New Zealand luxury retreats win international accolades

Three NZ luxury retreats have picked up prestigious international tourism awards.

Takaro Lodge was voted New Zealand’s leading spa resort in prestigious 2008 World Travel Awards, judged by travel agents from around the globe, while the award for the country’s leading luxury lodge was picked up by Lake Okareka Lodge in Rotarua.

The latter pipped luxury hotel retreat, Solitaire Lodge (which last year was voted the best resort in the whole of Australasia) to the finishing post. This year, the romantic Lilianfels hotel, tucked away in Australia’s Blue Mountains was awarded the ultimate accolade.

Two further New Zealand lodges - Martinborough’s Wharekauhau Country Estate, and Rotorua’s Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Experience – also recently gained.international honours in the Condé Nast (USA) Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2008. Iconic Wharekauhau Country Estate was ranked in the ‘Top 5 Resorts in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific’, while Treetops was listed in the ‘Top 5 Australia and Pacific Hotels’ category.
The awards are based on the results of more than 32,000 questionnaires submitted by readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Results are based on the quality of activities, facilities, food and dining, overall design, rooms and service.

Takaro Lodge

Also known as Takaro Peace Resort, this exclusive luxury spa resort is located near Te Anau, New Zealand, on a 2000 acre private estates, that formed one of the film locations in Lord of the Rings. It is “located in mystical Fiordland, surrounded by evergreen forest, crystal clear water, fresh air and untouched nature, far away from cities and pollution”. Its 10 ‘element’ apartments are decorated according to the five Chinese elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – designed to calm guests, improve mood and strengthen energy levels. And the luxury chalets also adhere to the principles of Feng Shui to ensure that “guests rest deeply and wake totally rejuvenated”.

Lake Okareka Lodge

Nestled on a secluded peninsula, Lake Okareka Lodge rests in splendid harmony with nature and its stunning surroundings – sheltered in calm waters on private sandy beaches – and every breathtakingly picturesque view is framed in native stone, natural timber and beautifully landscaped flora and fauna.

Wharekauhau Country Estate

Wharekauhau Country Estate is situated on a 5,000 acre working sheep station in the Martinborough wine-growing region of the southern North Island. Set between mountain ranges and the dramatic southern coastline, it is within easy reach of Wellington.

Treetops Lodge

Treetops Lodge, in the thermal region of Rotorua, is an example of environmentally sustainable luxury hospitality in a vast wilderness setting that includes ancient forests, seven streams, four lakes and 70km of trails.

Source: NZ Herald

5 September, 2008

Wild Earth Wines, a Central Otago winemaker, has been awarded the trophy for Top Red Wine at the International Wine Challenge, the world’s largest competition.

It beat 31 other red wine trophy winners from around the globe in the final judging round, announced on Wednesday night in London.

Wild Earth Wines’ general manager Dave Nicholas said the win was an astounding accomplishment for a winery which was established just 10 years ago.

“It’s great that a New Zealand pinot has beaten the likes of cabernet from the Napa Valley and shiraz from Australia,” he said.

With almost 10,000 wines in contention, the International Wine Challenge is the world’s largest wine competition.

The Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2006 took five trophies in total at the event, including Top International Pinot Noir, Top New Zealand Red Wine and Top International Red Wine.

In May, at the Decanter World Wine Awards - the second largest wine show globally - the Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2006 was awarded the Top New Zealand Pinot Noir trophy and it has previously been awarded Gold Medals in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The owners of Wild Earth, Quintin and Avril Quider, are elated with the awards.

“Central Otago produces so many outstanding wines and this latest trophy simply re-emphasises the incredible potential of the wines from our region. The award comes at the perfect moment as we’re currently seeking investment capital for expansion,” they said in a statement.

Nicholas said the awards proved New Zealand could do more than just white wines well.

“The thing with the New Zealand wine industry is that whenever someone does well the whole industry benefits.

“Any New Zealand wine that wins an award helps to put the local industry on the map.”

Established in Bannockburn in 1998, Wild Earth Wines has produced wines under the Wild Earth label since 2004.

