An off-grid house where late-night visitors of the nocturnal kind are encouraged and whose calls can often be heard after dark is for sale.
The Coromandel property at 1409 Tairua-Whitianga Rd, in Whenuakite, has become a safe haven for Kiwi who freely roam the 26.53ha bush site.
Owners’ Guy and Angela Banhidi‘s hard work to carry out extensive trapping and make the bush predator-free over 10 years has paid off and they now have at least half a dozen Kiwi on their section.
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The property has a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, as well as a four-bay and two-bay shed and a full-sized double garage. Photo / Supplied
They also have proof of their cure little neighbours with a collection of videos showing them rummaging around the property, often quite close to their house.
Just this week Guy Banhidi heard the distinctive call of two Kiwi outside their bedroom window.
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“We probably hear like three a week... sometimes they are so close and loud they actually wake you up, which is cool.”
The darker the night, the more calls they hear, he said.
While it was anyone’s guess exactly how many they had on their land, he believed they had at least three breeding pairs as well as some juveniles.
The baby chicks, which are about the size of a softball, were extremely vulnerable to predators and this is why the trapping was so important, he said.
Eradicating possums, stoats, rats, mice, hedgehogs, rabbits and mustelids had also seen the return of other native wildlife including NZ geckos up to 30cm long making themselves at home on the land.
“Most people have never seen a New Zealand gecko, but we have lots of different native species on our block – Kākā, Kererū, Tuis and Bellbirds of course.”
While it could be hard work maintaining the traps and tracks, Banhidi said it was pretty rewarding.
Owners’ Guy and Angela Banhidi built the home on the land 12 years ago. Photo / Supplied
“If you stood on your deck and you saw all these different native species without a care in the world living on the flax and the Kowhai when it’s in flower. We don’t take it for granted, but it’s rewarding when you are sitting there and you know if you didn’t keep on trapping you wouldn’t have any of that at all.”
Over 10 years they have trapped 104 stoats, 1500 possums and 2000 rats with their collection of 125 traps spread around their land.
“We back onto a Department of Conservation area and then we back onto a commercial forest so there’s a continual corridor of pests and or Kiwi.”
They have also managed to get sporadic funding from the Waikato Regional Council to support their trapping efforts under a fund aimed at landowners carrying out ecological restoration using animal and plant pest control.
The house was built in the middle of the property and is accessed via a 1.2km driveway to create a private sanctuary. Photo / Supplied
Banhidi has owned the land for 30 years but only began the trapping when they decided to build a fully self-sufficient home on the property 12 years ago.
“When I first bought the block and was camping on it and I heard Kiwi calling I thought this is pretty cool and we now have a lot of Kiwi calling so I would like to think the work that we do has promoted the Kiwi and they are doing well on our block.”
The unique three-bedroom, two-bathroom property with double shedding was built in 2011 and has vege gardens, orchards, grazable paddocks and an outdoor bath. The home runs on solar power and there is also a back-up generator.
Banhidi said they purposely built it in the middle of the block and about 1.2km from the road to create a private sanctuary away from road noise and neighbours.
However, the couple are now nearing retirement and are looking to downsize, which is why they have put the property on the market.
Banhidi said it would suit someone who is energetic with a passion for New Zealand natives and wanting a large section to explore.
“It’s a special place really. Don’t get me wrong, we have strong misgivings about selling because we both enjoy living there – it's pretty neat.”
Harcourts Coromandel Beaches Realty owner David Frew said it was unique to find a property where the owners had gone to such an extent to look after the Kiwi and as a result could hear them so close to the house.
It was that level of care and investment that made it so special, he said. "It also extends to looking after the waterways with native plantings and looking after the access with a really good well-built driveway, the pastures are well-maintained, the off-grid set-up is really robust and so is the water supply."
Frew said it would suit someone wanting to live an off-grid lifestyle and who also wanted plenty of shedding.
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