The large floating house in Whangārei Harbour has drawn much speculation over the last year since its arrival at Parua Bay. Jodi Bryant pays its residents a visit.
When you live in a house floating in the middle of the harbour, evolving views and curious visitors come with the territory.
But Maureen Mosley got the shock of her life one morning in their top floor indoor open shower when she found herself eye-level with a group of men atop their adjacent launch.
“I was washing my hair and when I opened my eyes and looked out the window, there were three men on a three-storey launch right there looking in!”
Like most things, Maureen and husband Roland were able to laugh it off.
It says a lot that a couple who have been together 50 years and live in a confined space still laugh at each other’s jokes – and there are many.
If their happy disposition doesn’t sell their unusual lifestyle to the average visitor, their floating home certainly will. A builder by trade, Roland built their 215sq m two-storey home, which sits atop a barge, five years ago.
They were daydreaming on a beach one day when Roland asked out of the blue if Maureen could ever live on a barge.
“I immediately thought of the wonderful big Dutch barges in the canals and said, ‘Oh yeah, I could do that!’ so he sat there with a pad and pen and drew up this design.”
One year later they were living onboard that design, albeit a little sooner than anticipated.
“We launched the afternoon before lockdown because the Marsden Marina, where we were living and building, were locking down so we were forced to. The workshop was underneath so we basically bunged all the holes up, picked it up and chucked it in the sea,” says Roland, 73.
“So, we sat there in the marina for lockdown and it was like being in Venice, it was beautiful,” adds Maureen, 74.
“I had this game and I’d grab something from the freezer and teleport to whatever country I wanted. I would cook a meal based on that country and have the music going so we went all round the world but never left the marina,” she says, smiling at the memory.
Dubbed “The Barge”, their spacious floating home is actually a normal, if not bigger than average, house size encompassing a 145sq m living space and 70sq m of decking. It is built of laminated lumber veneer from the Marsden Point factory and New Zealand-made, fibreglassed plywood, with the majority of additional materials sourced from Trade Me.
Downstairs is the living area with a kitchen sporting all the mod cons – including a dishwasher and air fryer – dining area, lounge, bathroom and even Roland’s workshop for the ongoing maintenance.
Upstairs are the bedrooms – the master room, which opens out to a generous deck, a guest room and a bunk area for their five grandchildren, with a spacious bathroom.
The hallway features a floor-to-ceiling window, sometimes perfectly framing Mt Manaia, depending on the wind, with a library at one end – “because every boat needs a library”, Roland quips. They spend a lot of time reading here in the comfy chairs next to another full-length window.
There’s even an exercycle sharing panoramic views with Roland’s office and captain’s headquarters.
There’s no shortage of scenic nooks to recline in, but weather permitting, the Mosleys spend most of their time on the lower deck, sipping cuppas, wine, reading, chatting – with each other or randoms who’ve swung by in a vessel – and even fishing.
“It’s as simple as this,” demonstrates Roland, reaching up and selecting a rod and casting it out, before placing it in a holder and sitting back down.
Not that he’s a huge fan of fish.
“I like anything out of the ocean but Roland doesn’t,” says Maureen, adding that they’re often delivered fish by passing boaties.
“I just sit back and men bring me fish,” she laughs.
“In the summer, every day, random people come up to the boat and they almost always want to come aboard,” she explains. “We’ve met some lovely people.
“We would look at them carefully first,” adds Roland. “We wouldn’t welcome everybody on board. But we don’t mind so long as they bugger off again,” he says with a laugh.
They admit to not getting out much themselves to visit, such is their steady flow, but when they want to run errands, shop or watch their granddaughters’ netball, they have a car nearby and it’s as easy as jumping in their motorised inflatable and reaching the jetty within a minute without even getting wet feet.
In fact, Roland built a height-adjustable deck that goes up and down at the push of a button, with the inflatable tied up to it.
He’s built so many houses over five decades he couldn’t put a number on it but about seven of them became the family home. He’s also built yachts.
“Boats are a terminal disease. There’s no cure.”
He was 21 when he built his first yacht. Back then it was common.
“It was no big deal, it was not exceptional. But today the can-do attitude is gone. People say, ‘I could never build that’, but it’s not rocket science.”
The two met shortly afterwards and the newlyweds lived on their yacht at the Town Basin for six years, right up until the day their first-born arrived.
“We came ashore to breed,” says Maureen, who subsequently had their second daughter.
This began their love for Whangārei Heads, where they built most of their homes, including their second at Little Munroe Bay, which was to blend into the surrounding bush but, in recent years, has become a controversial, very non-discreet temple.
Then that conversation on a Vanuatu beach about living aboard a barge led them to come full-circle 43 years later.
After spending two years at the Marsden Cove Marina adding the finishing touches, they made their way up north, before returning to Whangārei Heads – where they are now part of the scenery for locals.
“We were never supposed to be here this long!” Roland says with another laugh, adding that they intend to travel south next.
When asked about the downsides of living on the water, Roland has to think hard.
“Sometimes, depending where you are, finding parking for your car can be an issue and you do have to consider the weather a bit. You always must have a Plan B so I am always looking at the weather. Local boaties say they know what’s happening with the weather because they’ll watch The Barge.
“One day, we’ll go and we just won’t come back!” he jokes.
In fact, the Mosleys were just about to head to Marsden Cove Marina to pull their boat out on the hard for its bi-yearly, five-day hull maintenance while they continued to live aboard.
Every 10 days they also head there to empty the sewage holding tanks. With power generated by solar panels and rainwater caught off the roof, the Mosleys live off-grid.
And they don’t miss rates, lawns, pets: “We’ve done all that.”
Not that Maureen’s had to sacrifice gardening – the back deck contains multiple pods growing all manner of vegetables and some fruit.
There are two things Maureen – who worked at Red Cross for 16 years as regional area manager – cites when asked about the downsides of living aboard. One is the domestic chores: “Oh goodness, I would say there’s more housework on here than anywhere I’ve had!” (They get a lot of dust, which bewilders them.) The second is seasickness. Yes, Maureen is prone to it.
So how does she deal with that?
“I’ll just go and lie down and go to sleep and, although she trundles up the coast very comfortably, if the weather’s rough, I will drive.”
The list for the positives is a lot longer. There’s the ever-changing view, the people they meet, the wildlife – dolphins are regular visitors as The Barge seems to be a magnet for them.
“Because we’re just here [an unmoving part of the scenery], they do their thing. We hear the kiwi at night and we spent ages one day watching some baby shags learning to fly from the nest and some would dive-bomb straight into the water. We’ve watched saddlebacks – it’s absolutely magical.”
They, in turn, put on a magical show, come Matariki and Christmas, for locals – especially punters at the Parua Bay Tavern – which they are moored in front of, by bedecking their home with disco lights.
“In the middle of winter here it’s nice to do something cheerful.”
Although there’s ample storage in the craft’s lower area, the Mosleys have always leaned toward living minimalistically with the “if you don’t use it in a year, don’t keep it ” approach.
But what about family treasures?
“Well, Maureen’s here,” Roland answers.
Maureen says with a smile, “I’ve got everything that I treasure here on board.”