In a different light |
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Moving to opotiki was a difficult pill for pharmacist Andrea Beal to swallow at first. Almost seven years ago, Andrea’s husband Tony had applied for a job in Italy and excitement was mounting. When he landed an Opotiki kiwifruit packing company management position instead, his wife cried for days.
Since then, however, the small eastern Bay of Plenty community has won her over. “I’m seeing it in a different light now,” she says. “We’ve met some really interesting, good people. We’re a couple of minutes from the harbour and a few minutes’ drive the other way is the beach. The kids certainly spend a lot more time at the beach than they ever have before and Tony’s into kayaking in the river at the bottom of the hill. We love the peace and tranquillity, the lifestyle, the outdoors.”
She’s also surprised at the variety of work that has come her way. Aside from dispensing in her local pharmacy, she has taken on advisory roles, including one for the local health board and another that has her travelling to remote coastal locations.
“I didn’t expect I could have a job that is so stimulating – a job that’s so varied and interesting. I guess my career has broadened. I didn’t expect that.”
Nor did she imagine living in her current home. The first time they saw it, Andrea and Tony rejected the two-bedroom holiday cottage because it was so much smaller than the spacious abode they were leaving behind in Gisborne.
But they both liked the feel of the house and the scope for expansion and improvement. They were also taken by its location, hugged by mature native bush and surrounded by rolling farmland at Ohiwa, 13km west of Opotiki township. Cattle bellow nearby and the ocean twinkles in the distance.
Their children, Annabel, now 13, and Dominic, 11, have adapted quickly and their mother has come to relish a more pared-down way of life – no hallway, no wasted space, though she does wish it had come with a few wardrobes. “In some ways it was quite good. You kind of realise how little you need.”
In the intervening years the Beals have transformed their wee cottage with attached garage into a family home. That garage now houses two children’s bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and dining areas. The concrete floor has been painted what Andrea wryly terms “impractical white”, in spite of rural living, raising children and the presence of a large, disobedient dog that sneaks inside whenever possible.
The interior has been meticulously, dotingly furnished with treasures gathered over a couple of decades. “I used to scour auctions and demolition places,” says Andrea. “Pre-children, I could sit all day at an antiques and collectables auction. I think it’s best I keep away from second-hand shops and auctions now because I just get too tempted.”
The dining table once stood in a Hawke’s Bay boarding school and a slightly mismatched pair of Delft chandeliers originally hung in two Dutch churches.
Pictures of several cathedrals were bought, sight unseen, from an auction house because Andrea wanted their wooden frames, then couldn’t bear to part with the images. The sofas came via a newspaper advertisement and sat in storage for three years while the Beals renovated.
Just before launching into the work, Tony and Andrea travelled to Italy for a friend’s wedding. She left home with a secret agenda: to acquire decorative crucifixes for their walls, preferably without Tony noticing the excess baggage. Searches of Italian antiques shops proved fruitless and she’d almost given up hope when the couple stumbled on a flea market in rural France en route to the airport.
Tony initially refused to let her out of the vehicle and relented only after extracting a promise that she wouldn’t buy anything. “I thought, what can I buy that’s little? So I snuck all these crucifixes into my bag. Oh, there was some beautiful French monogrammed linen, enamelware and old military insignia – all selling for a song. It was so tempting.”
For Andrea the ongoing renovations have offered a welcome creative respite from the exacting demands of her job. And the job, she says with a laugh, helps fund the renovation projects, which do have a tendency to expand.
The purpose-built guest accommodation is a case in point. When the sociable couple decided to create space for out-of-town guests, they envisaged a simple loft-style apartment above their new double garage.
“We had lots of friends and family from out of town and thought it would be nice to have them stay with us. But we haven’t got the room. The more I thought about it, the more I thought we might as well put two bedrooms in there and re-use the old kitchen from the main house. Then of course I started thinking about furnishing it.”
Now, the pretty guest cottage is offered to paying holidaymakers as well as visiting friends who, she says, are frequently surprised and impressed by the region’s charms.
Their hostess is a convert. “You make your home wherever you are. I do have really strong ties here now. I’d feel sad if I had to leave here and, yes, I’d definitely shed a few tears.”
Story: Sue Hoffart
Photographs: Simon Young
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