends in the pro-am. The package includes a beach party dinner attended by many of the greatest names in golf and tickets to the three-day tournament.

Whether you play golf for not, the Hualalai Spa is the perfect place to find total mental relaxation and physical rejuvenation. This indoor/outdoor spa draws on traditional Hawaiian healing and restorative elements like black lava salt, hibiscus flowers and crushed macadamia nuts and oil.

Our favourite dining spot was the Beach Tree Bar and Lounge (the bar here is a must for a pre-dinner martini – maybe two!). We loved its casual atmosphere – a sandbetween-your-toes kind of place right on the beach. A close second and a short stroll along the beach was ‘ULU Ocean Grill, which features food mainly sourced from the Hawaiian islands and has a great sushi bar. The upstairs Hualalai Grill, meanwhile, serves American-style steakhouse fare with a Hawaiian twist.

All this aside, though, perhaps the best thing about this resort? It’s a jetlag-free flight from New Zealand direct to Honolulu and then only a short hop over to the Big Island.

Superb! – Don Hope

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BORA BORA Flights from New Zealand commonly arrive in Tahiti too late to catch a transfer to other islands, so plan a night in Papeete before catching a flight to Bora Bora the next day. But no matter where you stay on Tahiti (French Polynesia’s main island), rest assured: nothing there matches Bora Bora for its romance, to say nothing of its blue-water lagoon and iconic twin peaks.

Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora has 100 overwater bungalows, seven beachfront villas with private pools, four restaurants and bars, a full-service spa, a dedicated space for children (Kids Clubhouse) and a host of daily scientific and cultural activities. The Lagoon Sanctuary is home to more than 100 species of tropical fish, plus octopus, eagle rays and more.

The look of the property derives from the imagination of Parisian designer Didier

Lefort together with the engineering talents of the San Francisco firm, BAMO. Pierre-Jean Picart, Tahiti’s most accomplished architect, further enhanced its authentic Polynesian feel.

The thatched roofs of bungalows are of woven pandanus leaves. Hardwood floors, natural light pouring through open lagoon windows, attractive Tahitian art and artefacts, gleaming mother-of-pearl fans and all the modern trappings – internet access, flat-screen TVs with video-on-demand – nicely complement plush bathrooms and comfy king-sized beds.

Catching up on sleep here is easy to do.

After arrival, we settled back on the sundeck of our bungalow with a cool drink. We watched someone sail by in one of the resort’s catamarans while, closer to the beach, another guest negotiated her paddleboard. Later, we visited the spa and learned that the Tahitian kahaia flower, known for its healing powers, together with other native flowers, coconut oil and black pearl powder, are primary elements in its treatments.

A pre-dinner cocktail at the Sunset Bar was followed by a seafood barbecue at Tere Nui, a restaurant with a sweeping view of the lagoon and open to a warm, scented breeze wafting in from the sea. Above us, a multitude of stars glittered in the night sky. Living suddenly seemed easy and for the next two days and nights it stayed that way. Stay three nights, get the fourth night free. – Thomas Hyde

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BALI We were lucky enough to stay at both Four Seasons Bali resorts – Sayan (Ubud) and Jimbaran Bay – and decided this combination was the perfect Balinese holiday experience: Sayan’s rainforest setting beside the Ayung River, followed by oceanside living at Jimbaran Bay (or vice-versa). We only wished we’d allowed longer at each of these two beautiful retreats. I’d recommend four nights at Sayan followed by the same at Jimbaran Bay. Four Seasons will even take care of the transfer via complimentary SUV. But first things first: Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan (to give it its proper title) occupies a beautiful rainforest setting in Bali’s central highlands 15 minutes from Ubud by complimentary shuttle. Ubud, known as a centre of Balinese arts and crafts, has colourful local markets, art galleries and

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museums, exotic temples and all the stuff that inspired Eat, Pray, Love. You can catch a performance of traditional Balinese dance most evenings at Ubud Royal Palace.

Arrival at the resort literally took our breath away: a long wooden footbridge takes you across the valley, with the resort cascading down the hillside to the river. At the end of the walkway is the reception, restaurant, library, lounge, bar and spa – and a huge circular pond, blooming with lotus flowers, that seems to hang magically in space.

The resort has just 18 suites and 42 private villas. Our pool villa had views across a lush garden to terraced paddy fields in one direction and the river in the other.

The Balinese-style villa was cool and elegant: an outdoor living/dining area and plunge pool led into a spacious bedroom with walk-in closet and sumptuous bathroom

complete with outdoor shower. All mod cons? I think that goes without saying.

