My Home
I live on about 10 acres of land close to the coastal settlement of Ngunguru, on the Tutukaka Coast, just outside Whangarei. I built the house about 10 years ago and feel very connected to the house and land — it is truly “home”. The land is mainly native bush with a beautiful, clear stream running through it, full of native crayfish and abundant fish. It’s also very private and quiet, well away from any neighbours. In fact, the only thing that wakes me up occasionally is the kiwi screaming to each other up the valley!
I chose to live where I do because it’s very close to Tutukaka, the gateway to the world‑famous Poor Knights Islands. I feel very lucky to have my property. The house is nothing fancy, but it has a lovely homely feeling and is nice and warm. I’d much rather spend my money on underwater adventures and travelling than on an excessively fancy house.
I’ve built an outside bath, which is great for a post‑dive soak and warm‑up.
There’s a chicken coop with between 4–8 chickens depending on the current state of attrition. There are usually plenty of eggs for poached eggs and the occasional cake.
Ngunguru is a sleepy little settlement with a couple of shops. Although it can get a little busy over the Christmas holidays, it’s usually pretty quiet and off the main tourist trail, unlike places like Paihia in the Bay of Islands. The estuary at Ngunguru is stunning and is still flanked by an undisturbed sandspit that was protected from development after a campaign in the early 2000s, when it was marked for extensive development. The “Save Ngunguru Sandspit” campaign was a success, and in 2011 the government bought the spit to protect it from future development.
The Wolfie Monster
I share my home with the Wolfie Monster. She’s a dangerously old border terrier. Back in her day she patrolled the land for rats and rabbits, but now she’s far more interested in sleeping. She only occasionally gets into a very vocal rumble with a wasp, bee, or — even worse — a cicada. I taught her everything she knows, and she’s helped me through some tough times.
Her greatest life achievement has been making puppies for the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC). The biggest superstar she produced was Ahu, who works for DOC as a rat‑pest control dog. Ahu is a jet‑setting puppy who has travelled the world helping track down pest rats on conservation land. As well as working in the furthest reaches of New Zealand — from the Auckland Islands to the Poor Knights and up to the Kermadecs — Ahu has also worked for the Aussies on Lord Howe Island and the Brits in South Georgia. How amazing is that. Meanwhile, as Ahu is doing all this incredible work around the world, the Wolfie Monster continues to roll on wasps and sleep most of the time back at home.
She’s affectionately known as “wolfie”, “it”, “the monster”, and “you filthy little mongrel” (even though she’s a pedigree).
Anyway, like I say, she’s getting dangerously old. Refer to Wolfie’s Dangerously Oldometer below for an updated age!
🐾 Wolfie’s Dangerously Oldometer: 🐾