A Heritage Property For Sale

Cousins talking…

Antonio: The front façade, that classic CT Natusch Tudor style. Properly proportioned, steep gables, timber detailing.

Jocelyn: The front is the strongest part. It’s the kind of house you’d stop and photograph. But once you scroll through the photos… well, the story changes.

Antonio: The interior surprised me. All that rimu. Warm, honeyed, still intact. It feels like stepping into 1893. But then the back of the house… it’s like someone stapled extra rooms on without thinking.

Jocelyn: Yes. The section is narrow, and the further back you go, the more it looks like a patchwork quilt.

Antonio: The price though, half a mill, is tempting. For a Natusch original, that’s almost a bargain. But is this a restoration project or a money pit? The back looks like it would need structural reconsideration, not just cosmetic work.

Jocelyn: And Masterton isn’t exactly booming. You’d have to love the house for what it represents, not what it currently is.

Antonio: True. It’s not a strategic investment. It’s a sentimental one. A heritage one. A ‘great-grandfather built this’ one.

Jocelyn: Sentiment doesn’t pay for rewiring, replumbing, reroofing, and re-everything-ing.

Antonio: I wonder if the front could be preserved, and the back rebuilt entirely. But that’s a major undertaking. And probably wouldn’t be allowed by Heritage rules.

Jocelyn: And you’re not living in Masterton. You’d be managing a heritage restoration remotely.

Antonio: The front is stunning, but the whole property feels like a compromise.

Jocelyn: I agree. If the back were even halfway sympathetic to the original design, I’d say go for a look. But as it stands…

Antonio: …maybe it’s better to let someone else take on the project. Someone local. Someone who wants a challenge.

Jocelyn: So to conclude: not to buy, and maybe not even a look-see. We honor the history, but we don’t inherit the renovation.

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Voice-over

Sentimental value doesn’t outweigh the structural, financial, and logistical realities. The house’s front is a treasure; the back is a burden. Admiration without acquisition becomes the elegant choice.

Moving to Queensland?

What are the downsides? 
Ken: Well, bushfires for starters. Climate change is making them nastier. And then there’s the sudden flooding. One minute dry, next minute your backyard’s a lake.
Paul: See, that’s exactly what worries me. NZ feels… calmer. Not used to spiders and poisonous animals. 
Ken: I always thought NZers were mostly terrified of snakes.
Paul: Well, yes, snakes too. How often do you actually see one?
Ken: Yesterday. I was on the ride‑on mower, and a red-belly was sliding through the grass right beside me.
Paul: That’s… very close. 
Ken: Oh, that’s nothing. Last week one got inside the house.
Paul: Inside?
Ken: Under the couch. The one you’re sitting on, actually.
Paul: Right. Well. I imagine you have anti‑venom in the house? 
Ken: Oh yes. (picks up an axe lying on the hearth) This quite often stops the venom spreading. 
Paul: …I see.

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Voice-over
Ken is brisk, wry and laconic. Very Aussie. Brings on a writhing smile.

White-faced Heron

Big bird lands on the lawn…

Ronda: A white-faced heron! Such an elegant neck and way of walking.

Sophie: Absolutely graceful. I wonder if it's a migratory bird. It flew up from the estuary.

Ronda: Hmm. Some heron species do migrate. But I read that the white-faced heron came from Australia in the early 20^th century. And settled. This one doesn't seem shy at all, does it? Maybe it's used to humans.

Sophie: Yeah, it's possible. Seems quite comfortable here. Look, it’s perched high up on the pergola.

Ronda: It does seem to enjoy that spot. Nice having such beautiful visitors around.

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Voice-over

White-faced herons came to New Zealand from Australia in the early 20th century. They are now the most common heron in the country.

The Extreme Serenity of Russell

Manners

Alison: It’s a bit ungracious to put your feet up near the coffee cup.

