World Magazine - issue 23

World

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

World Magazine, as the name suggests, has a global outlook: we’re a well-travelled bunch and our writers bring stories from the far corners of the Earth.

The wide world is full of marvellous places and things, but it’s easy to forget what we have on our doorstep. So a good part of this issue is about New Zealand and Australia – travel, food and wine, personalities, fashion and design on both sides of the Ditch.

I always enjoy visiting Wellington for its wonderful “culture and cuisine” character. You’ll get a taste of this in Patrick Smith’s story on the “Capital of Cool” (page 156) and his interview with the founder of the World of WearableArt Awards, Dame Suzie Moncrieff. The WOW show sells out every year and adds extra zing to the capital during its two-week run.

New Zealand and Australia both have exceptional food and wine and we devote a fair bit of space to eating and drinking (it is the festive season). In Marlborough, for instance, we spent time with Swiss-born winemaker Hans Herzog, whose highly rated winery, restaurant and vineyard cottage make a brilliant blend. And speaking of blends, you’ll find interesting martini recipes from Auckland’s top

mixologists in Tom Hyde’s “Shaken or Stirred?” feature.

Across the Tasman, we visit Sydney for lunch at Quay, once again named Australasia’s best restaurant, and take a look at Melbourne’s “laneways cuisine”.

Still in Oz but far from city lights, we have two travel stories that reveal the “real” Australia: Patrick’s trip to the Gawler Ranges of South Australia and Fiona Harper’s tour of remote Northern Territory Aboriginal art centres. We also review high-end accommodation options, from luxury Outback tents to designer hotels.

Our “Seascape” pages follow the Australasian theme with fabulous cruising itineraries around these parts.

Jeni Bone’s story on the exclusive Monaco Yacht Show takes us further afield, though it’s a trip well worth taking. Beautiful boats and beautiful cars: as usual we have lots of gorgeous models in these pages, along with the latest and best in watches, jewellery, beauty, fashion and design.

And finally, actor and Central Otago wine producer Sam Neill fills our Last Word spot as he talks about “My World With Wine”.

Have a fabulous summer.

World Dame Suzie Moncrieff Page 24

WORLD PEOPLE

Š Bob Willoughby

MAGAZINE

Michael Furman Page 90

Peter Gilmore Page 170

Sam Neill Page 208

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Wedded to WOW® – Dame Suzie Moncrieff founded the World of WearableArt Show in 1987 and remains its guiding light.

Dream Weaver – Natural textiles are in the blood of Greek designer Ioanna Kourbela.

Fashion & Fire – A new book charts the life and times of maverick British designer Vivienne Westwood.

Designs for Living – Arrowtown furniture creator Ed Cruikshank makes unique pieces for a global clientele.

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MAGAZINE

Publisher ~ Don Hope Ph: +64 9 358 4080 Email: donhope@paradise.net.nz Advertising ~ Debra Hope Ph: +64 21 930 717 Email: debrahope@paradise.net.nz Advertising Co-ordinator ~ Gemma Pattullo Ph: +64 9 909 6858 Distribution ~ Netlink Distribution Company Printing ~ GEON Auckland

Creative Director ~ Mark Llewellyn Features Editor ~ Tom Hyde Travel Editor ~ Patrick Smith Wine and Food Editor ~ John Hawkesby Timepiece Editor ~ Bani McSpedden Motoring Editor ~ David Linklater Boating Editor ~ Jeni Bone Proofreader ~ Frances Chan Prepress ~ Debbie Curle Production Manager ~ Sara Hirst

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 Magazines: General Manager – Lynley Belton, Commercial Manager – Paul Day, Circulation/Research – Liz Badenhorst.

Subscriptions: worldsubs@fairfaxmags.co.nz Phone: +64 9 926 9127. ISSN - 1176 9076 © 2012 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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Inspiration – Gift ideas for the savvy woman, from travel and home goods to fashion, beauty and jewellery.

Listen Up! Look Sharp! – Presenting the latest and greatest in sound and vision, tech gadgets, digital cameras and more.

The Rich(emont) List –The discreet company behind a host of luxury watch brands.

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Magnificent Merc – A rare and beautiful 1928 Mercedes-Benz wins the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The Bugatti as Art – Classic car photographer Michael Furman pays tribute to one of world’s most revered marques.

2013 Revealed – David Linklater previews next year’s motoring highlights, from rare racers to a ritzy Roller.

Supersize Me – The exclusive Monaco Yacht Show is the principality’s most popular event after Formula 1.

Seascape – Tom Hyde offers some tempting cruise itineraries you can begin or end in Auckland.

Here’s to the Duke! – Russell’s venerable Duke of Marlborough Hotel gets a new look and a new menu.

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Shaken or Stirred? – Five master mixers reveal their own takes on the ageless martini.

Frodo was Here – Sir Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth empire boosts Wellington’s claim as ‘Coolest Capital’.

Sleeping Over – A bed in a cosy vineyard cottage completes a special evening at a Marlborough winery.

Room at the Top – Sensational food and a stunning view at Sydney’s Quay, once again named best restaurant in Australasia.

Backstreet Gourmet – The best of Melbourne’s laneways cuisine is revealed in a colourful new book.

Art in its Place – Fiona Harper travels by rail and sea to Australia’s remote Aboriginal art centres.

Out of this World – Patrick Smith discovers the meaning of ‘Outback’ in South Australia’s rugged Gawler Ranges.

Australia in Style – From luxury tents to designer hotels, we check out Australia’s high-end accommodation.

Last Word – Actor and Central Otago wine producer Sam Neill on ‘My world with wine’.

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Following two weeks of sold-out shows in Wellington, World of WearableArt Awards founder Dame Suzie Moncrieff is already working on next year’s 25th anniversary event. Patrick Smith caught up with her between shows.

aving previously visited the wonderful WOW® Museum in Nelson and seen clips of past shows, I thought I knew what to expect when I sat down to watch the 2012 Brancott Estate World of WearableArt Awards spectacular in Wellington’s TSB Arena. I had been warned to “expect the unexpected”, but nothing had prepared me for the dazzling tsunami of music, dance, colour, light and special effects – to say nothing of the sheer brilliance and ingenuity of the award garments themselves – that would keep the 4,000-strong audience enthralled for the next two hours.

A pre-show look behind the scenes had given me an insight into the scale of this annual event and the dedication it demands from the small army of men and women involved: artistic and competition directors, management personnel, choreographers, production and design teams, cast coordinators, front-of-house, hair, make-up and wardrobe teams, models, dancers and musicians – some 420 people in all.

On show nights, when models may have to change unwieldy costumes up to eight times, split-second

timing and coordination are vital; it’s a kind of organised chaos. Backstage manager Leonie Trathen, a former model and a WearableArts stalwart for 22 years, invited me to try lifting a garment hanging from canvas straps. It was a “ballgown” ingeniously constructed from old paint-tin lids and incredibly heavy. After two goes I admitted defeat. A tall, slender model wore it onstage every night with seemingly effortless grace.

“It’s a show front of stage and it’s a show backstage,” Leonie said with laugh. “But it’s a family and some of the models and make-up people have been with us for 20 years.”

Passion and professionalism are evident everywhere onstage. Without these this would not have become the kind of world-class production that attracts an annual 300 entries from around the globe and is seen by more than 50,000 people each year. In January, a show featuring 100 “best of the best” WearableArt garments wowed audiences at the prestigious Hong Kong Arts Festival, and WOW organisers are now working on taking a travelling show to other parts of the world.

Right: WOW founder Dame Suzie Moncrieff, whose ongoing involvement has ensured continuity of vision for the event. Left: Dancers in a spectacle of light and colour. Above: Noor Reverie, by Rebecca Maxwell of Wellington, WOW Factor Award winner, 2012.

Above, left to right: La Danse Macabre, by Mercy Brewer, Auckland; Beast in the Beauty, David Waller, USA, winner of the Wellington International Award 2012.

Like many others in the audience that night, I was floored by the sheer magnitude and brilliance of the show. When I catch up with Dame Suzie Moncrieff next morning, I ask her if she could ever have dreamt that the “wearable art” show she created in 1987 and which entertained 200 people in a small community hall would grow into today’s multi-million-dollar phenomenon.

“Well, definitely not in the first maybe three or four years,” she answers, “because in 1987, when I was working full-time as a sculptor, I thought of it very much as a part of the gallery I had in the countryside near Wakefield – just part of the yearly events happening each year there. And then it just gained momentum and took off like a rocket.

“By the time we’d had a couple of shows in the Trafalgar Centre in Nelson, I could see it being this big – very clearly. And that obviously was what kept driving me, because I could see that picture clearly.

When times were really tough – and I had absolutely no income for many years – it was all about the passion

and the love and the dream of making something happen. If it had been about money it would never have got off the ground.”

Born in Ashburton 63 years ago, Suzie moved as a baby with her parents to Hope, a small settlement south of Nelson. Her father, Jack, was a talented musician who had his own band; her mother Dorothy a gifted painter who also loved singing and acting.

Dame Suzie’s earliest memories are of a house that was always full of music and laughter. She credits Jack and Dorothy with fostering her creative spirit.

While she was training to be an art and craft teacher in Christchurch, two of her tutors were struck by the young Nelson girl’s abilities as a sculptor and suggested she apply for an art school scholarship. It was something she had always dreamed of, but her dream fell to earth when she was told she was too young to apply.

“It was a huge disappointment,” she says. “But when I look back I think, gosh, I’m glad I never went because I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. I could well

have ended up being a teacher. Life is full of magical twists.”

But at the time she was devastated. “I put away all my brushes, my paints – anything to do with art – and that was it for at least 10 years, until I found the courage when I was about 30 to start to paint again. I started to sculpt from the age of about 31, 32, and then started the gallery. And then WearableArt came along…

“It’s funny how things work out and I feel very blessed to be in this wonderful place and to have had this fantastic journey. I can think of nothing better I’d rather be doing, because now I’m basically creating a three-dimensional sculpture – you can dream up these wonderful visions and suddenly here it is all being acted out on stage for you. It’s an incredible feeling.”

The previous evening someone backstage had told me that Dame Suzie’s visions knew no bounds. “Suzie doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘impossible’,” they’d said. I ask her if that’s true.

“Yes,” she laughs, “the impossible doesn’t exist… I

love a challenge, put it that way.”

Luckily, she has a team of creative and practical folk around her who can make her wildest ideas – or feasible approximations of them – happen. Like finding a safe way for the huge flaming candelabra that descended from the gods in one section of this year’s show. Has she always had this “can-do” attitude?

There’s no hesitation. “Yes,” she says, “as far back as I can remember I’ve felt I’ve had that ability – that I can do anything. It must be genetic!”

One thing she had “never in my wildest dreams” expected to achieve was being made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year’s Honours for her services to the arts.

I wonder if becoming a Dame has changed anything for her.

“I don’t think it has… I said yes [to the honour] because I thought, especially with us now trying to go international, it would be a tremendous help.

“And it’s a great honour, not only to me but to the hundreds of people – possibly thousands – who have

Above, left to right: Winner of the Air New Zealand South Pacific Section 2012, Marquise Rawahi, by Beatrice Carlson, Auckland; Tribal Dancers, Luiz Fernando Sereno Penna, Auckland.

Above, left to right: 2012 Brancott Estate Supreme WOW Award winner, Delight of Light, by Yuru Ma and Mengyue Wu, China; runner-up in the Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde Section, In the Op, by Ling Lai Kit Ling, Hong Kong.

worked on WOW over the years. I mean, without those people there would be nothing… I couldn’t have done it without them. It’s a shared honour. I think we can all be proud of it.”

After dreaming up a whole new art form 25 years ago – “taking art off the wall and exhibiting it as a live theatrical show” – Dame Suzie’s ongoing involvement has ensured a continuity of vision for the event. And although she has handed over artistic direction to Malia Johnston (who’s also principal choreographer), she still dreams up concepts, writes scripts, compiles the music and sometimes designs sets and dancers’ costumes for each new show. She laughs when I ask if she ever longs for the life of a simple artist.

“Yes, sometimes I do. But no, it’s a huge privilege to be creating something – theatre, basically – to showcase these extraordinary works that come in each year. It’s a huge honour and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even though I’d love to go back sculpting one day when I have time.”

Time is a luxury Suzie Moncrieff has not had for many years. She admits her personal life has probably suffered because of her all-embracing dedication to WOW, which, “apart from my daughter and granddaughter”, has been her sole focus.

“Well, I got divorced after the third show,” she laughs. “WOW was a selfish thing; it took up all my time in those early days. I’d work from the minute I woke up until I went to sleep.”

Nothing much has changed in that area, it seems. “I haven’t had a relationship since the age of 40,” she says, “and I haven’t missed that, because my relationship is my job.”

She gives a final hoot of laughter. “I really am married to WOW!” *Missed out on WOW this year? “Off The Wall: World of WearableArt Up Close”, an exhibition featuring a selection of iconic World of WearableArt garments, is currently touring New Zealand centres. www.worldofwearableart.com/exhibitions W

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DREAM

WEAVER Natural textiles are in the blood of Greek designer Ioanna Kourbela, the creative force behind the knitwear company her grandfather started 40 years ago.

Frances Chan discovers her modern take on traditional Helenic draping.

O

ne garment, more than a dozen looks? It’s quite simply true. Greek designer Ioanna Kourbela has transformed the humble cardigan into an elegant showpiece able to be worn in a multitude of ways to suit your mood, the occasion, the weather…

It’s functional fashion for every woman. Her hero piece from her Basics range, “Code 2550”, is a beautiful cottonribbed wrap with long front panels ideal for draping. Yes, one size does fit all.

Flexibility and versatility are hallmarks of designs by Ioanna Kourbela and her latest spring/summer collection, Je Rêve, is no exception. In her words: “I dream of silhouettes bursting with selfconfidence; of elegance based on flowing, austere, long silhouettes; of a carefree spirit inspired by the French Riviera of the 50s.”

The collection features balloon shapes, tunics and fluid asymmetric shapes. There are detailed trims and lacy patterns, complemented by chunky accessories such as belts, collars and necklaces made of leather, rope and silky yarns, supersized handbags and knitted hairbands.

The colour palette is sun-kissed whites, greys, taupes and powderpuff pinks and dramatic black and white.

And, guys, she hasn’t forgotten you either. The IK man wears clean-lined separates in whites, greys, deep blues and purples.

There are crisp linen shirts, casual cotton-knit ensembles and a wraparound sweater.

Kourbela’s look has an effortless ease and reinforces her lifelong apprenticeship with natural fabrics. Kourbela was born and raised in Plaka, Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. In 1971 her grandfather started a knitwear business and she grew up watching women create

Left: Ortanisia dress in linen, shown in Adobe rose.

Right: Pouch top in linen, shown in grey marle and Breathe leggings in white.

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Above, left to right: Male linen top in grey marle and Bermuda shorts in white; Fullmoon top in shale and Breathe leggings in Adobe rose; Mousse dress in shale and knit ribbon belt.

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knit garments by hand. She became creative director of the company, now called K3 Wearable Thinking and run by her father, in 2002. Her two sisters are also involved in production and retail.

Kourbela’s contemporary designs exposed the label to new markets and her collections are now available worldwide: from Drape New York boutique to exclusive distributor The Room Downstairs in New Zealand, Ioanna Kourbela is sold in the UK, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Russia, Canada, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mozambique, Kuwait and Australia.

“What I see through international partnerships is that there is no geographical limitation in terms of aesthetics, since we have a common understanding and approach to street fashion,” she says.

Kourbela combines ethereal, urban and sculptural elements in her designs using organic cottons, silks and linens.

Favourites include cotton tulle, voile, micromodal silk, gauze and crêpe de Chine.

“My approach in designing a new piece is that clothes should have a life of their own; they should be open to change, as people are,” she says. “When one gives one’s imagination free reign when getting dressed, clothing follows somebody’s mood and evolves as people do – the result is that every item in one’s collection is a reflection of all the different versions of their owner.

“The hectic pace of city living stimulates my creativity, the bustle excites me, and in nature I can find myself again... my pieces contain elements of both.”

Kourbela’s style was an instant hit with The Room Downstairs director Jacquie Hudson, who first came across Kourbela’s boutique in Plaka three years ago. Hudson calls it “architectural knitwear”.

“I felt her designs were hugely creative and she knew how to dress a woman’s body for comfort as well as style,” she says.

And so the Greek-Kiwi connection was forged with Hudson’s regular visits to Athens. Kourbela’s vision is uniquely Greek and different to other European designers, yet it identifies with a Downunder clientele.

“There is nothing quite like Ioanna’s style here or in Australia. The quality of her garments, as well as the exquisite fabrics she chooses, won me over. I knew the relaxed nature of her clothing matched the way we live in the Southern Hemisphere and it has gone from strength to strength.”

The Room Downstairs distributes two Ioanna Kourbela women’s collections per season – one Basics and one Exclusives. Menswear was launched last winter. Hudson started her business literally in her room downstairs at home and now has a showroom in Newton, Auckland, along with 10 stockists nationwide. Hudson anticipates a busy summer ahead as she introduces Ioanna Kourbela swimwear, bags, W accessories and shoes. www.theroomdownstairs.co.nz

Clockwise from top left: Nuanced dress and cardigan in black and summer shower; Ambience knit dress in summer shower; standing model wears Breathe mini dress and leggings in white with knit ribbon belt in lilac grey, sitting model wears strapless knit Aesthetic dress and leather collar in white.

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A lavishly illustrated book charts the life and times of maverick British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. By Tom Hyde.

Photo: Norma Moriceau Styling: Vivienne Westwood, Punk! Not Another Punk Book, 1978; and i-D, The Location Issue, April 2004

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ccording to Terry Jones in his informed introduction to Vivienne Westwood, a glorious new book that follows the untamed life and times of the legendary British designer, Dame Vivienne received her honour from the Queen wearing no knickers.

He does not reveal how he knows this, but since he’s the former art director of Vogue, founding publisher of vanguard fashion magazine i-D and a personal friend of the socalled “Queen of the British avant-garde”, one assumes it must be true. After all, this British institution, as she’s also been described, has spent a lifetime reinventing the meaning of “provocative” – since, at least, she quit teaching primary school and in 1971 opened her own fashion store in King’s Road, London, calling it: Let It Rock!

Not long after that she changed the name of the shop to Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and then, after teaming up with punk rocker Malcolm McLaren and inspired by the high-decibel attack of the Sex Pistols, she renamed the shop Sex, as if it took her three years to get to the point.

Vivienne Westwood is nothing less than extraordinary for its four insightful question-and-answer sessions with the designer and its spectacular collection of images, in colour and black and white,

Top right: Vivienne Westwood, Autumn/Winter 2008 (Photo: Mitchell Sams) Right: Vivienne Westwood, Spring/Summer 2007, (Photo: Mitchell Sams)

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Above, left to right: Photo: Mark Lebon, Styling: Ray Petri, 1984; Photo: Solve Sundsbo Styling: Edward Enninful, i-D, The Best of British Issue, No. 297, March 2009; Photo: Paola Kudacki Styling: Havana Laffitte, i-D, The Back to the Future Issue, Winter 2010

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that altogether capture the essence of what fashion has meant over the years to this remarkable woman.

Born in Tintwistle, Derbyshire, in 1941, Westwood (the surname from her first marriage) has been named British Designer of the Year three times, the latest in 2006, the same year she was honoured by the Queen. Her shop, World’s End, still on King’s Road, is like an epicentre for a movement in fashion that extends beyond the nuances of design. As noted more than once in this book, her work has always been founded on an activist worldview. She recently donated £1 million to the environmental charity Cool Earth towards saving the Amazon rainforest.

Better still, as she is quoted as saying in the book: “I do have reasons for what I do. I am a very political person and I really think if you put these clothes on you will look like a force to be reckoned with.”

What makes her story so compelling is that one does not have to appreciate fashion to value the mind of this

original force. Her designs are informed by a partisan worldview that allows her to bring an assortment of topics – certainly more than mere clothing – into the conversation. Aristotle, smoking, onion soup, Orwell’s Brave New World and 1984 (“the greatest books of the 20th century”), the female figure, why she doesn’t watch television or read newspapers, why she’s a vegetarian, hair colour, Tony Blair (“a monster’”) and Yves Saint Laurent (“the greatest”) for example, all addressed from the heart, with fire in the belly.

Dame Vivienne Westwood began designing for women, but today her empire includes men’s and women’s fashion and accessories, fragrance, jewellery and more. What a story! And it’s all here in words and photographs unlike any you’ve ever seen before.

Vivienne Westwood is published by TASCHEN Books and will be distributed in New Zealand by New Holland and in Australia by Fuse Group. It is due for release in W December. www.taschen.com

DESIGNS FOR LIVING

At his Arrowtown workshop, Ed Cruikshank and his team fashion unique, handbuilt pieces for a discerning international clientele.

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uestion: When does a trained cabinetmaker become a furniture designer become an artist? One way of answering that is to trace the career path of Arrowtown furniture designer Ed Cruikshank, an English-born cabinetmaker who settled in New Zealand 10 years ago and who today is one of the most sought-after creators of bespoke furniture in the country.

But it was not work that led to Cruikshank moving to New Zealand so much as skiing. As he told World Magazine, “I had studied cabinet making and then, after finishing a degree in industrial design at Ravensbourne College of Design in London, I was working for David Linley when I first came to New Zealand. I came out to design the interior of a yacht for Alloy Yachts in Auckland but I came back not long after that to go skiing at Coronet Peak and that’s when I fell in love with the Queenstown region and decided to stay.”

So much so that he left a promising career with Linley, one of the leading designers in the UK. He and his wife Tonya settled in Arrowtown, where he has since established a reputation for designing and making fine bespoke pieces for local clients including jeweller Michael Hill and actor Sam Neill. He now has clients from around the world who have turned up at his studio while passing through Arrowtown on holiday.

Opposite page, clockwise from top: 1821 No. 1 Revolving Table in polished black walnut and gunmetal; High Back Club Chair, a hybrid rocker available in a choice of leathers or fabrics; Metal and Timber Side Table. Above: Fine detail: Revolving Table centrepiece features a Martin Luther King Jr. quotation in braille; leather Club Chair stitchwork (right).

