Review: A luxury experience in the mild west

Review: A luxury experience in the mild west
Waimauku's Hunting Lodge vineyard and restaurant started life as an actual hunting lodge.
Helen van Berkel
Waimauku’s Hunting Lodge has long had a reputation as a fine-dining destination, and as the summer begins to unspool with the promise of hot, dry, lazy days and Sunday drives into the country, I set out to find out if it still deserved it. The journey out west seems to get longer every year as Auckland's growth continues to outstrip the new roads built to keep the population moving. We hit the traffic almost as soon as the Northwestern Motorway ended and crawled until we could turn off to take the backroads through Riverhead...

More The Life

TV glow-up: WiZ lights deliver big ambience on a budget
The Life Review

TV glow-up: WiZ lights deliver big ambience on a budget

One quirk of living in a 1960s apartment is that there are no overhead lights.

My Net Worth: Richie Cosgrove, Fish & Game COO
Editor's Picks

My Net Worth: Richie Cosgrove, Fish & Game COO

“I've certainly made mistakes ... but I don't see that as failure.” 

2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E: ‘real-world gain’ and GT speed
The Life Review

2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E: ‘real-world gain’ and GT speed

The Mach-E GT is still the fastest factory Mustang you can buy.

David Linklater 16 Nov 2025
Want an easier way to travel with a suit?
Retail

Want an easier way to travel with a suit?

Known as ‘convertibles,’ they combine a garment bag with a duffel to carry a suit.