Cultivating creativity at Casita Miro

Last updated 11 May 2026

From law and rural medicine to an award-winning Waiheke vineyard and restaurant, Barnett Bond and Cat Vosper have grown their dream life from the ground up. They talk about why they made the switch and how living in the moment has helped them thrive.

Barnett Bond and Cat Vosper have long been prone to what they call “rushes of blood to the head”. First, it was the purchase of a gorse-covered block of land on Waiheke Island more than 30 years ago. Then came the decision to juggle their careers in medicine and law with grape growing and winemaking. And just when that seemed ambitious enough, they decided to open a restaurant, too. 

But those rushes of blood have, the charismatic couple concedes, turned out rather well. And as they show the MAS team around Casita Miro Vineyard, it’s clear this place is a deeply personal labour of love. They might not have set out to become restaurateurs, but they love what they do here in this special spot, perched on the side of a north-facing slope above Onetangi Beach. 

A meeting of minds

Cat and her doctor husband Barnett – both long-time MAS Members – first crossed paths in amateur theatre in the late 1980s. Barnett was a GP in Matamata and Cat was working as a lawyer. Treading the boards was supposed to be a bit of fun, but Barnett still remembers the several torturous weeks of the show’s run, having to watch the leading man kiss the woman of his dreams on stage night after night. 

“It did me in!” he laughs. 

He needn’t have worried. They soon found their way to each other and the rest, as they say, is history. Marriage followed, then their 3 children, George, Harrison and Miro – all adults now – and the life-changing decision to follow a dream from Waikato to Waiheke Island.  

As a rural GP, Barnett – who studied medicine at Otago in the 1970s – loved the intensity of the role. Attending births in the night, rushing to the scene of road accidents and being the go-to guy for every type of medical emergency no matter the hour, was equally as fulfilling as it was exhausting. But after 15 years, the sleep deprivation and pressure began to take a toll.  

“I was in my 40s and thought, ‘Well, what’s the exit strategy?’” 

Wine, it turned out, was the answer. Barnett had been a judge at the New Zealand International Wine Show for years and knew his way around vineyards. In one of those aforementioned rushes of blood to the head, he thought, “I could probably make this stuff.” 

He laughs at just how naive he was. “I advise anyone who’s reading, don’t do that! That’s not a great leap to make; drinking and judging wine is quite different to making it.” 

Yet, when he visited Waiheke with friends, he knew it was just the place for his next adventure. “I could see this was a magic piece of grape-growing soil.” 

Cat, too, was enamoured by the idea of life on Waiheke, and before they knew it they were the owners of a sun-drenched plot of land that had certainly seen better days.

Setting down roots on Waiheke

“We moved when our daughter Miro was a week old,” says Cat. “I was juggling my law career with 3 very young kids, and then farming. It was a very busy time.” 

Undeterred by the work ahead, they named their vineyard Miro – after their little girl, whose name means ‘fruit of the forest’ in most Māori dialects, and as a nod to the famous Catalan artist Joan Miró. Over time and with a huge amount of work, their dream began to materialise.  

The weeds gave way to grapes, and they began to produce wines that gained widespread acclaim. Eventually, Cat stepped away from her work as a lawyer to concentrate on grapes full time, while Barnett continued as a GP during the day and made wine at night. “Those were very long days.” 

After a decade, competition from cheaper imports created new challenges. That’s when Cat had another rush of blood to the head. 

“She said, ‘Why don't we open a restaurant?’” recalls Barnett. “I said, ‘Sit down, I’ll make you a cup of tea and I’ll put a cold compress on your forehead and the feeling will pass.’ 

“Fortunately Catherine took no notice of me, and said, ‘Well, I’m going to do this anyway.’ So we all pitched in and we converted a little building into a restaurant.” 

And so Casita Miro was born. This award-winning Spanish-inspired restaurant is set in an awe-inspiring pavilion, constructed from wrought iron, tiles and glass, to which visitors pour in every year. Cat and her team pride themselves in using the finest, freshest products from their own organic kitchen gardens and source locally wherever possible – all served alongside their own wines, of course.  

Spanish influence

A talented artist, Barnett’s incredible mosaics, which decorate the property with a Gaudí-esque riot of colour and joy, have become as synonymous with Casita Miro as its food and wine. Casita Miro, they say, is a love letter to their beloved Spain. 

“Stylistically, it really is our response to the great beauty that is Spain,” explains Cat. “The colour and the vibrancy with which those lovely people curate their world is just stunning. There’s art and colour everywhere. We were always profoundly moved by that because it certainly is not the way New Zealanders have tended to express themselves.” 

For Barnett, the creative outlet of his mosaics has been a wonderful balm to the stress of a life in medicine.  

“Medicine is complicated and making diagnoses isn’t easy. You wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘Did I get that right?’ The washing machine of your mind keeps going, until you think, ‘Well, what I need is a diversion.’” 

His mosaics have certainly been that – a mindful, creative outlet that has spread across their property. He’s currently working his way down the winding driveway and isn’t quite sure he’ll head after that. “Out to the ocean, perhaps.”