A six-suite exclusive-use lake villa on Mt Aspiring Road and a helicopter-only alpine chalet at 1,750 metres, the Myer family's New Zealand answer to the question of what private should mean.
"The South Island lodge that the Myer family built for themselves and then let other people stay in, six suites on Lake Wanaka, a private chef, and a helicopter that takes you to your own 1,750-metre alpine chalet for the night."
Whare Kea Lodge, "the house of the kea", the South Island alpine parrot, was built by the Myer family of Melbourne (the department-store dynasty) on a private 16-hectare bend of the western shore of Lake Wanaka, ten minutes' drive from town along Mt Aspiring Road. Originally the family's private holiday house, it opened to a limited number of paying guests in the late 1990s and has been, since 2023, operated on an exclusive-use-only basis: one booking party at a time, up to twelve guests across six ensuite suites.
The lodge sits on a low timber platform between the lake and the road, with floor-to-ceiling glass on the lake side and a long entry portico on the road side. The six bedroom suites, all with super-king beds, ensuite bathrooms, and lake views, wing off a central great room that holds the lounge, the long dining table, the billiards-and-piano games room and a kitchen designed for a private chef to actually cook in (rather than the show-kitchen format that defeats most lodge chefs). An outdoor spa pool, a private jetty, and direct access onto the lake's western foreshore complete the property line.
The Chalet is the second half of the proposition. Built at 1,750 metres on the Albert Burn Saddle in the Buchanan Mountains, inside Mount Aspiring National Park, the chalet is reachable only by helicopter from the lodge, a fifteen-minute flight. It accommodates up to six guests in three twin rooms, has full alpine-style modern comforts (heating, plumbing, a kitchen) and is the only privately operated heli-only luxury chalet in the country. Most guests do a night or two at the lodge, a night at the chalet, and a night back at the lodge.
Service is the Myer family's strongest hand. The on-site manager runs the property at the staff-to-guest ratio of a much larger lodge; a private chef can be arranged for the duration (or you can self-cater, since the kitchen is real); the booking team handles fly-fishing on the upper Matukituki, heli-skiing in winter, the milkshake-flat helicopter to Mount Cook in summer, and a private dining table at Wanaka's better restaurants in town. Whare Kea is not bookable through any third-party site; it is held entirely direct or through a short list of trusted travel agents, which is the family's quiet way of keeping the guest list as private as the property.
For a South Island honeymoon at the highest end, Whare Kea is the answer that doesn't have a real competitor, twelve-guest exclusive-use means you can take the whole lodge for two, and the lodge-then-Chalet-then-lodge rhythm is the most distinctive luxury sequence on offer anywhere in the country. The private chef, the lake-front spa pool, and the helicopter to the chalet are the components no other Wanaka property can match.
As a private wellness retreat for one party, the more interesting Wanaka wellness format than any spa-led property, Whare Kea handles every variant: a private yoga or pilates teacher on call to fly in from Queenstown, a chef cooking the clean-eating menu you specify, the outdoor spa pool, and the Chalet trip on the silent-mountain day. Twelve guests is also the right number for a multi-generational restorative week.
A New Zealand anniversary that the family flies in to share, the milestone Christmas, the round-number birthday, the wedding-anniversary year that becomes the family trip, is the booking the lodge handles best. Twelve guests across six suites is the exact configuration for two generations of a family, the private chef handles the meals, and the Chalet for the over-night sub-trip is the part that becomes the photograph everyone keeps.
494 Mt Aspiring Road
Wanaka 9343
New Zealand
Wanaka town centre 10 minutes; Queenstown Airport 60 minutes by road or 20 minutes by helicopter; Mt Aspiring National Park 15 minutes
6 ensuite suites (sleeps up to 12)
Exclusive-use only
Lodge from NZD 9,500/night
Alpine Chalet add-on from NZD 4,200/night
Chef and helicopter at additional cost
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Owned by the Myer family
Direct booking only, no third-party portals
Six ensuite suites with lake views
Outdoor spa pool, private jetty
Helicopter-only alpine chalet at 1,750 m
Private chef on request
Games room with piano and billiards
Fly-fishing, heli-skiing arrangements
Exclusive use from NZD 9,500/night. Book six to nine months ahead for December, February summer dates and July, August ski-season weeks. Direct only.
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