Food in the Ayung Terrace Restaurant and the casual Riverside Café was excellent (I recommend the terrific Wagyu burger for lunch in the café) and I can vouch for the powerful Balinese massage in the beautifully appointed spa.

On and offsite activities and experiences were many and varied, from yoga and meditation to biking, Sayan village walks and cooking classes.

We joined a cooking class when we got to Jimbaran Bay, an experience that turned out to be a highlight of our holiday. Chef Kristya Yudha led us through a menu that included traditional Indonesian beef satay with spicy sauce, grilled spring chicken with chilli, candlenut and wild

ginger sauce, and chilli, lime and tomato sambal – all of which we ate at the finale.

Designed as a traditional Balinese village, the all-villa Jimbaran Bay resort sits by the Indian Ocean a 90-minute drive from Ubud or 15 minutes from Denpasar International Airport. Like Sayan, the setting is idyllic, but with ocean rather than river and paddy views and with all that a beachside resort provides in terms of water sports (or hammock-lounging). All villas have private plunge pools and there’s a main king-sized swimming pool as an alternative to the sea.

Our big hillside villa sat within a private walled garden with amenities similar to those at Sayan and wonderful views of Jimbaran Bay. And, as at Sayan, meals were daily highlights. We liked the Terrace Bar for breakfast and Sandara Restaurant for lunch and dinner. Here you could dine while taking in the superb beach and ocean view across the pool. Sandara, I might add, also boasts the best cocktail bar in Bali – I can highly recommend the martini selection – and the cost of food and drinks was a happy surprise.

The resort offers an endless menu of daily experiences, classes and wellbeing activities. And if you’re into shopping, Seminyak is around $15 away by taxi. – Don Hope

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SCOTTSDALE AT TROON NORTH When it comes to “scenic”, nothing quite compares to Arizona’s Sonoran Desert at sunset: the sky, ablaze in reds, pinks and blues, in stark contrast to the burnt orange and brown desert spotted with the colours of native flora like the butter-yellow cactus flowers. The silhouettes of massive rock outcrops compete with the

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alien shapes of the giant saguaro cactus, its many arms reaching up as if under arrest. It’s the perfect backdrop for a perfect desert resort.

Less than an hour’s drive from the international airport at Phoenix, the resort’s name alone suggests golf, because Troon North sits at the centre of a region with many of the best golf courses in America. There are three great golf complexes in close proximity – The Boulders, Troon North and Grayhawk – and a visit to Grayhawk must include a stop at Phil’s Grill, which opens onto

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the clubhouse terrace. Allow plenty of time to take in all Lefties memorabilia on display in the restaurant. Check out the resort’s special stay-and-play package.

But this is also a region dominated by a cowboysand-Indians ethos, so for one day, at least, you may wish to leave the golf clubs in your casita and go home-onthe-range for a day. The resort runs an introductory programme in association with the Arizona Cowboy College. You are fitted out (hat, buckle and boots) and saddled up and at the end of the trail you’ll hunker down around a campfire for a fine dinner as a real cowboy recalls legendary tales from the Old West.

The resort, meanwhile, blends nicely into the surrounding landscape. Its 210 adobe-style guest rooms and suites co-exist naturally with the desert setting in a sensitive and eco-friendly way. Interiors express classic Southwestern décor, where Mexican and Native American cultures prevail.

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ABOVE: We couldn’t resist snapping this fabulous 1958 Corvette parked outside the hotel. Restored over eight months by owner Tom Hassell, it’s a retro masterpiece with all mod cons and blistering performance.

There are three restaurants. We especially enjoyed Proof, a self-described “American canteen” where the menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner draw on regional dishes from around the US. Breakfast here, I have to say, was one of the best we’ve had anywhere in the world.

The Mexican influence was a knockout: try the huevos rancheros – eggs any style, chorizo quesadilla, black beans and a local favourite: Mel’s Rancheros Sauce.

– Don Hope www.fourseasons.com

COME FLY WITH ME The Four Seasons Private Jet Experience took to the air this year with a 24-day round-the-world odyssey aboard its own branded Boeing 757. A commercial 757 would normally seat up to 233 passengers but this highly tooled bespoke version carries just 52 Four Season guests – in considerable comfort.

Guests take off on multi-destination journeys staying at Four Seasons hotels along the way, with customised itineraries that include activities of choice at each destination – seaplane flightseeing in Sydney, perhaps, a jungle adventure in northern Thailand or a cocktail cruise down the Bosphorus.

