Necia Wilden is one of the first to check into a new luxury lodge at Cape Kidnappers.

Jeremy the golf course director parks his cart somewhat close to the cliff edge. "You don't suffer from vertigo, I hope?" "Oh no," I fib. We hop out and peer gingerly over the precipice. The sea is 200 metres below. "Once you hit a ball in here, I guess you're not going down there to pick it up," my husband says.

It's the second time today someone has asked us the vertigo question. I fib, too, when Mike the safari tour leader parks his 4WD on the clifftop and asks us to look north across Hawke's Bay to the town of Napier, 30 kilometres away.

On the morning of February 3, 1931, Mike's grandfather stood where we are now and watched while Napier turned upside down in New Zealand's worst natural disaster. An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale claimed 256 lives but it did future generations a favour. Today, the rebuilt town is one of the art deco capitals of the world.

We are staying at The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, a 2400-hectare property of spectacular beauty on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.

It is not your average farm. As well as sheep and cattle, it boasts the world's 27th-best golf course (according to Golf Magazine) and the world's largest mainland colony of gannets (the supermodels of the bird world, as we discover when we pay them a visit), as well as penguin and whale watching.

A program to re-establish the country's endangered kiwi and tuatara lizards is under way; when complete, the farm will be a premier eco-tourism destination.

Already, it is a super-luxury destination. Opened only last month, The Farm is the property's new bluestone and timber modern-rustic 24-suite lodge, with views to the ocean that seem to stretch forever.

There's a sense of vastness about everything here, from the massive rough-hewn beams and open fireplaces the size of an office to the super-king-size beds draped in snowy Frette linen and the expansive deluxe bathrooms.

Even the driveway is made for big ideas, an eight-kilometre road winding past 30-metre-high pine trees.

It's the sort of place you want to explore and settle into, not just admire. So we do, making it our duty over a two-night stay to take pre-dinner drinks or afternoon tea everywhere from the loggia to the baronial-scale lounge to the "snug" room (constructed from the top half of a wheat silo) and our own lovely suite, with its California-resort-meets-farm-chic design. Not forgetting the midnight digestive taken on the balcony, listening to the faint bleat of sheep in the distance.

The owners of The Farm are American financier Julian Robertson and his wife, Josie, who also own Kauri Cliffs, a super-luxury lodge and golf course further north near the Bay of Islands, as well as Te Awa winery in Hawke's Bay. A visit to the latter is a must en route here, preferably for lunch on a sunny day so you can eat at an umbrella-shaded table on the lawns alongside the vineyard. The food, while good, is eclipsed by the excellence of winemaker Jenny Dobson's single-estate wines, particularly the outstanding cabernet merlot blend, Te Awa Zone 10 2003.

Given its remoteness, it's unlikely you'll be venturing beyond The Farm at night, so it's lucky the food and wine are of such high standard. Chef Dale Gartland is a former sous to one of Britain's best chefs, Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park. The concise menu changes nightly and revolves around the best ingredients of the region, such as cervena (venison), guinea fowl and Te Mata cheeses, and Gartland's clean, modern style lets the natural flavours shine.

Affable sommelier Sean Burns oversees the predominantly New Zealand wine list and is in the process of building a more substantial international selection.

There's no doubt this farm is for sybarites rather than shearers but it's nonetheless good to see the sheep haven't been forgotten. My favourite works of art here are not, in fact, the painting by New Zealand's most famous artist, Colin McCahon, in the lounge, nor even the Picasso limited-edition plate, but the framed photographs of sheep that grace most rooms. The photographer's achievement is in making sheep look like the most dignified creatures around; as though they, not us humans, are the rightful owners of the property.

Then again, it probably takes a place the calibre of The Farm to make sheep look noble. Heck, after two days here, we felt pretty noble ourselves.

Necia Wilden travelled courtesy of Tourism New Zealand.

FAST FACTS

Getting there The airport for Hawke's Bay is Napier. Qantas flies to Auckland and then to Napier with Air NZ from Sydney for $287 and from Melbourne for $298. Air NZ charges $296 and $307. Emirates flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Auckland from $264. Fares from Auckland to Napier start at $NZ88. All fares are one-way and don't include tax (Emirates includes its fuel surcharge in its fare).

Staying there Double suites at The Farm from $NZ500 a person a night for a Hilltop Suite; single occupancy from $800 a night. Rates include pre-dinner drinks, a la carte dinner (excluding wine), breakfast, complimentary mini-bar (excluding spirits and wine) and use of facilities except golf. Phone 64 6875 1900 or see www.capekidnappers.com.