Wilderness Lodges of New Zealand

07/09/2026

Wilderness Lodge Arthur's Pass is preparing for our 26/26 season opening on 1 October 2026. September is the start of springtime in NZ's Southern Alps mountains.

The strong El Nino weather pattern across New Zealand this year has bought us more wind and rain than usual. It has meant a spectacular cloak of snow across the mountains surrounding the Wilderness Lodge with regular top-ups of snow up high then interrupted by warmer northerly weather melting some of that snow. This has made it a little frustrating for the skifields in our area but we welcome the warmer weather at the Lodge.

On the farm that surrounds the Wilderness Lodge spring pre-lamb shearing of most of the merino and crossbred sheep was finished 10 days ago with great relief to get it done. The wool has been dispatched to the auction houses . There is huge demand from the fashion and outdoor clothing industries for merino wool resulting in the best wool prices in many years. The next focus on the farm is lambing of our sheep and calving of the 100 Angus cattle. Spring is certainly a very busy time for Farm Owner Michael McSweeney and Stock manager Ollie.

Come and stay with us and you can meet the baby lambs and calves, see the Border Collie sheepdogs muster sheep, watch a sheep being shorn and learn about the role of merino wool in the fashion industry.. You can also join our nature guides and explore the beech forests, waterfalls, mountains and spring alpine flowers.
www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

22/08/2026

21 August 2026

Tawaki/ Fiordland Crested Penguin male continues his lonely 28 day vigil incubating his two penguin eggs in Lake Moeraki coastal rainforest, South Westland, New Zealand.

It has been 3 weeks since our last 2 August check of Monitor Nest One. On 2 August the female Tawaki was still at the nest after laying her first egg. She soon after laid a second egg then headed into the Tasman Sea to feed and regain her strength. For 28 days she leaves her mate to incubate both eggs. The eggs will hatch in about the next 10 days.

We are closely watching seabirds including Tawaki penguins on the Lake Moeraki coastline for any signs of the H5 Birdflu epidemic. 3 cases have been reported in NZ in the last month, all from the North Island. Birds in Tasmania and mainland Australia are increasingly being affected including 28 dead Little penguins on King Island in Bass Strait.

Vaccinating birds is seen as one option to reduce bird flu's impact. While feasible with domesticated birds, vaccination with wild birds is very invasive, stressful and challenging.
First you have to find the birds and then catch them. They then have to be microchipped so you can identify them for subsequent follow-up vaccination. You then give them their first vaccination. This has to be repeated 30 days later for the vaccination to work. This vaccination probably only conveys resistance to this year's H5 strain so may have to be repeated next year.

The vaccination video of Little Penguins on Phillip Island, Australia (see link below) shows the stress of this process and these are semi-domesticated penguins using nesting boxes. It will have to be repeated in future years with these birds compounding the stress factor on the birds.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1053139120684534

A review of the Northern Hemisphere impact of H5N1 Birdflu highlights its severe impact in the first year especially on communal nesting birds (ease of transmission) and on older and weaker birds. The second year's infection was much less severe and surviving birds from the first year had a very successful breeding season with reduced numbers of some species replaced by newly bred birds. One conclusion was that greater efforts in predator control, to protect wild birds threatened habitat and their food supply may be a better use of resources than an attempt to capture and vaccinate wild birds.

In the Southern Hemisphere, penguins have generally been less affected by Birdflu than communally nesting terns, gannets and predatory skua and giant petrel. Tawaki do not nest in big communal colonies and their nest sites are generally widely dispersed in coastal rainforest and shrublands.

We will keep monitoring our Tawaki penguins closely over the next 3 months until they depart to the Sourhern Ocean at the end of their breeding season in early December. We work closely with the West Coast Penguin Trust.

www.wildernesslodge.co.nz
West Coast Penguin Trust

18/08/2026

Wilderness Lodge visitor, UK-based journalist Jamie Lafferty, has written an article in the latest July/August 2026 National Geographic Traveller (UK) about discovering Tawaki/Fiordland Crested Penguin from the Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki.

"New Zealand's most mysterious penguin" is a new title for Tawaki, 3rd rarest of the world's 18 penguin species. It is also described as the world's only rainforest penguin.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/in-search-of-new-zealands-most-mysterious-penguin

Last year Jamie also published a book about his travels to see all 18 of the world's penguin species including Tawaki.
https://www.google.com/search?q=an+inconvenience+of+penguins+epic+voyages+in+pursuit+of+the+world%27s+most+beloved+bird

The bush-dwelling penguins of New Zealand’s South Island offer Jamie Lafferty an insight into the species’ evolution and migration across the seas.

16/08/2026

Book with us for the 2026-2027 visitor season opening on 1 October 2026.

October is a special time to come to Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki. It is the start of the Tawaki/Fiordland Crested Penguin viewing season that lasts until early December. Every day we will be offering guided 3-4 hour Rainforest Discovery and Penguin Viewing from the Lodge for Lodge guests. You can also at any time visit Monro Beach on the DOC walking track. Here you can sit quietly and look for penguins on your own. From the Wilderness Lodge you can also explore our network of easy walks around the Lodge including the Riverside Nature Walk and the Lower Moeraki/Giant Rimu circuit.

As well as our Penguin Trips, Guides Hannah and Joe will be leading a range of other fascinating half-day trips from the Lodge.
These include:
"Kayak Safaris on Lake Moeraki to Glacier Beach and the Giant Matai trees"
"Lower Moeraki River kayak safari to Moeraki Beach"
"Bird, Giant Eel and Rainforest Walks" and our very popular "Wilderness Seacoast Gemstone and Hectors Dolphin Discovery Walk"

Join us in October before the summer peak season and right in the heart of penguin viewing season.

www.wildernesslodge.co.nz

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