A home away from home Ask Linda Sanders where home is and she says she lives in two places. Her week is almost equally split between Onekaka in Golden Bay, and Wellington where she works as a communications consultant. Her husband also owns his own business there. For seven years they have rented a Willis Street apartment that is essentially a second home with everything you’d expect including a wardrobe of work clothes. This means that when departing the Bay for four days work, all Linda takes is her handbag and laptop. For the first two to three years her commute started with a trip over Takaka Hill to depart Nelson. Not an attractive option in winter (or frankly, anytime) and she knows some commuters who still do it, but now Golden Bay Air takes the couple over the strait instead, which is obviously a lot less time consuming, and easy on the eye too. “The thing I love about Golden Bay Air is that you get the most amazing views. You’re in a small plane so you’re flying a bit lower and we fly over the sounds both ways every week and there’s always something new to see.” Linda grew up in Wellington so she identifies strongly with the place and loves the opportunities that big city living brings. But she thinks Golden Bay is pretty special too and her husband Chris has a passion for golf that inspired their
I do love the contrast of the city life and living in paradise in Golden Bay. It does really work well for us, but it doesn’t work for everybody. You have to be reasonably well set up so you’re comfortable in both places. Linda Sanders
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Linda Sanders, who resides in Golden Bay but commutes to Wellington for work loves the contrast of the city life and living in what she calls paradise.
decision to build a little known links course (open to the public) on heir Onekaka property. Views from their two homes couldn’t be more different. A cityscape at one and manicured greens competing with golden coastline at the other. “I do love the contrast of the city life and living in paradise in Golden Bay so it does really work well for us, but it doesn’t work for everybody. You have to be reasonably well set up so you’re comfortable in both places.” A lot of other air commuters stay in hotels and motels but Linda thinks having a second home away from home makes a big difference. She also acknowledges she’s fortunate that she and Chris do the island hop together, not leaving behind a family or
partner in pursuit of their career, which is the usual. It does mean they had to enlist the services of a greenkeeper and house sitters, but it’s a small price to pay for the variety their life brings. “A couple of years ago I was very conscious of the fact that all I was literally doing was going backwards and forwards from Wellington to Takaka and I was starting to feel a little stir crazy because I wasn’t seeing anywhere else. I started to think that I needed to shake it up a little more.” Their solution was to stay in Wellington for occasional weekends or head north to visit family in the Hawke’s Bay. Which just goes to prove that even a change of scenery week on week can suffer from monotony if you follow the routine for long enough.
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