Original subtitles

- I'm on a hunt to help find everyday Kiwis their perfect country house.

Things are a little different out here in the country.

You still have the hustle and bustle.

Your neighbours can sometimes be a bit noisy.

Time moves a little slower.

But you don't get this...

in the city.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023

Today we're meeting a lovely couple, Kim and John, who are about to set out on an adventure

to find their dream home right here in New Plymouth.

There's a twist, though ― they just can't seem to agree on a location.

It's that classic case of country versus coastline, and I can't wait to see who comes out on top.

Today I'm in New Plymouth with our quirky couple, Kim and John.

How do you guys feel about a classy little room like this?

You're a classy couple. - Not― Not really. No.

- They're on the hunt for the perfect home to settle into in this special part of Aotearoa NewZealand.

- That is

drop-dead wow.

- I'll be showing them through three stunning properties, all of which might be suitable...

It's a unique house, isn't it? - So beautiful. - Yeah.

- Just don't get things built like that these days.

- ...but which one will fit the bill?

How about that view?

It's stunning.

You wouldn't get sick of that easily, would you? - No.

Now let's meet our couple for today ― Kim and John, currently living in Auckland,

but they're ready for a change

Yeah, I think, you know, living in Auckland was great for 20 years,

uh, with the kids and that, but... - Yeah.

- ...I think just over time, it was just getting a bit busy... - Mm.

- ...and just spending too much time sort of in a stressful environment,

either, for me, rushing to get a park at a bus stop to go to town and then get stuck in traffic.

So, yeah, I just wanted to get back to a sort of old Kiwi lifestyle,

like we sort of used to have. - Yeah.

So we picked New Plymouth because it's got really good access with its airport.

It's a city that I've been coming to since I was young,

but it's changed a lot in the last few years, and it's just become very vibrant, and it's a beautiful place.

- New Plymouth was the easy part of the decision for our couple,

but they still haven't come to an agreement on the exact area they're most keen on.

Will it be right out in the country, or will they choose something in the middle of town?

- I've seen some really great lifestyle properties in New Plymouth,

and I think that's just getting the time and space to be out in the country would be quite agood thing,

and maybe build some other little dwelling on there for other people to come and stay.

- I'm definitely more keen on living closer to town.

It's just the whole feel that you get when you visit New Plymouth

with the cafes and the arts, and there's just so much excitement.

So, yeah,

the city appeals to me.

- What's our budget? - Yeah, what's our budget?

- I think we're looking to spend 1.5 million to 1.8 million top end. - Yeah, definitely.

- New Plymouth is located on the North Island's west coast,

about 3.5 hours drive from Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

It's well known for its beautiful beaches, stunning natural scenery

and the iconic mountain, Mt Taranaki.

The city has a thriving arts and culture scene with numerous galleries, museums and street art,

making it an incredibly popular tourist destination.

I'm sure our couple will have plenty to see and do as they explore this vibrant area.

Now it's time to show our couple the first property on today's tour.

I know John's looking for a country home, so I'm sure he's gonna love this,

but I think that when Kim finds out how close it is to town, it may just win her over as well.

So I'm really eager to see what they think of house number one.

Kim, gidday. - Hey. Nice to meet you, Matt. - You too.

Gidday, John. How are ya going? - Hi, how are ya?

- The day's finally arrived. We're going house hunting today.

How good's this? - Yeah, exciting.

So I understand there might be a little bit of a dilemma here

in terms of whether you're gonna be living in the country or living closer to town ―

is there a bit of back and forth on that one?

Well, I'm definitely in the country camp.

- Yeah, you'd quite like a bit of space... - Yeah.

- ...and I love New Plymouth's city. - Yeah.

I would love to be in the city and all those beautiful trees...

- ...gardens, see a bit of sea too, maybe.

- So a bit of compromising might have to take place today.

- Yeah. - All right.

Which brings me to our first home 10 minutes from the city.

So in terms of a compromise... - Right. - That's quick, eh?

- ...yeah, this could be the one. It's a beautiful four-bedroom home, and it is brand new.

- Wow. - This place is absolutely gorgeous.

- Single level too, that's what you get in the country. - Yep.

- I think that's important. - Yeah.

- Well, shall we get inside and take a look around?

- Sure! - Here we go.

- Oh wow. - Yeah, 'wow' is the word. Look at this beautiful space.

- Honestly, that living area is really quite beautiful,

and I love how the two are interconnected together.

Do you like the open-plan living space?

- Just a lot of space in this house, so I'm loving it.

Good room for a party, I think. - Entertainment's big on the list for you two ―

lots of friends coming round? - Oh yeah. - Yeah.