Richard: Offensive? To the coffee? It gives perspective, the feet suggest a vanishing point.

Alison: And your shoes need cleaning.

Richard: I’ve been hiking. And it gives a feeling of ambience to the scene.

Alison: Still, I mean, it’s unmannerly. It doesn’t harmonize with the serenity here.

 

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Voice-over

Russell is a place where serenity is extreme. All photographs look like postcards. It’s remote from the traffic rumble of other Bay of Islands towns. The ferry from Paihia to Russell is for pedestrians only. There’s only one car ferry – from Opua to Russell. It helps to be somewhat isolated.

Phlegmatic vs panicky pandemic government leadership

Another self-isolation...

Open the border!

Peregrine: Thanks for picking me up at the airport on Thursday.

Über: No problem. How’s life on Isolation Island?

Peregrine: Have to say, this is a breeze. Nice to be back in a country where the government handles the pandemic calmly and humanely, treating it as a global challenge, not just a local one.

Über: Not bored with being house-bound?

Peregrine: So much to deal with after being away a year. And I have my daily routines. Exercising, reading, writing, zooming, cooking, sketching, archiving.

Über: All those things you never finished in school?

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Voice-over

Some countries handle the pandemic rationally. Others stoke anxiety. The Economist in its February 11 leader: “New Zealand, which has sought to be covid-free by bolting its doors against the world. In this way it has kept registered deaths down to just 25, but such a draconian policy makes no sense as a permanent defence: New Zealand is not North Korea. As vulnerable Kiwis are vaccinated, their country will come under growing pressure to open its borders—and hence to start to tolerate endemic covid-19 infections and deaths.”

Archivist of Navigators: John Dunmore

Reminiscing on a mentor from 40 years ago...

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Jules: He interviewed me for my first academic job. He mentored me in research, suggested what I should do in the way of bridging courses, who I should approach as supervisors. I got where I went in no small part by his guidance.

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Adèle: I remember him well. And it seems he’s not finished yet. Still writing in his mid-90s, after 30 historical accounts, novels, articles, book chapters and radio dramas.

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Jules: He encouraged me. He gave me a place to work and study undistractedly in a quiet university town. Through him I appreciated Palmerston North as an academic and artistic feeding ground before my own migration.

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Adèle: Research as the measure of a life. Multiple awards and honours. It was un honneur to have known him.

Massey News 2008: JD

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Voice-over

John Dunmore, professor at Massey University 1966 to 1985, also publisher, writer, playwright. After downloading his book on Dumont d’Urville, From Venus to Antarctica, Jules sets off on a google journey following the digital trail of this explorer of French navigators such as Jean-François-Marie de Surville and Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.

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Atrocities in Norway and now New Zealand

After the shooting in the mosque…

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Nils: What with the mosque massacre downunder by a man gone mad on social media, rise of racism and the ultra-right. Like that Norwegian.

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Sven: Yes, he cited the Norwegian… wasn’t he declared insane?

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Nils: Forensic psychiatrists’ first assessment of the Norwegian was insanity. Then they had another examination and concluded he wasn’t.

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Sven: I guess they get treated more leniently if they are insane. Could get out earlier and be a danger to terrorize society again.

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Nils: Terrorism? Or madness? The random violence of an insane man?

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Sven: Insanity can be contagious. There were copycats of the Norwegian. A Czech, then a Pole. Now this.

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Nils: It’s a mad world. And such events fire up the conspiracy theorists. Breivik acted with accomplices? No evidence turned up. The terrorist had accomplices? No evidence. Maybe the insane find it hard to get along with each other.

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Voice-over

Pixellate the unspeakable

We share the world with increasingly more people. Cultures collide. Characters clash. Maybe life used to be used to be simpler. People got along. Or if they didn’t they had an argument and looked a bit sheepish about it next day. Now some people who cannot be famous for good deeds, resort to using social media to make their mark through evil. Pixellate their face and don’t use their name.

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