Alan Pye set up the camp with white canvas tents pegged beside the trout-rich river, and anglers kept it a secret until guests arrived from around the world for the chequered lawns that run down to the swirling water. A year-long NZ$25 million transformation by Beckons and Virginia Fisher has since expanded the suites, added bold interiors and opened a wellness offering. The lodge is styled as a grand estate, with a central lodge, a restaurant and terraces among established gardens and dining nooks.
The 20 suites and the two cottages are dotted along the river and among the gardens, each opening onto lawns. The Lodge Suite has a gauze-draped canopy and French doors to the garden and river, and other suites have raked ceilings, an open fire and a chaise longue by the hearth. The Alan Pye Cottage is a private residence of scale above the river, with an infinity pool, a heated spa and an outdoor pavilion. The Alex van Heeren Cottage sits on a bluff, with a view downstream to Huka Falls.
A stay includes a full country breakfast, pre-dinner drinks and canapés, a four-course dinner with a daily-changing menu and matched premium wines, use of all lodge facilities and return transfers from Taupō Airport. Dinner is built on New Zealand produce, such as beef and lamb from the North Island, Tora crayfish and Mount Cook Alpine Salmon, with native kawakawa and pāua. The underground Wine Cellar holds about 4,500 bottles and seats from two to ten for private dinners. Other private settings include the Library, the Loft, the River Deck and the Orchard.
The Huka Spa, reserved for in-house guests, stands among the Wellness Grounds, with huts for a gym, two treatment rooms, a sauna, an ice contrast shower and a hot pool. Treatments use manuka honey, greenstone and thermal mud. There is tennis, croquet and pétanque on site, and the lodge arranges fly fishing for trout, jet boating, white-water rafting, golf, hiking, luxury cruising and helicopter flights.
The lodge suits guests who want a historic, quiet base in Taupō, with the river outside the door.
