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Imagine a beautiful boutique hotel crossed with a butt-kicking boot camp and you’ve got the gist of what’s on offer at the PT for Me retreat tucked into a quiet part of Kerikeri.
With two months’ warning, I rope in my best friend Lucy for a weekend away to recharge and become the better, fitter versions of ourselves we’ve always assumed lurked deep within us. “Think of the fun fitness outfits we can buy in preparation!” we exclaim – then promptly forget all about it until the week before we’re due to go.
The three-hour post-work drive to Kerikeri is a low point for both of us. With busy media jobs, we’re more used to spending Friday nights unwinding with a glass or two of wine. Do we get Burger King for dinner on the way?
Why yes, we do, dubbing it our ‘last supper’ before we transform into our Better Selves.
As we pull into the long driveway, Philippa Cooper – who runs the retreat with husband Pete – is there to greet us and offer us a meal. We mumble something about eating a salad on the way up (lie #1) and check into our shared suite instead.
This is not some simple, bare health retreat – this is luxe. We’re talking plush robes and slippers, The Aromatherapy Company beauty products, Egyptian cotton sheets and snuggly rugs. And the fridge and pantry are stocked with all sorts of delicious healthy snacks, including Philippa’s homemade granola.
Lucy and I drink herbal tea to ready ourselves for an early night before retreating to our bedrooms for an excellent night’s sleep.
In the lap of luxury at PT for Me
It’s a good thing we do sleep soundly, because we’re up early for a 7am boxing class. Lucy – never a morning person at the best of times – and I quickly grab a handful of granola before heading out to the paddock, along with a collection of locals who come every week.
You get the feeling Philippa – a certified personal trainer and weight loss consultant – and Pete have quickly become favourites after relocating from Auckland to Kerikeri (10 people turning up this early on a Saturday morning for their class is surely a testament to that).
It’s my first boxing class in – ahem – about 12 years, but I’m surprised how much I remember. I’m also surprised how much fun it is, considering on a normal Saturday I’d still be in bed.
Pete’s the perfect mix of enthusiastic and taskmaster, pushing us further as we perform shuttle runs down the length of the paddock, interspersed with different boxing combinations.
The final hurrah is a combination of shuttle runs, punches and step-ups, which sounds like pure hell but Lucy and I laugh as much as we sweat. Pete’s some sort of fitness wizard, basically.
The Mission Station
After a shower and some porridge, our next activity is a 14km bike ride from Okaihau to Kaikohe, part of the scenic Twin Coast Cycle Trail. Full disclosure here: I’m 30 and I never learned to ride a bike. Because I told Philippa and Pete that I could (lie #2), I took a literal crash course in cycling the weekend before the retreat.
I’m therefore feeling slightly apprehensive about the bike ride, because it’s – secretly – the first time I’ve gone on one. I warn Philippa and Pete that I’m ‘a little rusty’ because it’s been so long since I’ve ridden a bike (lie #3), but the jig is up immediately when I fail to get the bike going at all for the first five minutes.
Emma manages a smile mid chin-up.
I admit my failings, Philippa and Pete are very kind and supportive, and then something magical happens: I start cycling. Lucy, who like most humans learned to ride a bike when she was five, describes the hour-long trail as ‘pretty but easy’, whereas for me it’s a thrilling, life-changing event.
It’s a beautiful ride that takes us on a scenic tour through native bush and through an old railroad tunnel, but the best part is, after I’ve spent so long thinking ‘Don’t fall off, don’t fall off, don’t fall off’, it’s Lucy, not me, who tumbles off her bike at the very end of the ride. And like the terrible friend I am, I laugh.
The phrase “Let’s have lunch, then you can go for a massage”, must surely sit high on the list of Nice Things People Can Say To You. After a chicken salad with lime and turmeric dressing prepared for us by Philippa – the pair make all of the food we eat on the retreat – we’re driven to Pure Day Spa, which sits in the middle of a beautiful farm.
We both have divine massages and I immediately fall asleep on the table under my therapist Karen’s competent hands. It feels like about a week since that stressed, bumper-to-bumper drive up from Auckland, but it’s been less than 24 hours.
Back at the retreat, we relax in the spa pool and then sit down with Philippa and Pete for sumac-fried salmon with roasted kumara, avocado and coconut salad, before retiring to bed for a well-earned early night.
The heavenly Rainbow Falls
The idea behind PT for Me – both as a fitness facility for Kerikeri residents and as a retreat for out-of-towners – is to give people the opportunity to reboot their fitness and nutrition, but in an achievable and approachable way.
Both Philippa and Pete are great examples of a healthy lifestyle but the experience never feels preachy or overwhelming. In fact, it feels like you’re getting to play the way you did as a kid.
The next day they let us loose on an obstacle course set up on the property – Lucy jumps right over the first wall, I run straight into it – and they take us through all the equipment in the well-stocked gym.
After that we go for a bush walk past Rainbow Falls, ending up at the historic Mission Station, home to New Zealand’s oldest building, where we enjoy a packed picnic lunch.
Emma clambers over some tyres on the obstacle course.
The whole weekend has been a great reminder that moving as much as you can in your leisure time is the best way to build more energy, even if hunkering down with a book or Netflix is more what you feel like doing. By the time Monday rolls around and Lucy and I are back at our desks, we can’t stop discussing how much happier and healthier we feel.
Many of the clients who come to PT for Me have real health problems: burnout, a lot of weight to lose, pre-diabetes. Philippa and Pete tailor each experience to the individual and create a plan that covers the retreat and beyond.
The proof for Lucy and me is in the lack of pudding: four months after our retreat, we’ve both set up and stuck to regular fitness routines and are stronger and healthier for it. Instead of meeting up for brunch, we now go for walks.
If you’re looking to kick-start your fitness or need some expert advice and a really good sleep, this is the retreat for you.
Emma manages to get over a wall instead of running straight into it.
Fact file
– The PT for Me retreat offers personalised health assessments, nutrition plans and fitness regimes, in addition to a range of off-site activities (www.ptforme.co.nz).
– Visit Mission Station for a taste of Kiwi history and the Stone Store for excellent gifts (246 Kerikeri Rd).
– Eat at The Italians – we were on a health retreat so we can’t possibly tell you how good the tiramisu is (wink), but you really should try it (35 Kerikeri Rd).
