Conception of Hapuku Lodge

With mountains to the west, ocean to the east and deer all around, Tony thought Hapuku was a special spot for family and friends to visit. If family and friends would like Hapuku, so would others. Wilson Associates decided to build a small guesthouse or B&B on the farm. Wilson projects have always involved the family and the creation of Hapuku Lodge was no exception. From the building design, to overseeing the construction, to designing and building of the furnishings even olive tree pruning and recipe creation have all been the responsibility of Wilson family members. Tony’s son Justin arrived to the Lodge in 2002, to help see it built and act as general manager. In late 2006 Justin moved back to California, where he is still actively involved with the marketing and business development of Hapuku Lodge.

As with many Wilson projects, “the process expanded the idea.” Once Tony and Peter put their heads together on the drawing board, the simple guesthouse began to grow, as can be seen in the current Lodge, new Tree Houses and future sea-side cabins.

Interior Design of Hapuku Lodge

Not content with designing just the exterior shell, Tony and Peter carried their aesthetic throughout the Lodge, designing most of the furniture in the Lodge. With no history in the accommodation business, the Wilson’s standard for the interior was to design to a degree and style that they would look for themselves when traveling. A point of advice that made an impression on the Wilsons, was an article about beds Tony read in an inflight magazine during a trip from California to NZ. Written by an experienced hotelier, the article said the most memorable and important factor in any guest’s accommodation experience is quality of sleep.

Spending hundreds of dollars a night for marble on the floors and gold on the faucets, is resented if the bed doesn’t provide a great night’s sleep. It is the quality of the sleep experience that turns out to be the most important. With this in mind, the Wilsons set out to create the best possible sleep environment. Double paned, tiltswing, soundproof windows were imported from Germany to reduce the noise of the stag’s roar during the mating season. Extra thick padding was put under the carpets to reduce the sound of footfalls from other guests. Most importantly a lot of thought went into the beds. Swedish slats that will bend and flex with the contour of the sleeper’s body were used in the construction of the bed frames. And then, the perfect mattress was sought. Not being able to find just the right mattress, Tony decided to design and make a custom mattress for the Lodge. After trying out various materials and densities, two layers of hypo-allergenic pure latex with a wool overlay was just right. And it’s proven to be so. Many of the guests say the Lodge has the “best beds” in the South Island and they always say they had a great nights sleep.

Construction

Construction of Hapuku Lodge began New Year 2000, and it opened March of 2003. This slow pace was partly due to the detail and finishing required (we painted some rooms four times to get the right colour) but Mother Nature played a part as well. In late Spring 2000 the building crew (in NZ vernacular called the “chippies”) held the traditional “roof shout”. A roof shout calls for the owner to buy the chippies beer in celebration of having topped out the building by installing the last of the roof. The next day the “strongest wind in 100 years” blew through Hapuku and knocked the first floor of the Lodge15 degrees off centre and blew the roof off, sending much of it into the ocean, almost a kilometre away. As can be imagined, this slowed the project down.

Much of the Lodge is built of natural products from far and near. The exterior cladding is North American cedar. The flooring in the Lodge is Tasmanian oak (a type of eucalyptus) with kwela inlay. The kitchen’s curved ceiling is also Tasmanian oak. The stone of the fireplace is from the Hapuku River and is reported to be the hardest stone in the country. The floor in the dining room is kwela and again the ceiling is Tasmanian oak.

Furniture

Not only an olive farmer, Michael had a passion for wood and created beautiful hand-made furniture as well. Over the course of 35 years, Michael had collected unique and beautiful pieces of North American hardwoods that he milled using his homemade sawmill. Realizing that he would never be able to use all of the wood in his life-time, he offered to bring a large portion of his collection to Hapuku to be used in the creation and making of the Lodge furniture.

Michael constructed furniture in the old style, that is to say, precise and, therefore, time consuming, but always of the highest quality. Michael taught Duane Turner, one of the builders from the Lodge, much that he knew about furniture making. Using the gorgeous wood that Michael had brought over from California, they set up a workshop in the Olive House and built much of the furniture found in Hapuku Lodge today.

After Michael and Peggy returned to America, the Wilsons turned to Duane and other woodworking friends Dave King and Lachlan Hill to help finish the Lodge furniture.