Its wines are entirely estate grown, and are available throughout New Zealand and exported to international markets including the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, China, the United Arab Emirates and Canada.

The trophies awarded to Wild Earth at the International Wine Challenge 2008 are:

* Top International Red Wine
* Top International Pinot Noir
* Top New Zealand Red Wine
* Top New Zealand Pinot Noir
* Top Central Otago Pinot Noir

6 August 2008 

Average salaries in New Zealand have increased substantially, according to new analysis.

Employers are finding it easier to attract staff and average salaries in New Zealand have increased substantially, according to the analysis of 73,000 jobs listed on Trade Me Jobs in the first half of 2008.

“Since the last quarter of 2007, we have seen the average salary increase 3.7% from $55,583 (£20,818) to $57,664 (£21,597),” said Trade Me Jobs head, Jimmy McGee. “The labour market has definitely eased, with applications per job up 8% over that period. However, wage inflation was strong,’’ he said.

IT continues to dominate the highest paid professions with IT architects, project managers and functional consultants, all averaging pay rates over $100,000 (£37,453).

“Outside of IT, the top five paid professions are doctors ($106,823), construction project managers ($95,378), engineering managers ($92,843), in-house legal counsel ($90,440) and financial controllers ($89,081),” said Mr McGee.

Wellington remains the highest paid location, buoyed by the large number of public servants and service companies, followed by Auckland and new entrant New Plymouth. Regional and secondary urban areas such as Central Hawke’s Bay and Timaru saw the greatest salary softening. Selwyn was the worst paid region with an average wage rate of $37,047, followed by Waimakariri $38,321 and Waipa $39,531.

Mr McGee said, “We are seeing two distinct trends at present. Pay rates for unskilled and semi-skilled are flat, while pay rates for mid-level earners and the highly skilled are increasing at rates above the national average.”

The biggest increase in job vacancies were accountants, travel consultants, construction site managers and accounts payable workers.

The greatest tightening was in environmental engineers, waste and water engineers, tertiary educators and doctors.

Source: NZ Herald 

12 June, 2008

New Zealand is enjoying the most favourable terms of trade for 34 years after soaring dairy prices dwarfed an oil-fuelled rise in import prices.

The terms of trade, a measure of the volume of imports which can be funded by a standard basket of the nation’s exports, jumped 4.1 per cent in the March quarter, Statistics NZ said.

The increased purchasing power of the export dollar makes New Zealand a richer country.

Over 2007, gross domestic product rose 3.1 per cent but national income rose 5.1 per cent, the difference largely due to the rising terms of trade.

The quarterly improvement was better than anyone had expected; the market’s median forecast had been a 0.9 per cent rise.

For the year ended March the terms of trade rose 11.3 per cent.

But economists warned that it was likely to be at or near its peak, with oil prices still climbing while falling dairy prices on the spot market have yet to show up in the prices Fonterra receives for the product it ships.

The Reserve Bank said in last week’s monetary policy statement that it expected the past year’s boom in the terms of trade to be completely eroded over the coming year.

But even if the terms of trade are back at 2006 levels by the end of the year, they would still be better than for 30 years before that.

In the March quarter, export prices rose 4.5 per cent, propelled by a 19.7 per cent jump in dairy prices. In the past year dairy prices have risen 63 per cent, the largest increase since 1972.

The Reserve Bank expects some of the factors driving that increase, such as drought in Australia, to reverse.

But it still forecasts dairy prices to remain above their historic average because of increased demand in emerging markets, changes to subsidy arrangements in the European Union and the diversion of agricultural resources to biofuels production.

On ANZ’s commodity price index, world dairy prices peaked last November and have fallen 11 per cent since then.

But with the normal lags and a falling exchange rate, there might be a further increase to come in the export prices in the overseas trade indices (which are measured in NZ dollars).

“But you have to remember the meteoric rise in the price of oil, which New Zealand is still a net importer of,” ANZ economist Khoon Goh said.

Even though some other export prices, such as seafood and beef, had improved of late, that was likely to be far outweighed by the recent rise in oil prices and other hard commodities that New Zealand imports, he said.

