My dear friend Pete, who I sailed with from Tonga to New Zealand four years ago, invited me to spend some time with him in Golden Bay on the South Island before I head north again to sail to Fiji. Pete lives off-the-grid in a jungle forest surrounded by National Park land. Very isolated, very quiet and beautiful. All his electricity and hot water are generated by a turbine in the fast-flowing stream behind the house. Composting toilet, outdoor hot shower and bathtub, the house, including furniture, all hand-built by Pete from trees grown and milled on his land. We had lots of fun talking about construction details for a planned addition.
From Takaka, we headed to his Patarau ocean home on the west coast. Most of the time, this surfer's paradise is a vacation rental, but we had use of it for three days between renters. It took all my willpower to leave the thousands of gorgeous rocks on the beach. I decided to take rock photos instead that I'll use as inspiration for a series of abstract paintings.
View from Pete's deck
The shower and bathtub are outdoors, sheltered by the trisail from Pete's sailboat.
Sunset at Patarau.
The waves were not great for surfing, but were perfect for sea kayak-surfing. Incredibly fun!
Patarau rock. I swear I didn't alter this image.