PURE BLISS
Comfort, luxury and pristine riverside surrounds make Huka Lodge one of the world’s finest escapes.
Comfort, luxury and pristine riverside surrounds make Huka Lodge one of the world’s finest escapes.
Huka Lodge, on New Zealand’s North Island near Lake Taupo, is legendary. The luxury retreat and fishing lodge has hosted royals, Miuccia Prada, Bill Gates and numerous other famous people. But if rugby is your thing, I recommend you do not book your stay to coincide with a Bledisloe Cup game, as I did. The All Blacks defeating the Wallabies made watching the match with a group of Kiwis in the beautifully appointed Trophy Room almost unbearable. Even the exquisite wines selected from the most extensive and beautiful cellar could not numb the pain caused by my fellow guests victorious and joyous to have two Australians in the room to tease.
That, however, was the only moment of humorous discomfort in an otherwise perfect weekend, which began with a private dinner in a pavilion located on seven hectares of manicured grounds beside a rapidly flowing river famed for its incredible fly fishing.
Dinner – and every meal we experienced by Michelin starawarded chef Paul Froggatt – was exceptional. And the trout is a must – especially if you have caught it yourself.
Huka Lodge prides itself on being outstanding, hence its international reputation for being one of the best fly fishing lodges in the world. In 2016, Condé Nast Traveller named it the best hotel in New Zealand, which places Huka in the company of legendary hotels such as Le Bristol in Paris and Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the Antibes. And if fly fishing is not your thing, there are plenty of other activities, including golf and a choice of many courses – a favourite being Wairakei International Golf Course just five minutes’ drive away. There is also biking, gliding, hunting, kayaking, horse riding and, in true New Zealand adventure-travel style, quad excursions and bungy jumping. Although the spa treatments in the room made it very tempting to just stay in.
Our home for our weekend was the stunning Alan Pye Cottage, named after the founder who in the 1920s established an unrivalled reputation for superb hospitality that continues to this day. Calling it a cottage when it has its own kitchen, swimming pool, double bedrooms, secluded courtyard garden, personal butler and chef hardly does it justice. It is really the home you have always dreamt of, designed by New Zealand-born interior designer Virginia Fisher. There are also 18 junior suites with river views and an Owner’s Cottage, which might more accurately be described as a Hamptons mansion. Perfect for a family or group of friends, it has four generous suites and its own butler and chef on request. At Huka Lodge they are used to hosting people who are used to the best, and so the best is just what they deliver, in the most friendly and luxurious manner. Go to www.hukalodge.co.nz.
THE OWNER’S COTTAGE MIGHT MORE ACCURATELY BE DESCRIBED AS A HAMPTONS MANSION
“THERE IS NO WAY I COULD HAVE FASTTRACKED TO WHERE I AM TODAY”
connections with people. “[In interviews] you want to connect with everyone you meet, that’s the natural instinct, and give something worthy of … whatever.” She is obsessed with watching The Bachelor, and gives me a blow-by-blow account of the various American iterations of the reality television show. “Once they get past the first rose ceremony, they start promoting themselves and products – you see them on Instagram and I go down this hole which is pointless, but it’s my guilty pleasure. It’s a sort of genius that they get paid for being reality stars, then their 15 minutes of fame is up and they just fade back, which is a blessing,” she says with an incredulous laugh.
“My first impression of Amanda was that she was fragile and very, very sensitive and perhaps unable to protect herself,” remembers MacLaine, who became close with Seyfried on the set of the film The Last Word. “It didn’t take long for me to wake up: she’s perfectly capable of handling any big situation.” The film also stars Sadoski. “One of the most memorable [moments with Seyfried] is that I happened to be witness to the development of her relationship with her now fiancé: they play together in the movie,” MacLaine continues. “I watched the love affair of the actors at the same time as the characters.”
