Recent news & Articles

New Zealand’s first “Women Only” luxury fly fishing retreat

April 30, 2021

On 8–14 April 2021, Owen River Lodge hosted our inaugural luxury fly fishing retreat exclusively for women. What’s more, this event was the first of its kind in New Zealand. The first in the country. We can’t believe that no-one else here had even considered such a thing. As if women aren’t interested in catching big,… Read more

May Santa bring you a fishing trip to ORL in 2021!

December 23, 2020

Merry Christmas and a big welcome to 2021 When it comes to wrapping up 2020, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? We all know it’s been one hell of a year. For some, it’s been tragic. You don’t need me adding to all the noise. So let’s not go there. Let’s look forward to the time—and it’s… Read more

ORL Women only luxury fly fishing retreat - April 2021

December 01, 2020

Last April, our scheduled luxury women’s only fly fishing retreat was cancelled due to Corona virus. The good news is its on again this coming April ! In April 2021 we’re hosting a six night/five day luxury fly fishing retreat exclusively for women anglers. We are the only accredited luxury lodge in New Zealand offering… Read more

Three Murchison Accommodation Experiences At Owen River Lodge

November 22, 2020

Make no mistake about it, Covid 19 has absolutely changed the way we look at the kiwi holiday in New Zealand. With New Zealand travel restrictions likely to stay in place for at least a few months to come, your traditional holiday park is likely to be booked out and accommodation in Murchison, Nelson and the Tasman region… Read more

Casting For Recovery 2020: how we helped make it work in the Covid year

October 26, 2020

For the last seven years, we’ve been opening the doors of Owen River Lodge to groups of breast cancer survivors and hosting a weekend of authentic five-star treatment. We run these retreats in partnership with breast cancer charity Casting For Recovery, and work hard to make them a heady mix of fine dining, pampering sessions… Read more

ORL wins big in 2020 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Awards!

October 07, 2020

Second in New Zealand; fifth overall in Australia and the South Pacific—the results are in for Condé Nast Traveler’s 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards and Owen River Lodge is a winner! The category we’ve won in—Read more

Special Kiwi Fly Fishing Rates

September 14, 2020

Owen River Lodge has a world wide reputation for excellence, however we don’t have as high a profile in New Zealand, our overseas guests tend to book a year or two in advance and with 50% of our guests having stayed with us before, we are usually (thankfully) fully booked. As a result of New Zealand’s borders being closed,… Read more

Special Kiwi Package Rates

August 19, 2020

This is little doubt that we are all living in extraordinary times, rather than being all doom and gloom we’ve grabbed the opportunity of introducing more Kiwi’s to Owen River Lodge. Owen River Lodge has a world wide reputation for excellence, however we don’t have as high a profile in New Zealand, our overseas guests… Read more

2019/20 Season Wrap & Covid-19: Booking Flexibility

March 31, 2020

Well, here we all are, facing a situation that’s unprecedented in our lifetimes. A situation that’s impacting everyone, everywhere. Thanks to Covid-19, people are anxious about losing their jobs, their financial security and their health. And in the face of that, I want to talk about fly-fishing at Owen River Lodge. You… Read more

Covid-19 : Owen River Lodge Response

March 14, 2020

The world has entered a period of challenge as we all try to manage the risk posed by the Covid-19 coronavirus and deal with its impact on our daily lives. In the face of unrelenting global media coverage about the situation, we understand and acknowledge that you may be nervous about travelling. We therefore hope you find this… Read more

Health & Safety discussions are shown to cause more eyerolls than any other workplace topic

November 19, 2019

“Health and Safety” might not sound as sexy as “luxury accommodation” or “stunning food and wine” but you can bet that keeping our guests safe and well is pretty darned important to them. Which makes it even more important to us. That’s why we invited New Zealand accreditation agency Qualmark to audit our Health… Read more

It’s official—ORL provides NZ’s best visitor experience!

October 26, 2019

On Thursday October 24, at a prestigious black tie dinner in Christchurch, Owen River Lodge was announced winner of the Visitor Experience category in the 2019 New Zealand Tourism Awards.This is the second year in a row that we’ve been recognised by our industry peers. In 2018, we took out the Business Excellence Award for… Read more

So you want to be a fly fishing guide ?

September 03, 2019

Owen River Lodge is one of New Zealand’s premier fishing lodges. We are seeking to take on a guide intern, so they may learn from the very best guides in the business and hopefully become full time members of our guiding team. Owen River Lodge will help perfect your fly fishing techniques. Being a good fly fisher… Read more

New travel rules for New Zealand

August 01, 2019

The New Zealand Government has introduced new travel requirements for most visitors coming into the country from the USA, UK, Europe and Asia. The first is the IVL (International Visitor Tourism and Conservation Levy) and the second is called the NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority). Travellers need to request these… Read more

ORL Women only luxury fly fishing retreat - April 2020!

May 09, 2019

Normally at this time of year we’d be winding down and looking forward to a break—especially after the super-busy season we’ve just had—but we’re really excited about this latest development and can’t wait to share it. In April 2020 we’re hosting a six night/five day luxury fly fishing retreat exclusively for women… Read more

Feb 9 2021

Just had an amazing couple of days at Owen River Lodge…superb hospitality & generosity from Felix & Kylie. Delicious cuisine by chef Ryan & all in a beautiful remote… Read more

Tony & Suzanne Auckland NZ : Google

Nov 23 2021

We had the pleasure to attend the first “learn to fly fish” weekend at Owen River Lodge - what a brilliant thing to do. Kylie is a qualified fly casting instructor and has… Read more

Joanna & Sam : Hastings New Zealand : TripAdvisor

Awards & acknowledgements

Owen River Lodge NZ: “Fly fishing at its very best”

Ph: +64 3 523 9075 Address: Owen Valley East Road, Murchison, Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

Email: fish@elevenangling.com