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Koru Chair, inspired by the Southern Alps, offers many different sitting or lounging positions. Its outer shell is covered in leather while the inside surfaces and seat cushion are wrapped in possum fur.

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“After London, you might think Arrowtown is off the beaten track,” he said. “But I meet a lot of people who are just visiting, and there we are discussing what they like and we’re both in shorts and sneakers in my workshop, not in a boardroom. It’s informal. They like that. Subsequently, I ship bespoke pieces to clients all over the world – and maybe more so than had I remained in London!”

Cruikshank was one of 108 artists from around the world to exhibit with the Roundabout Exhibition that began in Wellington in 2010 and wound up in Tel Aviv last year. His contribution was a beautifully crafted “1821 No. 1 Revolving Table” that is 1.82m in diameter, with 108 polished black walnut segments and a blue gun-metal centre.

“The concept was to use the same materials that go into making a gun, but to make a table people might sit around and communicate instead; talk to each other rather than shooting each other, if you will.” The centrepiece of the table features a Martin Luther King Jr. quotation in braille that reads: “I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Other pieces that have captured the eye of clients include his New Zealand leather and possum fur Koru Chair, a limited-edition Metal and Timber Side Table with Braille and the 1821 Canterbury table. From cabinetmaker to artist: where one ends and the other begins is not clear. But Ed Cruikshank is represented today by the Hong Kong artist agency Conceptioart. W www.cruikshank.co.nz

Hublot Classico Ultra-Thin Skeleton.

Extra-thin skeleton movement manufactured entirely by Hublot, with 70 hours of power reserve.

Case crafted in a new unique red gold alloy: King Gold. Black rubber and alligator-skin strap. www.hublot.com •

twitter.com/hublot •

facebook.com/hublot

TOB0142/DPS/WD

THE NEW LEXUS LS

THINK Differently CREATE Differently

LS460 F Sport. Overseas model shown

Experience the difference. lexus.co.nz

Gifts Travel

INSPIRATION:

HER GUIDE TO GIVING Is it better to give than to receive? We’d like to think any woman would be happy to receive something from this showcase of gift ideas – or to delight another with her selection.

Hermès E-Zip high-tech case for iPad 2 in Epsom calfskin. www.hermes.com

Hermès 8Gb USB flash drives in Bare Nia calfskin or Swift calfskin. www.hermes.com

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Gucci Matching desktop items. www.gucci.com

Louis Vuitton City Travel Guides. www.louisvuitton.com

Gucci Travel suit carrier. www.gucci.com

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Gifts Home Kelly Hoppen By Welton Parfums Home fragrance candle. www.privato.co.nz

Jo Malone Scent-infused candle. www.jomalone.co.nz

Bottega Veneta Murano stem glasses and water pitcher. www.bottegaveneta.com

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Christian Dior Scarf from 2013 Cruise Collection. www.dior.com

Hermès Scarves in light twill and vintage silk. www.hermes.com

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Gifts Fashion Christian Dior Lady Dior bag in flower sequins and pearl bead embroideries with crocodile handles. www.dior.com

Christian Dior Taupe cap and nylon peak, white silk and wool crepe blouse, lambskin high-waisted trousers.

“Diorissimo” tote in canvas and powder-pink calfskin. Sandals in beige satin and shiny suede. www.dior.com

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Louis Vuitton Speedy Monogram Appliqué handbag from the 2013 Cruise Collecton. www.louisvuitton.com

Hermès Double Tour bracelet (top) and bracelet in Epsom calfskin (left). www.hermes.com

Christian Dior Stretch cotton poplin jacket with stretch cotton poplin straight skirt. www.dior.com

Hermès Dip Dye bracelets in enamel. www.hermes.com

Gifts Beauty Bulgari Omnia Coral body gift set.

La Prairie Life Threads gift set.

Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire fragrance.

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Balenciaga Paris Eau de parfum.

Lancôme La Vie est Belle fragrance.

Bulgari Mon Jasmin Noir L’eau Exquise fragrance

Chloé Eau de parfum and body lotion gift set.

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Gifts Beauty Marc Jacobs Eau de parfum and body lotion gift set.

Christian Dior Vernis nail lacquer.

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty gift set.

Lanc么me Midnight Roses makeup collection.

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Jane Iredale Light Fantastic collection Triple Pearl Powder.

M路A路C Cosmetics Divine Desire Paramour Pink gift set.

NZ Spa Body Milk and Wild Daisy candle gift set.

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Gifts Beauty Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv Since Estée Lauder introduced its first Re-Nutriv skin creme in 1956, it has become a classic. Now the company has launched its new Re-Nutriv Intensive Age-Renewal Collection for 2013.

Cutting-edge science and innovation combine to make these cremes super-potent, as well as making your skin feel plump and luxurious.

Re-Nutriv Intensive Age-Renewal Creme and Re-Nutriv Intensive Age-Renewal Eye Creme pack a threefold punch: they hydrate the skin, reduce lines and re-energise the skin cells. Estée Lauder’s methods are so unique they’ve been patented as RVF-10™ cell-boosting technology, and its ingredients create a dynamic synergy. Resveratrol, an anti-ageing agent found in the skin of red grapes and other fruits, is fused with ferulic acid, a strong anti-irritant, to form a super-molecule. Phormidium persicinum, also known as “rock of life” algae, has reparative benefits and ergothioneine (EGT) is a powerful antioxidant that helps skin build its natural reserves of vitality and protection.

But don’t be bamboozled by the tech-talk. Quite simply, Re-Nutriv cremes feel smooth on your skin, make your face zing and smell delightful with hints of rose, jasmine and white musk.

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速 速

5.04ct Idea l cut F/SI 2 Handmade in platinum

Sterling silver Art Deco period

333 REM UER A ROAD, AUCK L A N D. PHON E 09 520 1092 Available tax free W W W. A N T HEASJEW ELLERS.CO.NZ

Diamond necklace A60-27

Diamond swallow brooch A48-15

Diamond crown brooch A67-30

Art Deco Jewellery Old European-cut diamond cluster ring A51-18

Antheas’ finest collection ever

Flat, elongated ring with emeralds and diamonds A67-42

Oval diamond filigree ring A67-41

Diamond ring A66-12

Diamond and emerald ring A67-15

Jewellers & Platinum Smiths 333 REMUER A ROAD, AUCK L A N D. PHON E 09 520 1092 W W W.A N T HEASJEW ELLERS.CO.NZ

Gifts Jewellery Robinson Designer Goldsmith Beyonce ring. www.rdgnz.com

Cartier Ring from the Animal Movement Collection. www.cartier.com

Pomellato Tabou rings with blue topaz, amethyst and rhodolite. www.orsini.co.nz

Partridge Jewellers White gold Tanzanite ring. www.partridgejewellers.com

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Robinson Designer Goldsmith Colombian emerald ring. www.rdgnz.com

Robinson Designer Goldsmith Tourmaline and savorite ring. www.rdgnz.com

Chopard Precious Temptations ring. www.chopard.com

Partridge Jewellers Multi-colour diamond ring from the Gin Wigmore ‘HALO’ collection

by Nikki Partridge. www.partridgejewellers.com

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Gifts Jewellery Partridge Jewellers Pendant and earrings in white and rose gold from the Gin Wigmore HALO collection by Nikki Partridge. www.partridgejewellers.com

Breguet Reine de Naples earrings, necklace and tiara. www.breguet.com

Cartier Bracelet from the Animal Movement Collection. www.cartier.com

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Gifts Jewellery The Village Goldsmith Argyle pink rose diamond ring (below) and Argyle pink cluster diamond ring (right). www.villagegoldsmith.co.nz

Robinson Designer Goldsmith Double Halo Micro PavĂŠ diamond ring. www.rdgnz.com

Chopard Olive chameleon ring. www.chopard.com

Cartier Ruby ring from the Animal Collection. www.cartier.com

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Pomellato Tabou rings in rose gold and burnished silver. www.orsini.co.nz

Partridge Jewellers White gold ring with Ceylonese sapphire and diamonds. www.partridgejewellers.com

Cartier Creative rings collection. www.cartier.com

Partridge Jewellers Platinum diamond and Madagascan ruby ring. www.partridgejewellers.com

Partridge Jewellers Platinum oval Argyle pink diamond. www.partridgejewellers.com

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Gifts Jewellery Cartier White gold brilliants ring from the Optical Effects, Illusions & Hypnotic Impressions Collection. www.cartier.com

Orsini Jewellers The single classic court shoe designed by Orsini Jewellers features more than $500,000-worth of white diamonds to make it the most expensive shoe in the world. www.orsini.co.nz

Partridge Jewellers Platinum cluster cushion cut diamond ring. www.partridgejewellers.com

Chopard Happy Emotions earrings and ring. www.chopard.com

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GIRARD-PERREGAUX 1966 Annual Calendar and Equation of Time Pink gold case, sapphire case back, Girard-Perregaux automatic mechanical movement.

Annual calendar, equation of time, date, small second.

www.partridgejewellers.com 112 Queen Street, Auckland

☎ 09-309 8925 ✉ info@partridgejewellers.com

Listen up!

Look sharp!

Ashley Kramer presents the latest and greatest in audio and video technology, electronic gadgetry, digital photography and other must-have items for the man with a taste for the very best these holidays.

Living Voice Vox Olympian horn loudspeakers These amazing speakers are designed from the outset to be a true cost-noobject statement product. The shape and materials are said to “evoke the golden age of empirical science; the spirit of the gentleman explorer; an outward-looking, optimistic era when anything was considered possible�.

Each set is handmade to order in England, taking five craftsmen over 2,000 man-hours to build: 1,400 hours for the cabinets and 600 hours for the bronze, silver and gold. The sound quality is apparently out of this world.

Focal Grand Utopia EM loudspeakers The Grand Utopia EM is the flagship of French manufacturer Focal’s impressive range of loudspeakers. Each one weighs in at 260kg, stands over 2m tall and is loaded with state-of-theart speaker technology. It features a unique electro-magnetic motor system for the vast 16-inch woofer, a Beryllium tweeter and a manually adjustable spine that allows the owner to perfectly adjust the sonic sweet spot to their room.

Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems Momentum monoblock power amps People who know hi-fi know Dan D’Agostino as the man behind the legendary Krell amplifier brand, but in recent years he’s moved on to form Master Audio Systems. The utterly gorgeous, range-topping 300-watts-per-channel Momentum monoblock power amps have been created using ground-breaking concepts, modern materials and a fresh-slate design to be his definitive statement on what the modern amplifier should be.

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Listen up! Look sharp!

Franco Serblin Ktêma loudspeakers Any audiophile worth his salt has heard of Sonus Faber, purveyors of some of the most gorgeous loudspeakers ever made. Franco Serblin, the founder of Sonus Faber, has started a new company to bring his audio vision to the world, and the Ktêma speakers are the first release. They’re a fusion of elegance, purposeful design, technology and passion, looking more like a sculpture than high-end audio gear. But, make no mistake, these are world-class speakers.

Well Tempered Lab Versalex turntable Turntable designer Bill Firebaugh is known to take an unorthodox approach to reach audio nirvana and the Versalex is his latest and possibly greatest deck. It’s designed to be as simple as possible.

For example, the new LTD tonearm uses a golf ball suspended in silicone fluid as the pivot, which does away with the need for a complicated bearing system. The Versalex is something of a work of genius but one thing is for sure: like all the Well Tempered Lab turntables, the fantastic sound quality is out of all proportion to the asking price.

Sony XBA-4 multi driver earphones It’s hard to believe, but these earphones from Sony feature four individual speaker drivers per side.

Each of the tiny, balanced armature drivers handles its own part of the frequency range, which means these ’phones reach way down into the fattest part of the low bass and extend all the way to the top of the treble, while offering some of the most richly detailed, crystal-clear sound available without spending megabucks.

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H2OTV Outdoor TV Mounting a big-screen TV outdoors has always been a problem but H2OTV’s purposebuilt outdoor sets are designed to shrug off the worst excesses of New Zealand’s unpredictable climate. They’re weather-resistant and will happily operate in temperatures from -30°C to +50°C. They’re available in sizes from 42-inch to 55-inch, are fitted with anti-glare screens so they’re usable in bright light and come complete with water-resistant speakers and a floating remote control. They’re even fitted with a tough antitheft bracket to make sure they stay exactly where they belong.

Brionvega ts522rc radio cube First manufactured in 1964, the shape and style of Brionvega’s radio cube has remained unchanged for almost five decades, and in a world where the retro look is popular, these masterpieces of Italian design are cooler than cool. The ts522rc is an FM/AM radio with alarm clock functionality and a big sound.

Listen up! Look sharp!

Sony 84-inch KD-84X9005 Bravia 4K TV For those who feel that Full HD TVs are already old hat, Sony has a new top-of-the-range 4K Bravia TV, with an LCD panel that packs in an unbelievable 3,840 x 2,160-pixel display, which means it offers four times the pixels of today’s best 1,920 x 1,080 sets. This 84-inch monster uses Sony’s new X-Reality Pro Engine to render a 4K signal from existing HD content (Blu-ray discs, for example). It also has a dedicated 10-speaker audio system to lift the sound to well above the flat-screen norm.

Bang and Olufsen Beoplay A3 iPad speaker dock From the masters of Danish design comes a premium speaker system for Apple’s iPad. The Beoplay A3 has been created to enhance the rather weedy sound of the iPad by adding depth, width and a real stereo image without adding a huge amount of bulk. It’s powered by a Class D amplifier and uses three tweeters and a woofer, with only two of the tweeters running at a time, depending on the orientation of the iPad. Battery-powered playback time is up to six hours.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet Samsung has taken the modern tablet computer and combined it with a stylus to make interfacing with the Galaxy Note 10.1 as simple as using a pencil on paper. You can edit photos, write notes, illustrate with variable brush weights and sizes and just generally get creative without poking away at the screen with your finger. The Galaxy Note 10.1 still has all the features and power you’d expect from a latest-generation Android 4.0-powered tablet with a fast quad processor.

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 compact camera The holy grail of digital photography is the fullframe sensor. These are usually only found in big DSLR camera bodies, but Sony’s RX1 has a 35mm film-sized sensor that’s far larger than those normally found in compact cameras. This cutting-edge sensor is backed up with a fixed 35mm F2.0 Carl-Zeiss lens, a leaf shutter offering near-silent operation, and a manual aperture ring and dedicated exposure compensation dial for optimal manual control.

Canon 6D DSLR camera Canon’s latest DSLR brings the joys of full-frame DSLR photography to a wider audience. The 6D squeezes a 20.2-megapixel 35mm film-sized sensor into a compact, lightweight and affordable body. The 6D features built-in Wi-Fi and GPS functionality, a 4.5-frames-per-second shooting rate, new autofocus and metering systems, as well as Canon’s superb Full HD video-capture capabilities.

Leica M9 Monocrom camera Photographers have been shooting iconic blackand-white images on Leica cameras for almost 100 years and the new M9 Monocrom is the German manufacturer’s ultimate homage to this time-honoured tradition. It’s a full-frame (i.e. 35mm-sized sensor) interchangeable-lens camera designed to capture only the highest-quality monochrome images.

Because the 18-megapixel sensor doesn’t have to deal with any colour information at all, each pixel can be dedicated to delivering only the sharpest black-and-white photographs imaginable.

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Listen up! Look sharp!

Apple iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, but Apple has still squeezed a huge amount of functionality into that slim case. There’s a super-fast processor, longer battery life, a bigger Retina display, a better camera and a new operating system.

There are even new EarPod earphones designed to make your music sound better, along with a smarter, more helpful version of Siri. What’s not to love?

Apple iPad Mini The iPad Mini is Apple’s phenomenally successful iPad, just shrunk. Featuring a 7.9” display, it’s only 7.2mm thick but still packs in a speedy A5 processor and new-generation ultra-fast WiFi, as well as FaceTime and iSight cameras with Full HD video recording. The iPad Mini will run any iPad app, which means that users can access nearly 300,000 apps from day one.

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BeefEater Signature SL 5 Burner BBQ The Kiwi summer is for baches, beaches and barbecues. When you’ve got the whole family around, plus friends, kids and dogs, and it feels like you’re cooking for an army, then BeefEater’s Signature SL 5 Burner BBQ is just the thing. With five separate burners and a side cooker, this symphony of stainless steel can cope with any number of hungry mouths.

Its super-tough, high-quality construction means this is probably the last barbecue you’ll ever buy.

Kawasaki Ultra 300X Jet Ski When you want serious speed on the water, then you need no less than 300 horsepower, which is what the 2013 Kawasaki Ultra 300X Jet Ski pumps out.

With its supercharged and intercooled, four-stroke motor, the 300X is capable of shattering straight-line speed but it’s also set up for nimble handling and can easily deal with rough water, thanks to a strong yet lightweight hull design. There’s even heaps of storage space, a huge fuel capacity and electronic trim control – as well as a cruise control system.

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Engineered for men who know that the best things in life are complicated.

Portuguese Perpetual Calendar, Reference IW503202, in 18 ct red gold with dark brown alligator strap

F

or as long as anyone can remember, the full moon has been steeped in mystery and legend. It even served Portuguese seafarers as an aid to navigation on the open sea. Its influence on coastal shipping was even more important at new and full moon when high tides are exceptionally high and low tides exceptionally low. Tidal currents have left many a proud traveller/sailor stranded in the shallows. Having a precise idea of the moon phases is still vital for nautical purposes.

The moon exercises magical powers of attraction not only on the world’s oceans but also on us human beings. Many believe it to have an influence over them and numerous cultures hold celebrations during the nights of the full moon. Its fascinating character was the inspiration for the master watchmakers at IWC who developed the Portuguese Perpetual

Calendar. For it shows the course of the moon in a separate display, with mirror reflections for the northern and southern hemispheres. Even if the moon on this miniature stage measures a mere five

millimetres, or about 700 million times less than in reality, it deviates from the moon’s actual progress by just twelve seconds in a given lunar period. With the

For a detailed list of our retail partners in Australia and New Zealand, or for further information please visit www.iwc.com or contact us at +61 2 8215 5577

help of the countdown display, it is an easy matter to read the exact number of days remaining before the next full moon. The 18-carat red gold case houses other sophisticated complications, such as the mechanically programmed perpetual calendar, which, apart from the date, day and month, also shows the year in four digits. The movement, which has a Pellaton automatic winding system, also features a seven-day power reserve.

For IWC, time is more than a series of figures: it is a rhythm. Like the ebb and flow of the tides. Like the waxing and waning of the moon. Like the beating of our hearts. IWC watches transform the abstract notion of time into a sensory experience. And as complicated as our watches may be, the secret of their success is quite simple: they are among the best mechanical timepieces in the world.

IWC. Engineered for men.

THE

World timepieces editor Bani McSpedden reveals the discreet company behind a swag of luxury brands and looks at some of the latest watches in its portfolio.

RICH(EMONT) LIST

I

t’s the company responsible for some of the most opulent watches on earth, yet its name has never appeared on a dial.

We’re talking about Richemont, a fitting name for a company whose riches come from the likes of Cartier, JaegerLeCoultre, IWC and Montblanc, and whose watchmaking efforts reached a peak this year with a watch that operates without oxygen. But more of that in a moment.

As Richemont describes it, it owns “a portfolio of maisons” – luxury businesses that, despite their common ownership, are managed independently to preserve what Richemont calls their “individuality and uniqueness”.

You might say that’s understandable, given that the list includes jewellery houses Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels; watchmakers Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, IWC, Baume & Mercier, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, A. Lange & Söhne and Roger Dubuis; plus diverse brands from Montblanc to Alfred Dunhill, Chloé, Lancel and even net-a-porter.com.

Of course, assembling such a portfolio didn’t happen overnight. Richemont was created in 1988 by the spin-off of international assets owned by the Rembrandt Group of South Africa, a concern that held interests in tobacco, financial services, wines and spirits, gold and diamond mining, along with investments in luxury goods brands Cartier, Dunhill and Montblanc.

Since then, the company has increasingly focused on this segment, moving to outright ownership of a swathe of desirable brands. The ensuing strength of these explains why for the 2012 financial year the company reported sales of

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€8.867 billion (around $14.8bn), with an operating profit for the year of €2.04bn. Riches indeed, but, against this, Richemont is a company also investing in the future, encouraged no doubt by the growth in watch sales and the hunger of brands for progress and innovation.

Nothing illustrates this better than the oxygen-stealing concept watch Cartier released mid-year, the remarkable ID2 (opposite page). The thinking behind this crystal-cased concept piece was based on Cartier’s stated aim of “owning the future of accuracy” and their discovery that 80 per cent of the friction in a mechanical movement is caused by the air it operates in. Armed with this information they decided to remove the air, sucking it out of the case through the crown opening once the specially designed movement was assembled. The resulting 99.8 per cent vacuum means the ID2 uses 37 per cent less energy than it otherwise would. Add to this special planetary gears (as found in helicopters), springs of fibreglass (as in fishing rods) and carbon-coated cogs, and you’ve got a watch that runs for a month, never needs oil, and promises “eternal” accuracy. As for the investment this entailed, while no figures are available, Cartier cites five years’ research and development involving 135 engineers. In other words, millions of dollars.

If breakthroughs such as the ID2 are something to look forward to in the future – yes, Cartier is determined to see its advances appear in less-exclusive pieces – you’ll find overleaf a few of Richemont’s present-day delights, just in time for Christmas. Of course you’ll know them by another name…

Cartier’s groundbreaking ID2 crystal-cased watch operates in a near-perfect vacuum, running for a month and promising “eternal” accuracy.

THE RICH(EMONT) LIST

Jaeger-LeCoultre Rendez-Vous

“Is the eye drawn to the soft relief of the guilloché pattern, dazzled by the sparkle of the diamonds, or captivated by the slow dance of day and night?” asks Jaeger in its inimitable press-presentation speak.

But what first strikes you about this new timepiece from the venerable brand is that, unlike, say, its iconic Reverso, the RendezVous is not rectangular but resolutely round in shape – and roundly appealing because of it. Citing influences from the art deco movement to 1930s-inspired numerals, Jaeger has brought together exuberant style and a fine self-winding proprietary calibre, presented in 29mm and 34mm cases in steel or gold. “More than a watch, an encounter” is their colourful phrase for it.

