|
In
our parents' and grandparents' day, a house on a quarter-acre section
was everyone's dream - now it's more likely to be a two - or more -
hectare lifestyle block with room for some chooks and a pony. And if
it’s close to a good beach that puts it right up there next to the
pearly gates.
The dream and the reality can be
poles apart, so let's have a good look at lifestyle block living.
Work
Where you work is going to dictate where you buy.
A property that is
within reasonable commuting distance from the nearest town or city
is going to cost more but will be easier to sell if you eventually
change your mind about country life.
Commuting
If you
work in a town or small city then you probably won’t
have to commute far to be able to live in the country
and work in town. If, however, you work in a major city like
Auckland or Wellington, then commuting can be a big issue. Around
Auckland, for example, dealing with heavy traffic to and from work,
especially if you have to cross the harbour bridge to get to work,
may make commuting a long, drawn out affair. Some lifestylers who
work normal hours in Auckland, south of the bridge, but live an hour
north of the city need to leave by 5.30am to miss traffic on the
bridge and may not get home till 7pm. Some others stay in the
city and come home in the weekends. This can put strain on
relationships with both partners and children.
Working Locally Work in
rural communities can be scarce and will almost certainly pay
substantially less than the same work in a major city. You may be
able to afford the mortgage with a city income but perhaps not on a
local income, should you decide you couldn’t handle commuting in the long
term.
|
Working from Home
Working at your
present job from home, if you are able to, is a great idea.
Remember, however, that many rural areas don’t have
broadband, and mobile phone coverage can be very patchy, or
non-existent, away from the main centres. Check before
committing.
Starting a Business from
Home
This is a tricky one. Starting a business is always hard
work and has an element of risk to it. Getting transport,
especially
chilled transport, to cart goods or produce from
your home can be very difficult in the country, and may
require you delivering to depots along the main transport
routes. Trucks won’t travel big distances off these routes
except for large pick-ups. (Stock trucks are different
because they have to travel the back roads to farms.)
Growing a viable,
commercial crop, on a relatively small piece of land is a
big ask! Commercial growers are huge these days, and you’re
really up against economy of scale. A better option is
growing your own and then supplying any excess to your local
farmers' market or fruit and veg shop. Vineyards are a
popular option, but again economy of scale comes into it.
Starting a boutique vineyard for a hobby might be fun but do
your homework if you’re going to need the income from it to
live on.
If you're determined – do a
Small Business course first!
Managing
your Land
Managing a piece of land
that is much bigger than a section can be time consuming,
expensive, and may require a lot of fast learning.
Most commercial farm
managers have been born and raised on working farms
and/or have studied farm management through a polytechnic or
university. So picking up some basic skills to run a
lifestyle block, possibly in the weekend if you intend to
commute, can be a haphazard affair. |
  |
|
Rural
education businesses like Agriculture New Zealand and some polytechs like North Tec (covering north of Auckland) run
local courses aimed at lifestylers and teach basic skills
like chain sawing, fencing, pasture management, handling an
ATV (quad bike), animal husbandry etc. Some of these may be
held at weekends and in the evenings. Distance learning
through other polytechnics is another possibility.
Otherwise, talking to other lifestyle neighbours or farmers
is a good option. Many
people moving from town want to manage their property using
organic and/or permaculture principles, and to feed
themselves from it. This is a great idea from a health and
environmental point of view, but remember that this usually
requires more work than conventional growing. While some
will disagree, it’s worth looking at getting rid of serious
problems such as gorse in a conventional way, before going
organic, as it will save hours and possibly years of hard
labour.
Again, organic and permaculture courses are available
locally in many areas. |
There are several lifestyle or organic magazines in
the bookshops – ‘New Zealand Lifestyle Farmer’, ‘Growing Today’,
‘New Zealand Lifestyle Block’, ‘Organic NZ’ – all of which
carry helpful and entertaining articles, including organics and
other sustainability topics. ‘Organic NZ’ is the most dedicated to
organics.
Schools
Country schools have a free bus service for children,
and being on the bus route is a huge advantage as the children can
be picked up and dropped of virtually at the end of the drive.
However, you will be in for a lot of running around if your property
is off the bus route. Fitting a part-time job around drop-off times
can cause headaches, especially picking up children if the bus only
drops them off at the top of your long country back road, and it’s
too far, or they’re too small, to walk the rest of the way home.
If you don’t want to send them to the local school, a
more acceptable school could be many kilometres’ drive away with no
free transport. Groups of parents will sometimes co-ordinate
carpooling, or pay for a small bus. The extra travelling can be very
tiring, especially for young children. If there is no alternative
then either home schooling or correspondence schooling may be an
option.
Distance Issues
Food
Shopping
Running
out of milk in town is not really a big deal. But if the local dairy
is 15km down the road and the supermarket 30km or more away, then
running out of the basic necessities of life can be a real problem.
Also, rural shops and supermarkets have to cover sometimes
long-distance delivery costs, and so are often much more expensive
than their city counterparts. (Pak’n’Saves are thin on the ground,
out in the country.)
Medical
Attention
The
local A&E may be many kilometres away so in rural districts if there
is a problem after hours you may be able to get the local doctor to
do a house visit. This is becoming less common as rural doctors have
become stretched to the limit and are cutting back on this service.
Different areas have different options for after hours medical
cover, so it pays to check.
Healthline 0800 611 116 is a good back-up, with
trained nurses manning the phones 24 hours a day.
Plunketline 0800 933 922 has a similar set-up for
babies.
There is always the 111 emergency service for serious
problems.
Ambulances and the rescue helicopters up and down the
country can be directed by emergency services should medical
attention be needed urgently in far-flung places. (Keeping a GPS
reading for your property close to the phone for just such a
call-out is a good idea.)
Rural life is different to city life and won’t suit
everyone but if the idea of having room to move, being more in touch
with the natural environment and providing your children with an
upbringing that many can only dream about is for you, then you
really could be living the dream.
|
