owning your own nz island - not outrageously expensive

rodders · Valued Member Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 134

When a 20-cent coin dropped out of the envelope, Ross Webber wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It didn't seem like much of a deposit for a 38-hectare island and it certainly wasn't the money he had been hoping for.

Fortunately, the anonymous would-be buyer was not the only one lining up for Mr Webber's little slice of paradise. "They came up early in the morning on Thursday. They brought a wheelbarrow-load of contracts."

After 47 years on the isolated Puangiangi Island, near D'Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds, Mr Webber has decided to trade in a solitary bachelor's life and take to the seas. He has never left New Zealand and his dream now is to enjoy the high life on a cruise ship.

"When the summer comes I think I'll go on a cruise somewhere. I don't care where it goes. If I travel around I might find somewhere nice. It will be totally different – I'd have fresh air, see the sea every day, be away from the pollution. If I don't like it I haven't burned any bridges."

Despite inquiries about the island from as far afield as Switzerland and China, the pile of tenders all originated from New Zealand, Mr Webber said. Most would-be buyers offered a similar figure, well above the government valuation of $710,000.

The property went to a Nelson couple, who plan to keep it for their own use.

Though coy about the sale price, Mr Webber said the sale was "somewhere between two and four million". Now it is completed, he has until December to leave his remote home.

Now in his 70s, Mr Webber said he would miss the island lifestyle, but that it was time for a change. "I'll miss seeing everything green. The birds, the sea, the trees. But I thought it was a good idea to go before I have to. . ."

And new environments brought new possibilities, he said. Though he laughed at the idea that his windfall and newfound celebrity status would make him an eligible bachelor, he admitted he had considered the possibility of meeting someone new on his travels.

"But I might not be able to catch anyone."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2857074a11,00.html