Antoinette Naera operator of Awesome Adventures, Hokianga, in Capetown. Photo / Supplied
As told to Elisabeth Easther
When I was a kid, we never went overseas but we had brilliant holidays in Leigh with my grandparents. We'd swim at the beach and play with the cousins. We'd go to Matheson's Bay and get pipis, or put on performances for the parents and nanas. We mainly spent a lot of time outside, doing the things kids did before devices.
When I was in the sixth form I went to Australia on a Rotary exchange. I lived on a dairy farm for four months and that really gave me a taste for travel, so when I was about 23, I went to the UK by myself. A guy I knew was picking me up from the airport, but when I got to Heathrow, it turned out he'd forgotten, but I had his address so I took a taxi to where he was living — only his flatmates told me he'd moved out three days before. They gave me another address for a house in East Finchley. That place had 16 people living in a four bedroom flat. I'm not a precious person but that was not what I anticipated, or wanted.
With four people to a bedroom, each person had the bed every fourth week which was revolting. I stayed two nights before ringing a girlfriend who'd married an English guy. I told her things had turned to custard so I stayed with her for a few days to sort myself out. My plan did not involve living with Aussies and Kiwis or doing Contiki tours. I wanted to live with English people and do English things and that's what I did.
When Mum came over, we went to Turkey and stayed in Marmaris. It was beautiful, so hot, and every day at about 4 o'clock there'd be a huge thunderstorm. It would rain like crazy then, within half an hour, it was beautiful again. We visited rug factories and villages, and the food was outstanding, but there'd be these English people who'd moan about the food. They didn't want to eat olives and eggs for breakfast, they wanted baked beans and sausages and I was like, wow that's so narrow-minded. Why leave your country if you're not prepared to immerse yourself in a new culture?
My boyfriend at that time was a Mini enthusiast and we did an event called The Italian Job. We had four days to get from Brighton to Northern Italy and, once we got there, all these Minis, about 100 of us, convoyed back to Brighton. Although my Mini broke down in rural France. I knew what was needed to fix it but with my schoolgirl French, the locals didn't understand me. And because we were behind time, we didn't have time to stop for proper food so on the way there, we lived on Coca Cola and chocolate but when we arrived, the welcome dinner was amazing - Italian food, Parma ham, incredible cheese and red wine.
I met Lenny when I came back to New Zealand, and we'd come up to Hokianga to camp on his family land. Everybody laughed at me and said you're not a camper — where will you plug your hair straighteners? And I was more of a glamper than a camper. We had an inflatable queen size mattress, 500 thread count sheets, a beautiful duvet — but we also had a long drop toilet and bathed in a creek so it was a bit of both worlds.
Lenny and I went to South Africa for a month with 12 of our mates. We flew into Capetown, hired a van and drove from Capetown, up to Kruger National Park then down the coast. We watched South Africa play Australia in Cape Town. We saw the All Blacks play South Africa in Johannesburg then, on the way home, we flew to Brisbane and watched the All Backs play Australia. South Africa was never on my list but we loved it. We went on a night safari and saw a mother rhino with her baby. We could have almost reached out and touched them they were that close — all of us girls were brought to tears.
Eventually Lenny and I bought a house in Omapere and one day, about 2017, we were driving back to Auckland and Lenny asked why we were going home. And I said, because we live and work in Auckland. He said he was ready to move, but I wasn't so we made a deal — we'd move by 2020. Although somehow that got fast-tracked.
Lenny had always wanted to start a tourism business which is how Awesome Adventures was born. Today we offer historical and cultural jet ski tours on the Hokianga Harbour. Because this is where Kupe first landed, in a way, it's where the country was born.
I love waking up every morning and seeing the sand dunes and the Hokianga Harbour. This place is astounding. Even on a cold and blustery winter's day, it's absolutely breathtaking. This is my home now, it's so peaceful. It's just a lovely place to live.
Antoinette Naera operates Awesome Adventures, Hokianga