Definitely. - Yeah, this is both sides as well, So, you know, all day here.

You can have an all-day party here from morning till sunset.

- Kick-on's back at your place, you reckon ,John? - Cooking here in the kitchen.

Everyone's here. You know, you're in chatting distance the whole time,

no matter where you sit. - Yeah. - It's great.

- So far, so good. We're liking this place.

- Yes, very much so. - Definitely. - Great.

All right, well, tell you what, I'll let you look around the home,

and I'm gonna go and take in that beautiful view in the meantime. - Cool.

- See you shortly. - See ya later.

- Nice. - Nice and light. - Yeah.

Lovely bedroom, and the en suite, that's gorgeous.

- It's just so warm here, a lot of morning sum. - Mm.

- You know, I didn't think I'd like a real modern home. This is brand new, but it's...

Yeah, it's got a good feel to it to me. - Mm.

- I definitely think it's within budget, and it's out in the country. - Yeah, we'll see.

- Gidday. - Hi.

- How about that view?

Stunning.

You wouldn't get sick of that easily, would you? - No.

- I can see your country vibe. - Yeah. Oh, definitely

afternoons out here, I mean, sunsets.

- Before we get too carried away, though, let's talk the price. - Right.

- So if you had to guess, what do you think this house would be worth?

- So it's an acre? - Mm-hm.

1.6 and a half?

- Yeah, I'd go a bit higher because it's just quality views, quality fittings.

1.7 for me, 1.7.

- Pleasant surprise ― 1.6 would probably get this home right. Oh wow.

So look, everything is adding up to a pretty great start here.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Do you think you could be swayed to live out here?

- He's got two other houses for us, so I think we'll...

Yeah, we'll see. It's nice. It's a really good first start.

- When we return, I take our couple through this unique period home

that offers a little bit of a lighthouse vibe,

and later, we tour a modern, contemporary house with some stunning views over the city.

- I'm in New Plymouth, helping Kim and John find their new home in this beautiful part of New Zealand.

John wants to live in the country, so he was a big fan of the secluded property we toured first.

And with Kim wanting to live closer to town, I think she'll really love our second property fortoday.

This interesting house is in the heart of town,

and I'm sure our couple have never seen anything like it before.

So let's find out what they make of this one-of-a-kind home.

Wow.

Yeah, I've got something pretty special for you here.

We're in town now, and we're in a beautiful location.

We're 100m away from the Coastal Walkway,

and everything's in walking distance to the shops as well.

So I love this location, but it's not a townhouse.

This is a beautiful country-style home.

It's a turn-of-the-century 1899 Queen Anne-style arts and crafts-style home.

I've never seen anything like it. This, to me, is pretty unique.

It looks pretty mind-blowing.

What do you think of it so far, John?

- Well, we'll wait and see. - It looks like a lot of work to me.

- Yeah, a lot of painting. - Gardens and a wooden house, but, yeah, we'll see.

- I'm gonna focus on Kim for this one. You like it, don't ya?

- Incredible from the outside.

- So I reckon we waste no time and get inside and have a look around, eh?

- Righto. - Yes.

- Let's get in there. - Cool!

- All right. - Wow! - Yeah.

Starting in here in what's being used as the formal dining room,

I think you'll agree it's pretty sensational, so much character.

So how do you guys feel about a classy little room like this? You're a classy couple.

- Not― Not really. - No.

John, mate, I can see you in your Sunday best, your nice tuxedo, you know,

entertaining guests here in the formal dining room, can't you?

- It is― It is very nice, that's for sure.

- It has been just absolutely beautifully renovated and brought back to its original glory.

Really, this place is such a beautiful home,

and I'm really excited to show you around the rest of it. There's so much more to see.

So let's head through to the kitchen.

- Cool. - Come on through.

So the kitchen, one of my favourite parts of the house.

It's been really tastefully renovated, and I just love the height of the ceilings here.

You feel so much space in this room, so much light coming in here, don't you?

- It's amazing. Look at that oven. - Yeah.

So in terms of a compromise, you've got the country feel, John,

but close to town, everything's convenient. - Yeah.

- It makes sense, doesn't it? - Yeah, well, this is starting to look a lot better.

I think it's all connecting up. - Yeah, it's a nice place.

Probably time for you to have a good look around without me, so I'll let you head upstairs.

You're gonna find upstairs, it's almost like a lighthouse feel. It's kind of a turret.

- Wow. - And do make sure you check out the little bar that's been put in.

John, that's probably a little bit of you. - It is, it is.

And maybe you can, I dunno, whip me up a gin and tonic... - G&T?

