We decided to purchase Nga Punawai and after much deliberation and negotiation we took over on March 30th, 2010. We want to retro-fit the old house with sustainable technology such as geothermal heating, double glazing, wool or natural fibre insulation, natural paints and recycled/antique furniture and appliances where possible. First though we have to clean the place thoroughly as it has been abandoned and left to the few wild cats and mice to inhabit. Pictures tell a better story of what it is actually like, as words fail me (apart from the odd swear word when I discover nasty things hanging on the walls and inbedded into the floor boards).

Early in 2009 whilst surfing the net, I saw an old house advertised on “TradeMe”, New Zealand’s equivalent of “E-bay”. I looked up where Fairlie was and sent a link to Nick saying that this house looked interesting. By the time Nick got the email it had been de-listed and I couldn’t find it again.
In December 2009 on the way back from a trip to Otago we stopped in at Fairlie and visited the local real estate agent, Annette. After describing the house to Annette she thought she knew which property I was talking about and went out the back to get an old file from 1998. The picture on the file was the same property that I had been searching for, only looked in much better condition in the old photograph than what I had seen on TradeMe. She contacted the owner, then told us where it was and Nick and I drove out to have a look. We couldn’t see the house from the road and the big “bugger-off” gate at the front only made us more intrigued. We walked up the driveway, well at least I think we did, I was so nervous I may have been skipping, jumping and running a little bit, holding onto Nicks hand in absolute excitement.
Oh, the delight when we finally caught sight of the house, the nervous tension, the apprehension, the anticipation, I had to creep around the house and look through the windows. It was not a pretty sight, with clothes scattered, run down furniture, general dirt and filth, but both Nick and I saw the potential and loved it straight away. We didn’t hang around too long as I was a little highly strung and torn between wanting to stay and wanting to go. Walking back to the car we were so full of “imagines”, reaching the gate to climb over the fence I had to let go of Nick’s hand and that is when I realised how hard I had been holding his hand. He didn’t complain at how hard I was pressing, think he was quietly having a chuckle at me, but I finally felt how tense I was in my shoulders, arms and hands when I let go.