Robert and Sally Hunt have a similar story. They run the Lodge at Paratiho Farms in Nelson, a city in the northern part of the South Island. The Los Angeles couple searched the world for somewhere away from pollution, overcrowding and conflict. They say it wasn’t until they came to New Zealand that they found it, and they’ve now made New Zealand their home. Their son Richard also fell in love with New Zealand and he has now joined them in helping run the lodge.
The owner of Eagles Nest in the Bay of Islands, in the northern part of the North Island, also found he couldn’t leave the raw beauty of New Zealand. Daniel Biskind lived most of his life in Cleveland, Ohio. He first visited New Zealand in April 1995 in what he thought was going to be a brief stopover.
“I thought it was going to be a six-day stay, but within eight hours of arriving in Auckland I knew, in my gut, there was ‘something’ there for me. I thought perhaps it was the light, the air, the water, the colours, the people, the culture, or a combination of the above. I returned in July for three weeks, to see New Zealand at its ‘worst’ [July is wintertime in New Zealand] and then began to make plans to apply for residence.”
Daniel met his Australian wife, Sandie, in December 1998 and shortly afterwards she shifted to Auckland, where the pair married and started Eagles Nest.
But it isn’t only those setting up lodges that are moving to this island paradise. Many other Americans are vineyard and restaurant owners, run adventure tourism companies and are artists. New Zealand captures the hearts and souls of its visitors in one way or another, whether it’s through the friendly people, the pristine and breathtaking landscapes or the fact that it is just one big adventure playground.
A journalist who recently visited New Zealand summed up this beautiful country perfectly when she said, <q>“When I die, I will surely go to hell for I have already been to heaven.”</q>