- ...and bring it down to me. I'll be outside when you're ready.

- I'll do it. - Sounds good. I'll be in for one of those too!

- See you soon.

- It is

drop-dead wow.

It's, like, even for an old home, it's just quite― quite stunning,

the whole lighthouse kind of feel about it.

Wow. Look at the bar.

That's pretty... - Yeah. That's pretty― pretty nice,

and I can see myself relaxing up here.

- The house is pretty amazing, isn't it?

- We've gotta remember, an old wooden house like this,

we've got to make sure there's some money left over, so take that into account.

And I know you like it, but you know... - It's pretty.

- ...you've got to look at the cost of owning it, not just the cost of buying it.

- You're right. - Yeah. - You're right.

All right, well, let's make that drink here, eh? - OK.

- So, Matt, I stole a drink of gin for you.

- I wasn't serious, but I'll take it. Thank you very much.

Maybe I'll...

But we are working, so I'll leave that for now

Amazing little backyard area, isn't it? Look at this beautiful little private spot.

- Yeah. - It's a unique house, isn't it? - So beautiful.

- Yeah. - Just don't get things built like that these days.

Yeah. - Feels like home, John? What do you reckon?

A bit of a good compromise, potentially.

Hey, That's what it's all about, isn't it? - Potentially.

- Well, speaking of that, what's your guess? What do you think it might be worth?

- Got to be, like, close to 1.8.

- Good news is 1.6... - Really?!

- ...would be around the price that you could get this house for. - Wow. That's incredible.

- Right, well, I'm gonna finish this, so, um, John, Kim, you guys are driving to house number three, OK?

Cheers. Cheers.

- After the break, I visit the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

to learn the story behind one of New Plymouth's most famous attractions.

Then we tour our final property,

this tastefully renovated character home.

- New Plymouth is well-known for its thriving arts and culture scene,

so I wanted to visit the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery to learn more about this colourfultown.

Zara, driving around New Plymouth, if there's one building that's hard to miss, it's this one.

It's absolutely spectacular.

- The shining furrow, right? - Yeah.

Tell me a little bit about the design of this building.

- So, this is really a temple to the work of Len Lye,

as the architect thought about it, Andrew Patterson,

and you can see through the building here that he's responded to Lye's kinetic sculpture,

ideas of movement and light and the way Len was just a creative,

curious artist and kept exploring and so kept moving things around, working in different media.

- You definitely get a sense of movement as you drive past this building.

I can see what they were going for.

It's an absolutely spectacular gallery, but New Plymouth itself

is such a wonderful place ― what do you love about living here?

Well, in the short time I've been here, I think, you know, there's something here for the surf lover,

the great west coast and those black sand beaches ―

which I always find, every time I see them, just stunning ―

great community. There's fantastic people.

There's the magic of the land here; it's not my whenua, but it's an amazing spiritual place.

And we have Taranaki as a human, or as an entity, here as well,

and lots of other things to do, particularly outdoor activities as well.

- A fantastic place for food lovers, the ocean lovers and art lovers as well.

- Exactly. Yeah, just come on in.

- Now, on to our third and final property on today's show.

This lovely character home has just been renovated,

but it's still got its original charm, which I'm sure our couple will love.

So let's see what they think of house number three.

OK, lucky last.

And I've saved a pretty special one for our third and final house today. - Looks it.

- Now, John, I know that we were talking about wanting to live in the country, maybe,

but Kim wanted to be close to town, so we've compromised, and we've gone close to town again, so sorry, mate.

Well...

- But, Kim, honestly, this house is gorgeous, isn't it?

- Yeah. - It's beautiful.

- Still feels like an old sort of '20s character home, you know...

- Yeah, it's gorgeous. - ...a stylish sort of home.

- Would not be fun getting up to that front door in the wet, would it?

- You know, it's elevated, but, yeah, it's probably a bit of a downer on this one.

- It gives you that beautiful view.

- I really think you're gonna love this one from the inside,

so let's head on in. - OK.

- All right. So obviously, you saw the first living area

as we passed through into the beautifully brand-new renovated kitchen,

everything high-spec, got the dining area here.

Through to your right, there's another living area, plenty of sunshine,

a lovely place to read a book in the afternoon,

north-facing. Good!

- Yeah, and it's a beautiful mixture of the modern mixed with the heritage as well ― what do youthink?

- Yeah. Ah, really love its character.

- And a good comparison with the other one. The another one, you know, being a two-storey building ―

and older, was probably more maintenance here. - That's true.

- Here, this is single level, so still wooden but a lot cheaper to maintain than the otherone.