Piaget Gouverneur

Piaget describes this handcrafted ornament as “a subtle balance between two shapes – round and oval – that are frequently associated and have made their mark on the history of art”. In other words, something you should never tire of looking at. Compared to the brand’s usual exotic jewellery creations, it’s a masterpiece of understatement, despite a 43mm white or pink gold case, a dusting of 128 diamonds totalling 1.4 carats and a dial with sunburst guilloché motif “underlined by thin gold lines”. The workings are no less impressive: a double-barrel, in-house selfwinding movement with an 85-hour power reserve with a pink gold oscillating weight.

An impressive addition to any wrist – female or the new male.

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THE RICH(EMONT) LIST Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950

The special brushed titanium case of this beast promises a resistance to magnetic fields of more than eight times the international standard, thanks to an inner case of soft iron enclosing and isolating the movement. According to Panerai, that’s “useful not only in extreme environmental situations but also in daily life… watches are often exposed to magnetic fields generated by objects such as household appliances, computers and cellphones. [This] can noticeably alter the rate of the watch and even stop the movement.” Now you know. More apparent to the eye is a feature new to Panerai: a bezel faced with opaque black ceramic, on which titanium markers are fixed. The unidirectional bezel fronts a 47mm case housing a self-winding in-house movement offering three days’ power reserve, all good for a plunge to 300 metres – or a foray to your favoured nightspot.

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Rattrapante

While IWC has highlighted its Pilot’s watches this year, not everyone wants cockpit couture. The Ingenieur wraps the brand’s familiar split-second chronograph mechanicals in rather more modern architecture, giving the 46mm piece looks more in common with a Learjet than a Lancaster. Diamond-like carbon-coated screws anchor the bezel to the titanium case, while the chrono controls are black rubber.

Those at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock start, stop and reset the primary seconds hand while the pusher at 10 o’clock operates the splitsecond hand, used for timing laps or two separate events.

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THE RICH(EMONT) LIST Baume & Mercier Capeland Flyback Chronograph

Founded in 1830, Baume & Mercier is the eightholdest watch brand in existence and made its mark by winning more timing competitions than any other Swiss brand. The Capeland Flyback chronograph is a welcome return to those days when watches embraced beauty as well as accuracy.

It’s available with a white dial cased-up in red gold or steel or, new this year, a black-dialed version with gilt Breguet hands. Completing the 1940s look: decorative telemeter and tachymeter scales. At 44mm, it looks sensational without shouting. Inside beats a La Joux-Perret automatic movement with flyback chronograph function – the second hand stops and returns with one press of the button – and date.

Cartier Tank Solo

The Solo joins the ranks of Cartier Tank watches that first appeared in 1917, the case shape inspired by the tracks of World War I tanks. The Solo version has until now featured a quartz movement, but recently gained the same fine mechanicals as those found in Cartier’s Ballon Bleu and Santos ranges. There are versions cased in steel or steel and gold, on leather strap or – less successfully, we think – a bracelet. With its Roman numerals, rail-track minute markers, sword-shaped hands and handsome looks, the Solo promises terrific dash for surprisingly reasonable cash.

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6 DEGREES OF EXHILARATION. The thrill of a 4.4 litre BMW M TwinPower Turbo V8 and 412kW of pure exhilaration. The all-new BMW M6 CoupĂŠ rewards with stunning levels of luxury and styling including a contoured, lightweight, carbon fibre-reinforced roof.

Exuding confidence and commanding respect, it is a true testament to 40 years of BMW M bringing the thrill and flair of motor-racing to the road. With an unmatched level of poise and assurance, it reinforces the fact that we continue to only make one thing, the Ultimate Driving Machine.

THE ALL-NEW BMW M6 COUPÉ.

The all-new BMW M6 Coupé

BMW1975

www.bmw.co.nz

MAGNIFICENT MERC

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A very rare and beautiful 1928 Mercedes-Benz takes the prize at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Photographs by Michael Furman.

T

he perfect car for the virtuoso camera lens of Michael Furman: the 1928 MercedesBenz 680 S Saoutchik Torpedo; an exceptionally rare car and a very beautiful one. This particular example also has the distinction of being named Best of Show at the prestigious 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The judging process at Pebble Beach focuses first on originality and authenticity. Once a car has won its class, it is then judged on design and elegance for the supreme award. For 2012, this car is it.

The Mercedes-Benz 680 S had its origins in motorsport in 1927, but soon entered series production as a luxury sports car. It was available with factory bodywork or as a rolling chassis, ready for custom bodywork from any of the leading coachbuilders of the day.

Russian-born Jacques Saoutchik, formerly a cabinetmaker, founded a top-class French coachbuilding company in 1906. It became famous for its elegant, sometimes extravagant designs for classic automobile marques such as Bugatti and Delahaye.

The 680 S, with its unusually long engine bay, was the ideal base for a Saoutchik design.

He created around a dozen Torpedo roadsters in this style, although no two were exactly the same, as each was built to specific customer order.

Following the stock market crash, this car’s commissioning owner could no longer afford it and never took delivery. It was repainted, from its original grey to bright yellow, to go on display at the New York Auto Salon in 1929. It was sold the same year and remained in

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Jacques Saoutchik’s French coachbuilding company was famous for its extravagant designs. This Torpedo’s current owner restored it to its original condition.

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family ownership from 1929 until 2006.

The current owner submitted the car for a ground-up restoration and returned the vehicle to its original classic colour scheme. The upholstery was also restored to the rather outrageous reptile skin requested by the wife of the first owner.

Under the long bonnet is a 6.8-litre straight-six engine with supercharger, driving through a four-speed gearbox. In 1928, the 680 S was one of the fastest sports cars on the road, and could reach an impressive top speed of 178km/h.

Many features of the Saoutchik Torpedo seem decades ahead of their time. The body is all-aluminium. The sweeping guards and flush wheel covers look ahead to the age of automobile aerodynamics.

The detailing takes on a highly technical appearance and there are no running boards. The hood folds down flush when retracted.

A worthy winner, a work of art and an engaging subject for one of the world’s top automotive photographers. W www.michaelfurman.com

Rolls-Royce Bespoke The sky’s the limit Like a luxurious private jet or superyacht, you don’t just buy a Rolls-Royce, you commission one. From the smallest detail to the boldest statement, there really is no limit to what can be achieved. So whatever you dream of to create your perfect Rolls-Royce, we’ll find a way to make it a reality.

Contact us to experience a car with endless possibilities; a car bespoke to you.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Auckland, 11-15 Great South Road, PO Box 9718, Newmarket, Auckland Tel: +64 9 969 3350 Fax: +64 9 969 3354 www.rolls-roycemotorcars-auckland.com © Copyright Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited 2012. The Rolls-Royce name and logo are registered trademarks.

THE BUGATTI AS ART 94

Classic car photographer Michael Furman pays tribute to one of world’s most revered marques with his images from a great American collection. By David Linklater.

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hotographer Michael Furman will be familiar to readers of World Magazine. For nearly four decades he has been immortalising the world’s most beautiful and important classic cars in exquisite photographs. We featured some of his work and looked at his philosophy last year.

He’s a man who balances the artistic aspects of his photography with a practical edge: appreciating the finer details of a rare automobile is one thing, managing location and the realities of moving priceless vehicles is quite another.

More often than not, Furman takes his skills and equipment to the cars, rather than the other way around. Being so close to car collections in situ provides even more inspiration.

“Photography is about life,” says Furman. He has become intimate with life in the 1920s and 1930s in his work photographing the cars of the Mullin Automotive Museum on Oxnard, California.

The museum focuses on French design of the period: automotive marques housed there include Delage, Delahaye, Hispano Suiza, Talbot-Lago, Voisin and, of course, Bugatti.

Furman has worked with the museum’s collection for three separate books, the most recent being Vitesse-Elegance: French Expression of Flight and Motion. Furman’s images from another in the series, The Art of Bugatti, are featured on these pages.

The focus on Bugatti reflects not only the marque’s importance but also the special place it holds in the Mullin collection. Furman’s photographs, together with accompanying text by French car expert Richard Adatto and Bugatti historian Julius Kruta, bring the museum’s most significant machines to life.

The unmistakable face of a classic Bugatti – in this case a rare 57SC Atlantic from 1936.

Top: Michael Furman shot the images for his Bugatti book at the Mullin Automotive Museum in California.

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Above:The Bugatti Veyron supercar sparked new interest in the illustrious marque. Pictured here (L-R) are the Veyron 16-4 of 2000, a 2006 Veyron and 2009’s Grand Sport. Below: Photographer and artist Michael Furman at work.

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So many of the museum’s treasures have fascinating stories.

In the Mullin collection, for example, is a 1925 Bugatti Type 22 that was discovered at the bottom of Lake Maggiore on the Swiss/Italian border. It was bought by the museum in Paris in 2010 and stands as one of the most important Bugatti discoveries in recent years.

Why is Bugatti so revered? Enthusiasts would no doubt give a number of different answers, but all would agree that the marque’s vehicles represented a unique blend of artistry and advanced engineering.

Ettore Bugatti founded the company in 1909. He came from a family of artists and designers; his father was an important jewellery and furniture designer. That artistic background was evident in his cars, which became famous for their elegant design.

But avant-garde style did not come at the expense of advanced engineering. Hand-finished engine blocks, lightweight construction and intricate wiring were all part of the Bugatti ethos.

Such attention to detail paid off: Bugatti won the first-ever Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.

Bugatti’s classic status and rarity were sadly ensured by the

death of Ettore’s son in 1939, meaning the company could not continue under family ownership. Ettore Bugatti himself passed away in 1947 and the company’s last-ever road car, the Type 101, was introduced in 1951, but only seven examples were produced.

Even if it had ceased to exist there and then, Bugatti would still be remembered as one of France’s greatest automobile marques. But the revival of the brand in the 1990s and the launch of the Veyron in particular (under Volkswagen’s ownership of Bugatti) have sparked even more interest in this illustrious marque.

Museum founder Peter Mullin has a long-held passion for classic French cars – and Bugatti in particular. He is president of the American Bugatti Club and a member of the Bugatti Trust.

The museum became a natural extension of Mullin’s interest in these cars as collector, restorer and even racer. He acquired the museum building in 2006 and remodeled it extensively with architectural and landscaping features appropriate to the classic French machines that now call it home. Beautiful machines like the ones on these pages. W www.michaelfurman.com

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Founded in 1909, Bugatti soon became known for its elegant designs and advanced engineering. The Bugatti 35C of 1927 (above) and 1929’s Type 44 Fiacre (left and below) were splendid examples of the Bugatti ethos.

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Where Passion meets Porsche.

Continental Car Services.

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端ber different.

v40.co.nz

2013

REVEALED

Motoring editor David Linklater previews next years motoring highlights, from the rarest racers to the ritziest Rollers and everything in between.

The McLaren P1 supercar takes much of its technology from Formula 1 racing. Advanced aerodynamics include adjustable flaps behind the front wheels and an active rear wing.

McLaren P1 Twenty years ago, McLaren launched what is still regarded by many as the greatest supercar every made: the F1. For 2013, the maker has stated an aim to create the “next-generation ultimate supercar” with the all-new P1.

The P1 will take much of its technology and character from McLaren’s racing division. It was designed from the outset to prioritise aerodynamic performance and spent many hours in a wind tunnel using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) aerodynamic modelling – just like a Formula 1 car.

The McLaren has much higher levels of downforce than any current road car – approximately five times as much as the smaller McLaren MP4-12C. The large rear wing adjusts automatically to boost downforce and optimise aerodynamics. It can extend rearwards by up to 300mm on a racetrack, and by up to 120mm on the road. The double

element rear wing profile has been developed using exactly the same methods and software as the current McLaren F1 racing car.

The P1 also has a DRS (drag reduction system) function, like a Grand Prix car, to reduce downforce and increase straightline speed. But while an F1 car has a moveable flap in the rear wing, the McLaren P1’s rear wing’s pitch is adjusted.

In addition to the active rear wing, the McLaren P1’s aerodynamic performance is optimised using two flaps mounted under the body ahead of the front wheels. These are also actively controlled, and change angle automatically to optimise performance, boosting downforce and aero efficiency, increasing both speed and driver confidence.

Few technical details have been released, but McLaren claims the P1 will boast power-to-weight of more than 440kW per tonne.

Ferrari FF Ferrari is now so much more than a single supercar. Pursuing a philosophy of “different Ferraris for different Ferraristi”, they have developed a remarkably diverse range of models.

The most recent addition is a revised version of Ferrari’s most versatile vehicle, the FF. The V12-powered, four-wheeldrive, four-seater now sports a new full-length panoramic roof made from a special reflective glass (called LowE) that gives the cabin an open-air feeling while maintaining excellent thermal and acoustic insulation.

Across the entire Ferrari range, power has been boosted by 75kW compared with previous-generation models, yet fuel consumption has improved by 30 per cent. Major gains

have come in the areas of engine technology and structural components, aerodynamics and tyres.

Ferrari is also set to launch its first-ever hybrid model.

The car will feature cutting-edge construction, including a composite chassis derived from its Formula 1 cars.

New Zealand and Australian Ferrari distributor European Automotive Imports (EAI) recently delivered its 1,000th car, a Ferrari 458 Spider. EAI has held the Ferrari distributorship for seven years; when it took over there were 1,500 Ferraris on Australasian roads, meaning that the number of the marque’s models has almost doubled in the period since. Ferrari has been sold in Australasia for the past 60 years.

Ferrari’s radical four-seat, fourwheel-drive FF has gained a panoramic roof made from special reflective glass.

Luckily, no change to the glorious V12 engine.

Maserati GranCabrio MC Maserati’s new GranCabrio range has reached its pinnacle with the MC model. As the name suggests, the Maserati Corsa (MC) version of the GranCabrio is inspired by the marque’s racing models.

In particular, the look of the new convertible picks up many styling cues from the GranTurismo MC Stradale coupé, Maserati’s “racer for the road”, and in turn the fully fledged Trofeo MC circuit machine.

The GranCabrio MC is 48mm longer than the standard car and features a unique front-end designed to optimise aerodynamic lift and flow. Downforce at 140km/h is 10 per cent greater at the front and 25 per cent higher at the rear than the conventional GranCabrio.

The bonnet incorporates two air outlets at the centre to optimise cooling of the V8 engine, and two more air outlets to cool down the brake discs have been added to the two front wings. The engine is the 338kW unit from the GranCabrio Sport, with a six-speed automatic transmission featuring MC Shift software.

Standard on the GranCabrio MC are 20-inch MC Design rims, available in a glossy or matt finish. In addition to being lighter, they feature the traditional Trident, worked into the double-spokes.

The interior features completely redesigned seats. The new structure of both the front and rear seats now incorporates the headrest and is enhanced by an upper, central trim, with a design inspired by the car’s front grille. The frame for the front seat, which is also available in a completely carbon-fibre version, has been redesigned to allow 20mm more legroom for the rear passengers.

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A GranCabrio version of the MC? All the better to hear that outrageous V8 engine. Compared with the standard car, the MC has new front end with improved aerodynamics.

The future is here: i8 Spyder is a key element of BMW’s premium i-brand, with emphasis on sustainability.

BMW i8 BMW is on the brink of launching a visionary new brand called “i”, with two high-tech models that put the focus on high technology and industry-leading sustainability.

The first is the i3, BMW’s first series-production electric vehicle and a model aimed at providing new urban mobility solutions. The second – and surely most exciting – is the i8, a premium sports car that provides high performance with the ultra-low-emissions running of a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

The i8 concept took another step further towards 2013 production with the launch of the Spyder open-top version this year. Aside from a dramatic new interpretation of the i8’s styling, the Spyder also introduced another new brand: “eDrive”, which will be used to identify BMW’s electric and plug-in hybrid cars from now on.

The i8 combines the electric motor from the i3 with a rear-mounted three-cylinder combustion engine producing 164kW/300Nm. It’s capable of near-supercar acceleration (0100km/h in five seconds), but still returns a staggering three litres per 100km in European Combined cycle fuel consumption testing.

The layout of the battery pack and engine ensure that BMW’s traditional 50/50 weight distribution is maintained in the i8. Thanks to the large lithium-ion battery pack that can be charged from a household power supply, the i8 can travel up to 35km on electric power alone.

An integral part of the i-brand will be an additional range of mobility services, which can be used independently of the cars themselves. These will include assistance with locating parking spaces, intelligent navigation services and premium carsharing networks.

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It’s been a very long wait, but Jaguar has finally created a proper successor to the iconic E-Type.

The new F-Type pays homage to the past but also looks to the future, with supercharged engines and a cabin inspired by the aeronautic industry.

Jaguar F-Type It might be ultra-modern, but the new Jaguar F-Type can boast a heritage that stretches back 75 years. The marque has been hinting at a return to sports-car form for some time now: the production F-Type owes its styling and proportions to the C-X16 concept car unveiled in 2011.

The F-Type features a reinterpretation of Jaguar’s angular grille, with the characteristic power-bulge clamshell bonnet. The low, tapered tail – a tip of the hat to the iconic E-Type – is possible thanks to the inclusion of an active rear spoiler. When deployed, it reduces rear-end lift by up to 120kg.

Three different engines will be available, all supercharged: a V6 in two different states of tune and the flagship V8. The body structure benefits from Jaguar’s long-standing expertise in aluminium construction.

The cabin is asymmetric in layout, with a grab handle on the passenger-side separating the two sides. Different trim materials are also used on each side of the interior, with a more technical feel on the driver’s side.

Many of the controls are inspired by aeronautics. The selector for the eight-speed automatic transmission is shaped like a joystick, while the air vents on top of the dashboard will only deploy when required.

For more information on the new 911 Carrera Cabriolet contact Continental Car Services or visit www.porsche.co.nz

Physical values can be measured in the wind tunnel.

Emotional ones only in the airflow.

The new 911 Carrera Cabriolet.

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Citröen DS3 Cabriolet The sky is (almost) the limit when it comes to colour choice for the DS3’s soft-top. The glamour choice is a special blue, with three different woven threads that look different according to the light.

Next year, Citröen will take the top off its highly acclaimed DS3. The DS3 cabriolet maintains the style and sporting flavour of the hatchback model launched back in 2010, but adds a soft top that can be power-operated up to motorway speed, the largest boot in its class and accommodation for five.

The cabriolet also keeps the DS3’s personalisation options, with a selection of three individual roof styles: black, blue and a special DS monogrammed design. The blue is woven from three different-coloured threads, which each react to changing light conditions and create different hues of violet and blue.

Inside, the DS3 cabrio features LED ambient lighting on

the ceiling-mounted console, special white lighting and completely different upholstery to the DS3 hatchback.

The roof takes just 16 seconds to fully close, up to speeds of 120km/h. A button on the ceiling console opens the roof to three positions: intermediate, horizontal and total. Even in the horizontal setting, rear passengers get a clear view overhead.

The DS3 cabrio loses little in performance and handling ability compared with the hatchback. It weighs just 25kg more and maintains the same structural integrity. Aerodynamics are identical, with deflectors on the quarter-light surrounds and a longer spoiler helping smooth out the cabriolet’s body shape.

Citröen DS5

The name may pay homage to a famous model from the past, but there is nothing retro about Citröen’s new DS5.

The latest addition to the premium DS line, the DS5 is designed to appeal as much to the emotional side of car ownership as the rational.

Aerodynamics inform the DS5’s shape. The front end has pronounced air intakes, a chrome grille and intense “gaze” underscored by LED lights.

There’s a unique alternation of gloss blacks and eye-catching chrome-finished details, such as the slender chrome “sabres” that run from the tips of the headlamps to the front windows.

The uniquely styled interior is inspired by the world of aviation; the standout feature is the sweeping cockpit roof, which features pilot-style overhead switchgear. Premium materials such as finestgrain leather are used, including an optional “watchstrap” effect on the seats.

Many familiar luxury-car features have been further enhanced for use in this model. The climate-control air-conditioning has three different flow intensities (while maintaining full automatic status), the glass roof has three individual sections and there is a full-colour head-up display.

Power comes from a sophisticated 1.6-litre turbocharged engine developed in conjunction with BMW, which produces 115kW and 240Nm of torque at just 1,400 rpm.

One of the most visually impressive of Citroen’s new DS line of models, the DS5’s sleek exterior styling has been shaped by aerodynamic function.

Peugeot 208 GTi

It’s a badge that guarantees hot-hatch excitement: next year Peugeot will bring the GTi back with a highperformance version of the new 208. Power comes from a 1.6-litre turbo engine and the suspension has been revamped to match the rorty performance.

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Peugeot’s new 208 will provide the vehicle for the rejuvenation of the most famous badge in hot-hatch history: GTi. The 208 is already the most sophisticated supermini ever built by Peugeot. The GTi adds serious performance and supreme handling ability to the package. The 147kW/275Nm 1.6-litre turbo engine thrusts it to 100km/h in under seven seconds, the suspension has been completely revised and the 17-inch alloys are fitted with high-performance 205/45 tyres.

A fully featured electronic stability control system is standard, but it can be disengaged completely for performance driving and circuit work.

The GTi benefits from the weight-saving technology employed in every 208, aiding both nimble handling and fuel economy.

The GTi’s appeal is also visual. The car wears special body addenda, including a mesh grille, trapezoid chromed double tailpipe and trim on the side window’s lower edge that pays homage to the styling detail of the legendary 205 GTi. Inside, the colour scheme combines red, black and satin finish with special stitching. The seats combine full-grain nappa leather with grippy cloth, while the instrument panel features red detailing and a gloss black chequered motif.

Mercedes-Benz A-Class Mercedes-Benz started with a clean sheet when designing the new A-class. The end result is a model that the brand characterises as “A-for-attack, a clear statement of the new dynamism of Mercedes-Benz”.

The new model is intended to be more emotive in appearance and certainly more sporting in nature: it sits 180mm closer to the ground than the previous model and wears striking feature lines along its body.

The company says that the intention was to carry the exterior style though into the cabin. The car’s information system offers full integration with iPhone and special trim elements, including electroplated “silver shadow”, give this small car an upmarket ambience. Specification/equipment packages include Urban, Style and AMGSport.