Oil prices rose 8.3 per cent on the March quarter but that was offsetby lower prices for manufactured goods imports and overall import prices rose by only 0.3 per cent. “There is no doubt we are on a higher structural plane for soft commodity prices, but like all asset prices, they can overshoot and some correction after last year’s steep rise in dairy prices is to be expected,” Goh said.

“For the overall terms of trade, even though we think the peak is near, it will only drop back to historically high levels.”

Meanwhile export volumes fell 3.5 per cent from the previous quarter’s record level.

Dairy export volumes dropped 10.6 per cent, but dairy shipments tend to saw-tooth around and quarterly movements of more than 10 per cent have been the norm during the past two years. Meat exports were up 4.8 per cent on the December quarter, seasonally adjusted, and up 3.8 per cent on the March quarter last year.

On the imports side, flagging domestic demand was reflected in a 1.6 per cent fall in consumer goods imports and a 12.2 per cent fall in car imports.

In all, import volumes were down 0.9 per cent in the quarter.

“Overall,” said Westpac chief economist Brendan O’Donovan, “net exports are set to make a negative contribution to what is shaping up to be pretty sad March quarter GDPfigure.”

Source: NZ Herald 

11 June, 2008

They’re the very things we love to complain about, but public transport, a top-notch health service and attractive rental accommodation make New Zealand’s cities among the best places in the world to live.

The Mercer 2008 Quality of Living survey ranked Auckland fifth and Wellington 13th in a list of 215 cities worldwide.

As in 2007, Swiss and German cities took most of the top 10 spots, while Baghdad ranked as the worst place in the world to live.

The study by global consulting firm Mercer checked each city against a list of criteria including personal safety, schools and education, and climate. Factors like political stability and personal freedom were also taken into account. Each city was given a score compared to New York, the benchmark city, with a base score of 100. Auckland had the best quality of living of any city in the Asia Pacific region, followed by Sydney and Wellington.

Auckland and Wellington held on to their 2007 rankings, while Sydney slipped one place to 10th. Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide ranked further down in 17th, 21st and 29th places.

Auckland’s “excellent” range of restaurants won a special mention.

Auckland and Wellington both received perfect scores for housing, with surveyors commenting on their attractive rental properties and prestigious residential districts. They tied at 10th in the world for personal safety.

The Mercer survey is designed to help governments and big companies when they place employees in other countries.

Mercer’s head of information product solutions, Rob Knox, said the results were great news for New Zealand employers trying to attract overseas workers.

Auckland Mayor John Banks said the results were “very flattering” but he would like to see Auckland at number one. “To be frank, there is much room for progress and even more room for improvement.”

The most dangerous cities in Europe and the Americas were Bogota, Colombia, which ranked 207th for personal safety, and Moscow, at 196th. London ranked 69th for personal safety and 38th for quality of living - up one place from 2007.

Thursday 6 December 2007
Rents are set to rise 6% per annum driven mainly by three economic fundamentals, Westpac Bank economists are predicting.

Rents have been rising at an average annual rate of just 2.2% over the past four years, but Westpac chief economist Brendan O’Donovan predict that rent inflation will accelerate rapidly to 6% per annum, and will stay that high for five years.

O’Donovan estimates that rents need to rise by 34% to bring them back into line with current house prices – “a process that could take five years”.

High interest rates are a factor that will drive rent increases as it becomes more difficult for landlords to build new properties. Simultaneously, home ownership is looking unaffordable to an increasing number, which means an increase in demand for rental properties. To rent costs around 4% of a house’s value per annum, whereas a mortgage costs over 9%.

The next economic factor supporting the projection for higher rents is that the average wage is forecast to increase by 5% per annum according to O’Donovan. “Currently affordability is good, suggesting rents do have room to rise. Rents are cheaper than normal as a proportion of the average wage. And the average wage itself is set to increase strongly.”

Thirdly, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) rents are rising, says O’Donovan, and rising faster than private rents. HNZ owns almost 17% of the rental accommodation in New Zealand. HNZ rents rose 17.8% between June 2003 and June 2007, while private rents rose just 10.4%, he says.

The Department of Building and Housing’s bond lodgement data shows that median new rentals are already on the rise.