Pottery

The pottery you see around the Lodge including most of that used in table service is made by potting friend, Gill Gane from Nelson. Gill is responsible for the visions, colours and art/design, as resident Artist and Director at her internationally acclaimed award-winning studio, Neudorf Ceramics. The studio produces limited runs of tableware, studio pieces and one-off art pieces which have built Neudorf Ceramics a reputation for original Ceramics. If you would like to see or purchase Gill’s work, feel free to ask reception for the address and phone number of Neudorf Ceramics Gallery in Nelson.

Artwork

The Lodge art collection is ever changing but is always made up of a mixture of established NZ artists, contemporary Kiwi artists, a few from the US and English artists and some mementos from the Wilsons’ travels:

Robyn White, NZ artist; Ian McCormack, NZ Artist; Stanley Palmer, NZ Artist; Mervin Taylor, NZ Artist; Sibley, UK Artist; Inca Cloth, Andes of Peru – collected when Tony, Sara with husband Gustavo climbed up and around Machu Picchu in Peru- and Judith Wilson, NZ Artist.

Tree Houses

If you could but be a bird you could more fully appreciate the beauty that is Kaikoura. That was our inspiration – how could we put our guests among the birds?

Our seductive corps of Manukas and Kanukas suggested the solution: station people in the tree tops and they would be closer to the mountains, closer to the ocean, closer to the birds. And that is what we have tried to do – allow our guests to nest in the treetops in a luxurious version of a child’s tree house.

Our own experience of tree houses had been with cobbled together platforms precariously situated in the forks of unstable trees in Wellington, built without regard to the advice of the architects in the family. Of course we could not as adults avoid the entreaties of the modern substitute for the scolding parent – the local Council’s building department. While our tree houses are not literally within the forks of the manuka trees, and given that we need to cater to the parents and not the children, we nevertheless wanted to assure that we built a room as close to being a child’s version of the perfect tree house as we could.

We think we have managed to put our guests among the birds. Indeed each house is named after the native bird showing the greatest affinity to the house in question: Kereru (the native pigeon) for the first; Piwakawaka (the fantail) for the second; Kotare (the kingfisher) for the third; Tui (the tui) for the fourth; and Korimako (the bellbird) for the fifth.

Materials used in Tree House construction

Exterior of all Tree Houses
Vertical battens – NZ Redwood over Canadian cedar
Metal Siding - Copper
Horizontal cladding – Rough sawn NZ timber
Horizontal Stripped Saplings – Manuka
Stair Tread - Santa Rosa and Kwela

Tree House 1 - Kereru

Interior
Wooden bricks sunroom Remu (NZ)
Wall Unit Red Oak (NZ)
Headboard Chestnut (NZ)
Bedside Stumps Chestnut (NZ)
Bathroom
Wooden bricks on ceiling Macrocarpa (NZ)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American)

Tree House 2 (Upper Bedroom) - Piwakawaka

Interior
Wooden bricks sunroom Remu (NZ)
Wall Unit Red Oak (NZ)
Headboard Chestnut (NZ)
Bedside Stumps Chestnut (NZ)
Bathroom
Wooden bricks on ceiling Macrocarpa (NZ)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American)

Tree House 2 (Lower Bedroom) - Piwakawaka

Front Deck Santa Rosa (Central American Hardwood)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American Hardwood)
Headboard Chestnut (NZ)
Bedside Stumps Chestnut (NZ)
Wall Unit Red Oak (NZ)

Tree House 3 - Kotare

Interior
Wooden Bricks Sun Room Remu (NZ)
Wall Unit Walnut (US) & Lacewood (BR)
Headboard Redwood (US)
Bedside Stumps Macrocarpa (NZ)
Bathroom
Wooden bricks on ceiling Macrocarpa (NZ)

Tree House 4 (Upper Bedroom) - Tui
Interior
Wooden bricks Sun Room Remu (NZ)
Wall Unit Walnut (US) & Lacewood (BR)
Headboard Redwood (US)
Bedside Stumps Macrocarpa (NZ)
Bathroom
Wooden bricks on ceiling Macrocarpa (NZ)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American)

Tree House 4 (Lower Bedroom) - Tui

Front Deck Kwela (S.E. Asia Hardwood)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American Hardwood)
Headboard Redwood (US)
Bedside Stumps Macrocarpa (NZ)
Wall Unit Lacewood (BR – Brazil)

Tree House 5 - Korimako

Interior
Wooden bricks Sun Room Remu (NZ)
Wall Unit Walnut (US) & Lacewood (BR)
Headboard Redwood (US)
Bedside Stumps Macrocarpa (NZ)
Bathroom
Wooden bricks on ceiling Macrocarpa (NZ)
Back Deck Santa Rosa (Central American)