Wilderness Lodges of New Zealand

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Wilderness Lodges of New Zealand

Discover wild New Zealand in comfort and style at two luxurious family-owned and operated Wilderness Lodges.

One located at Lake Moeraki, between Franz Josef and Wanaka, the other in the Southern Alps near Arthur's Pass. The two Wilderness Lodges capture the diversity of the South Island's remarkable wild heart. Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki is nestled in ancient rainforest beside the Moeraki River, a short distance from the Tasman Seacoast. Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass is surrounded by the 4000 acre W

ilderness Lodge sheep farm and nature reserve, high in the Southern Alps. At both locations a dynamic guide nature adventures immerses guests in the natural world. Discover rare wildlife, hike, kayak and explore to your heart's content while still enjoying the finer things in life.

03/08/2026

Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki welcomes August arrivals to the Lodge and to this area.

Kristine Hingst (General Manager) and Joe Taylor (Maintenance Manager) and Tawaki/Fiordland Crested Penguin for the 2026 breeding season.

Kristine and Joe have come to the Lodge from the nearby small Haast region and have a house at Hannah’s Clearing. Longtime Lodge staff member, Meg Hindmarsh, also lives in Haast so we are ecruiting locally as part of our commitment to eco-tourism.

Joe is an outdoor man, keen hunter and a qualified plumber with a long history in the Upper Clutha-Haast region.

Kristine is very experienced in hospitality management including in other Wilderness Lodges. Before coming to Lake Moeraki, both Kristine and Joe worked at Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge in the Kimberley region of NW Australia. We are already seeing great benefits from Joe’s focus on Lodge maintenance and Kristine's skills in organization and remote hospitality.

Contact Kristine at [email protected] if you need any assistance or need help with your travel planning.

Tawaki/Fiordland Crested Penguin, 3rd rarest of the world’s 18 Penguin species, have also just arrived for their 2026 winter-spring breeding season.

Yesterday, Wilderness Lodge owner ecologist Dr Gerry McSweeney visited his Lake Moeraki coastline monitor nest site to check on new penguin arrivals and to see how this breeding season is going. Gerry photographed and filmed this pair of penguins guarding their first egg. As ground nesters out in the open rainforest, Tawaki penguins are vulnerable to introduced predators including stoats and feral cats. For 36 years on the Lake Moeraki coastline penguin colonies we have carried out introduced predator control work. We also strongly support DOC’s triennial aerial 1080 pest control programme that covers 50,000 hectares between the Haast and Paringa Rivers. This was last completed in June 2025.

Gerry’s film in the first comment below shows the male and female Tawaki at the nest yesterday where the female is guarding her first egg and she will shortly lay a second egg. She then heads to the Tasman Sea to feed and rebuild her energy. The male Tawaki then takes over egg incubation for an approximately 28 day lonely vigil when he will not leave the nest.

A huge threat hangs over NZ birds, especially seabirds, in 2026 with H5N1 Bird Flu now recorded in NZ. It appears that Bird Flu has just devastated a crested tern population off the South Australian coast.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/01/first-australian-mass-mortality-event-suspected-as-deadly-bird-flu-virus-rapidly-escalates-among-native-birds

Tawaki penguins have spent the last 5 months in the Southern Ocean close to areas where Bird Flu is now widespread. Although not yet recorded on NZ’s subantarctic island or nearby Australian territory Macquarie Island, further west on Australia’s subantarctic Heard and McDonald Islands seals and bird populations have been ravaged by the Influenza virus.

https://theconversation.com/the-warning-signs-are-over-australia-now-faces-a-devastating-bird-flu-outbreak-in-wildlife-288889

We will closely monitor any impact on Tawaki penguin populations over the coming October to December and keep in close contact with DOC.

www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

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28/06/2026

Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass is one of 12 NZ tourism businesses that this week won a Lion Hospitality NZ Award. Each award was in a different category and recognises those businesses to be the best in their field judged by the NZ hospitality industry.
Our award was for " The Best Accommodation Provider (non-hotel motel)".
We take this opportunity in this reel to celebrate the Award and our 30 years of operations 1996-2026. Our Lodge combines stylish hospitality in the wilderness with nature protection and discovery on our working high country merino sheep station/ nature reserve.
Here are some images of the people, the landscapes, the wildlife and the warm hospitality that combine to create the Wilderness Lodge Experience
www.wildernesslodge.co.nz S

27/06/2026

This week Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass received a Lion Hospitality New Zealand Award. We are one of 12 businesses in NZ, each in a different category, recognised as the best in their field by the NZ hospitality industry.