For the first time, specialists from AMG, Mercedes-Benz’s official tuning house, were involved in the development of the A-class from the outset. New “engineered by AMG” versions of the A-class will feature special trim, alloys and high-performance brakes. A special AMG front axle and suspension have also been developed.

The ultimate expression of AMG’s influence will be felt in the A45 AMG, a fully fledged high-performance flagship for the new A-class range.

It’s all change for Mercedes-Benz’s A-class. Formerly a tall-bodied city car, the new model has transformed into a low-slung hatchback with a more sporting flavour. The new car will be available with cutting-edge technology and will even come in specific AMG-engineered versions.

Audi A3 Audi’s all-new A3 offers even more passenger space with a wheelbase that’s been extended by 58mm compared with the previous model, yet has barely increased in exterior footprint and is substantially lighter, thanks to the company’s “ultra-lightweight” design philosophy.

A variety of new materials and construction technologies have helped reduce the weight of the third-generation A3 by up to 90kg compared to the previous model. The occupant cell is formed from sections of “hot-shaped steel”, while aluminium is used for the bonnet, guards and axle subframes.

Audi is famous for its high-quality interiors. The cabin of the A3 is designed to convey the look and feel of a much larger luxury vehicle, with details such as sculpted inlays finished in a silver, aluminium or matt colouring depending on the model. An optional 3D-effect Optic inlay produces a glass-like appearance.

Equipment highlights include Audi’s Multi Media Interface (MMI) with an 11-inch power-folding screen, SD-card navigation and a multi-function steering wheel.

The new A3 debuts a number of driver assistance technologies.

At up to 150km/h, adaptive cruise control automatically keeps it the correct distance from the car in front. It includes a stop-and-go function for city driving.

The A3 will also be available with active lane assistance, linked to the electromechanical power steering system which can selfcorrect if necessary. A video camera contributes to road sign recognition.

At speeds below 30km/h, Audi “pre sense front” brakes the A3 Sportback in an emergency with nearly full power. If a collision occurs, a new subsystem is activated: the multi-collision brake assistant. It ensures that the vehicle does not continue to roll uncontrolled.

Third-generation Audi A3 keeps the style and cabin quality the model has become known for, but is now lighter and even better equipped. Driver assistance technologies include adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, active lane assistance and automatic braking.

Volkswagen Golf Mk VII A new Volkswagen Golf is always significant, but this new seventh-generation version is especially important because it starts a whole new generation for the VW Group. It rides on the so-called MQB (Modularer QuerBaukasten) platform, a flexible architecture that will be shared amongst many future models.

MQB and new production techniques have trimmed up to 100kg off the Golf’s kerb weight compared with the outgoing model. This despite the increased size and equipment/safety levels in the new car.

Its overall design is unmistakeably that of a Golf, thanks to a design ethos that has evolved through the decades. Walter de Silva, head of design for VW, says: “One of the keys to the

Golf’s success lies in its continuity. There are a handful of cars with a design that, like the Golf’s, has been refined, tweaked and enhanced down the decades and thus become timeless.”

For the first time, the Golf is also available with driver profile selection, which allows five modes – Eco, Sport, Normal and Individual and Comfort. Each of these modes alters the throttle mapping and engine management (among other parameters) to the chosen style.

Electronic aids available include adaptive cruise driver, a driver alert system and lane-assist. Innovations abound: for example, the centre console can contain a universal cellphone holder with an inductive aerial, which boosts the signal and reduces battery drain.

A brand-new platform means a whole new range of possibilities for the seventhgeneration Volkswagen Golf. Firsts include different driving modes and a driver alert system for improved active safety.

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Range Rover An all-new Range Rover is a major automotive event. The new model boasts all the style and uncompromised luxury of previous models, but is lighter, stronger and even more refined.

The Range Rover is the world’s first luxury sports utility vehicle to be based around an all-aluminium monocoque structure, which has resulted in a massive 420kg weight saving over the previous model. While the traditional powerplants will continue, the Range Rover will also be available as a diesel-hybrid later in 2013.

The new model uses a next-generation version of Land Rover’s Terrain Response system, which analyses the current driving conditions and automatically selects the most suitable vehicle settings. Lightweight suspension architecture provides exceptional wheel articulation. Wading depth has improved by 200mm to 900mm, while its towing ability is 3,500kg.

Luxurious interior features include state-of-the-art highresolution displays with a completely digital instrument panel, eight-inch touch-screen with dual-view capability, soft-close doors, voice control and the option of an Executive Class rear passenger compartment. The cabin has a four-zone climate control system, including a “park heater” timer facility.

The new Range Rover is also fitted with a high-end audio system from British specialist manufacturer Meridian, specially designed for the new model and featuring surround sound.

Light(er), fantastic: the all-new Range Rover has shed up to 420kg thanks to all-aluminium construction. Even more luxurious than before, it boasts improved off-road ability.

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Porsche Cayenne S Diesel Porsche is taking the diesel version of its successful Cayenne crossover up several notches in performance with a new S model.

With a 4.2-litre twin-turbocharged V8 diesel powerplant producing 284kW and 850Nm, it has more torque than any other Cayenne on sale.

The Cayenne S diesel can hit 100km/h in just 5.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 253km/h. Yet it achieves a combined fuel consumption of 8.3 litres per 100km and emissions of 218g/km; it’s also the only V8 diesel sports-utility vehicle in the world to be fitted with stop-start technology.

Based on recorded fuel consumption, the Cayenne S diesel can run 1,200km on a single tank of fuel.

The massive torque of the V8 diesel engine is managed by a Porsche Traction Management (PTM) active all-wheel-drive system.

This system is configured to give the handling qualities of a rearwheel-drive car; torque is directed to the front wheels according to the driving situation. The optional Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) further hones this dynamic performance.

Visually, the new model takes on the look of the eight-cylinder petrol Cayenne S. The brake system has been optimised to handle the car’s power output and can be identified by its silver brake callipers.

Black front intake grilles sit inside the open air inlets.

The new Cayenne S diesel destroys any preconceptions you might have had about Porsche and compressionignition engines. The high-torque V8 gives sports-car performance, yet the Cayenne can still travel up to 1,200km on a single tank.

Styling changes are subtle, but the technology is cuttingedge: new Phantom is the first production car to be fitted with full LED headlights.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II “Take the best and make it better.” So said Sir Henry Royce in the early days of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The latest Phantom Series II has been subtly upgraded to incorporate the latest technology and a select number of thoughtful styling enhancements.

The most significant mechanical change to the car is the new eight-speed automatic gearbox and rear differential combination.

Fuel economy from the direct-injection V12 has improved by 10 per cent as a result and driveability (also known as “waftability” by many marque enthusiasts) is further enhanced.

At the front, Phantom wears new bumpers and rectangular light apertures. The Phantom has become the first production car to be fitted with full Light Emitting Diode (LED) headlights, which provide a characteristic white light and superior illumination.

The adoption of LED lamps has also allowed other technologies to be implemented: curve light functionality, for example, uses electronically controlled reflectors to focus the lights in the direction of travel.

Inside, the Phantom now features a redesigned multi-media controller and larger 8.8-inch colour display. The new satellite navigation system has been fully updated with functions that include 3D maps with landscape topography, guided tours and enhanced points of interest, as well as composite route planning.

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Lexus LS Lexus has launched a new version of its luxury flagship, the LS sedan. True to Lexus tradition, the LS features not only faultless interior quality and finish, but also a number of world-first technology and comfort/convenience features. For the first time, the LS lineup also includes an F Sport model.

For the first time on any production vehicle, Lexus has introduced a “climate concierge” air-conditioning system. This uses infra-red sensors to monitor the facial temperature of each occupant of the car. Using this information, it individually adjusts each sector of the four-zone climate control, seat heaters/coolers and the heated steering wheel to provide each occupant with their ideal environment.

The interior is lit by the world’s first “dynamic illumination system”, with soft white interior lamps and instrument panel lighting that moves and changes in intensity in line with vehicle start-up and switch-off.

As with the previous model, the new LS is available with a conventional V8 powerplant or the Lexus Hybrid Drive powertrain.

The F Sport option introduces a more dynamic character to this super-luxury car, with 19-inch alloys, Brembo brakes, a lateral damping system, sports suspension and a limited-slip differential.

The exterior wears an aggressive body kit and the interior features darker finish and aluminium trim.

As you’d expect of a top-line Lexus, new LS features a number of worldfirst technologies – not to mention an aggressive new F Sport version. LS is available with both V8 and Lexus Hybrid Drive powertrains.

The age of enlightenment.

Audi Ultra lightweight technology. Extraordinary performance.

The new Audi S7 Sportback boasts an impressive fusion of ultra lightweight technology, a cylinderon-demand twin turbo V8 4.0 TFSI engine and, of course, quattro all-wheel drive. The result is truly incredible performance, matched with stunning design. It’s something you have to experience to believe. So why not do just that and book a test drive with Continental Car Services today?

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The annual Monaco Yacht Show is the principality’s most popular event after Formula 1, a must-attend for those pondering exclusive vessels of every variety and only one calibre: the best.

By Jeni Bone.

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he Monaco Yacht Show (MYS), which has just celebrated its 22nd year, is the world’s largest display of superyachts, a mouthwatering showcase open only to industry, sponsors, media and prospective customers.

This year, the event attracted 500 major yachting companies, 103 super and megayachts on water and 26 luxury tenders. Around 30,000 visitors dropped in over the four days and despite turbulent times in Europe and beyond, the Veuve, Cristal and Dom were flowing in the even more rarefied circles above the marina, on balconies resplendent with flowers and the dazzling Med, Riviera and Miami-tanned denizens of the yachting sphere.

In 2012, 37 nationalities were represented, including the leading nations in superyacht manufacture: United Kingdom (84 exhibitors), Italy (73), France (66), The Netherlands (55), Germany (44) and USA (33).

Then there was a collection of high-tech and innovative electronics, gadgets and gear: navigation instruments, marine paints, generators, decking, anchors, winches, masts, spars and more. Add to that the charter businesses, insurance companies, yacht financing services, ports and marinas, crew management agencies, yacht certification and international yacht transport companies exhibiting and you have more than enough to occupy the four days, which at €70 a day constitutes value.

Official sponsor of the 2012 MYS, BMW unveiled its new BMW 7 Series luxury saloon, which was also the official courtesy car of the show, ferrying around VIPs and corporate guests in style. Long-time sponsor Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin showcased a menagerie of collectors’ timepieces and the special limited series “Monaco 2012”.

This year, the average length of the superyachts at the Monaco show reached 46.7 metres for 103 of those exhibited. Forty of them were in the 40m–49.99m range, which constitutes the most popular segment of the market.

This year’s MYS attained a record of six megayachts on show, at an average length of just over 80m – four of them new deliveries for the 70m-plus segment: Nirvana (Oceanco shipyard, 88.5m), Hampshire II (Feadship Van Lent, 78.5m), Smeralda (Hanseatic Marine, 77m, exhibited by Burgess) and Mogambo (Nobiskrug, 73.51m).

Impressively, the largest yacht on show was the megayacht Athena, built by Dutch shipyard Royal Huisman and delivered in 2004. At 90m, Athena is one of the world’s largest three-masted schooners, with 2,500 square metres of sail.

This luxury sailing yacht can host 12 guests with 22 crew on board and is currently for sale through broker Y.CO for €72 million.

Not far behind, Nirvana was the largest 2012 delivery. Making her world debut at this year’s event, Nirvana was designed by Australian Sam Sorgiovanni and boasts six decks, a 150sqm owner’s suite, five guest cabins, a crew of 26, a fully equipped gym and 3D cinema.

The garage hosts a large array of tenders and water sports equipment: two 11m tenders, one 8.5m ski boat, six jet skis and four wave runners. Next to the garage is a generous watersports storage area packed with diving equipment. Most exquisitely – and ideal for any aspiring Bond villain – Nirvana comes complete with two vivariums that are home to chameleons, water dragons, bearded lizards, turtles and exotic frogs.

The award winners at this year’s event, presided over by yacht show patron and Monte Carlo monarch Prince Albert II of Monaco, were three stand-out superyachts: the 2012 MYS design award went to sailing yacht Vertigo (67.2m, Alloy Yachts New Zealand) for its unrivalled design by French naval architects Philippe Briand and Christian Liagre.

With Briand and Liagre (known for their interior design work on the palatial

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homes of Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld and Kenzo) aboard, Vertigo is the culmination of Alloy Yachts’ 25 years’ yachtbuilding experience, a masterpiece noteworthy for its sheer scale and scope.

The first rounds of design started in June 2004. Construction began in September 2008 and delivery took place in early 2011.

The owners’ brief was to create an “urban at sea” environment.

They wanted an abundance of light, enhanced by the mostly white-lacquered surfaces, accented by dark-stained walnut and even black-stained oak sandblasted for effect. Vertigo is lined by windows, some of which can be opened for fresh breezes. The 30m-long indoor-outdoor space created by the saloon and cockpit accentuates the spaciousness.

As well as generously sized quarters, Vertigo has an onboard classroom on the main deck and a children’s cabin that’s truly a kids’ paradise, with bunk beds and a plethora of entertainment options.

Her owners didn’t just want a luxury sailing yacht, but a true sailing platform. Thanks to an innovative hull design and sail configuration, Vertigo can achieve 20 knots with a true wind speed of 20 knots. Under power, the twin 1,450-hp Caterpillars enable her to hit 17 knots and cruise at 12 knots.

The largest construction by the New Zealand shipyard, Vertigo was crowned by media and industry, with three awards for design and technical excellence – World Superyacht Awards Sailing Yacht of the Year, Best Sailing Yacht 40m and over and winner of the 2012 ShowBoats Design Awards.

At MYS, the design award trophy, a superb crystal glass sailing yacht, was made by MYS partner Baccarat.

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The two other awards were the Green Star Class 2012 certificate for boats built in compliance with rigorous environmental standards, which went to Better Place (50.5m, Wally) and Aslec 4 (45m, Rossinavi) and were designated by Italian ship classification company RINA. The world’s largest carbon-fibre sloop, Better Place was built by avant-garde shipyard Wally. Bearing the distinctive Bugatti blue on her exterior lines, Better Place is also the first sailing yacht to meet the environmental requirements of RINA’s Green Star class.

Developed on the lines of Tripp Design with interiors by Wetzels Brown Partners, the Wally 50m touched the water in May in Ancona, Italy, where the yacht was built at the WallyEurope facility using the most advanced carbon-fibre construction technology.

“With Better Place, once again Wally opens a new route in yacht design and innovation,” said Luca Bassani Antivari, Wally founder and president and head of R&D for the company.

“We succeeded in delivering an environment-friendly and breakthrough Wally 50m with aggressive and sleek lines of a true performance sailing yacht, rather than the motor sailer look typical of this class of yachts.”

Better Place introduces innovative concepts in round-theworld mega-yacht cruisers, such as big volumes associated with ultra-light displacement, the latest diesel-electric propulsion system, staysail simplified system, deckhouse with full-height windows, uniquely large open-air living areas, raised bulwark, aft owner’s suite with portholes and hatches on four sides and direct access to the Terrace-on-the-sea.

Opposite page: The Monaco Yacht Show is the world’s largest display of superyachts.

This page: Built

by Alloy Yachts New Zealand, the 67.2m Vertigo took the 2012 MYS design award for its unrivalled design by French naval architects Philippe Briand and Christian Liagre. Vertigo was also crowned by the media and industry with three awards for design and technical excellence.

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At 50.5m, the Wally-designed Better Place is the world’s largest carbonfibre sloop. Its green credentials include diesel-electric propulsion technology for extra power efficiency and lower fuel consumption.

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Her creators state her green credentials far exceed RINA requirements. “Better Place is the first sailing yacht equipped with the latest diesel-electric propulsion technology to increase power efficiency and reduce consumption, noise and vibration, as well as the ordinary maintenance of the propulsion system,” said Antivari. “705kW power is produced by three generators, with the opportunity to convert some hydraulic services into electrical ones, such as the inner stay furler and the sheet tensioning devices.”

Also in the green theme, the classic-lined J-Class sailing yacht Rainbow is testament to the convergence of green thinking and owners’ desires meshing in a superyacht.

Based upon the lines of the original America’s Cup winner in 1934 (which was scrapped for its metal for the war effort in 1940), this 40m, all-aluminium yacht features an art deco-

inspired interior and a unique hybrid propulsion and power system inside a racing-boat hull, all topped off by a grand prix racing deck and rig.

Redesigned and optimised by Dykstra and Partners Naval Architects based on the original design by William Starling Burgess, Rainbow pushes the technical boundaries and shows designers and owners what’s possible.

The owner wanted an advanced hybrid system aboard that would enable silent nighttime cruising under battery power.

Considered one of the most advanced hybrid propulsion systems afloat, it’s a marine version of the Toyota hybrid engine, custom-made by Holland Jachtbouw shipyard and Whisper Power.

Dates for the 23rd Monaco Yacht Show are 25–28 September 2013. www.monacoyachtshow.com W

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SEASCAPE New Zealanders and Australians lead the way in cruising, the fastest-growing segment of the global travel market. Tom Hyde looks at some tempting itineraries.

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t’s like a fact from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. But you better believe it. According to the International Cruise Council of Australasia, 56,749 New Zealanders had a cruise holiday in 2011 – a whopping 32 per cent increase over 2010. Figures for Australia are even slightly higher, but altogether New Zealand and Australia share the highest cruise passenger growth rate in the world over recent years. Globally, more than 20 million people took a cruise for the first time in 2011.

This summer more than 100 cruise ships are scheduled to dock in Auckland. That’s an average of about one a day during 2013 – including the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria; the first time all three ships will arrive here in the same year.

No matter how you look at it, more and more people are taking to the high seas. And as demand has grown, so has the quality of service, the number of destinations and the range of onboard activities and onshore excursions.

Joining a cruise from this part of the world has often meant booking a return long-haul flight too. But given the new demand from Downunder, more luxury liners are coming to us, eliminating the need to first get over jet lag before you can start enjoying your voyage.

Using Auckland as our port of departure or arrival, we’ve sifted through the many cruise options coming up in the near future to offer suggestions for five cruise lines and itineraries we think you’ll enjoy. For the full range of cruises throughout 2013, including those with some flying time involved, we include websites for your own online research. Happy sailing!

All aboard: Auckland is the start or finish point for your cruise itinerary.

Seven Seas Voyager is one of three mid-sized luxury ships operated by Regent Seven Seas.

Regent Seven Seas Ship: Seven Seas Voyager Itinerary: Auckland to Sydney Nights: 15 Departs: 9 January 2013 The most inclusive cruise experience you will find, in so far as everything is included in the price. Many departures include a pre-cruise hotel stay with transfer to the ship, a welcome bottle of champagne, meals and beverages (including fine wines and spirits, private minibar and 24-hour room service), all onboard activities, live entertainment, access to the gym and Canyon Ranch Spa, unlimited shore excursions and gratuities – you’ve paid it all upfront. Seven Seas Voyager is one of three mid-sized luxury Regent Seven Seas ships that carry between 490 and 700 passengers and provide the personalised service for which the line is famous. Choose from 14 types of suites, each with a marble bathroom, sitting area, walk-in closet and wireless broadband. All but a few have private balconies.

Onboard amenities include four restaurants, three lounges, a coffee shop, internet café and a poolside grill. Four days are spent at sea. Ports of call include Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Hobart, Melbourne and finally Sydney.

Onshore excursions are a treat. In Melbourne, for example, options include a city tour, a gardens tour, a bird-watching expedition and a vintage train ride. www.rssc.com

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Life aboard Marina is relaxed and casual but service quality is high, with 800 staff for 1,250 passengers.

Oceania Cruises Ship: Marina Itinerary: Papeete to Auckland Nights: 18 Departs: 7 February 2013 Marina is one of four ships in the Oceania fleet, launched just two years ago and “one of the most beautiful, elegant and sophisticated ships to debut in the last 50 years”, as the brochure says. The ship cruises at 20 knots and carries up to 1,250 passengers and 800 staff. That’s a highly attentive staff-to-passenger ratio of 1.57 to 1.

Onboard, the lifestyle is casual, meaning this is more like a floating country club than a ship. The ambience is relaxed and unpretentious. If there were a single onboard highlight it might be be food and wine, because Oceania’s executive culinary director is none other than Jacques Pépin, author of more than 20 cook books and one of America’s original television celebrity chefs. La Reserve by Wine Spectator is among six restaurants, and for passengers inspired to learn more about food and wine there are regular cooking classes and wine tastings at the Bon Appétit Culinary Centre. The Artists Loft holds classes in painting and other art forms.

Marina’s specialty restaurants, including the famed Polo Grill, the new Asianthemed Red Ginger and Jacques – named for chef Jacques Pépin and serving French country cuisine – are all available as open seating, with no additional surcharge.

This cruise calls at Bora Bora, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Bay of Islands, Tauranga and finally Auckland. www.oceaniacruises.com World Magazine

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Crystal Symphony’s Auckland to Sydney leg features a Wine and Food Festival with tastings galore.

Crystal Cruises Ship: Crystal Symphony Itinerary: Auckland to Los Angeles Nights: 98 Departs: 26 January 2013 You can choose to spend three months onboard and call it a true “trip of a lifetime”. But if you don’t have that much time (or money) to spare, you may wish to experience one or more of the eight legs of this Pacific Rim journey: Auckland to Sydney (13 days); Sydney to Bali (12 days); Bali to Singapore (12 days); Singapore to Hong Kong (16 days); Hong Kong to Beijing (10 days); Beijing to Kobe (10 days); Kobe to Vancouver (18 days); or, finally, Vancouver to Los Angeles (seven days).

Each leg of the journey has a specific theme, with onboard experts adding to the enjoyment. The Auckland to Sydney leg, for example, features a Wine and Food Festival with cooking classes and wine tastings led by the likes of Australian Restaurateur of the Year Greg Doyle and New Zealand’s first and only Master Sommelier, Cameron Douglas. You don’t have to be a wine and food buff to enjoy the host of other learning activities, from classes in Nordic walking to digital filmmaking using an Apple iPad. The ship’s Computer University@Sea speaks for itself.

