Treasured island |
|
Visitors to the Pettits’ Kawau Island holiday home know that as soon as they near the strip of sandy beach in front of the bach in North Cove, they’re in for a treat. John slows his vessel, Jake the Peg, and with a whoosh a set of wheels is revealed as the amphibious boat “walks” the final stretch between sea and shore. “I can come all the way from home to the island without getting my slippers wet,” he says with obvious delight.
Their home sits low at the front of a 3ha section, hugging the flat contour of the land that gradually rises steeply behind the garden to a hillside cloaked in native bush. The house is made from stone and wood – extended from the original cottage built by a Cornish stonemason who came to Kawau to work at the island’s copper mine.
John has owned the property for 17 years and, as the couple have been together 16 years, they have created this little retreat together. “It’s our haven,” says Shirley. “It’s a place for bringing both our families together as often as possible. We have a lot of friends here and we have so much fun together.”
On cue, John’s 16-year-old grandson Jaedn appears with several of his mates. They have been out fishing in the morning and have caught a truly impressive snapper. “They’re all bunked down in the sleep-out,” says Shirley.
The couple had the bunk room built for extra accommodation and have christened it the Weka’s Nest. And there are indeed four weka living on the broad expanse of lawn that wraps around the back of the house, along with visiting kingfishers, tui and wood pigeons.
The birds have got it right – what’s not to like about this relaxed, tropical garden planted and nurtured by John? “I call this our brash garden,” says Shirley, laughing. “We’ve got colours like strong oranges and reds here that I would never dream of using in our city garden.”
The beds around the outdoor whare, where the couple love to sit with friends and enjoy a meal, are a case in point, bursting with the bright orange and blue flowers of a bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae), a red begonia and an assortment of strongly coloured bromeliads.
John points to a healthy-looking cycad clump. “They were sulking under some pohutukawa so one day when we had a digger here I got them to dig them up and dump them in an old fish pond, which was just a mosquito-breeding ground. They’ve been happy ever since.”
This garden is very much John’s domain – a showcase for his extensive collection of palms. He gathered many when he owned the Palm Farm nursery in Mangere and was responsible for bringing a number of them into the country over the years. “When I had the nursery, I was my best customer,” he says wryly.
He indicates a giant mountain fishtail palm (Caryota maxima): “I collected the seed for that from Malaysia many years ago. I call the back part of the garden my wild garden.”
The lawn area is bounded by towering stands of manuka and features lines of palms – Brahea edulis (Guadalupe palm), Butia capitata (jelly palm), Phoenix reclinata and Mt Lewis palm, to name just a few. It’s hard to imagine the space was once covered in pens to house the Kawau wallabies the previous owners exported to Australia. The property operated as Kawau Zoo and the sign is still propped outside the kitchen door.
John has planted lots of bromeliads under trees such as a massive puriri and says he uses kitchen tongs to remove fallen leaves from their throats. “They live on neglect. You can forget about them for a while, like the agaves.” The strong shapes of the succulents and bromeliads help to give parts of the garden structure.
At one side of the property, John has embraced the sogginess of a waterlogged area rather than battle it. Three years ago he built a wooden walkway over the bog and has planted it with specimens that like having wet feet. In spring the area is a sea of the purple-blue blooms of a ‘Louisiana’ iris hybrid.
Evidence of John’s handiwork is everywhere, including the chairs on the deck and the fence that runs along the front boundary, all made from manuka branches gathered from the bush.
This industry extends to the charming cottage where, among other things, he has made a rustic macrocarpa bookcase that frames a window. “Shirley was furious that she wasn’t here when I built it, so she couldn’t have any input,” John recalls with amusement. “When she saw it, she was surprised. She didn’t realise the full extent of my creative juices!”
Above the bookcase, a net strung between two walls and filled with shell necklaces, shells, starfish, rubber fish and crayfish – a favourite with the grandchildren – is one of Shirley’s little creative projects that give the house such personality. Nearly all of them were done while she “waited for the ferry to arrive”.
Other quirky personal touches from Shirley also sing of holidays by the sea – mismatched oars have been made into a perfect curtain rod, a series of old canisters left when they bought the house were painted and displayed on a book shelf, wine bottles the shade of a clear summer sky are lined up in the bedroom.
As we walk through the garden, John points to an unusual orange canna. “This is an interesting little fellow,” he says fondly. “I got the seed from Te Whau garden on Waiheke. Sometimes I collect seed and think, ‘What am I going to do with that?’ I don’t have a nursery anymore, but I can’t help myself. I’m a plantaholic.”
For web-exclusive photos, click on the "photo gallery" link above.
Story: Sarah Beresford
Photographs: Sally Tagg
| 
|
| 
