For the past nine years, Helen Bint has lived off-the-grid in a spectacular location - a historic stone cottage at the foot of a 200m high rocky outcrop on Chatham Island.
Bint lived at the property as a young girl in the 1950s when it was on her grandparents' farm.
After her children left home, she decided to return and get a taste of her forebear’s lifestyle, doing up the derelict cottage and creating a popular tourist attraction.
Sick of the daily work and home routine, Bint sold her house, loaded up a trailer with all the essentials and said goodbye to everyone in Nelson before setting off on freight ship across to the Chathams.
"I did what I call a 'Thelma and Louise' except for the cliff at the end," Bint told Kim Hill.
When she arrived, the cottage had been derelict for about 40 years, with window panes missing and water not accessible. So with the help of neighbours, she managed to set it up again.
"If you’re looking at a picture of it, the big high rocky bluff behind the homestead is an upthrust volcanic vent that pushed up out of the sea five million years ago, according to all the geologists who come here.
"The house is built out of the compressed volcanic ash from that … and all the plaster on the inside and outside is crushed burnt pipi shells and lime and they milled their own timber. They got boards down for the floors, doors and stairs. That is kauri."
Living off the grid
Just like the original builders of the cottage, who were said to be committed to being self-reliant, Bint has no power or cellphone coverage.
Although she had brought across a generator, she gave up on using it because it sounded like a motorbike every night outside. She says she uses a lantern at night if she wants to read.
And because there is no fridge, it means she resorts to using alternatives like powdered milk. A part of the homestead is basically a storage for about a year’s worth of groceries, she says.
She has also got her own veggie and flower garden.
"The cattle kept on getting in so I gave up on the veggie garden a bit … but I’ve got some things. I’ve built a hot house, I’ve got tomatoes growing in there, and cucumbers, broccoli – I used the leaves for salads – rhubarb, onions I grow in pots around the house and parsley, things like that.
"I’m shooting possums every night on the roof and up the trees … possums are rife here. Somebody bought them down here years ago, in the 1800s, for fur.
"Cats eat some of the back legs on the ground. I used to pluck and skin them, but your hands get that stink, I can’t be bothered anymore."
Crayfish are one the known delicacies of the Chathams, but locals also eat weka. After plucking and gutting them, some of the hunters boil the bird with watercress and pumpkin, Bint says.
She says it’s not lonely on the island because she always keeps busy, and doesn’t miss anything about the mainland.
"What I love most about the Chathams is in Nelson - and New Zealand in particular, because of the growing population - you’ve got rules galore and it’s just like there’s no rules at all down here, you feel free.
"The only two things I wouldn’t be without in this old cottage is the landline phone and radio. The radio keeps my company and keeps me up to date with events … the phone to ring people, whoever I want to. I ring my grown-up children all the time.
"You’re just living like you were 100 years ago," Bint says.
"One thing I have got is cassette players, and I’ve asked people on talkback to send them to me and they’ve sent me hundreds actually."
And with the beach just two minutes away, there’s lots to keep her entertained, she says.
"I got a national award couple of years ago for discovering fossilised sponges."
Tourism
While Bint doesn’t have to pay rent, she helps pay back in a way by building up the tourism and helping out where she can.
"It’s become a top tourist spot down here … I think people are just interested in, well the whole island. We’re living in the 1950s and that’s the special thing about it. And you’re going back further when you live in this house, because you’re living like they did 150 years ago basically.
"I feel like I’ve lived four lifetimes with all the adventures I’ve had.
"Several years ago, two men from Colorado walked over the sandhills and nearly caught me tipping a pot of water over myself in the morning having a bit of a shower.
"I’ve had really interesting people here as tourists, that’s been the richness for me is meeting all these people. I had the French ambassador here, and she sent me a book from France on all of Milan’s paintings and things like that.
"I could write books and books about my life. I love adventure."
Leaving the cottage
Now, with grandchildren of her own to spend time with, Bint is readying to return to mainland New Zealand.
"This has been my home. I know everybody – all the kids you went to school with are still here and we keep in touch and have a lot of laughs still. It’s going to be sad leaving them, but I’ll keep in touch by phone.
"I’ll come back once a year to see everybody. I’ve made really good friends, we ring each other each day. It’s like everybody’s your first cousin."
She says she worries about her health, and misses her family, especially when she’s forced to be inside during the wet season.
"If I didn’t have any family at all in New Zealand, I would’ve stayed on … but I’m missing out on them too much."
But she’s still looking for a similar lifestyle in New Zealand to get her grandchildren skilled with the country life.
"That’s why I want to get an old farm homestead, to have them stay and have some chooks and learn to collect the eggs and the things you do in the country.
"I said it doesn’t have to windows or power or water, because I put it all on here, fixed it all up to make it livable, so I’m quite prepared to do that again.
"I just can’t help myself but garden wherever I go."
The cottage is listed as category one with the Heritage Trust, which has helped patch the place and make it stronger.
It will still be used for viewing for tourism, but just from the outside for safety reasons, Bint says.