Our guess is few passengers remain on board for the entire 98 days. But whether your cruise is for a week or months, every passenger receives stateroom accommodation and service of an extremely high standard. The secret of success aboard Crystal Symphony lies in the details, like Villeroy & Boch china and Riedel crystal and fine dining created by internationally renowned Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa. Innovative onboard activities like the Creative Learning Institute and a seemingly endless choice of inspirational onshore excursions enliven mind and body. The fare can include onshore stays in five-star hotels. www.crystalcruises.com

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Queen Elizabeth has 12 bars and 10 restaurants and your suite type determines where you eat your dinner.

Cunard Line Ship: Queen Elizabeth Itinerary: Auckland to Southampton Nights: 47 Departs: 20 February 2013 This cruise, you might think, harks back to the days when the only way to travel to England was by sea. Comfort and service, we suspect, is a little better now. The grand Queen Elizabeth, one of three Queens of the Cunard Line (Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria being the other two) was launched by Queen Elizabeth II herself in October 2010.

The ship sails between Auckland and Southampton but calls at Tahiti, Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, Los Angeles, Florida and New York along the way, as well as taking in the Panama Canal. But no matter where you chose to disembark, onboard activity and rules remain the same. The ship has a guest capacity of 2,068 and a crew of 1,005, with nine categories of accommodation, 12 bars, 10 restaurants and cafés, two swimming pools and a menu of entertainment, from mild-mannered games (e.g. croquet, bowls) to film evenings, a book club and, if you’re feeling lucky, a casino.

A host of onshore excursions is offered at every port, but keep in mind that Queen Elizabeth is not an “all inclusive” ship – which means alcohol, gratuities and onshore excursions are extras. The easy part is dealing with your total spend just once: when you disembark.

The suites are beautiful and the several restaurants serve only the finest food and wine.

Cunard operates a three-tier system for evening meals, meaning that the suite you choose determines where you dine. Guests staying in one of the Britannia Suites, for example, dine in the Britannia Restaurant. Standards matter, so there’s a dress code for evening meals. Men are encouraged to bring a black tie for formal evenings and a jacket and tie for semi-formal nights. But then, what would a voyage on one of the world’s most elegant ships be without a touch of royal glamour? www.cunardline.com.au World Magazine

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Silver Shadow carries just 328 passengers and offers a high degree of comfort and personalised service.

Silversea Ship: Silver Shadow Itinerary: Auckland to Sydney Nights: 14 Departs: 18 January 2013 The major distinguishing feature of this cruise is the size of the ship: Silver Shadow carries just 382 passengers. The vessel is one of a fleet of six small luxury ships operated by Silversea, a multiple award-winner in the “best small-ship cruise line” stakes. Silversea offers all the onboard activities and onshore excursions of larger ships but with fewer guests, so the experience tends to be more personal.

Silver Shadow features nine categories of suites, including the Owner’s Suite, which is actually more like an apartment, with one or two-bedroom configurations, separate living and dining areas and a private teak-wood veranda for that sunset flute of champagne. All suites have ocean views, 85 per cent with private verandas.

All have personal butler service.

The ship’s Italian décor combines touches of art deco to evoke the glamour of the 1930s.

There is open-seat dining in a choice of five restaurants, so you dine when, where and with whom you wish at all times. (For a complete overview of the restaurants, bars and other amenities check out “Public Areas” on the website.)

Fares include all drinks, champagne, cocktails and beverages throughout the ship – not just with lunch and dinner. Each suite has a drinks cabinet stocked with your personal wines, spirits, and champagne choices. All gratuities are included and every guest receives onboard spending credits to cover spa treatments, internet access packages, shore excursions and boutique purchases.

This is the perfect cruise for anyone looking to capture the essence of New Zealand in one swing. Silver Shadow calls at the Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Napier, Picton, Akaroa, Stewart Island and Milford and Dusky Sounds before crossing the Tasman to Melbourne. It arrives in Sydney after a final full day at sea. But hurry – we’re told it’s filling fast. www.silversea.com

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HERE’ S TO THE DUKE!

New owners have given New Zealand’s first licensed hotel a new look and a new menu. But Russell’s Duke of Marlborough remains a Bay of Islands icon.

By Tom Hyde.

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ike the Big OE, only closer to home, a holiday stopover at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell is a Kiwi rite of passage. A trip to the Far North of New Zealand without a pit-stop at “The Duke” is like a wedding without the bride. Certainly, competitive sailors know this, because Russell is the finish line for two of the largest regattas of the year – a Labour Weekend race from Auckland and a New Year’s Day race over the same course. After some hard sailing, The Duke is where they gather to recount their tales of the high seas, just as they’ve been doing here for more than 150 years.

Over Labour Weekend in late October, 1,500 mad-keen sailors congregate here after a run the quickest catamarans complete in under six hours. The restaurant and bar and two special function rooms are emptied of tables and chairs and filled with a shoulder-to-shoulder rally of seafarers. The gathering carries echoes of the heady days of the 19th century, when The Duke played host to whalers enjoying their first taste of grog after up to a year at sea, although today’s sailors are – for the most part – better behaved.

This historic waterfront property, together with its public bar one block back, is today owned by four former Otago University friends (now husband and wife and partners) who once made it a mission in life to spend New Year’s Eve there.

Anton and Bridget Haagh were passing through again on a summer holiday not so long ago, only to find the food and service left a lot to be desired. There was no table service and the food, when it was finally served up, was very average tucker. All drinks had to be ordered at the bar – all quite unbecoming of the venerable Duke.

Looking out on the pristine waters of the Bay of Islands, the Duke of Marlborough has been New Zealand’s favourite waterfront pub for more than 150 years.

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Clockwise from top left: The Duke crest encapsulates the hotel’s heritage and local history; fireside at The Duke; historical pictures line the walls; restaurant manager and mixologist Jay Radcliff; Waterfront guest room; Duke Bar and marlin – one of New Zealand’s only original skinned marlin; Duke of Marlborough Restaurant.

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Their thumbs-down critique of the hotel was more than a layman’s reaction. They are smart business people and, more to the point, were partners at the time in two Auckland Viaduct Harbour restaurants. Anton had made his career in the hospitality industry developing new bars and restaurants for DB Breweries and had later become operations manager of the Nourish Group, owners of the award-winning Viaduct restaurant Euro and a swag of other popular restaurants and bars around New Zealand.

The Haaghs’ disappointing visit to The Duke that summer turned out to have an upside, however: the business was on the market.

Half an acre on the waterfront at Russell does not come cheap, though, especially when it includes New Zealand’s very first licensed hotel. By chance, two former Otago University friends, Riki Kinnaird and Jayne Shirley, were living in London but wanted to move back to New Zealand and were looking for something to do. Riki had a background in marketing and finance; Jayne in banking and human relations.

The two couples shared a passion for the old hotel, so much so that they sold their houses and risked their life savings to buy it.

They took over in May 2010 and were eager to refurbish the interior – only to discover that the roof leaked and had to be completely replaced. Inside and out, the place needed a paint job, so they did that. Soon, specific roles emerged and Jayne, wearing the accommodation hat, led a complete refurbishment of the 25 guest rooms upstairs.

Incredibly, all of this work was done and dusted by the time 150 South Africans turned up for the Rugby World Cup. In fact, before the RWC was over, the newly refurbished Duke of Marlborough had hosted every team and many of their supporters.

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Duke of Marlborough Restaurant dishes feature fresh local and seasonal produce such as Black Angus filet mignon (above) and Roasted lamb rack.

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Activity. We’d been putting the car through its paces during a threehour journey from Auckland that had been effortless, despite the gloomy weather that required us to keep the car’s xenon headlights on all the way.

(Tech note: on arrival at Russell the eight-speed automatic had used less than a half a tank of diesel, partly due to its automatic stop-start function. When the vehicle comes to a stop at, say, a traffic light, the engine shuts down. When we arrived back in Auckland the next morning the tank was still a quarter full. Needless to say, we were not towing a boat, but we could have: towing capacity is 2,000kg.)

On the day we arrived, The Duke’s owner-manager quartet was busy organising dinner for 150 corporate guests due in that evening by ferry from Paihia. Corporate functions have become more common here since the takeover. Likewise, more holidaymakers are coming by ferry from Paihia for lunch or dinner, because you don’t have to stay at the hotel to experience what may be the best food and service in the Bay of Islands.

The hotel’s executive chef, Daniel Fraser, was recruited from Simon Gault’s Euro, where, as senior sous chef, he oversaw the expansion of that prized Viaduct restaurant from 100 to 300 seats.

We suspect the food at the Duke has never been better.

We let Chef Dan decide for us. The Black Angus filet mignon, washed down with a 2008 Yalumba Coonawara Cabernet Sauvignon, was perfect. The wine menu, we noted, mostly features New Zealand wines and a Central Otago Pinot Noir would have complemented our mains nicely. But we were on a 24-hour break from city life so the “big, delicious Aussie red” – as it was described to us – was a welcome break from familiar tastes.

With 150 corporate guests about to arrive for a raucous break

Clockwise from above left: Private dining room, popular with small parties or conferences; Razor back wild boar; Assiette of banana; Northland fish of the day.

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From above: Sunset on the bay; Orongo Bay oysters are a sought-after delicacy of the area.

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from sales figures, we retreated to our pre-booked room upstairs. With only 25 rooms, the new Duke is often fully booked on weekends in winter and throughout the entire week during summer.

Before calling it a night, however, we enjoyed a nightcap at the period-piece bar – one of the few interior features the new owners left untouched, apart from giving it a new shine. We took the time to look over the bar’s collection of historic photos, which tell more of the story of this iconic hotel.

Many of the photos have big-gamefishing as their theme. Tales of blue, black and striped marlin (among other species) are as integral to the story of the Bay of Islands as whaling, sailing and the Treaty of Waitangi and one picture shows the American adventure writer Zane Grey posing with 10 marlin he caught in the bay in one day during the 1920s.

By chance, the Russell Museum, just along The Strand from the hotel, was featuring an exhibition devoted to Zane Grey’s stay in the Bay of Island in the 1920s and 30s. The exhibition may have run its course by the time you read this, but you can still get a feel for the thrill of big-game fishing at the Swordfish Café, a mere long-line away from the hotel along The Strand.

Here you can enjoy a pint on a hot summer’s day while marvelling at the massive 461kg blue marlin on the wall caught by Ron Grieg in 1968. It’s just one of several big fish mounted there and they inspire you give big-game fishing a try, Anton Haagh at the Duke can hook you up (pun intended) with a mate of his who happens to own the Alma G, the same boat from which Zane Grey caught his 10 marlin all those years ago.

Or perhaps you prefer golf. The Waitangi Golf Club, with some of the most scenic holes in the country, can be seen directly across the bay. Further north, a mere 30-minute drive from Paihia, you’ll find Kauri Cliffs, arguably the best golf course in New Zealand and one of the top 100 courses in the world according to Golf Digest magazine.

One final point must be made about the Duke: for all the makeover the new owners have successfully achieved, it remains Classic Kiwi: it’s classy without being elitist; stylish without being stuck up. “We judge people on how they behave, not how they look,” Anton Haagh told us. It’s old-fashioned egalitarianism, where all guests are treated to the same quality service whether they turn up in handmade Italian leather loafers or gumboots. W www.theduke.co.nz

SWEET TOOTH

Who doesn’t love chocolate? This chocolateria and café in Warkworth is reason enough to head north. By Tom Hyde.

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f you’re looking for a different kind of gift for the holidays (or any occasion for that matter) you cannot go wrong with the handmade delights you’ll find at the boutique Chocolate Brown Chocolateria and Cafeteria on Mill Lane in Warkworth. Chocolate Brown is a small factory, retail shop and café that’s become a major incentive to visit the riverside town an hour’s drive north of Auckland.

It’s no coincidence that a new supermarket has just opened across the street from Chocolate Brown.

The region around Warkworth, Matakana and Omaha Beach seems to be growing faster than any other part of New Zealand, much of the growth encouraged by a new highway and tunnel that has turned a once tedious coastal drive through Orewa into a breezy commute to and from Auckland. The Matakana Farmer’s Market and the Matakana Wine Trail are popular day trips from the big smoke and, unlike many golf clubs, Warkworth GC does not appear to be struggling for new members.

So when the owners of Chocolate Brown, Steve and Donna McClean, decided to move their business from Queenstown to Warkworth two years ago, their

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Chocolate Brown’s team of chocolatiers make more than 100 flavours of chocolate at the Warkworth factory. The Cafeteria, meanwhile serves brunch and lunch daily – and a house hot chocolate that’s “not for the faint-hearted”.

timing could not have been better. The café serves a fine breakfast and lunch, while in a small factory out the back, the McCleans lead a dedicated team of talented chocolatiers who make more than 100 flavours of chocolate, with no preservatives.

All chocolates are made fresh each day from gourmet Belgium Barry Callebut chocolate and fillings are created on site. Gift boxes, love chocolates, wafers and bars, gluten-free chocolates, chocolate truffles, Florentines, soft caramels, handmade fudge and even cute chocolate cups to hold fillings from ice cream to chocolate liqueur – it’s not surprising Chocolate Brown won the New Zealand Food Snacks and Confectionery Award that’s held every year in association with Massey University. Whatever they make, they sell from their street-front shop (or online from the Chocolate Brown website). Christmas specialties include handmade caramel Christmas figurines, liqueur cherries and mulled wine truffles.

The Chocolate Brown story and its wide range of irresistible delights can be found on the website. W www.chocolatebrown.co.nz

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SHAKEN OR

STIRRED? Not so long ago, someone told us the martini was ‘back’.

We were surprised to hear this, because from our bar stool we’d never seen it leave. By Tom Hyde.

Photos by Shaun Pettigrew.

N

o other cocktail is more framed by legend than the martini. This rather simple mix of gin (or vodka) and vermouth, garnished by an olive or lemon twist, has been associated with more famous people and generated more immortal quotes than any other.

Yet no one really knows for certain where it came from or who first created it. The most common story is that it originated in the 1860s in San Francisco at a hotel men drank at before crossing the bay to a town called Martinez.

Another claims its genesis as a New York hotel in the 1920s.

Whatever the truth, the martini conjures up a rush of associations and has spawned many famous lines, from James Bond (“shaken, not stirred”) to 1930s Savoy Hotel cocktail legend Harry Craddock (“stirred, not shaken”) and comedian George Burns (“I never go jogging. It makes me spill my martini”). The most glorious martini quatrain of all came from the pen of celebrated writer and wit Dorothy Parker: “I like to have a martini, two at the very most. Three I’m under the table, four I’m under my host.”

With these words of warning ringing in our ears, we headed out to five of Auckland’s latest-generation bars to sample some new twists on the classic martini…

Talei from Cowboys in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour rattles a mean cocktail shaker, but martinis here are stirred, not shaken.

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1885, Britomart Precinct Ambience: Two bars. One, letting directly off the street, has an industrial feel, like a converted warehouse; the other, where we staged our tasting, is a dark basement hideaway.

Martini: Espresso.

Method: Serve in any type of glass you like, but chill it with ice before adding the mixture.

1 oz espresso coffee 1 oz Absolut Vanilla Vodka 1 oz Patron coffee liqueur Shake over ice, strain and pour. Garnish with 1 to 3 whole coffee beans.

Mea Culpa, Ponsonby Road Ambience: Small, rustic, off-street bar, intimate and personable, where we were told it’s bad luck to serve a martini with an even number of olives.

Martini: 1951.

Method: A coupe – the traditional wide-brimmed champagne glass – is commonly rinsed with an orange liqueur before adding: 60ml No. 3 London Dry Gin ½ oz Cointreau over ice 6 ml Noilly Pratt (original French dry vermouth) Shake over ice, strain and pour.

Stir and add 3 anchovy-stuffed green olives.

Montage, Pt Chevalier Ambience: Housed in the foyer of a former cinema, posters of classic films adorn the walls of this old-style neighbourhood bar with a cinematic theme.

Martini: Breakfast on James Street.

Method: A special “morning tea”, barman Dan Allen created this one for the morning after.

It’s most important, however, not to rush things.

45ml Earl Grey tea infused with No. 3 gin (3 tsp tea per 700ml gin, infused for three hours, stirring on the hour.)

15ml Cointreau 30ml lemon juice 1 tsp orange marmalade 20ml simple syrup Shake and double strain into martini glass rimmed with crushed ginger.

Shanghai Lil’s, Parnell Ambience: East meets West in 1920s Shanghai. As eclectic as it is exotic.

Martini: Daisy Apple Blossom.

Method: Served in a classic martini glass and shaken over ice, this fruity diversion is a mix of: 1 oz Smirnoff Apple Vodka dash of Sourz Spirited Apple liqueur ½ oz butterscotch liqueur.

Cowboys, Viaduct Harbour Ambience: Yee-ha! The American West reborn.

Martini: Classic.

Method: Fill a classic martini glass with ice to chill.

Once chilled, toss the ice out and rub the inside of the glass with lime juice, adding: 2 oz No. 3 London Dry Gin (“Best gin in the world,” said the barman) ½ oz Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth olives a lime twist Stirred, not shaken, pour over ice and serve.

FRODO

WAS HERE Wellington’s reputation as ‘Capital of Cool’ has grown under the influence of Sir Peter Jackson’s Miramar film empire, and the upcoming release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is sure to raise the buzz.

Patrick Smith checks in.

W

hen Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie arrived home from Hollywood after his win at the 2012 Academy Awards, friends and family laid on an “unofficial Oscars” party in Wellington.

The surprise bash was held at the Roxy Cinema in Miramar, a Hobbit stroll away from Sir Peter Jackson’s film studios, the Weta Workshop, its Weta Cave showcase and other significant outposts of the Middle Earth industry.

The Roxy, which opened in April last year, is a modern art deco masterpiece and the undisputed star of Miramar, a suburb that has taken on new life thanks to the influence and patronage of the local film business. In fact, among the Roxy’s passionate stakeholders are three other Oscar winners: Weta Workshop founders Sir Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger and film editor Jamie Selkirk.

The Grand Lobby Gallery of the rebuilt and lavishly refurbished cinema was the perfect venue for the McKenzie party, held beneath a fabulous 1930s-future ceiling fresco created by Weta illustrator and designer Greg Broadmore, whose handiwork also includes gleaming golden robots that hark back to the 1927 sci-fi classic Metropolis.

A small, beautifully wrought cocktail bar serves drinks and ice cream – both of which can be taken into the Roxy’s two cinemas, each boasting state-ofthe-art Dolby 3D technology. There’s live music in the Grand Lobby a couple of nights a week and a screen can be lowered for showing free silent movies.

Downstairs, a marble-floored lobby leads to the Roxy Foyer Café and a 60seat restaurant and lounge bar called Coco at the Roxy. Behind a long bar, with its fabulous green and cream Elektra coffee machine, is an heroic painting of

The Roxy Cinema in Miramar pays tribute to the golden age of film, while its restaurant, Coco, serves global cuisine in an art deco setting.

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Clockwise from above: A painted mural behind Roxy’s long bar shows Miramar past; Roxy Cafe greets visitors with tempting eats and great coffee; the Grand Lobby’s ornate ceiling was created by a Weta artist.

Miramar past; at its centre the long-defunct Capitol Theatre, which showed films on this site from 1928 to 1964.

“The idea of the Roxy was to help create a love of Miramar and of Wellington,” says Valentina Dias, who with husband Daminda is another of the tight group behind the Roxy’s success (others include Jamie Selkirk’s wife Ann, film-lover Jo-Anne Lundon, technical advisor Tim Alexander and cocktail bar guru Jonny McKenzie). Weta artisans have created much of the interior detailing throughout the building.

“We wanted to create somewhere with a sense of occasion,” Dias says, “a sense of being greeted at the door and shown to your seat.

Our inspiration was the 1920s and 30s – the golden age of film. We wanted to re-create something that’s been lost.”

Dias, a former lawyer, runs Coco at the Roxy, an elegant lunch and dinner eatery complete with cosy red banquettes and palms. Here, ex-Matterhorn chef Nic Spicer and team prepare fine food that’s dished up with style and, for those on a movie deadline, speed. We sampled a Coco Show Plate, a delicious assortment of tapas that arrived on a silver stand. You can also eat à la carte.

Prices for both lunch and dinner are very reasonable – the set pre-show two-course menu costs just $38 – and the service is “old school”, though not stuffy. Book in for dinner and a movie and your tickets will be waiting on your table.

“We take local produce and do global things with it,” Dias says.

“And we have a bit of fun – it’s about fun, exploration and adventure at low cost.”

The Roxy – smart, elegant, arty and fun, with great food, cocktails, coffee and a fair dollop of local film world cred – encapsulates much of the “culture and cuisine” ethos that has led Wellington to bill itself as Capital of Cool.

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I was assured, for example, that Wellington has more cafés and restaurants per capita than New York, and wandering around the central city one recent weekday, I found it easy to believe: restaurants of every shade, cafés, gastro pubs, coffee kiosks and roasteries, food stores, bars and quirky cocktail lounges are everywhere. And on the “culture” side, art galleries, museums of every kind, public artworks and art walks, theatres and art-house cinemas, buskers, bookshops… During our brief visit, at least, the place was humming in a very un-Kiwi-like way.

There’s no doubt Wellington has benefited from being home to world-class events such as the World of WearableArt Awards (see story, page 24) and, of course, Sir Peter Jackson’s sprawling studio and workshop complex at Miramar. Films such as The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (the first in another trilogy) showcase New Zealand to the world and – more importantly from Wellington’s point of view – provide work, stimulate local businesses and encourage film location tourism. (Visit the Red Rocks, where Frodo, Sam and Gollum reached the Black Gate!)

Over the years of filming, actors and crews have made local eateries and bars their own, and neighbourhood Miramar in particular has blossomed under the attention.

The Larder, a small corner café and restaurant sitting on nearby Darlington Rd, is one of those spots popular with The Hobbit fraternity. It’s owned by chef Jacob Brown (ex-Boulcott Bistro and Sydney’s Tabou) and wife Sarah Bullock. It’s a cosy, unpretentious eatery – with excellent food (if my perfect whitebait omelette was anything to go by). The owners’ vision was to “service the community with fine, honest food in a relaxed neighbourhood setting”. Ingredients are provided by selected producers – who

‘Fine, honest food in a neighbourhood setting’ - The Larder, a small Miramar café and restaurant, has been a popular meeting spot for cast and crew of The Hobbit.