Our award was for “The Best Accommodation Provider (non-hotel/motel)”. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2606/S00352/nzs-best-hospitality-and-accommodation-venues-recognised-at-national-awards.htmBusiness

Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive Kristy Phillips said
“Hospitality and accommodation businesses of all sizes are working tirelessly to provide guests across the country with the space to connect, socialise and unwind. These awards recognise the hospitality businesses at the top of their game and the passion, innovation and work-ethic of those making these venues the very best in New Zealand. To see the industry join together to reflect on achievements, cheer on one another, and inspire the next generation, is truly moving,”

We want to thank Capstone Hotel Management (www.capstonehotels.co.nz} for their efforts in preparing the nomination of the Lodge. Capstone, now part of the Marsden Group (www.marsdenhotels.co.nz) have been managing both our Wilderness Lodges since September 2025.

The Lodges would not be successful without an amazing team of dedicated staff. We thank all of them for their great work and also our suppliers to us located in one of the most remote parts of Canterbury.

We also want to recognise the 30 years of vision and determination by our extended McSweeney family involved in establishing and operating the Lodge in partnership with Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki. In 1994 the McSweeney/Jarman/Saunders family partnership purchased the Lodge freehold site located in a clearing in the beech forest overlooking 30km of mountains. We then carefully developed the Lodge and a 20km network of walking trails linked with our high country farm, 166-year-old Cora Lynn Station.

Surrounded by Arthur’s Pass National Park and Craigieburn Forest Park, the Lodge opened in 1996. It demonstrates that eco-tourism can help to protect nature and native wildlife in the heart of the Southern Alps. The Lodge also celebrates NZ’s heritage of high-country farming, merino sheep, wool and land stewardship.

For 30 years through the tourism season every second night, the Lodge has showcased high country sheep station life for Lodge visitors. Sheep shows include border collie sheep mustering, old-fashioned blade shearing and farm to fashion fabric stories. We have worked in partnership with the travel industry and the community. We particularly note the support of Backroads, Natural Habitat Adventures, Nature Quest New Zealand, Great Bike Tours, Best Of New Zealand Fly Fishing and many other travel companies. We also acknowledge our 30 year partnership with Zentera Wool Company(formerly the NZ Merino Company) who have been alongside us throughout our 30 year journey.

Being surrounded by protected public lands managed by Department of Conservation (DOC) has been of crucial importance to the success of our business. Long may these lands remain protected and not subject to the rampant commercial development championed recently by some NZ politicians. This has blighted many other wild natural areas worldwide.

DOC-managed lands and their native plants and animals are not only a protected haven for nature. They are a great place for people to explore. They have earned Arthur's Pass the title of "The People's National Park" because of our Park's popularity and closeness to Christchurch. These protected areas makes a vital contribution to the success of our eco-tourism business and many other tourism businesses operating in this region..

Over the last 30 years we have worked closely with DOC and the wider community to secure greater protection for precious natural lands and waters in the Upper Waimakariri River. This includes conservation efforts to protect lovely Moana Rua/Lake Pearson, the Riversdale Reserve, Kura Tawaiti/Castle Hill (the most popular scenic reserve in Canterbury) and the Korowai-Torlesse and Craigieburn Conservation Parks. From the Lodge we visit all these places on our guided walks and kayak safaris under our DOC Concession.

For the past 30 years from the Lodge we have also carried out and championed effective, landscape scale w**d and pest control on our lands and the surrounding Government-managed lands. New Zealand's largest kiwi species, Roroa/Great Spotted Kiwi are now successfully breeding from the Upper Wilderforce and Upper Waimakariri Rivers northwards including in National Park forest just across the river from us. Robin/kakaruwai, Karearea/NZ Falcon, wrybill/ngatu pare and NZ's smallest bird, Titipounamu/Rifleman are thriving in shrublands, riverbeds and beech forest around the Lodge. There remains a lot to do in this area to control the introduced legumes invading the river valleys and to control introduced predators but there is a strong united effort to do this.

In 1996, New Zealand's smallest and rarest parakeet was nearly extinct in the Hawdon Valley just across from the Lodge, one of only two places it still occurred. Kākāriki karaka /NZ's orange-fronted parakeet It is now secure on some offshore islands and bird sanctuaries. Effective pest control by DOC now means that in 2026 the Hawdon Valley now has low rat numbers and parakeets are also successfully breeding here and in the South Branch of the Hurunui with 50-60 birds in each population. .

https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2026-media-releases/no-rats--best-news-ever-for-rare-kakariki-karaka/

Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass reopens for the 2026/2027 visitor season on 1 October 2026 and we welcome visitors to come and experience the high country in style with us.

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www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

13/06/2026

Both Wilderness Lodges of New Zealand two Lodges reopen on 1 October for the 2026-2027 visitor season.

Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass is in the middle of its own nature reserve/ merino sheep station in the heart of the Southern Alps

Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki is surrounded by ancient rainforest on the shores of the lake and a short walk from the Tasman Sea.

