When Your Compass Points Elsewhere: Cutting Through the Noise to Find Your ‘Home’

In my previous post How We Financed Buying Our Off-Grid Block: From Recession to 75 Acres of Native Bush, I shared the practical side of how we financed our dream. But before the spreadsheets and the settlements, there was a feeling—a ‘tug’ toward a simpler life that I couldn’t ignore.

The seed was actually planted years ago by an episode of Country Calendar. I watched a family in the Marlborough Sounds raising children who collected hen’s eggs and swam in the sea whenever they pleased. They were living a life that was rugged, simple, and intentional. I remember thinking, “How amazing would it be to raise children like that?”

At the time, Ryan and I were living in the house we had built in Kingston, Queenstown. We loved the mountains, but we felt a pull back toward the coast. Ryan, being from a small island overseas, found the North Island too busy, so we set our sights on the top of the South—the sun-drenched Marlborough Sounds.

The ‘Crazy’ Checklist: Moving from Searching to Signed Before the Window Closes

We had sold our ‘stepping-stone’ home and had a six-month settlement window to find our next chapter. We were searching, but nothing was ‘sticking.’ Then, we had a stroke of luck. My sister visited us in Queenstown and happened to have a Nelson Property Press in her car.

As I flicked through the pages, a tiny thumbnail photo stopped me in my tracks: a slice of turquoise blue water framed by lush native trees. It was a listing for undeveloped bush blocks in Okiwi Bay, ranging from 10 to 30 hectares, priced around $185,000.

We jumped on TradeMe to investigate. We had a strict checklist:

• Proximity to the sea: (Check)
• Accessibility: No more than an hour from a main town for doctors, groceries, and kids’ activities. (Check)
• Acreage: Enough space to be truly self-sufficient. (Check)

We did something slightly crazy: we put in an offer before we had even stepped foot on the land. After a quick counter-offer, we signed the papers subject to due diligence. It was April 2014, and we were officially under contract for a dream we hadn’t seen yet.

Finding the Courage to Bet on a Forest We Hadn’t Seen

In May 2014, we flew into Nelson, rented a car, and made our way to check out our ‘potential’ new home. We arrived at our rented holiday home in Okiwi Bay under the cover of darkness with our daughter, who was only eighteen months old at the time. I’ll never forget opening the car door and being hit by the overwhelming, honey-sweet aroma of manuka in the night air. It felt like nowhere we had ever been.

The next morning, we pulled back the curtains to a breathtaking view of the village and the bay. We drove a few kilometres up the road to meet the agent at the property: our 75 acres of untamed native bush!

The agent didn’t know much about the boundaries or the specifics, but as we explored, we found an all-year-round stream, pockets of special scenery and a hillside that whispered potential. We trusted we could make it work!

The Point of No Return: Trading a Finished Home for a Wild Hillside

We headed back to Queenstown to finalise the paperwork, leaving our hearts in the Sounds. For the next few months, our dining table was covered in Google Maps printouts, self sufficiency books and sketches. We spent hours visualising where the house could sit, how the solar would work, and where our children would eventually play.

We didn’t have a perfect plan, but we had the courage to take the first steps. We were leaving the comfort of a pre-built suburban life for a caravan and a wild hillside, and we couldn’t wait to begin.

I later learned a phrase that perhaps I’ve known for years…

Being ‘Ready’ isn’t a feeling – it’s a Decision!

Taking that leap from a comfortable suburban home to a wild bush block taught us a few things right out of the gate:

• Define Your ‘Non-Negotiables’ Early: Having a clear checklist (distance to town, water source, proximity to sea) allowed us to act instantly when the right opportunity appeared in that Property Press.
• Trust the ‘Due Diligence’ Clause: You don’t need to see the land to start the process. Putting in an offer ‘subject to due diligence’ bought us the time to fly up and inspect the land without losing it to another buyer.
• Look for Natural Assets Over Infrastructure: We prioritised the all-year-round stream and the native bush. You can build a house and a power system, but you can’t ‘build’ a reliable water source or a centuries-old ecosystem.
• Visualising is Half the Work: Those months spent with Google Maps, photos and sketches weren’t just ‘dreaming’—they were the start of our life design process. And reinforced our vision. By the time we moved, we already knew the land’s orientation and potential.
• Don’t Wait for the ‘Perfect’ Time: If we had waited until our daughter was ‘older’ or until we had every detail of the solar system figured out, we never would have left Queenstown. Sometimes you just have to pick up the pen and start.