The concept has been met with such enthusiasm four new itineraries have been released for 2016. The company promises guests will enjoy “the finest of everything – from legendary Four Seasons service to remarkable itineraries, inspired cuisine and Dom Pérignon Champagne”.

The first of these journeys, dubbed “Timeless Discoveries”, lifts off from Los Angeles on 26 January, finally touching down in London on 18 February after visiting Kona (Hawaii), Bora Bora, Sydney, Bali, Chiang Mai, Agra (Taj Mahal), Mumbai and Prague.

“International Intrigue”, meanwhile, spanning eight countries and four continents, leaves from Seattle on 14 April. It will take in Tokyo, Beijing, Maldives, the Serengeti, Istanbul, St Petersburg and Marrakech before ending up in Boston on 7 May.

The next globe-hopping experience, “Extraordinary Adventures”, takes off from Austin, Texas, on 17 September. Guests on this one will visit Costa Rica, Hawaii, Sydney, Langkawi (Malaysia), Mauritius, Serengeti, the ancient “Rose City” city of Petra and the Dead Sea, coming in to land at Lisbon on 11 October.

The last Four Seasons Jet itinerary of the year, “Cultural Escape”, leaves from London on 4 November and arrives back in the British capital on 22 December. Its diverse destinations: Petra and the Dead Sea, Dubai, Seychelles, Serengeti and Florence.

Starting at US$100,000 (around NZ$128,600), each journey includes air travel aboard the Four Seasons Private Jet and ground transportation, planned excursions, all meals throughout the trip and luxurious accommodations exclusively at Four Seasons hotels and resorts. www.fourseasons.com/jet

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PEOPLE, PEOPLE

PEOPLE, – SIR DAVID LEVENE

C

urrently I own a commercial property business, Quadrant Properties. Most of us well understand that “location, location, location” are the three big requirements for property, but fewer know that success in all businesses is vastly improved when the focus is on the three Ps: people, people, people.

Certainly, there are other key requirements. You need a great business idea; you need passion. But there are plenty of passionate people with great ideas who are not successful!

That’s because you also need commitment – a determination to implement the plans and do the hard work. I really enjoy actively funding young people with good ideas and the right attitude into business. Being surrounded by young people helps to keep my geriatric brain functioning!

But by far and away the biggest differentiator between those who are successful in business and those who are not is the way they focus on – and treat – people.

There’s a reason for the three Ps. There are three distinct “people” to focus on and treat well to be successful. The first – and arguably most important – is the Customer. I live by the philosophy that “the customer is king”. It’s simple and there are worlds of meaning in those three words.

The way you treat your customers is a key measure of your brand. You can pay excessive money to marketing companies to refine and deliver you a new brand, but nothing – and I mean nothing – talks to your customers like the way you treat them.

Treat your customers the way you treat your friends. With

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honesty. Communicate clearly – set their expectations and then exceed those expectations. Ask their opinion. Listen to them.

Respect them. Act on what they tell you.

Talk with your customers, face to face or on the phone. Mass communication works – up to a point. But real conversations, with real people, about the real issues they are facing, provide far more information and opportunity to improve.

Another group of people are your Suppliers. Often overlooked, your relationship with suppliers is a key factor in the longevity of your organisation and your success during fast growth or downturn. Treat your suppliers like your neighbours. Pay them on time, every time.

Negotiate with them – but leave a little on the table; you want them to be successful too. Show them loyalty.

If their prices go up or their supply is delayed – talk with them. Explain the impact for you and work out a way to stay with them if possible.

When you experience fast growth (because you’re treating your customers so well!) – or when things take a downturn, your relationship with those same suppliers may well be key to managing your cashflow while you get back on track.

And the third – but by no means least important – group of people is your own Team. Treat your team like family. People don’t work FOR you – they work WITH you. You are a team and acting like a team is a key factor for success. Be honest with your team. Show them loyalty; show them flexibility. Recognise them when they do well. Let them know you are there to support them in their own careers and aspirations.

I have been successful in business a couple of times.

And maybe I’ve been lucky. Or maybe I’ve recognised the significance of People.

THE WHOLE WORLD TO THE NEAREST MINUTE.

Duomètre Unique Travel Time. Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 383.

Paris, New York, Tokyo, New Delhi… Swiss precision around the globe. The Duomètre Unique Travel Time is the world-time watch offering dual-time adjustment to the nearest minute. A feat made possible by the patented Dual-Wing movement. With 180 skills united under one roof, the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre consistently contributes to driving advances in the field of Fine Watchmaking.

YOU DE S E RVE A R E A L WATC H.

OYSTER PERPETUAL SKY-DWELLER