October is the start of the 10 week Tawaki penguin viewing season at Lake Moeraki. It is also at both Lodges a great time for wildlife viewing. Here are some short videos of some of our special birdlife.

27/05/2026

We had a big day today on the Cora Lynn Station that surrounds Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass. The goal was to move 96 Angus beef breeding cows from their summer grazing land, 12 km to the east which is their lower altitude winter grazing country on Goldney Hill. The route? Highway 73, the Great Arthur's Pass Alpine Highway.

Droving cattle is a very traditional way of moving stock in the South Island high country. It is very important on Cora Lynn Station because the farm is essentially divided into two parts separated by a mountain range.

We started today at dawn before there was much traffic on the road. With pre-warning scout vehicles driven by Michael and Gerry front and back and the cattle movement tightly controlled by Stock Manager Ollie and Farm Advisor Rhys with their cattle dogs we made great progress and completed the job in a record 3 hours.

People driving on the road are very understanding and patient once it is explained to them. We help them to drive through the cattle herd while the cows are walking along the road. Tourists love to take photos of the highway cattle droving. Fortunately the cattle today weren't freaked out by the big train on the Midland line that passed us as we herded the cattle along the road (see video)

We will also drove flocks of sheep along the highway (see photo) at other different times of the year.

22/05/2026

Freshwater wetlands, rivers, estuaries and wildlife in the Lake Moeraki natural areas surrounding Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki in South Westland on West Coast, New Zealand .

Abundant rainfall, largely untouched lowland native forests, great native birdlife, effective control of introduced predatory rats and weasels/stoats and possums by the Department of Conservation all combine to make this a very special place to visit at any time of the year.

Here are some special images that we took around the Wilderness Lodge.

www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

13/05/2026

This week in New Zealand we celebrated Mother’s Day. We want to recognise for their Wilderness Lodges comtribution two special mothers, Anne Saunders and her daughter-in-law Hannah Bedford. Both are closely linked with the Wilderness Lodges. They have played a central role alongside their husbands in the development and operation of the Wilderness Lodges at Arthur’s Pass and Lake Moeraki and faced all the challenges of building and staffing new businesses in remote locations.

Both Anne and Hannah have helped to protect and encourage greater awareness of nature around the Wilderness Lodges. With the help of Te Kura, the New Zealand Correspondence School, they have also home-schooled their children in these remote Lodge locations far from formal schools.

Here are Anne and Hannah on Mother’s Day 2026, standing in Springfield township beneath the mountains of the Korowai- Torlesse Tussocklands Conservation Park. This Park was opened in 2001 following a major public effort to protect this special place, the closest wild mountainlands to Christchurch city.

For over 30 years Anne Saunders and her husband Gerry McSweeney have owned both the Wilderness Lodges in two remote parts of NZ’s South Island. Anne taught their 3 children through the Correspondence School at Lake Moeraki and later raised them at the second Wilderness Lodge they developed at Arthur’s Pass. Anne and Gerry’s son Michael and his wife Hannah managed WLAP for many years until 2025. They now own the Cora Lynn Station farm that surrounds the Lodge. Here the farm continues to offer Merino sheep discovery tours to Wilderness Lodge guests every second night. The farm is also traversed by a network of Lodge walking trails and has a close relationship with the Lodge.

Wilderness Lodge Arthur’s Pass lies at the centre of one of the largest protected areas of mountainlands and montane forests in New Zealand. At the Wilderness Lodge property and on the surrounding Cora Lynn Station around half these properties are legally protected as nature reserves. The 22,000 hectare Korowai-Torlesse Tussockland Park was championed by Anne, Gerry, Michael and Hannah. It is part of nearly 200,000ha of very special protected land in the Upper Waimakariri River basin. This includes the 22,000ha Tussockland Park, the 44,694ha Craigieburn Forest Park, the Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti limestone reserve and the large 118,500ha Arthur’s Pass National Park.
www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

28/04/2026

On the Lake Moeraki coastline in South Westland NZ winter is approaching in June. For most wildlife winter is a time they hunker down and are not active as the keep warm and await the arrival of spring.

For Tawaki/Fiordland Crested Penguins winter is when they arrive in July from 6 months feeding and sleeping on the Southern Ocean to start their 2026 breeding season.

We will be guiding half-day Tawaki penguin viewing trips from October 2026.

To recognise just how special are Tawaki Penguins we are re-posting our most popular story from 2025-2026, a little video Gerry took of three Tawaki heading into the Tasman Sea to get food for their fast growing chicks.

We have also put below a backgrounder on the previous 2024 season's Tawaki breeding success along the South Westland coastline.