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feature in portraits hanging around the walls.

“We have a personal relationship with all out producers,” says Bullock. “We also believe in ‘nose-to-tail’ eating – using all parts of the animal.” Lambs’ kidneys are on the breakfast menu and Gremolata-crumbed lambs’ brains are among the entrées for a lunch menu that changes daily.

“We feel very lucky being here and doing what we do in the ’burbs,” Bullock says. “We’re part of the community. And people come here from town and know they can get a park.”

Not far away is Café Polo, co-owned and operated by Roxy’s Valentina Dias, who opened “the first dining place in Miramar” eight years ago in a former butcher’s shop. Serving breakfast (the inhouse bakery produces fresh croissants, bagels and bread daily) and lunch every day, plus dinner four nights a week, Polo’s “Slow Food” philosophy centres on “sourcing the best fresh local produce” and matching head chef David Thurlow’s smart dishes with great service.

Thurlow (ex-Logan Brown and London’s Savoy Group) and front-ofhouse manager Josh Pointon are Polo’s other co-owners.

“We tailor the food to the setting,” says Pointon, a former Sommelier of the Year, as we tuck into a fabulous array of desserts, “but the flavours of David’s food are fantastic and it gives me the chance to create a wine list that’s right up there in terms of depth and price.”

Pointon stresses that many of their guests are “not film people”, but Thurlow admits that “the Weta/Jackson thing has been fantastic; when they’re busy, we’re busy”.

Dias says British actor James Nesbitt, who plays Hobbit Bofur in the latest epic, was among the regulars here. “But,” she adds quickly, “we treat everyone as if they’re a VIP.” Not far from Miramar, at the Lyall Bay Surf Club, is one of Wellington’s most popular meeting spots, the very funky Maranui Café, which claims to serve the “best coffee in the bay” – and, I was assured, the best milkshakes in Wellington. Billy Boyd (the Hobbit Pippin) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in LOTR) learned to surf at Lyall Bay and patronised the café.

Top to bottom: Maranui Café at Lyall Bay, where Viggo Mortensen learned to surf; Café Polo; La Boca Loca in Miramar serves Mexican specialties. Opposite page, from top: Logan Brown restaurant and signature Paua ravioli; the iconic Matterhorn in Cuba St – fine food, drinks, music and more.

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DanMacMedan/Wire Image/Getty Images

From top: The Embassy Theatre (top left), which staged the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at the end of November; not just any pie, this one’s an item from The White House menu; Bret McKenzie accepts his Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song “Man or Muppet” in Hollywood this year.

Mortensen made no secret of his enthusiasm for another Wellington café, the 70-year-old Green Parrot in Taranaki St, where he partied with staff and even launched a book. “What was good about the Green Parrot,” he said later, “[wasn’t] just the atmosphere, the people and the food, but the fact that you can go there as late as 12.30 or one in the morning after long, long days [of shooting].”

The Lord of the Rings stars Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood (Frodo), meanwhile, favoured upmarket restaurants Logan Brown and The White House, while Wellington institution Matterhorn has long been a favourite with film folk.

We made our way to Cuba St that night to sample the Matterhorn’s much-vaunted menu, created by chef Dave Verheul “for the age of social eating”.

From a wonderful line-up up of sharing plates “designed to make food a more central part of a night out in Wellington”, we dined on Kingfish cured in gin botanicals, sesame cream, rhubarb, unripe tomato and salted cucumber; Steamed Cloudy Bay clams, tua tuas and mussels, fennel, orange, crayfish and lemon verbena bisque; Smoked wild pork hock, farro tabouli, green tomato, mint and cardamom yoghurt; and Shaved courgette and asparagus salad, broad beans, chervil, lemon, parmesan and mint. It was all delicious and we topped it off with the chef’s decadent Eight textures of chocolate “Thai style”.

Next morning we strolled along the waterfront and around to the Embassy Theatre in Courtenay Place (showing, appropriately, Bret McKenzie’s Two Little Boys), where The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was soon to have its world premiere. Downstairs, in what was once the historic theatre’s orchestra pit, is a “Quality Lounge and Drinkery” called The Black Sparrow. Its décor is inspired by America’s prohibition era and cocktails such as “Gone With The Wind”, “Hemingway Daiquiri” and “Day of the Dead Corpse Reviver No.2” celebrate the movies, artists and writers. Too early for the hard stuff, we opted for coffee and cake, and then ambled back to Civic Square to check out the art at the City Gallery before lunch at the adjacent Nikau Gallery Café (signature dish: a terrific kedgeree).

Capital of Cool, Culinary Capital, Wellywood (ouch!) – I wondered what moniker Bret McKenzie, who grew up here, might attach to the place. Something, I suspect, like: “Um. Wellington?”

See if you can spot him (beardless, with flowing locks) as the elf Lindir when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey goes on general release on December 14.

W Or maybe down at the Roxy…

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SLEEPING

OVER

What better way to round off a long, leisurely, wine-matched dinner than with a moonlit stroll across the lawn to a cosy vineyard cottage?

By Patrick Smith.

S

wiss-born winemaker Hans Herzog’s handmade wines are crafted in the European style – to be drunk with food. So having a fine-dining restaurant on the Marlborough estate that bears his name makes a lot of sense. And after a splendid multi-course, wine-matched dinner, wouldn’t it be nice to wander off through vine-scented gardens to a bed in a sweet vineyard cottage – sober driver not required?

In true Swiss style, Hans and his wife Therese have pulled together the real deal since planting their first vines on the 13.5-hectare Rapaura site in 1996: elegant and innovative single-vineyard wines; a welcoming cellar door and lounge; guided tastings of Herzog wines; a bistro serving lunch and dinner indoors or in a lovely garden setting; an award-winning restaurant; and a beautifully appointed, wisteria-draped cottage exclusive to restaurant guests.

The Herzogs are no newcomers to the food and wine business. Hans’ ancestors have been making wine in Switzerland since 1630. Hans himself has a degree in viticulture, a masters degree in winemaking and 40-odd vintages behind him, and for many years before coming to New Zealand he and Therese operated a highly regarded vineyard, winery and Michelin-starred restaurant near Zurich.

Despite the success of their Weingut zum Taggenberg vineyard and winery, Hans’ dream was to produce great Bordeaux-style wines and other varieties that were impossible to grow in the cooler climate of Switzerland. He wanted somewhere with long sunshine hours and cool nights where his grapes would ripen slowly. He wanted “a quiet, sheltered place” with great terroir. His search

A carpet of wildflowers between Pinot Noir vines present a colourful outlook for guests of Herzog’s Rimu Cottage. The sheltering Richmond Range in the background help provide a perfect micro-climate for growing grapes.

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Above: Rimu Cottage and private lawn.

Below, left to right: Formal gardens; tables set for alfresco Bistro lunch; vineyard workers.

Opposite page, clockwise from left: Spirit of Marlborough, a Herzog signature wine; Barrel Room; private dining, surrounded by Herzog’s world wine collection; main dining room set for a special day.

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led him to Marlborough and the Wairau River Valley site he bought – sight unseen – in 1994 and planted with his favourite grapes varieties two years later. A winery was built in time for the first vintage in 1998 and the restaurant followed in 2000.

The cellar door and bistro were added in 2004.

The decision to buy the one-time apple orchard close to the Wairau River proved to be an inspired one. With its freedraining alluvial soils of river silt, clay, sand and gravel and its perfect – and uniquely frost-free – climate, it is, says Hans today, “a dream place”.

“We really think we found one of the best vineyards in the world,” says Therese. “We haven’t found anywhere better in all our travels.”

Hans, a passionate hands-on winemaker, admits the restaurant was “not so much” his idea as Therese’s – his focus has always been the vineyard and winery – although he certainly enjoys eating there.

“He’s a good guest and a good supplier of wine,” Therese laughs. “All our wines are made to go with food, that’s why they’re so popular with sommeliers. So the idea was that people could taste great wine with great food.”

The wine-food-bed package certainly proved a winner with us on a recent Friday night in Marlborough.

Rimu Cottage is a small and charming, oozing character behind the blue wisteria blooms that drip from its veranda. It’s a short walk across lovingly tended formal gardens from the restaurant or cellar door, while rows of Pinot Noir vines and a colourful carpet of wildflowers lead the eye to the sheltering Richmond Range across the valley.

Inside is a dining and living area with open fireplace, a bedroom with king-sized bed, a small kitchen and a bathroom.

There are many nice touches: a Nespresso coffee maker, a fridge and minibar, a selection of wines (Herzog, naturally), a deep leather wing-back chair, stylish lamps and furnishings, lots of books and magazines, a DVD player and – for those us who must stay connected – free WiFi. Herzog’s organic vineyard grows many different grape varieties, including Pinot Noir, Montepulciano, Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, and small quantities of Sauvignon Blanc, Arneis, Riesling, Nebbiolo and Syrah. Among his “signature” wines are a chocolaty, barrel-aged Merlot/Cabernet blend

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Clockwise from above: Rimu Cottage is full of nice touches; the Herzog team, with Hans in the doorway and Therese second from right; garden fountain.

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called Spirit of Marlborough, a rich, earthy Pinot Noir, a lusty Montepulciano, a dry and elegant Pinot Gris and a luscious oak-aged Viognier.

We’d meet some of these fine drops at dinner, when we’d be joined by good friends who live nearby. Before then, though, we enjoyed a pre-dinner glass of bubbles with Therese – an aptly named Cuvée Therese Rose 2008 that’s one of about 20 limited-release wines (most, I noted, in short supply or already sold out) available only to those who visit the cellar door.

We chatted until our friends arrived and then we moved into the dining room, still filled with light from the French doors that lead to a wide veranda and garden.

You can go à la carte or choose the seven, five or three-course degustation menus, with or without matched Herzog wines (there’s also a 500-bottle wine cellar containing many great international labels, including Mouton Rothschild, Penfold’s Grange and Romanée Conti).

The five-course wine-matched degustation seemed a sensible middle course and for the next three hours we indulged in fabulous food, wine and conversation, with discreet, knowledgeable service provided by Danny, the maitre d’. Fresh tuna tartare with avocado and a potpourri of sweetcorn, seared Nelson scallops and lime “air” was accompanied by a 2011 Arneis; Homemade ricotta ravioli with glazed lamb sweetbreads, pea mouselline and sous-vide marinated carrots merited the oaked 2010 Viognier; a 2008 Cabernet Franc complemented Confit leg and slow-cooked breast of Canter Valley duck with sweet and sour pumpkin, crispy green beans and peanut jus.

Then, in European style, came a cheese selection, wheeled up to the table on a gleaming silver trolley and accompanied by homemade fruit bread, fresh walnuts and other delicacies, with a glass of full-bodied Spirit of Marlborough 2002.

Dessert? A strikingly plated and quite delicious Buttermilk-rhubarb panna cotta with Granny Smith sorbet and vanilla custard. A 2009 Botrytis Pinot Gris was the crowning glory.

After dinner we went our separate ways: our friends to their house down the road and we to our cottage bed across the garden.

Next morning, at nine precisely, Hans knocked on our door and handed me a basket with the breakfasts we’d ordered the evening before. We ate in our robes as we watched the poppy-strewn vineyard come to life outside.

Not a bad way, I thought, to begin a weekend in wine country. W www.herzog.co.nz

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ROOM

AT THE TOP ‘Nature-based cuisine’ is at the heart of the best restaurant in Australasia.

That and the view. Patrick Smith dines at Sydney’s Quay.

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Y

es, that view. “We could probably serve fish and chips here and you’d still have to book,” says John Fink, general manager of Quay, as we gaze out at Sydney’s “Golden Horseshoe” – one the most famous and fabulous cityscapes in the world. Filling the glass walls of this room on top of the Overseas Passenger Terminal at West Circular Quay are the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House to the east and all around us the busy waters of Sydney Cove and the harbour. “Dress circle” doesn’t come close.

But views aside, dishing up fast food is not what Fink, or Quay’s renowned executive chef, Peter Gilmore, are about, as I’m soon to find out over lunch.

“When you’ve been doing this as long as we have, you want to aim for a bit more,” says Fink, a third-generation restaurateur whose father, Leon, built the restaurant with another Sydney hospitality icon, Tony Bilson, in 1988.

“A bit more” is a large understatement. Not only has Quay been judged Australasia’s best restaurant for three years running, it currently sits at number 29 among the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants (judged by more than 800 food critics, writers and chefs from around the world), its fourth consecutive year on the list and the only restaurant Downunder to make the cut.

This is Australia’s most-awarded restaurant. Every year for the past decade it has held onto its three-hats status in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide (the Aussie equivalent of Michelin stars) and three stars in the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. Chef Gilmore,

meanwhile, sealed the deal when he was named Citibank Chef of the Year at the Sydney Good Food Guide 2012 Awards – an honour some believe was long overdue.

“We’ve never singled him out for the individual award because the whole package of Quay has always been fantastic,” said Guide co-editor Joanna Savill at the awards announcement. “But… he’s just an example of someone who is really creative and a great mentor.”

As to the restaurant being booked out, Quay’s pricey fare (lunch here costs A$125 for three courses, A$145 for four) doesn’t seem to deter would-be diners. At the time of writing, the restaurant was booked out for dinner for the next four months. If you want to book a table for two or four people on a Friday or Saturday evening, think six months ahead. And they don’t accept reservations further out than that.

Quay was swamped with booking calls from hopeful diners following Gilmore’s appearance on TV’s MasterChef Australia at the end of May, when contestants were challenged to produce his exquisite Eight-textured chocolate cake (a recipe that’s eight pages long, takes 3½ hours to complete – and produces a gone-to-heaven dessert (I’ll soon be tasting).

“Yes, it gets pretty hectic,” says Fink. “We have a waiting list.

We have three people working full-time on bookings. I think we have about 120 enquiries a day to deal with.

“For à la carte dining we’ll set 100 places. At a push we could do 110. We could do more but we choose not to. And we’re one of the only fine-dining restaurants in the world that does those kinds of numbers.”

Unfortunately, Peter Gilmore, who has been the culinary

Opposite page: Executive chef Peter Gilmore in Quay’s temperaturecontrolled growing room, where trays bloom with fresh produce delivered from the hothouse and destined for diners’ plates.

Above: The dining room has million-dollar views – one reason why the restaurant is constantly booked out.

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force behind Quay for the past 14 years, is on holiday with his family in France at the time of my visit. But his nature-inspired food philosophy, his influences and his mentors along his career path in food, are revealed in his 2010 book, Quay (Murdoch Books, A$95). A lavish, 288-page production full of Gilmore’s signature recipes and l o a d s o f very beautiful food shots, it’s the kind of cookbook to salivate over, but one you might never want to sully by opening anywhere near messy ingredients.

Among Gilmore’s influential admirers is internationally renowned chef Thomas Keller, of The French Laundry and Bouchon fame.

In the foreword to Gilmore’s book, Keller recounts a visit he paid to Quay a few years ago with a number of other leading chefs, including Britain’s Heston Blumenthal.

“We came for a late lunch and were immediately struck by the views of Sydney Harbour… But the bigger surprise came later at the table,” he writes.

“Everything was amazing. The flavour profiles chef Peter Gilmour presented were exquisite and incredibly focused… It was a profound dining experience… I am already anticipating my return visit to Quay and experiencing Peter’s remarkable cuisine once more.”

John Fink reckons Gilmore is nothing less than a genius. “I don’t use the ‘g’ word much but I would say that Peter Gilmour is a genius when it comes to food,” he says. “Genius in the true sense of the word, like Jimi Hendrix was a genius or Mozart, in that it emanated from them – however that happened – and people latched on to that and took pieces of it [and developed it],” he says. “People take pieces of what Gilmour does.

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“Pete’s influences, they’re so obscure and so discrete, they’re not direct references to living chefs or dead chefs; they’re more direct references to produce and product – obscure, fantastic and weird and sublime… Inspiration comes to him from disparate places and ends up on the table.”

Which is the cue for our first course to arrive – for Mr Fink, Salad of rhubarb, endive, beetroot, purple carrot, rosa radish, kohlrabi, goat’s curd, pomegranate molasses, violet; for me, Sashimi of Corner Inlet rock flathead, Tasmanian trumpeter, salt-cured wild oyster cream, black-lipped abalone, raw sea cabbage, nasturtiums, warrigals and periwinkles. Both dishes are immaculately presented – every dish on the menu, Fink tells me, has its own discrete plate – and my sashimi creation is delectable; full of subtle, sea-fresh flavours.

Fink picks up a tiny white radish from his plate and holds it up for my inspection.

“This is what makes Quay different,” he says, “this little thing here.

We spend, I don’t know how much, but thousands of dollars a year, growing these things.” He points out tiny onions and pea flowers. “I think these cost about a dollar each to grow!”

Quay commissions boutique growers to produce heirloom vegetables, salad items and fruits to meet Gilmore’s special demands: purple, black and white carrots, pea flowers, baby radishes and turnips, baby fennel bulbs, violet potatoes, wasabi flowers and now, frais de bois – the wild French strawberries you’ll find only at Quay. Not only do these tiny touches add natural beauty and colour to the plate, each morsel is a little burst of freshness on the palate.

You don’t pay for portion size at Quay but each dish is created

Opposite page: Two heavenly desserts from Peter Gilmore’s book Quay: Warm cherry cake with cherry confit, milk biscuits and white cherry ice cream; and his famous Eight-textured chocolate cake.

This page: Among produce grown exclusively for Quay are tiny wild strawberries, or frais de bois.

from the best and freshest ingredients available, perfectly prepared and presented as edible works of art. The service, as you’d expect, is spot-on.

Later, Fink will take me across the road to see Quay’s temperature-controlled growing room in a harbourside warehouse. Here, stacked trays bloom with fresh produce delivered from the hothouse, and we interrupt a member of the kitchen team carefully clipping greenery that will be on someone’s plate in a few minutes.

“What we try to do is to produce original, beautifully crafted food with a big emphasis on layers of texture and flavours to create an overall sense of balance,” Gilmore says in his brief web bio. “Food that tastes beautiful, that takes you on a journey of different sensations, that makes you think about where it came from.”

Aside from rare fruits and veges, Gilmore’s rich food palette includes the freshest and most opulent offerings: truffles, southern rock lobster, pure-bred Wagyu beef, suckling pig, mud crab, smoked eel, marron, yellowfin tuna, kingfish, partridge, quail…

Our main course arrives. Fink has chosen a Quay signature dish – Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil. Before he tucks in, the one-time chef gives me a passionate run-down

on what he’s about to eat.

“This is pork – it’s from the jowl – and this is a molto, it’s sugar which has been melted over the top and it forms a sweet crackling. It’s insane, it’s quite mad and it’s a reason this restaurant is particularly successful.” He offers me a taste.

“Have a go of that, that’ll change your life!” Rich, sweet and delicious, if it doesn’t exactly change my life there and then it certainly changes my idea of how many flavours one forkful of food can contain.

My own choice is the Poached Wagyu beef, oxtail, morel, black pudding, farro, buckwheat, hazelnut, Ezekiel. Ezekiel?

“It’s what we call Ezekiel crumb and it’s the five grains as found in the Book of Ezekiel,” says Fink matter-of-factly. The crumb forms a crunchy coating around the beef. Again, taste and texture are quite unique.

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Top to bottom: Gentle braise of French breakfast radishes, prawns, octopus, diamond shell clams, pink turnips, young garlic custard; Sashimi of blue mackerel, smoked eel flowers, sea scallops, pickled apple, nasturtium; Raw native freshwater marron, young almonds, bergamot marmalade, grapefruit, green mango, elder, chamomile.

For our final course, Fink has insisted we sample Gilmore’s two most famous desserts – his Eight-textured chocolate cake and the Guava snow egg (which created a sensation on the 2010 finale of MasterChef; the following day Quay’s computer booking system crashed).

The snow egg is a poached meringue egg, with a “yolk” of custard apple ice-cream, coated in a crunchy praline maltose shell. It sits on a bed of guava granita and a slick of guava fool and it comes in an elegant glass bowl.

“Crack the egg with a spoon,” Fink urges as I tentatively tap the crispy shell, “but don’t do what one lady did and crack the bowl – they cost 120 bucks each!”

It seems a shame to destroy such a work of art, but once in the mouth it’s a multi-taste sensation and quite unlike anything I’ve ever eaten.

My ultimate “Ahaah!” moment, though, comes with the chocolate dessert, which Gilmore first made more than 15 years ago and has been refining ever since, adding different flavours and textures until, to celebrate his eighth year at Quay, he created the famous Eighttextured chocolate cake I’m about to taste.

You’ll find the (eight-stage) recipe in his book, although you’re unlikely to find the dish any less of a challenge to make than the hapless MasterChef contestants.

“The flavour components,” Gilmore writes, “are essentially dark chocolate, hazelnuts, caramel, vanilla and milk chocolate.” But no description can do justice to what I’m about to experience.

The rich brown disc, around 10cm across and 2.5cm thick, sits in the middle of a large white plate. It is, in fact, a seven-textured cake until, in a small touch of theatre, our waiter pours a stream of hot chocolate sauce – the eighth texture – into its centre. As the centre melts and collapses, a stream of chocolate sauce seeps sensuously onto the plate.

“Look at it,” says Fink with a laugh, “it’s just mad, it really should be illegal!”

Yes, I think, as I slide one impossibly delicious spoonful of the cake into my mouth and textures and flavours tumble and melt, this stuff should be illegal – it could certainly become addictive.

Our long, lazy lunch is coming to an end. Outside Quay’s big windows, everyday life goes on: cars stream across the bridge, ferries chug up and down the harbour and tourists mooch around the steps of the Opera House. But in here it’s a separate and privileged reality, the kind created during what has been described as “one of the world’s greatest dining experiences”.

Let’s leave the last words to Peter Gilmore as he gives his take on “The pleasures of the table”: “I think a great dining experience is finding a perfect balance of excitement, professionalism and warmth. Experiencing an original cuisine that reflects the passions of the chef is truly inspiring.

