Neil Perry Dinner at Kauri Cliffs

The evening meal at Kauri Cliffs was a special event as top Australian chef Neil Perry and his team were over to cook.  The lodge has a dress policy for dinner which is unusual for NZ but nice to see all the men wearing jackets.





The room was set up with two long tables seating 20 each, so the room was a buzz with people talking.  Neil Perry explained the menu - all Italian cuisine, and the Italian wine matches that had been chosen by one of NZ's top wine distributors.





After a first course of various bruschetta, we were then served a beautiful dish of ham, parmesan and cabbage.







Third course was a seafood chilli risotto, this was cooked al dente, not to our usual taste, but still a very delicious dish with perfectly cooked paua, scallops and squid.




The main course was beautifully cooked lamb served with caponata and roast potatoes on the side.






Dessert was panna cotta with rhubarb, a lovely end to a fantastic dinner.

A Night of Luxury at Kauri Cliffs

We were lucky to be gifted a night at the stunning luxury lodge Kauri Cliffs up in Matauri Bay, Northland.  On arrival at the lodge, we were met by the American billionaire owner, his hotel manager and a valet to take our car and luggage.

We were firstly shown around the lodge, a beautifully decorated building, with lots of lounge rooms to relax in.






The views from the lodge across their world championship quality golf course to the sea were stunning.






We were then taken to our suite - accessed down a path through native bush.  The room was stunning, large walk in wardrobe and bathroom leading through to the bedroom/lounge.



The lounge had a gas fire to keep us warm and french doors out to the balcony and views over the golf course to the sea.






The lodge has several walks,so as we are not golfers we spent the afternoon exploring the grounds.  There are three private beaches, this one, Pink Beach is used in summer for BBQ dinners.





There is also a native forest with a kauri tree agd between 700 and 900 years old with a circumference of 9 meters.









The view from the 18th hole back up to the lodge and suites - ours was the fifth cottage down from the lodge.





The following morning we had a lovely sunrise to look out over from our room.

Takapuna Sunrises

As I am currently taking part in the Global Step Challenge of walking 10,000 steps a day, I have been making the most of my work location and walking on the beach each morning before work.  I have been lucky to see some stunning sunrises, here are some examples.