This home in the Mackenzie Country, that survived a devastating fire, stands as testament to teamwork – and sheer good fortune
village of Ōhau for the first time, the usually garrulous engineer was speechless. “The wildness – so vivid, crisp and clean – had a sense of the untamed to it,” he says. “Yet it wasn’t too far off the beaten track.” He thought it a good place to build. Fortunately, his wife Marley thought so too. When Tim sent her a video of the gently sloping 700-squaremetre section, with its views of the snow fields and the lake, she said immediately: “Buy it”. So they did. The couple had been looking for a bolthole for quite a few years, somewhere that could evolve into a place to retire when they left Auckland. The home they built fast-forwarded those plans. It’s easy to see why. The single-level house with its modern-rustic aesthetic is set in a location that evokes superlatives, but the inner experience is just as special as the outer. It’s warm and stylish, with a personality that turns up the welcome. F
ABOVE Clad in random-width-and-depth vertical cedar board, the north-east corner of this home is wrapped in schist. The owners love to sit on the deck in the morning sun watching the world go by. RIGHT Timber panelling on the front of the island echoes the exterior cladding, and Orlando Steel Matt Black Grill pendants add an industrial edge.
22 — OUR PL ACE
Photography Mike Langford (homeowner’s shot)
Wild & wonderful
A S TIM MUELLER drove into the stunning lakeside
