A homestead retreat on one of New Zealand’s largest high-country conservation stations, tens of thousands of acres of tussock and mountain between Wanaka and Queenstown, taken in exclusive use.
Mahu Whenua, “healing the land”, spans tens of thousands of acres of Central Otago high country under conservation covenant, once four merino stations, now one vast protected landscape between Wanaka and Queenstown.
Its homestead and lodge are taken in exclusive use with a chef and staff: a base of extraordinary comfort in an ocean of tussock and mountain, with riding, walking and heli-adventures from the door.
Every experience begins with a single click. Tell us when and with who and we'll design a world around you.
The homestead and lodge combine timber, stone and fire with walls of glass onto the tussock and the peaks, several bedrooms, deep comfort and big skies.
Taken exclusively, the retreat is yours; a chef and staff run it as your own in the middle of the station.
A chef cooks to your party alone: high-country lamb, Central Otago wine, garden and orchard produce, by the fire or out on the land after a day’s riding.
There is no menu but yours; a picnic in the tussock or a fireside dinner needs only a word.
The station is made for horses: rides across tussock and river flats to old musterers’ huts. Walk the covenant land, mountain-bike the tracks, and fly by helicopter to alpine peaks, glaciers and remote fishing rivers.
Wanaka and Queenstown are close for the days you want them; your designer sets the adventures.
The retreat’s fires and hot tubs carry the evenings; a therapist can be brought for massage or yoga with the peaks in view.
The deeper restoration is the scale and the silence, a protected land, your own, in every direction.
The homestead runs with a chef, host and station guides who know the land, the horses and the high country, and keep it as their own.
Behind them sits your Satopia travel designer, who holds the retreat, arranges the heli-days and stays one call away throughout.
Between Wanaka and Queenstown lies the South Island’s high country, tussock, schist and the Southern Alps, a landscape of scale and clarity now partly under conservation.
Mahu Whenua gives you a homestead at its heart and a protected wilderness effectively to yourselves.
Everything here is to help you picture it. Your travel designer handles the arranging: the flights, the cars, the guides, the tents held for you alone.
Riding, biking and heli-adventures across a protected station, with a homestead of your own.
A homestead in the tussock, hot tubs under the peaks and no one for miles.
The homestead and lodge for a milestone, catered and staffed.
Peaks, glaciers and remote rivers by helicopter, from your own base.
Choose where you would set out from. We'll estimate the flight and how much the time change is likely to ask of you.
The Satopia Advantage™
We hold the relationship with Mahu Whenua, so we can take the retreat in exclusive use for your party on your dates. From there a single travel designer composes every day around you. You simply arrive.
The whole retreat, and its team, held for your party and the season. The access a direct booking rarely reaches.
Every day composed by one travel designer: the riding and the heli-days, the Alps and the transfers, present when wanted, unseen when not.
Drawn from recent guests.
Allow roughly an hour and a half from Queenstown, as the road in is scenic but winding. Arriving mid trip rather than straight off a flight lets you settle in properly. The expansive alpine surroundings set a quiet tone that encourages guests to unwind completely.
E-bike rides across the grounds allow visitors to traverse the vast terrain, often accompanied by a packed or trailside lunch prepared by the kitchen. With only a handful of rooms on the property, exploring on two wheels reveals the true scale of the landscape beyond the terrace. Guests frequently single out these outings as the best way to experience the remote environment.
The South Island unfolds from here. A few we would pair the retreat with, each arranged as one seamless experience.
The fiords by boat or air: Milford and Doubtful Sounds, cliffs and waterfalls.
Add to your enquiryPinot noir and dramatic cellars around Wanaka and Bannockburn.
Add to your enquiryAdd the north: the Bay of Islands, Maori culture and geothermal country.
Add to your enquiryTell us who is coming and your dates. We will shape the rest around you. Nothing is booked yet, and we reply within a day.
Choose one or more months, or tell us you're flexible on dates.
Ideal season · November to April
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An estimate of your budget for the whole stay helps us plan your experience. Below is an estimated nightly rate, excluding experience budget, to help you plan.
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Mahu Whenua is taken in exclusive use, priced by night and by season. The figures shown are indicative. Once we check live availability we confirm an exact, all-in quote for your dates, and nothing is booked and no payment taken until you approve it in writing. A deposit then secures your dates, with the balance due before arrival. The full booking terms, cancellation policy and any security deposit are set out in your confirmation.
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