The Babymooners

In the fall of 2004, as I was flipping through a copy of Golf Digest, I spotted an aerial photograph of Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, a new design that had recently opened on New Zealand's North Island. The image was so otherworldly that it stopped me dead in my tracks: green fairways balanced high atop a cluster of finger-like cliffs that jutted out into a turquoise ocean. The picture reminded me of the impressionist paintings of fantasy golf holes I'd seen as a child. According to the article, Cape Kidnappers and its sister course, Kauri Cliffs, on New Zealand's North Island, were the brainchild of billionaire philanthropist and financier Julian Robertson, who had founded the Tiger Fund, the world's first -- and at one point largest -- hedge fund back in the '80s. He had come to golf-course development in retirement, simply as a hobby, and wound up with one of the most talked-about golf resorts in the world. I'd played some nice courses in my day, but I'd never laid eyes on one so exquisitely beautiful as the one in this magazine image. Surely, it couldn't be real. But it was, and the more I learned about the spine-tingling design -- and the more rewards it racked up, with both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine naming it one of the world's top 10 courses -- the more I realized that I someday had to see it for myself. Four years later, when I learned I was pregnant with my first child, I knew that if I didn't go soon, I probably never would.

Impending parenthood was an exhilarating yet daunting concept: My husband Matt and I were finally going to be admitted entrance into the membership of new parents who learn what it's like to love unconditionally. At the same time, we realized that we'd never again be just the two of us, able to go to a movie or take a last-minute trip without hours of prior planning or a sense of guilt. So in February of 2008, three months before my due date, we decided to take one last journey before our son arrived, one that would leave us with memories that would last forever. There's actually a name for this type of vacation: a "babymoon." In the past few years, this travel trend has become popular enough to merit an entry on Wikipedia: there, it's called "One last 'hurrah' before baby arrives."

There was no question that our babymoon would be a golf adventure. Like me, Matt has played some great golf courses through his job, so our "last hurrah" destination had to be spectacular. We had to venture to the end of the world. We had to see New Zealand.

Our journey began a couple of weeks before our departure, in the drawing room of a magnificent penthouse on Manhattan's Central Park South. Josie Robertson, Julian's wife and an integral partner in the development of both Cape Kidnappers and Kauri Cliffs, had invited me over for tea. The Robertsons spend at least 12 weeks a year in New Zealand during its summer months -- roughly late December through March -- and Josie wanted to share some insider tips on what I must see and do when visiting their home away from home. Surrounded by exquisite antiques and walls hung with paintings by Picasso and Matisse, this statuesque woman with a silky-smooth voice described the passion she and her husband had developed for the tiny country on the opposite side of the earth.

Julian had first stopped in New Zealand on his way home from a business trip to Asia in 1997. He'd been nearing retirement and was looking for some interesting side projects. He'd heard about a vacant 5,000-acre farm in Hawkes Bay on the tip of the North Island with amazing views of the Pacific coastline. The property was called Kauri Cliffs, and even though a driving rainstorm had made it difficult to make out many details, Julian had purchased the land then and there.

"When I first heard he had done this, I thought, 'what are we going to do with a 5,000-acre ranch in New Zealand?'" Josie told me. "Then he started saying what a gorgeous golf course the property could make." Josie, herself an avid golfer who started playing in her 40s and carries a 17 handicap, warmed to the idea. She convinced her husband that if he was going to build a golf course, he had to include a nice inn. Julian acquiesced and hired an architect to design and build a luxury lodge. Kauri Cliffs golf course opened in 2000, and in 2004, as the lodge was being completed, the Robertsons cut the ribbon on their second New Zealand golf course, Cape Kidnappers, some 400 miles south of the first. What had begun as a private retirement project had developed into a major business venture, albeit with a very personal touch. By this time, the Roberstons had fallen in love with New Zealand's natural beauty and kind-hearted people. "It's such a small country with every possible type of geographic condition," Josie said. "It has the most gorgeous fjords, streams, coastline and lakes, and the southern alps are just stunning. I tell women that it's the most user-friendly place in the world. You'll have no hesitation going anywhere in the country. It's so casual and laid-back, and the people are genuinely nice. It's just a really pleasant place to be."

An independent nation within the British Commonwealth, New Zealand is situated 1,250 miles east of Australia and made up of two main parts -- the North Island, which is warmer and has a flatter landscape, and the South Island, which is closer to the Antarctic Circle and thus colder and more mountainous. New Zealand was settled by the Polynesian Maori people roughly 1,000 years ago and colonized by Great Britain in the mid-1800s. Today, the Maoris make up 15 percent of the population of four million, and most of them reside on the North Island. The Maoris retain the rights to their indigenous lands, so Julian struck a deal with the local tribe after he bought Kauri Cliffs. He paid off a multi-million-dollar debt the tribe had incurred in a failed business venture in exchange for a 60-year lease. The Robertsons have done a lot to cultivate positive relations with the locals, such as paying for the restoration of Kerikeri's old Town Hall.

Two weeks after my afternoon tea date with Mrs. Robertson, Matt and I left for New Zealand. I like to consider myself a seasoned traveler who can handle anything. But flying over 10,000 miles one way in coach, even with two layovers, is not recommended when you're six months pregnant and suffering from edema, a lovely pregnancy side effect that causes swelling of the legs and feet. I came close to losing it several times in those 36 hours, especially when a New Zealand customs officer pulled me aside to inform me that my golf shoes were classified as bio-hazardous materials because American grass was stuck on the cleats. Luckily, Matt has a very calming influence on me, or I might have been charged with assault and battery.