The idea of coming to a great restaurant and sitting at a table with beautifully starched white linen and the anticipation of the experience that is to come is one of life’s great pleasures…”

To say nothing of the view... W www.quay.com.au

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BACKSTREET GOURMET

A colourful new book uncovers the best of Melbourne’s hidden laneways cuisine.

By Patrick Smith.

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elbourne has always been a fabulous city for food. Want to eat Italian? Lygon St is “Little Italy”. Asian? Chinatown is full of exotic tastes and smells, with everything from fine dining restaurants to no-frills cafés. Greek? You’ll find more than souvlaki and ouzo around Lonsdale and Russell streets. Chapel St, Brunswick St, St Kilda, Southbank… Good food is hard to avoid in this cosmopolitan city of more than four million people.

Flavours of Melbourne, therefore, is a timely title for a lavish new coffeetable book that showcases some of the most popular, hip and funky restaurants and bars to be found among the city’s colourful laneways and rooftops.

Narrow, cobbled backstreets – once places to avoid after dark – have become giant canvases for street artists. Former factories, warehouses, shops and pubs have been converted into cafés, bars and restaurants that range from the consciously rustic and the frankly bizarre to some of the hottest nightspots and finest eateries in the city. Galleries, shops and boutiques have added their own ambience to the urban makeover.

These backstreet gems are not always easy to find, however, but this handsome book provides small maps and interesting info on all the lanes, streets and alleys it includes. You might not want to haul a weighty 390-page volume around Melbourne with you, but it’s a nice starting point and the photos, by Brad Hill, are sure to inspire further exploration.

Author Jonette George provides an historical timeline to Melbourne, from the first exploration of Victoria’s southeast coast by explorer George Bass in 1797 to 2011 and the winning vote as the world’s most liveable city (an opinion Melbourne’s laneways and rooftops hide gems like Portello Rosso, a Spanish tapas and jamon eatery (opposite) and the decadent Bar 1806 (above).

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Above, left to right: Visit Caterina’s Cucina e Bar in Queen St to taste Michelle Goldsmith’s Trio of rabbit; preparing pasta at Merchant, a Venetian-style restaurant in Collins St. Opposite page, top to bottom: Iconic Hopetoun Tea Rooms in The Block Arcade; Edward Ng’s superb Duck Duck Goose in Artemis Lane.

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echoed in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Report of August this year).

More to the point, we get the Melbourne laneways story, which suggests they grew in an ad hoc fashion off the city’s otherwise highly organised grid of streets (laid out by surveyor Robert Hoddle in 1837). Factories, warehouses and other buildings fronting these streets needed back entrances and service lanes – and so the laneways developed. They were named as needed, reflecting those of nearby businesses, landowners, factories and other enterprises – names like Corrs Lane, Croft Alley, Hosier Lane, Pink Alley, Postal Lane and Meyers Place.

In the early 20th century, poorly lit alleys were associated with crime and generally avoided at night. But late last century Melbourne City Council recognised the laneways’ historical significance and began upgrading them, laying down bluestone paving, lighting and street furniture. And bare brick walls attracted street artists, whose artwork became a major tourist attraction and encouraged cafés, bars, restaurants and other enterprises to spring up in their wake.

Flavours of Melbourne showcases 37 laneways and nearby streets and has stories to tell about the best bars, restaurants, cafés in each one: restaurants such as Guy Grossi’s Grossi Florentino in Bourke St; Martin Pirc’s Punch Lane in Little Bourke St and Aaron Whitney’s Portello Rosso in Warburton Lane. There’s the quirky Seamstress restaurant and bar, housed in an old garment factory in Lonsdale St; Gin Palace in Russell Place; Berlin Bar and Fad, both in Corrs Lane;

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Above: Proudly Italian – the bustling Grossi Grill & Cellar Bar in Bourke St. Below: Syracuse Restaurant & Wine Bar in Bank Place.

the exclusive Ra Bar in Pink Alley…

The last section the book is dedicated to signature recipes – organised as entrées, mains and desserts – from 20 of the featured eateries, along with tempting full-pages pictures of the dishes. Here is Grossi Grill’s Calamari with chickpeas and radicchio; Pork belly with apple slaw and chilli caramel from Red Spice Road; Trio of rabbit from Caterina’s Cucina e Bar; Self Preservation’s Chocolate bread and butter pudding; and a magnificentlooking Strawberry and berry almond tart from Le Petit Gateau. Most of the recipes look admirably do-able and the pictured dishes are likely to send foodies racing for the next flight to Melbourne.

Flavours of Melbourne is published by Smudge Publishing, a Melbourne-based enterprise run by mother-and-daughter team Jonette George and Daniele Wilton, whose other books include the intriguingly titled 1806 Cocktails: History as Seen Through the Bottom of a Glass. W www.smudgepub.com.au

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“The Menzies is a wine that speaks volumes about Coonawarra and its affinity for Cabernet Sauvignon.” — Peter Gambetta the menzies estate winemaker GOLD MEDAL WINNER Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2011 Limestone Coast Wine Show 2011

ART IN ITS

Delving into Australia’s remote art centres while travelling by rail and sea offers a unique opportunity to experience stunning landscapes and buy unique artworks at source. By Fiona Harper.

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Clockwise, from top left: Pirlangimpi in the Tiwi Islands is home to Munupi Arts and Crafts; Orion anchored in the turquoise waters of Jensen Bay; Katherine Hot Springs is a refreshing natural waterhole for The Ghan passengers; The Ghan crosses Australia through the Red Centre between Adelaide and Darwin.

ar from urban civilisation, in the Northern Territory a nomadic connection between land and life itself is fundamental for indigenous Australians.

Surviving 40,000-odd years in some of Australia’s most remote lands, ancient stories, songs and dance passed down through the generations are finding their way into the mainstream via contemporary art galleries.

Despite, or perhaps because of, its far-flung location, Arnhem Land in particular is a breeding ground of artistic creativity.

Multi-award-winning musicians Yothu Yindi, with their powerful blend of indigenous and modern music, hail from Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land.

Their name translates to “mother and child”, depicting a kinship connection that Yolgnu people have with each other, whether freshwater or saltwater people.

This yothu yindi belief underpins much of the creative works coming from Arnhem Land. Singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, from Elcho Island, blind since birth, captures this emotive spirit of country with his high tenor voice. His appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine last year did much to propel Arnhem Land culture into the mainstream.

But it is the artworks emerging from this remote land that are capturing most attention among collectors and galleries across the globe. Places such as Maningrida, Yirrkala, Elcho and Melville Islands all have thriving art communities supported by community art centres with tendrils that reach far and wide. Most have comprehensive online galleries, though one-dimensional photographs rarely show the exquisite nature of artworks. Tactile by nature, getting up close and personal, meeting the artists and curators, is the best way to appreciate their raw beauty. Limited road access, wet-season floods and a governmentmanaged permit system deter most travellers.

Disembarking from an uber-luxe Platinum cabin onboard The Ghan train, before taking in the Darwin art scene, I’ve joined Orion Expeditions for a rare opportunity to explore coastal and island Arnhem Land communities. Boarding in Darwin and bound eastwards for Thursday Island, my fellow passengers are an intrepid lot, many of them seasoned expedition voyagers. At 103 metres long and catering to a similar number of passengers, Orion’s ice-strengthened hull is rather more accustomed to slipping through icy seas than the balmy tropical waters of northern Australia. But that doesn’t make her any less suited to the task of navigating the shoal-strewn waters of northern Australia. Indeed, Orion offers intimate cruising in opulent style. Fine dining beneath a tropical sky or in the air-conditioned Constellation Restaurant, plush suites, some with bathtubs, many with French balconies, ensure that life aboard is rather luxurious. Impeccable attention to detail distinguishes Orion Expeditions from other small-ship operators, offering an experience akin to travelling by private yacht. Fine points include bar staff who not only recall your name but also your and your partner’s preferred tipple. Or wait staff who instinctively understand human dynamics, knowing which guests have built friendships, seating compatible guests together when appropriate.

Our first stop is Pirlangimpi, on Melvile Island, known for Tiwi ceramics and carved totem-like Pukumani funeral poles. Far from the regular tourist route, a dance troupe has been assembled in anticipation of our arrival at Munupi Art Centre. Performers and onlookers seem to enjoy the loosely choreographed dance more than the visitors as howls of laughter reverberate across the grass.

The Crocodile Dance sees some performers doubled over with laughter while audience participation depicting the bombing of Darwin during World War II World Magazine

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has everyone in hysterics. Inquisitive dogs try to get in on the act while, further afield, women laugh and clap, bashful children clinging to their skirts.

Further east, Maningrida was established in the 1940s as a trading post, though these days it’s the Maningrida Art Centre that is most industrious. Attracting worldwide attention as a powerhouse of central Arnhem Land art, all works are created utilising bush materials sourced from the land. Don’t expect to find any works on canvas here. Though you will find ceremonial dilly bags and baskets, circular mats woven from pandanus leaves, bark paintings and wood carvings with intricate designs depicting land and sea influences. Bark paintings by renowned Maningrida artist John Mowandjuri are highly sought after. His delicately detailed works seem to shimmer pearl-like as complex patterns catch the light. Don’t forget your platinum credit card, though, as some of Mowandjuri’s paintings command tens of thousands of dollars.

Next to the art centre, Babbarra Designs is an initiative of the Babbarra Women’s Centre, specialising in colourful lino-printed textiles depicting the landscape, dreaming stories, bush food and mythical spirits.

The Morning Star is an important element of life in these parts, tracking west across the Arnhem Land sky, setting in the west just before dawn. Known as Banumbirr, Morning Star Poles are sacred objects which have been replicated by artists. Outside the Elcho Island Art Centre in Galiwin’ku community, 76-year-old elder Gali Yalkarriwuy appears in ceremonial dress, his body elaborately adorned, carrying a dilly bag and a Morning Star Pole. Tufts of white feathers at the top of the pole represent the star, coloured feathers further down represent new life, while coloured bands represent the changing light between night and day.

To the east, the Wessel Islands delineate the Arafura Sea from the Gulf of Carpentaria. We take a zodiac ashore to now uninhabited Marchinbar Island, where Terry Yumbulul spent his childhood.

“Welcome to our country”, his wife Clely says, her eyes crinkling into a smile as she swabs my forehead with white and ochre lines. Terry lightly swats my chest and back with a smoking leafy branch he’s pulled from the fire as he ushers me into his former home, little

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Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Dhambula Community on Elcho Island sits on the shores of the Arafura Sea; artists from Maningrida Arts & Culture Centre utilise materials found on the land; Elcho Island boys are taught traditional ways, their classroom the Arafura Sea. This page, clockwise from top left: Pandanus leaves are dyed and woven into intricate patterns; Morning Star Poles are sacred to Dhuwa clans of the Yolngu people; Elder Gali Yalkarriwuy performs a Morning Star dance.

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Above: Ancient rock art in the Wessel Islands. Opposite page, clockwise from top: elaborately adorned memorial poles showcase talented Yirrkala artists; Arnhem Land galleries display dilly bags and bark paintings; Buku-Larrnggay artists have picked up a swag of awards.

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more than an overhanging rock above a sand floor. Overhead, paintings that were here long before Terry’s family moved in depict crocodiles, snakes, fish and turtles. Terry tells us that Dutch sailors were also here long ago, as evidenced by an ancient square-rigged sailing ship painted in ochre.

“There were six families living here in this cave,” he says, recalling a childhood that was mostly spent fishing from a canoe. Some family members are buried nearby, reminding us that Terry’s former cave dwelling was not only a home but a sacred church. “I started travelling in a dugout canoe with my father. The morning star guided us home,” he says. What kid wouldn’t love this existence? Beyond the shaded haven of this weather-ravished island, sun-bleached beaches are kissed by a turquoise Arafura Sea, while a nearby billabong provides a water supply. In describing his country as “just a piece of dirt surrounded by salt water”, Terry is underselling a landscape that oozes rugged charisma.

On the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Buku-Larrnggay Mulku Art Centre at Yirrkala is one of Australia’s premier indigenous art centres. Buku artists have picked up a dilly bag full of major awards in recent years. Particular specialties

include exquisite bark paintings, intricately adorned memorial poles, printmaking and sculpture. Significantly, Native Title has its roots here with the Yirrkala bark petitions of 1963, the first documentary recognition of indigenous people in Australian law.

But if you visited the Northern Territory and simply hugged the coast you’d miss the pulsing heart and soul of this wild landscape. The Red Centre is the ying to Arnhem Land’s yang, complementing the connection to land and place.

Following the ancient cameleer’s route, The Ghan travels almost 3,000km north from Adelaide before terminating in Darwin three days later. Whistle Stop Tours at Alice Springs and Katherine allow further explorations of indigenous art and culture before hopping back on board for an indulgent amble through the Simpson Desert. Disembarking The Ghan in Darwin before boarding Orion for Arnhem Land connects the dots between land and sea, saltwater and fresh. Just as indigenous Australians have been doing for tens of thousands of years. W Fiona Harper was a guest of Orion Expeditions, Great Southern Rail and Skycity Darwin.

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OUT OF THIS

WORLD Patrick Smith goes off the beaten track in South Australia’s rugged Gawler Ranges – but returns to a soft bed, a good meal and a glass of wine at day’s end.

Photos by Patrick Smith and Geoff Scholz.

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O

utback: the word evokes images of red dirt and scrub, heat and harsh living. But how did this inhospitable territory earn its name? Most of us might assume the word is short for “out the back of beyond” – which is where Australia’s Outback often begins. But if you believe Geoff Scholz, a former farmer who now runs Gawler Rangers Wilderness Safaris with his wife Irene, the truth lies elsewhere.

Back in 1865, when farmers were looking for new land to break in, a man called George Goyder, then surveyor-general of South Australia, explored the interior of the “free colony” looking for areas where farming was feasible. He did an amazing job, travelling some 30,000 miles to map a rainfall boundary based on the plants he found: to the north was saltbush, suggesting less than an average 10 inches (254mm) of rain a year and suitable only for wild grazing; to the south, mallee scrub indicated enough rainfall to raise crops.

Goyder was at first ridiculed but later proved right, as the ruins of long-abandoned farmhouses north of the line still testify.

Anyway, says Geoff, if you lived below the line you paid your dues to a district council; you were “In District”. Those above the line were basically on their own – they were “Out of District”. Out back, in other words. Outback.

Goyder’s Line starts on the west coast near Ceduna and travels southeast across the Eyre Peninsula – where you’ll find the Gawler Ranges – to Spencer Gulf and then on across the state to the Victorian border. Apparently it’s easy to pick up the line from the air by the abrupt change of flora. From the red-dirt roads Geoff travels in his big Land Cruisers it’s less apparent: lush fields of wheat slowly give way to mallee gums and yellow acacias before you find yourself surrounded by endless clumps of bitter saltbush – which the long-legged sheep grazing this parched landscape seem to like.

“One sheep to 25 acres,” says Geoff as we drive through a couple of vast stations that together run some 35,000 sheep. Ironically, the saltbush gives the meat a unique taste and it fetches a premium price.

Geoff grew up on a farm hereabouts and knows the Gawler Ranges well. He’s a man who seems comfortable on these rugged, back-of-beyond roads that are sometimes gravel and sometimes just deep sand. How on earth does he know where he is, I wondered – does he have GPS? “Yeah,” he grins, tapping his head, “Geoff’s Personal System.”

We’d met that morning at Port Lincoln, a 45-minute flight from Adelaide on the southern tip of the peninsula. Geoff was picking up guests for one of his four-wheel-drive safaris, this one the four-day Outback to the Sea experience. Waiting with me at the airport’s baggage-claim area were a honeymooning Swiss couple and a Belgian father and son. An Australian couple would join us that evening at Kangaluna Camp (north of Goyder’s Line!), our home base for the next few days. With Geoff was Kate Newman, a young South Australian with a good knowledge of the Gawler Ranges, their history, geology and flora and fauna. Kate would also prove to be a cool off-road operator and a good cook.

The weather’s fine, but chilly for spring in South Australia. The forecast, though, doesn’t augur well for one of the high points of the itinerary on the final day: swimming with Australian sea lions

Sturt Lake, like vast Lake Gairdner, is a waterless white salt pan; a striking contrast between red earth and orange sunset.

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Photo: SATC

off the west coast. The predicted strong winds and high seas will make that impossible, Geoff tells us, so we’ll be doing the safari in reverse. Today we’ll head up to Baird Bay, then cut back inland to Wudinna and nearby Kangaluna Camp.

The Eyre Peninsula is big – about the size of Tasmania – and distances seem great to a Kiwi traveller. But for Geoff and his team, driving 300 or 400 kilometres on dirt roads and sandy farm tracks is all in a day’s work. The Flinders Highway runs all the way from Port Lincoln up the west coast of the peninsula to Ceduna, but Geoff takes us on a cross-country route along dirt roads that slice arrow-straight through fields of wheat and yellow canola flowers. Geoff points out lumpy hills rising out of the fields, worn down to their present size over 176 million years. The Gawler Ranges themselves, he adds, have been around for 1,600 million years (the Himalayas, by contrast, are 65 million years old). Talk about an ancient land.

At Baird Bay we meet Alan and Trish Payne, who’ve run Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience since 1992. There’s not much else at Baird Bay (which has a permanent population of six), but the Paynes’ operation is professional and popular. After changing into wetsuits, we board Alan’s boat for the 15-minute trip to a lagoon at Jones Island, near Cape Radstock, where a colony of Australian sea lions lives. On the way we’re joined by a few bottlenose dolphins that ride the bow wave and dive under the boat. When we reach shallower water we put on masks and snorkels and slip over the side to get a closer look. The dolphins come around to inspect us but then grow bored and swim away. I’m not too sorry; the water is a very nippy 15°C and if they don’t want to play I’m not hanging around.

The young sea lions that swim happily around the lagoon are a better prospect. They’re curious and playful, darting up to us and rolling over in the water to check us out with big, expressive eyes. A life belt is thrown over the side and this becomes a toy to be shunted around the lagoon. Touching the sea lions is not allowed, but that doesn’t stop them smooching us – one pup takes a liking to a crew member, Mike, and bumps a whiskery snout against his face mask before resting its head on his shoulder. Maybe the sea lions’ playfulness suggests a sense of humour. Alan says over the years they’ve developed a friendship with both sea lions and dolphins. “They are great teachers; their communication skills are excellent. Listen and you learn, no need for speech, action says it all.”

Kate takes over driving on the way back to Wudinna. We travel on long, straight roads that disappear over the horizon.

One stretch runs for more than 30km without a kink until the Gawler Ranges loom in the distance. We meet a couple of fat shingleback lizards making their slow way across the road and Kate pulls over. She picks one up (behind the head; they bite)

and cameras come out. The scaly creature is about 30cm long and its tail closely resembles its head, a feature that no doubt confuses its predators.

Although we’re close to 100km from the coast now, the final 10km to the camp is on a track through deep sand. Kate slips the car into low ratio and we slither along as though on snow.

Three wedge-tail eagles rise up from the roadside. They’re quite a sight, with their 2m wingspans and wedged tails, as they soar and dive, not wanting to abandon what we soon discover to be a dead kangaroo in the roadside bush. We leave them to their carrion supper and push on to Kangaluna.

At the camp we’re shown to our accommodation: for the couples, big tents with queen beds and en suite bathrooms beneath curved metal roofs that collect water and keep the tents cool in summer; for the solo Kiwi traveller, the “Swagon”.

This lovingly restored covered wagon contains a queen-size mattress set out as a “swag” and has a small open deck out front. In summer the canvas roof can be removed; then the Swagon becomes the “Galaxy Suite” as you lie in your swag beneath the stars. Tonight, though, will be cold and I won’t be sleeping alfresco. Behind the Swagon (Geoff has registered the name) is a funky private bathroom.

The sun is already sinking when we arrive at nearby Sturt Lake for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles. It’s a remarkable spot from which to watch the sun set. The lake is dry, and shimmering white salt covers the bed from shore to shore.

The contrast between the snow-white lake and the red land is arresting and as the sun sinks over the far shore the sky puts on its own show in reds and golds.

It’s a late dinner, eaten by candlelight in the open-sided dining room and afterwards we gather around a campfire with drinks. As I finally climb the steps of my Swagon I look up at a sky crammed with stars.

Breakfast next morning – bacon and eggs, croissants, cereals, fruit and coffee – is a leisurely affair eaten at the long table in the dining room. We watch a shining green Port Lincoln parrot drink from the hanging water bowl outside. It’s one of more than 100 species of birds that lend colour and noise to this often arid landscape.

Our first stop on today’s drive is at an ochre pit. This clay pigment has been used by Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years, for body decoration, death rituals, cave and bark painting, and preserving animal skins; different colours – such as red, yellow and white – playing various roles.

“Ochre is like gold to Aboriginal people,” says Geoff, “and South Australia has the most prolific ochre deposits in Australia.”

The site is a patchwork of red, brown, yellow and white.

Above: Sunset at salt-white Sturt Lake.

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: The Gawler Ranges are home to 100-plus species of birds; Kangaluna tent; swimming with sea lions at Baird Bay; serious off-road territory; safari leader Geoff Scholz talks history and goannas at an ochre pit.

Above, left to right: Kangaroos pose for the camera; the “Swagon”, unique accommodation at Kangaluna Camp.

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Koala at Mikkira Station; dining at Kangaluna; rustic chic inside a wilderness tent; sunset nibbles beside Sturt Lake; on Mt Wudinna, Australia’s second-largest rock monolith.

Kate works a little water into a patch of red clay, turning it into finger paint. Geoff tells an aboriginal “dreamtime” story about goannas and how they came by their ochre-coloured spots.

We’re heading for the Gawler Ranges and Lake Gairdner, but Geoff wants to show us something else before then and we take a detour, passing stands of yellow acacia trees, scattered sheep, emus that high-tail it into the scrub – and one impressively long snake that slithers across the road. We jump out to take photos.

“I think we need to educate New Zealanders about snakes,” says Geoff. “Yes, we have poisonous snakes, but they’re more afraid of you and keep out of your way.”

