Wharekauhau: A rowlocking good time

We set out from the stables on a day so gleamingly fine it is as if everything around us is being Photoshopped as we watch, so intense and perfect are the colours. The grass is almost shockingly green, the frequently wild waters of Palliser Bay a blue shot silk and the lambs - hundreds of them! - might have been individually washed and dried. Sunshine pours down on us from a cloudless sky and the horses - a photogenic trio of bay, grey and palomino - look a treat, too.

Wharekauhau Country Lodge and Estate is perhaps best viewed from the broad back of a sturdy animal. Horses were central to the running of this beautiful Wairarapa sheep and cattle station for many decades, and a ride around the 2225ha property is a must, resulting in a clearing of the head and a workout of the muscles like nothing else you can imagine. Our mounts take us across grassy terraces to a cliff top and we can see down to the sandspit where Lake Onoke meets the sea, right across Palliser Bay to the fishing village of Ngawi in the distance.

I've got the "fun horse" and she dashes along the paddock parallel to the water, her hooves thudding out a rhythm on the ground. We travel up hills and across river beds piled high with driftwood skeletons, then have lunch on the beach - our hamper of goodies delivered by quad bike - and continue on, past a few surfcasters and the battered makeshift baches that have long been part of this community.

Back in the saddle, we leave the beach and briefly join the road. Just when I'm thinking I must have accidentally stepped into a 1970s shampoo commercial, some idiot comes flying along in a red car. We keep expecting him to slow down. My horse spooks and spins around theatrically, nearly tipping me off. I shout something that isn't "It won't happen overnight but it will happen" and we continue on, through patches of native bush (dappled with sunlight, naturally). Then it's back across the river, the horses carefully picking their way around the boulders. We track back towards the lodge and canter home along the broad, grassy drive.

Everything about this place breathes tradition. The Wharekauhau brand appears everywhere you look - a wiggly "Y" that could be a lyre without strings or a wee Texas longhorn's horns. But it's a rowlock: the thing your oars slot into and a brand in the oldest sense of the word. The story has it that cattle were identified by a scissors brand from the time of the station's establishment in the 1840s but wool bales were not marked. Around 1870, when bales were still rowed out to a waiting ship that lay beyond the bucking breakers in Palliser Bay, a law was passed in Wellington that required all wool to carry a brand.

Wharekauhau, sitting four square on the edge of the wild Wairarapa coast in splendid isolation, wasn't in on the news. The farm workers got out to the ship to discover that their wool couldn't be carried, so the first mate grabbed a rowlock from the longboat, dipped it in paint and marked the bales. Today, the Wharekauhau brand still stands for excellence: the station's Romney and Texel sheep and Angus and Simmental beef cattle are of the finest quality.

But Wharekauhau is much more than a working farm with views to die for. A dozen or so years ago, the lodge and cottages were built and a new chapter was written into the property's history. The main building is based on an Edwardian English country mansion with formal gardens and a croquet lawn that segue into an oasis of native and exotic trees. A tennis court stands opposite a vegetable garden that looks as if might be full of Peter Rabbits and Benjamin Bunnies.

With the Rimutaka Ranges behind and the endless Pacific Ocean stretching out in front, Wharekauhau should look as if it's been beamed into the wrong hemisphere, and yet it doesn't. As we watch the whims of this moody landscape change from misty and mysterious to brilliantly sunny (we miss a full-on gale), the lodge remains sturdy and strong, built to take a power of weather but soft and pretty enough to sustain the most romantic of fantasies.

And that's what Wharekauhau does best. It's an oasis of award-winning luxury for locals and international travellers alike where you can sample sensational food and wine and then retire to a supremely comfortable cottage. At this time of the year, we've got sheep and lambs in our foreground, but the view of farmland and sea beyond is stunning all year round. As the dusk falls, I watch the lambs performing their evening ritual. All at once, they leave their mothers and tear madly up and down the paddock in a gang. I feel the same way, but instead of gambolling for joy, I put on a nice dress and go to dinner. Mmm, there might be lamb on the menu!

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Wharekauhau is a 1.5-hour drive from Wellington. You can charter a helicopter or light aircraft from Wellington or further afield, or get a direct flight from Auckland to Masterton (there are six flights a week).

What to do: On-site activities include horse riding, farm tours, quad biking, mountain biking, clay target shooting, archery, surfcasting, croquet and pétanque. There is a swimming pool, spa pool and day spa. Off-site activities include wine tours, jet boating, seal colony and lighthouse tours and golf tours.

Accommodation: Cottages are from $686 per person per night (off-peak), which includes drinks and canapés, a four-course dinner, breakfast and selected activities. Wharepapa Cottage and Château Wellington can also be hired. For further details, go to wharekauhau.co.nz.

Wharekauhau Lodge and Country Estate is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Diana Balham was hosted by Wharekauhau Lodge.