Stewart Island surprised me in so many ways. New Zealand’s third largest land mass may be two-thirds of the way to Antartica, but as I recently wrote in the New Zealand Herald, “forget notions this is some barren, unforgiving land”. Anything but. You realise this before you’ve even landed, provided you’ve been looking out the…
Category: Hotels
The Ultimate Bay Of Plenty Beachside Escape – The 5-Star, Barn-Style Luxury Of Paradise Beach
There are some places you really like but you don’t really have any real inclination to go back to. And then there are places like Paradise Beach in Papamoa. But twice in eight months? Even that felt too long between stays because after our first Paradise Beach experience back in March 2020, my wife and…
Is This The Most Beautiful Place In New Zealand? My Top 40 Fiordland Photos + My Latest NZ Herald Article
A couple of weeks ago the New Zealand Herald published an article of mine about Milford Sound in Fiordland – a place so naturally beautiful that none other than Mr Jungle Book himself, literary giant Rudyard Kipling, once described it as the 8th wonder of the world. And I wasn’t about to argue with Rudyard….
Walking On Water – Langkawi’s 6-Star St Regis Hotel
This article was originally published in Let’s Travel Magazine in 2017 and is reprinted with kind permission. Please see letstravelmag.com for more.
The 5 Unmissable Must-Do’s Of South Taranaki – My Latest NZ Herald Feature
Last Sunday the New Zealand Herald published an article of mine about the awesomeness of Taranaki, specifically the sights of South Taranaki. While I may not have used the word “awesomeness” in the feature, I hopefully gave a sense of why this province – and in particular its less-visited southern district – is so rewarding….
The Luxury Eco-Staycation You Never Knew You Could Have – Auckland’s Warblers Retreat
When you think of the word “staycation”, chances are you’re picturing a night or two in a nice CBD hotel in the city in which you live. But when thoughts turn to treating yourself to some kind of retreat – the sort of place where you can be immersed in nature, hear the birds, go…
The Bay Of Plenty’s Best Hidden Gems – My NZ Herald Feature
A huge part of the entire ethos of the Roxborogh Report is writing about hidden gems – be they in travel or music. Sometimes, those gems are hiding in plain sight. As in, the Bay Of Plenty already happens to one of the best known holiday regions in New Zealand – especially for Kiwis travelling…
Suva Has One Of The World’s Great Colonial Hotels & Too Few Kiwis Know About It – Reviewing The Grand Pacific Hotel
Always a sucker for a historic hotel, as soon as I heard Fiji’s 1914-built Grand Pacific Hotel had been given a multimillion dollar refurbishment to celebrate its centenary, I knew I had to go there. Five years on from that Suva stay and as we grapple with what tourism will be post-Covid-19, I wanted to…
The Surf, Sand, Scenery – Not To Mention Golf – Of Coromandel’s Matarangi Resort
I could wait until once the Covid-19 lockdown has finished to publish this article, but the dream of travel is something I’m all about right now. If nobody on Planet Earth can holiday at this precise moment in history – and realistically, nobody can – we shouldn’t deny ourselves the pleasure of a bit of…
Luxury With A Conscience: Fiji’s Refurbished Shangri-La – My NZ Herald Review
Last week the NZ Herald published my ‘Room Check’ article about one of the oldest and largest luxury resorts in the South Pacific, Shangri-la’s Fijian Resort & Spa on the Coral Coast. Fresh from a US $50m refurb, the property – as located on its own causeway-linked private island – has everything from stunning white…
Riley Roxy’s First Trip Away! Cambridge’s Stunning Henley Hotel
Less than two-hours from Auckland lies a mansion in gorgeous Secret Garden-like surrounds with no less than six different locations you could choose for your wedding day. Or you could be like us and be in search of your first trip away as new parents and want somewhere awesome and special but also easy – oh…
A 5-Star Eco-Resort In Untouched Malaysian Jungle – Japamala On Tioman Island
I’ve lost count, but I’m pretty certain it’s rained all but three or four days in the past six weeks in Auckland. As the final month of an admittedly mild, but oh-so-wet winter limped to its depressing, soggy end, my mind’s been drifting back to the tropics and my favourite island in the world. Malaysia’s Tioman Island lies…