He does suggest, however, that we stay behind this snake as we follow its sinuous progress through the bush. Apparently it’s a western brown – only “moderately” poisonous.

Our detour brings us to the Corrobinnie Depression, an ancient river system whose dry red bed stretches away into the distance.

“We don’t know when it last had water in it,” says Geoff, “but certainly not since Europeans arrived.” It’s a quiet place with an eerie calm. Again we have the sense of a land unimaginably old.

On the way out, as we cross a sprawling station called St Ive, we stop to gawk at a “submarine” half-buried in the earth.

Though it looks real it turns out to be a homemade affair – a joke by the station’s owners. It’s certainly a talking point.

Nothing had prepared us for our first sight of Lake Gairdner, which appears suddenly as we crest a sandy hill: a seemingly endless sheet of white with a shore of red earth and backdrop of dark hills. “One of the most spectacular sights to behold on the continent of Australia,” was the way the explorer Stephen Hack put it when he discovered the lake in 1857.

We eat lunch by the lake and wander out onto the salt pan.

Lake Gairdner is an incredible 160km long and 48km wide, without a drop of water in sight – the perfect venue for land speed record attempts and the annual Speed Week (18–22 February in 2013).

On the way to camp we hike down a long red track to Kolay Mirica Falls, site of the “Organ Pipes” – rock formations created during a vast volcanic explosion more than 1,500 million years ago.

Walking through the mallee gums to breakfast next morning I’m surprised by a family of emus that crosses my path on their way to drink at the trough near the dining room. We’re all startled and the emus retire into the bush. A tree-full of galahs, on the other hand, greets me with raucous yells.

Today we’re expecting to see plenty of wildlife and we’re

not disappointed.

Soon after stopping to examine an other-worldly landscape of colourful volcanic rocks and mudstone on the far shore of Sturt Lake, it begins to rain. The rain brings out the colour of the rock. It also brings out kangaroos. As we drive away from the lake they emerge to drink from puddles in the road and to lick moisture from plants. They’re everywhere and we manage to spot all three varieties that call the Eyre Peninsula home: reds, greys and wallaroos, or euros. A big female red stands frozen in the road ahead of us and a joey pops its head out of her pouch for a look. But when we inch closer she bounds off into the bush.

“I’ve been doing this since 1988, so I know all the kangaroos,” Geoff says with a laugh.

We look out for wombats but see only burrows – and a handmade tin sign pointing to “Wombat Holes”. Another sign tells us we’re close to the Dog Fence, a dingo barrier built during the 1880s that runs for almost 6,000km across South Australia and Queensland. It’s one of the longest structures in the world and certainly the longest fence.

Salmon is on the dinner menu that night, brought up from Port Lincoln, Australia’s “seafood capital”, where tuna, kingfish, oysters, prawns and crayfish are among the daily harvest and from where they’re shipped to markets and restaurants around the world.

We head there next day – our last of the tour – but on the way we stop at Wudinna to visit Australia’s second-biggest rock monolith after Uluru (Ayer’s Rock). Mt Wudinna is a vast granite dome formed hundreds of millennia ago. It rises abruptly out of the plain and offers panoramic views from its wind-buffeted roof. No wildlife on this rocky outcrop, but soon we’ll find plenty.

At Mikkira Station, 30km southwest of Port Lincoln, Bette de la Perrelle nurtures a colony of 150 wild koalas on a pleasant property that’s open to the public. It’s dotted with manna gums – a koala’s favourite food, we’re told – and today the trees are full of these lovely creatures, which seem to be either eating, snoozing or weighing up the humans below with small, implacable eyes.

Australia’s wildlife is weirdly wonderful. And the Outback, with its vast horizons and alien landscapes, is wonderfully wild, a fact that’s not lost on Geoff’s guests.

“Somebody said recently, ‘I’m so glad I did this [trip], because I wouldn’t want to miss Australia while I was in Australia’,” he says. Then adds: “I’m going to use that in my marketing from now on: Don’t miss Australia while you’re in Australia!” W www.gawlerrangessafaris.com

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AustrAliA In Style

From a luxury tent in the Outback to a chic suite in a designer hotel, Australia’s high-end accommodation options are as varied as its unique landscapes. By Patrick Smith.

Sunsets are spectacular at Bamurru Plains, a luxury eco camp on the edge of the Mary River floodplains in the Northern Territory.

TAMING THE WILD If you’re looking to get away from it all, the Northern Territory’s Top End is a good bet. And if you want to knock the rough edges off your wilderness experience, a stay at Bamurru Plains will give you the best of both worlds. Like Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, Bamurru Plains is one of four upmarket eco camps run by Wild Bush Luxury.

Bamurru sits on the edge of the Mary River floodplains, not far from the coast and the western boundary of Kakadu National Park.

Although it’s remote, you can reach it from Darwin in 20 minutes by light plane or three hours by car.

The floodplains form a rich ecosystem supporting a huge diversity of flora and fauna – all on Bamurru’s doorstep. The Aboriginal rock art galleries of Kakadu and Arnhem Land are

A 4WD wildlife safari is as tough as it gets at Bamurru Plains, where comfort and relaxation are taken seriously.

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a short drive away. Activities here include airboat tours of the wetlands, bird-watching, river cruises on the Sampan River (AprilOct), home to one of the largest crocodile populations in the world, 4WD safaris, scenic flights, fishing (the Sampan is renowned for its baramundi) and Aboriginal culture tours.

Nine safari suites built amongst the savannah bush fringing the floodplains provide a high level of comfort while exposing you to the sights and sounds of the bush all around. The main lodge has a large deck and a pool, both terrific spots from which to view the wetlands and their teeming populations of birds and animals.

Chefs cook up three delicious meals a day and snacks. The camp is closed between Dec 1 and April 30. www. bamurruplains.com

The Lyall Hotel & Spa provides award-winning hospitality in a discreet, stylish setting off Melbourne’s Toorak Road.

URBAN OASIS Melbourne has no shortage of good accommodation, but it’s always nice to find stylish digs away from the crowd – somewhere that doesn’t have to shout its presence but quietly accepts you into its comfortable embrace. We found such a place in The Lyall Hotel & Spa, Melbourne’s only privately owned and operated five-star hotel.

A labour of love for owners Peter and Rowina Thomas, The Lyall sits discreetly on a small, tree-lined street off Toorak Rd in South Yarra. Its low profile and classy comfort has seen it host the likes of Olivia Newton John, Gwen Stefani and Paris Hilton. A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, it has featured on Condé Nast Traveller’s Gold List and was last year named Australia’s Leading Spa Resort in the World Travel Awards.

The hotel has 40 stylish suites, all decorated in “contemporary oriental” fashion and each with a separate living and dining room and sliding French doors opening onto a furnished balcony.

All feature every modern amenity, including free WiFi. Marble bathrooms have underfloor heating and kitchens have full-size fridges. There are eight suites types. We were lucky enough to get the rooftop Platinum Suite, a 140sqm layout that included a butler’s kitchen, fireplaces in both living and bedroom areas, a double spa bath and a large balcony with city views. Each guest floor is a minigallery of original artworks, with armchairs clustered around gas fireplaces.

Downstairs, the Lyall Spa’s eight treatment rooms include hydrotherapy steam rooms with Swiss and drench showers.

Treatments feature Sodashi and the French Payot spa products.

The Lyall Champagne Bar is a popular meeting spot and Bistro Lyall provides light meals and 24-hour room service. www.thelyall.com World Magazine

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Fine food and wine are an inseparable part of a stay at The Louise, which has the bounty of the Barossa Valley to call on.

A BED IN THE BAROSSA Jim and Helen Carreker, owners of The Louise, a luxury vineyard retreat in the Barossa Valley, have a philosophy about high-end hospitality gleaned from numerous visits to France, Spain, Portugal and California’s Napa Valley: fine accommodation complements a truly memorable food and wine experience.

All these elements sit in perfect harmony at The Louise, where understated luxury goes hand in hand with great food and wine courtesy of the highly acclaimed Appellation restaurant and its awardwinning cellar.

The Barossa, with its plethora of iconic wineries (think Penfold’s, Wolf Blass, Yalumba, Jacob’s Creek) and food producers, is itself a mecca for wine buffs and foodies. Appellation’s executive chef, Ryan Edwards, makes the most of the region’s fabulous fare with exquisite wine-friendly food that reflects a belief that “a good food and wine marriage is something greater than the sum of its parts”.

The Louise has three suite types – Vineyard, Stonewell and Seppeltsfield – and though they vary in detail and price every suite has a king bed with fine linens, walk-in wardrobe, flat-screen TV with DVD player, Bose iPod dock and complimentary internet, big, fully-tiled ensuite bathroom with spa tub for two, walk-in rain shower and dual hand basins. Each has a private walled courtyard and a secluded rear terrace with uninterrupted vineyard views.

Arranged acrivities include in-suite massages, balloon flights, tailored wine tours and tastings, gourmet bike tours and more. Transfers from Adelaide by limousine (an hour’s drive) or helicopter can also be arranged. www.thelouise.com.au

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OCEAN’S EDGE Our stay at Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island a couple of years ago was a highlight of a visit to South Australia. Kangaroo Island (KI to locals) has been called Australia’s Galapagos – a wonderland of native wildlife and plants and curious landscapes – and South Ocean Lodge (SOL) has been built to take best advantage of it all while leaving the smallest footprint.

Flinders Chase and Kelly Hill national parks are on the doorstep, along with some of the island’s top natural attractions such as Kelly Hill Caves, the marvellous Remarkable Rocks and Admiral’s Arch, a craggy stage for the antics of New Zealand fur seals. There are colonies of Australian sea lions, too, little penguins, koalas, rare birds, Heath goannas, spiny echidnas, Tamar wallabies and, of course, the indigenous KI kangaroo.

The lodge itself occupies just a hectare of the 102ha SOL’s owners, James and Hayley Baillie, acquired for their dream of sustainable luxury tourism. The rest of the land has been placed under a state heritage agreement so it will always remain in its

Kangaroo Island has been called Australia’s Galapagos, and there’s no better place than Southern Ocean Lodge from which to experience its wild beauty.

present undeveloped state. From SOL’s white limestone-clad Great Room, with its curving floor-to-ceiling windows, 21 luxurious suites spill down the hillside towards the beach, each set back discreetly from its neighbour and with its own private outdoor terrace and stunning Southern Ocean views.

When you stay at SOL, the tariff includes just about everything – three excellent meals a day, snacks and all drinks (there’s a walk-in wine cellar; you pay extra only for French champagne and selected vintage wines), selected guided activities and, in your suite, a wellstocked bar, a mountain of tasty nibbles and even complimentary backpacks for those outdoor excursions, which include “Kanga and Kanapés” – sipping bubbly as kangaroos graze in the twilight The lodge’s Southern Spa is another delight, sitting high above the cliffs at the end of a boardwalk. The spa uses the Australianmade Li’Tya spa range in a variety of treatments, along with local products such as pure Ligurian honey, KI mineral salt and wild lavender. Perfect. www.southernoceanlodge.com.au

FABULOUSLY O.T.T. Sydney’s newest and funkiest hotel occupies two of the city’s most venerable buildings. QT, the latest Australian member of Design Hotels, opened mid-September on the corner of George and Market streets in the former Gowings department store and that grand art deco edifice, the State Theatre.

Despite the buildings’ restored facades, however, nothing prepares you for QT’s extravagant interiors, a dramatic mix of original features, curated digital art installations, eclectic artefacts and quirky design pieces inspired by the buildings’ retail and theatre heritage.

The hotel’s public spaces are the work of designer Nic Graham. In the lobby, historical features are set off by an LED wall of digital art by Daniel Crooks, while an audio-visual piece playing between levels creates an ever-changing sensory adventure for elevator occupants. Original art by

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Australian and New Zealand artists features throughout the hotel.

For the 200 guest rooms, architect Shelly Indyk has used a palette of reds, oranges, yellows and whites through the 12 discrete room styles. Rooms in the Gowings Building are bright and airy, with eccentric touches, while those in the adjacent State Theatre have Rothko-inspired carpets and rugs and playful touches like bowler-hat lamps and light fittings. Dark stone bathrooms are accented by oversized baths and large separate showers.

The brasserie-style Gowings Bar & Grill serves wood-fired oven roasts and fresh seafood on rotisserie. Lounge and bar areas echo the highenergy buzz of Sydney, while SpaQ provides a more relaxing vibe in its six treatment rooms, a men’s traditional barbershop and hammam-like steam and ice room. www.qtsydney.com.au

High design and quirkiness go hand in hand with tradition and good food at Sydney’s QT hotel.

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OUTBACK AND REEF Set amid white sand dunes in Western Australia’s Cape Range National Park just 50m from the sea, nine luxury tents look out to the world’s greatest fringing coastal coral reef – Ningaloo. The large wilderness tents comprise the accommodation at Sal Salis, a Wild Bush Luxury eco-resort 70km south of Exmouth and 1,270km northwest of Perth.

The Ningaloo Coast was granted World Heritage status last year and people come here for one of Australia’s great marine experiences, while the limestone Cape Range inland hides deep, dramatic gorges.

The coral reef is literally on the doorstep (or tent flap), home to more than 500 species of fish, 250 coral species and 600 species of mollusc. And Ningaloo is one of the best places on earth to see and swim with whale sharks and manta rays. It’s also a major breeding area for hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles – seen daily in front of the camp. Sea kayaking, snorkelling, wildlife viewing in the park, guided gorge walks, fishing, wildlife cruises and humpback whale watching (Aug 1 – Oct 30) are all on the agenda.

Tents are spacious and comfortable, but it’s made clear they’re not intended to be five-star hotel rooms; you don’t get a TV, telephone or minibar. But you do get a supremely comfortable bed, 500-threadcount cotton linen, a pillow menu, soft bathtowels and an en suite bathroom.

The main camp building enjoys views to the reef and beyond.

Dinner is hosted against a backdrop of deep-orange sunsets over the Indian Ocean, as kangaroos and wallaroos graze in the cool of the evening. Rates include all meals and beverages (from a select open bar) and scheduled guided activities. www.salsalis.com

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Open to the reef, the bush and a night sky teeming with stars, Sal Salis has the best of the Ningaloo Coast on its doorstep.

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Idyllic setting, elegant accommodation, fine food – what’s not to like about Hamilton Island’s prized qualia resort?

WHITSUNDAYS ROMANCE A boutique resort sitting on the most northern tip of Hamilton Island facing the Coral Sea, qualia is one of those special places that combine a serene, idyllic setting with harmonious design, world-class facilities, extreme comfort, intuitive service and great food and wine.

Guests stay in 60 elegant pavilions surrounded by tropical bush and with sweeping views over the sea. Glass doors open onto private sundecks. Many of the pavilions have private plunge pools and outdoor showers. Natural timber, stone and glass blend into qualia’s pristine setting.

Qualia opened about five years ago, the brain-child of Australian winemaker and competitive sailor Bob Oatley. Since then it’s received awards and acclaim on a yearly basis. Its 2012 awards include Best Australian Boutique Property or Lodge (Luxury Travel Magazine Gold List), Best Spa and Best Australian Island Resort (Australian Gourmet Traveller).

Guest-only facilities include two swimming pools, spa treatments and yoga at the award-winning Spa qualia, a choice of casual and fine dining at two restaurants, a fully-equipped gym and a library. The Long Pavilion is the focal point of the resort, a place to enjoy the sunset and to indulge in “light, fresh and healthy” cuisine created by executive chef Alastair Waddell. Pebble Beach is a casual waterfront restaurant and wine bar. You can also dine in your own pavilion.

Sailing and boating, diving and snorkelling are obvious attractions here.

Cooking classes and wine tastings, private beach picnics, sunset cruises, scenic flights – even golf – are among other activities. Or you can simply stay put and bliss out. www.qualia.com.au

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Saffire Freycinet’s stunning design is inspired by its proximity to the sea at Tasmania’s Great Oyster Bay.

TASMANIAN JEWEL From the air, Saffire Freycinet looks like a giant silver manta ray trying to get back to the sea. The ray’s apparent objective is Great Oyster Bay on Tasmania’s east coast. Across the bay are the Hazards Mountains on the Freycinet Peninsula; behind this boutique resort is native bush that’s home to myriad birds and animals.

Saffire’s architecture echoes its environment – “evoking a connection to the sea, through references to waves, sea creatures, sand dunes and a flowing, organic form”, as the architects put it.

Interiors, too, are inspired by the natural environment. The design style is fresh, modern and uncontrived, bringing the outdoors in through the use of stone and local timbers and natural colours such as soft grey, taupe, green and blue. Even the low-reflectivity window glass is designed to maximise guests’ viewing pleasure.

The resort has just 20 beautifully appointed suites, conceived for privacy while remaining open to the views and natural light. Furnishings are an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary, with locally made timber pieces alongside classics such as chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames and Herman Miller. Amenities are what you’d expect from top-class accommodation and mini-bars are stocked with premium Tasmanian produce, wine and beers – included in your suite rate.

Dining in Saffire’s restaurant, Palate, is a daily treat. Head chef Hugh Whitehouse has the finest of fresh local ingredients to work with: crayfish, scallops and deep-sea fish, succulent oysters farmed in Great Oyster Bay, mussels, grass-fed beef and lamb, game meats, and seasonal fruit and vegetables.

The serene Spa Saffire tailors personal spa programmes for guests, while workouts in the fully equipped gym come with a spectacular outlook. www.saffire-freycinet.com.au

LOST WORLD It’s around 190km by car from Sydney to Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, on the edge of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, and the final stretch is a real adventure. A 26km drive from the main road at Lisdale, your first sight of the valley, with its great sandstone bluffs, comes at a point called The Gap. From here the road dives towards the valley floor and turns to gravel for the last 13km.

This carbon-neutral resort is part of a 1,600-hectare conservation estate lying between two national parks – Gardens of Stone and Wollemi. The setting is truly magical and the sprawling estate offers all kinds of nature-based actvities: nocturnal wildlife spotting, horseback trail rides, guided walks and photographic excursions, 4WD safaris, mountain biking, scenic picnics and stargazing.

Closer to home are tennis courts, a 25m infinity pool with Jacuzzi, a state-of-the-art gym, steam room, sauna and plunge pool and Emirates’ own Timeless Spa. The nearby Heritage Homestead, a restored 1832 farmhouse, serves as a backdrop to barbecues and campfire storytelling.

A maximum of 90 guests stay in 40 individual suites surrounded by private verandas. Each suite has its own 7m indoor/outdoor pool, separate living and bedroom areas with double-sided fireplace, walk-in wardrobe and huge en suite bathroom. Every mod con is included and thoughtful extras include binoculars and a sketch pad with coloured pencils.

We found the resort’s fresh seasonal cuisine – locally sourced wherever possible – universally excellent. Breakfast and dinner are served in the airy Wolgan Dining Room. Lunch is in the all-day Country Kitchen. You can also dine alfresco on the Homestead’s sprawling veranda or on your own private deck. The Valley Bar and Terrace is the spot for a pre-dinner drink, and there’s a walk-in wine cellar.

The nightly per-person tariff (see website) includes all meals, a range of fine wines and beers with meals and all non-alcoholic beverages throughout the day, plus two guided field activities. www.wolganvalley.com

Emirates Wolgan Valley is a place to get back to nature while indulging in some of Australia’s best resort accommodation, service and amenities.

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LAST WORD Sam Neill: My World With Wine

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never meant to be a wine producer. Nor did I ever mean to be an actor. But here I am and now I am both. And I couldn’t be happier about that.

The wine thing looks, on paper, more logical, really. Before me were three generations of wine merchants (and drinkers), starting with my great-grandfather, who began distributing wines and spirits (mainly French) in southern New Zealand in 1861. I had other ideas and business wasn’t one of them.

But these ideas certainly didn’t include acting; anything but. However, after one strange accident or another, one day, at the relatively late age of 29, I found myself a full-time – and reasonably prosperous – screen actor.

This new-found and rather surprising prosperity led to me being able to afford wine that actually didn’t come out of a cardboard box with a tap.

Better still, it was Burgundy; my friend and mentor James Mason having opened my eyes to the pleasures of this most blessed of wine regions.

This prosperity also meant that, 15 years later when I bumped into a friend who proposed that we buy some land and plant a series of vineyards (of which one would be mine), I could say with blithe confidence: “Yes!” And there it was: spontaneous, barely considered. I had little idea what I had let myself in for.

What I did have an idea about was that, serendipitously, two or three people I knew were beginning to produce Pinot Noir wines near where we live in Central Otago that showed genuine promise. That was very intriguing to me, especially as I was by now a committed and wild-eyed follower of the sacred Pinot grape.

The first surprise was that, within a year or two from our first vintage in 1997, we were making, from my modest planting of about two hectares of Pinot, wine of which I was inordinately proud. The second surprise was that my initial modest impulse to grow a little humble vino for our table would turn into a raging, ungovernable ambition to become among the best wine producers of the world.

This led to me buying more land and planting what is now three separate vineyards consisting of about 12ha of vines, 90 per cent of which is, of course, Pinot and 10 per cent my other great love: Riesling. It should be plain that by now I was out of control. But, yes, of course, we are still tiny by any measure, and suitably humble about our wines. Privately, however, I like to think we are inexorably edging closer to being one of the greats.

This, of course, is very much to do with those I work with. Dean Shaw, for instance, who has been our winemaker since 1999, favours wines with quiet, classical structure and elegance, as do I. Mike Wing, who manages the vineyards and the farm, looks to sustainable and organic principles in all things, as do I. As in most endeavours, it’s about people as much as anything. And dedication, knowledge, inspiration and love – love of the land, love of wine...

And, above all, it’s enormous fun. Of course, every vintage is challenging and often scary – Mother Nature can be a bitch as well as a goddess.

But the immense satisfaction of putting an excellent bottle of your own wine in front of friends, or covertly ordering one in a great restaurant somewhere in the world – you can’t beat it. Not to mention walking into your vines with the morning sun in your eyes.

I enjoy it all. I’ve been writing about the triumphs and the catastrophes of Two Paddocks since 2000 on our website blog. You might like to join us there. Or catch up with me at Pinot Noir 2013 in Wellington. www.twopaddocks.com W