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Matauwhi Bay and Arcadia Lodge

A history of fine accommodation

According to tribal traditions Pewhairangi (The Bay of Islands) was one of the very early sites of Maori settlement in Aotearoa (New Zealand); the local peoples trace their origins from Kupe, the Polynesian voyager credited with first circumnavigation of the North Island.

The bay had been heavily settled by Maori for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived. On sailing into the bay in 1769 Captain Cook reported:

The Inhabitants of this Bay are far more numerous than at any place we have yet been in and seem to live in friendship one with another.

At the time of European settlement our bay, Matauwhi Bay, was the site of a maori village and the pa (fortified village) of Nagti Manu chief Pomare. The bay remained sparsely settled for most of the 19th century; then around 1900 the Reverend Boler, Anglican pastor to Russell built the house that is now Arcadia Lodge. Its floors, structural posts and beams are of local heart kauri and many of the components were salvaged from shipwreck and demolition timbers (totara, puriri and jarah) with whale vertebrae even used to support the floor bearers. When we had the foundations redone we discovered two whale bones still in place and you can see one of them in the living room.

Over the past 100 years the Lodge has had many additions and changes which have all added to its unique charm and character. It became a guesthouse in 1925 and has been hosting visitors ever since.

David and Brad

David and Brad are two refugees from the media world. They both began their careers in New Zealand but left together aged 24 for London. It took 22 years before they felt the need to think about returning.

In that time David worked as a senior copywriter for a number of international advertising agencies in London and Sydney including Bates Dorland, London, then part of the Saatchi group, earning a clutch of creative awards along the way. He returned to New Zealand as Creative Director at Lowe Worldwide's Auckland office where, after six years, he decided he couldn't face another client meeting and threw it all in for the heady delights of Russell.

Brad is a journalist and has worked for a wide variety of TV News and Current Affairs programmes. He spent 7 years at Channel Four News in London, most of that time as Foreign Editor. He has 4 BAFTA Team Awards from his time there. Brad also worked at the ABC in Sydney, producing the 7:30 Report. Back in New Zealand he made a couple of TV documentaries before agreeing it was time to flee the rat race for Russell's gentler pace. He still teaches one day a week, a Masters course in Investigative Journalism, part of a Communications degree at the Auckland University of Technology. Fortunately it coincides with the quieter times at the lodge.

David and Brad are great travellers and look forward to their winter downtime. David's keen to climb Kilimanjaro, Brad says he'll wait at the bottom with a book and a large gin. They're both avid readers, cinephiles and enjoy most musical genres except funk and soul. And they love their dog, Caladan.