This survey shows approximately 85% breeding success for the 2024 season.
Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki Guided Tawaki Penguin viewing trips for Lodge guests start on 1 October 2026
www.wildernesslodge.co.nz
Tawaki are the third rarest of the world's 18 penguin species and nest only in the south-west corner of New Zealand.
Over the last 36 years from Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki we have monitored several Tawaki Penguin colonies and been actively involved in their protection. These Lake Moeraki coastline colonies have shown a steady increase in numbers of breeding penguins over this long period. A significant contributor to that breeding success is protection of the coastal forest breeding areas, prevention of disturbance by people and active control of introduced predators including stoats, rats, possums and domestic dogs.
In addition to looking after our Lake Moeraki coastline monitored colonies, the Wilderness Lodge and our guests have financially helped the West Coast Penguin Trust each year with a major funding contribution to their schools and community education and penguin protection and monitoring work.
The West Coast Penguin Trust Annual Report has just come out and reports on breeding success at 3 main Tawaki Penguin breeding areas in South Westland; the Lake Moeraki coastline, Jackson Head and Gorge River.
Approximately 85% breeding success at the most vulnerable egg to fledged chick stage is great news for these wild birds. Tawaki's breeding success is an encouraging contrast to the sad plight of Hoiho, the other endemic large penguin nesting of the NZ mainland found in the SE corner of the South Island. This Hoiho population has declined 83% since 1996 to just 163 breeding pairs by 2023. Conservationists fear it could become extinct by 2060.
https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/.../hoiho-numbers-plummet
West Coast Penguin Trust Annual Report 2024-25
www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz
Fiordland crested penguins / tawaki
• After a very successful season in 2023, with several monitored nests raising two chicks, rare for crested penguins, the 2024 season was back to a more normal level of breeding success.
• Tawaki Ranger, Sarah Kivi, monitored nests at two sites in South Westland twice during the season. The first checks were in early September, looking for nests with eggs and then later in the month to check for chicks.
• At the colony north of Haast, 10 active nests were found, of which two failed at egg stage and eight had ten chicks at the second visit. A third visit from Lucy found the same chicks alive but it’s not clear or perhaps even likely that both chicks survived in the two nests where they were seen, so 8 chicks fledged from 10 breeding attempts is assumed, at least as a minimum.
• At the Jackson Head colony, 11 nests were monitored, 20 eggs were seen, 1 nest failed at egg stage and another at chick stage. Nine nests successfully hatched 11 live chicks at the second visit, but again, we assume a minimum of 9 chicks fledged from 11 breeding attempts.
• Sarah reported a large slip along part of the west-facing Jackson Head colony that would have destroyed several nesting sites unfortunately.
• Tawaki Ranger, Catherine Stewart, continued the more frequent monitoring of nests at Gorge River, for the 11th year, the earlier years started by daughter and Trustee, Robin Long.
• Monitoring comprised six checks of 27 nests between mid-August and late October, nine of which had trail cameras deployed. A further 15 nests used in previous years were checked but were not used this season. Poor weather meant access around the colony was difficult. Of the 27 nests with penguins, 24 had penguins sitting on eggs by 20th August. All eggs were hatched by 22nd September.
• Two of the nests monitored by trail camera appeared to have failed by mid-September; trail camera footage for one showed the nest failure after a stoat visit. Two healthy chicks were present close to the end of the chick guard stage, after which chicks move around and ‘crèche’, hanging out together waiting for parents to return with food. It is therefore difficult to determine chick survival rate, but we could estimate that 9 chicks fledged from the nest with cameras, a similar rate to the other South Westland
sites, resulting in an average of 84% breeding success, where 100% would be one chick per nest.

07/04/2026

Ruru/Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) is a small brown owl with lighter speckled plumage and yellow eyes. It is NZ's only surviving native owl species

Ruru are commonly seen in the forest clearings nearby both Wilderness Lodges where they are attracted by their main food, insects, especially moths and large huhu/longhorn beetles.

Ruru have benefitted from 30 years effective control of introduced predators around both our Lodges. By us removing rats, stoats and possums, ruru are breeding very successfully around us. They are almost always heard and often seen on night walks from both Lodges. Their haunting double note call often lulls you to sleep at night.

Here are 3 small films we took of Ruru. The first on a lemonwood tree at Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki, the second in beech forest at Arthur's Pass and the third in Nikau/Kahikatea forest near the seacoast in Golden Bay.

www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

01/04/2026

Extraordinary animals and plants found in the Lake Moeraki lowland rainforests of South Westland, New Zealand.

Surrounded by rainforest, lakes, rivers and the Tasman seacoast, at Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki we sometimes forget just how special it is to live in a place that is home to large penguins, insect-eating plants, harmless vegetarian stick insects, 1,000 year old trees, tree ferns and freshwater lakes jome to usually marine dwelling fur seals.

Hete is a small collection of photos of these from our place. Enjoy.
www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

Address

State Highway Six
Haast
7580

Telephone

+6437500881

Website

https://www.wildernesslodge.co.nz/

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