- Right, well, there's plenty more to see, so make sure you have a good look around the house.

I'm gonna be working on my tan in the sunroom. I'll see you through there. - OK.

Oh wow, John. Look at the ceiling. It's beautiful.

- I like the light, too.

Similar to the other room, so it's sort of, you know, all light and bright.

- Good thing about this place is you can just move in.

Everything's ready. It's all freshly painted.

- You can come straight in here and not have to do a thing.

- All right, let's go find out the price from Matt, eh?

- He might have a good tan by now in that sunroom.

- Yeah, I reckon! - Let's do it.

- I told you there were some pretty stunning views from this home. - Yes.

- Look at that ocean... - It's beautiful.

- ...and you get to see it right here from your sun-drenched sunroom. - Yeah.

- Compared to your life in Auckland, though, can you just imagine yourselves relaxing

and really embracing this lifestyle here with this view?

- I'm already relaxed ― more relaxed being in houses like this. - Totally, yeah.

- Price-wise, where do you think this house would sit?

- Similar to the other ones, um, 1.65, something like that.

- I'm wavering, maybe...

1.62.

You guys are pretty close.

In fact, you're very close. You're basically bang on ― 1.65 million

You'd probably have this house as yours.

- Wow.

- I can see a lot of people around the country going,

'That's a lot of house.' - Yeah.

Oh, it definitely is, yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

- All the houses are about the same price, but... - That's right.

- ...when do you think about this sort of value for money, I mean―

- I think we've got a lot...

a lot to go away

and weigh up.

- Well, I think that Kim and John are gonna have an incredibly tough time deciding

on one of those three amazing properties we toured in New Plymouth.

I've got no idea which one they'll choose, so I guess we're all just going to have to wait andsee.

After touring three properties in New Plymouth,

Kim and John have had some time to battle it out over which property will be their new home.

So what will it be ― the centre of town or out in the country? Let's find out.

Here they are. John, Kim, how are you going?

- It's been a hard day. - Hi, Matt.

Here's a taste of the local drop. - Oh, a local brew. Don't mind if I do. Thank you very much.

All right. Hopefully we're celebrating something pretty shortly.

Before we get to that, though, you had three houses that I reckon,

honestly, all three of them I can see you in.

So keen to find out which way you've gone.

First house we looked at, do you remember, it was that really modern, new one?

- It had a beautiful feel as you walked in and the entertaining areas ― or the two areas,

and just to see that mountain... - Yeah.

- ...like, that. - It had a beautiful feel.

- Absolutely. A decent-sized section as well. - Yeah.

- Plenty of room to run around. - Yeah, I could see us having a pool there and everything,

and Kim seemed to like it a lot, so it was pretty good start I thought.

So that was definitely your pick, wasn't it John? - Yeah, I think so, yeah.

- OK. Then we saw two other houses that were more suited to you probably Kim.

The second one was that really unique one.

It almost had like the lighthouse-style turret at the front,

a beautiful renovation of a really classic old home.

- Just unbelievable and lovely being able to look out to the sea

and be so close to the Coastal Walkway.

- Coastal Walkway's a big thing here in New Plymouth, and you're by the coast, so it was good spot.

- OK. - Mm.

- Third house ― again, different again. - Yeah.

- Beautiful, up on that elevated section. - Yes!

- Beautiful view. - Gorgeous!

- Lovely modern home, that one, again a beautiful renovated classic villa.

- Classy part of town... - Really nicely done.

- ...by the beaches. - Very good suburb.

- So three from three. You're buying all three ―

is that what I'm being led to believe here? What's going on?

Well, we're not splitting up, are we?

- All right, so... - I hope not.

- ...there has been a decision. You managed to narrow it down to one. Which house are you going with?

- We've done a lot of due diligence in the time that we have been away from you...

and we've gone with number two.

- House number two, the classy― - We're going to put an offer on it.

- Yeah. It swayed us, I think. - Never in a million years

could I imagine looking at a... at a place like that.

- It's a big move from Auckland down to New Plymouth... - Yeah.

- ...but I reckon it's gonna be an amazing one for you. - Yeah.

Incredible city, what it's got to offer.

- There we go. - Cheers.

- A successful house-hunt all around. - Cheers.

- Good luck with the offer. Hopefully it's accepted. - Thank you.

Either way, I'm sure you're gonna have an amazing time here in New Plymouth.

- Thanks, Matt. - Thanks again. Cheers, guys. - Thank you.

- Kim and John did end up putting an offer in on property number two, and it was accepted.

So congratulations, you two.

I know you're gonna love living in this wonderful city, and I'll be back soon for another G&T.

Cheers.

Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023