Seyfried really does seem to enjoy initiating a genuine connection with those she meets, abhorring the press junket experience. “They are the worst thing, because they’re not natural. You want to be natural and organic, and you just can’t in four minutes. It’s stupid. Also everybody asks the same fucking question.” Beneath her apparent sweetness she is quietly determined. Speaking of one of her upcoming films: “If it turns out that people don’t love it, like critics don’t love it or it has a bad Rotten Tomatoes score or people are confused by it, tough shit. Like, I can’t do anything else.” She also reminds me that she’s competitive. “Very – with Words with Friends, he [Sadoski] just played a word worth 58 points, so I resigned! You know you’re going to lose anyway.”
On more sanguine topics of love and romance, she planned her sister’s 125-guest wedding last year at the farm at Stone Ridge, getting involved with all elements of decorating and co-ordinating. “Even though it was the happiest day of my life, it was her day. I am so done planning weddings – it was amazing but it took a whole year!” she says, recounting how she sourced flowers and vintage vases for the day. “All the details – I’m very creative, and I love it.” She is constantly on Etsy looking for knick-knacks – currently she’s fixated on enamel pins, which she uses to decorate gifts – or browsing Instagram for interior and craft inspiration. “I love knitting and crocheting; I wish more people talked to me about that.” I suggest starting an Etsy alias and selling her creations. “I’ve thought about that, actually, but I don’t want to part with them!”
Coming to terms with her fame and her cult status with fans of films like Mean Girls allows her to utilise her celebrity to promote and to be a part of causes she feels passionate about, such as politics and animal welfare, even if she modestly admits that her knowledge and understanding of current affairs and such is “-ish”. “There are so many people getting paid on Instagram, it blows my mind. A lot of these models are getting thousands of dollars for each of those posts. It’s like, I understand that you are getting paid, but [if ] you have that many people following you, just fucking say something important. Just once a week. It’s so easy to post or repost something, thoughtless even, you don’t even have to care, just do your due diligence and just use that fucking platform.”
She admits that it’s hard to keep up, especially with the onslaught of negative news happening around the world. “I used to be really rigid about stuff and I just relaxed a little bit about things. I used to judge people really harshly and now I just do my research on them.”
She digresses into an anecdotal example, as she is wont to do. “To be really specific, I read Hillary Clinton’s book and I read a book about Donald Trump. Not that I am ever going to vote for him, I’ve always been a huge Clinton fan, but instead of making blatant ignorant assumptions about people just on what I hear and what other people in my life are thinking, I do have to take all of that out and consider facts and actually get educated on things, whereas I used to just get really passionate about things I didn’t really know about,” she says. “I don’t know if that is a stupid answer but, like, read the books! Not even read the books, just do some research!”
Self-reflective and conscientious, Seyfried takes time out on her own, preferring to stay at home or retreat to her farm, away from New York, where she has spent much of her working life. She avoids events – “I hate getting ready. I rarely leave my house. I just hate the whole process,” she says. Later, after our FaceTime interview, she will need to prepare for a cat sanctuary gala event, where she will be honoured for her work with animals. (“Sorry, I have to go now!” she’ll finish off the interview. “But thanks for letting me meet your dog!” after my dog makes an impromptu cameo, and Seyfried is a noted animal fan, hence the award. “And text me if you have any more questions!”)
And although she has spent much of her working life in New York, she’s getting over the city somewhat. “My relationship with New York has changed dramatically,” she says, explaining that while the city has remained the same, she’s been finding it too much, too claustrophobic. “It’s too busy and I’m a homebody. I’m anxious to begin with.” She has long been vocal about living with anxiety, helping to de-stigmatise talking about mental illness. “I’ve really spent a lot of time studying my anxiety and the triggers, the why and the possibility of why, and I’ve learnt the tools that work for me in order to function, and I think the more you know about yourself the better off you are, with anything in life,” she says, carefully describing her own mental processes. “I was growing at such a fast rate when I was 29, but there is no way I could have fast-tracked to where I am today in my head. You have to experience those awful years. I am definitely in a better place with my anxiety and I have a better relationship with it than I ever have,” she says, while patting her dog, Finn, who has nudged his way into her FaceTime frame – maybe reminding her to get a move on. “I feel like you have to go through shit sometimes to get to the good part.”