A Western Bay of Plenty farm that featured in a Hollywood swashbuckler starring Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones is looking for a new owner.
The 178ha farm at 1017 Maungarangi Road, in Paengaroa, was chosen as the backdrop for a key scene in the 1983 adventure film Savage Islands, which told the story of piracy in the South Pacific in the late 19th century.
The movie was produced by Kiwi film-makers Rob Whitehouse and Lloyd Phillips and written by American screenwriter John Hughes, the man behind Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone.
The farm, which borders the Kaituna River, was chosen after a location scout flew over the area in the early 1980s in a helicopter.
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Once the owner Hubert Ashe agreed to let Hollywood loose on his farm, the production company then commissioned locals to help build a temporary bridge over the river towards the native bush.
The cast of the Indiana Jones-wannabe film included a young Jones, Michael O’Keefe, Grant Tilly, Peter Rowley and the late Māori actor Prince Tui Teka. Although hopes were high for Savage Islands, the film failed to ignite the box office and it would take Jones another decade to become a bonafide Hollywood star, with Men in Black and The Fugitive
Te Puke builder Shawn Williamson was just a boy at the time and recalls watching the bridge being built at his grandparents’ farm.
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“They started it with firing a spear gun over (the river) with some rope and kept building it up from there... It was the main part of the movie.”
He said it was huge for the area to have such well-known celebrities embark on Paengaroa and created quite a stir.
His grandfather Hubert Ashe was even offered money for people to come and watch the filming but declined because he didn’t want the buses running over his grass.
The farm was later taken over by Hubert's son Billy and is now being sold as a deceased estate after he died in April this year.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Maungarangi Road, in Paengaroa, has never been lived in despite being built about 20 years ago. Photo / Supplied
The 1960s Lockwood home could be used as hunting lodge. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys listing agent Snow Williams said it is not surprising the property at 1017 Maungarangi Road, in Paengaroa, was sought out by film producers to be in the movie because of how beautiful it is.
“The fact that it was selected as a movie venue tells you that it’s got that X factor that most properties don’t have.
“It’s surrounded by that bush that was obviously essential for that movie.”
The property was previously run as a dairy farm and is now a dry stock farm with Angus cattle. However, Williams said it would also make a wonderful farm stay for hunters as fallow deer regularly wandered onto the property.
The down-to-earth farmers regularly feasted on the venison and Hubert’s wife Pearl was also known to catch rainbow trout from the stream for their dinner.
Williams said it is the last remaining farm on Maungarangi Road, which predominately lifestyle blocks and kiwifruit and avocado orchards.
“To get 179ha of land that close to Paengaroa village in the Bay of Plenty is really rare. It’s one of the best listings I’ve ever had in 30 years of real estate.”
The property comprises of a four-bedroom, one-bathroom 1960s Lockwood home and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home that was built just over 20 years ago by Williamson that has never been lived in.
Angus cows are farmed on the property. Photo / Supplied
The couple loved the views from their Lockwood home that they decided against moving into the new property once it was built and it has remained empty all this time.
“Nobody has ever lived in it. It’s still sitting there with the dishwasher in the box sitting near the kitchen unit.”
Williams said the Lockwood home would make an ideal hunting lodge for visitors, while the manager lived in the newer home.
Other buildings on the property include a hay barn, woolshed and dairy shed.
The property has a rateable value of $4.12m, but Williams expected it would sell north of that due to just how unique the property is.
“It’s a very, very special property. I’ve listed hundreds, probably thousands of properties but the minute you go onto this one - you drive onto a non-descript drive and then this beautiful vista of land opens up in front of you.”
