Some people move from house to house but Laurel Stowell went looking for the long stayers who've lived in one place for 50 years.
No 54 Wikitoria Rd was a "house of the week" when it was built in the early 1960s. It had a write-up and photographs in a newspaper.
"It was pretty damn flash in those days," Noel Kirk said.
He designed the house, guided by pictures in an Australian magazine, and he built it on land bought by his mother, Emily Churton.
He and his two sisters were brought up in the 1860s house behind it, in the days when there was only a single-lane gravel road to Whanganui. The three had a marvellous childhood, he said.
"We wandered for miles up on the sandhills, to the creek, to the island. We would fish and swim and fall off logs and build huts in trees. We had the best of everything."
He learned to milk the family cows at 7, and during World War II his mother sold butter on the black market. He went to Wanganui Collegiate School and later worked as a cabinet maker/joiner and shop fitter.
He and his first wife, Janet, moved into the house he built in 1963, and they had four children. Those children, and the two boys he had with his second wife, Ann, had all the freedoms of a Putiki childhood that he had enjoyed himself.
"They have all had a damn good life here. The things they got up to, we are only finding out about now. They got the 'tickle Toby' when they did wrong."
Mr Kirk worked all over New Zealand designing and installing shop fittings. His work was in Whanganui stores such as McGruers and the DIC. It was a long working life, and he took a grandson through an apprenticeship before retiring at the age of 75.
He was also the elected chairman of the Putiki Community Council for 27 years.
"We ran a tight ship. Then we were taken by Wanganui District Council, unfortunately."
He would like a bridge over the Awarua Stream. It floods in heavy rain, but "nothing gets done" now, he said.
He still does a bit of work at Masonic Court, and he's the secretary of the Tongariro Masonic Lodge.
There's a little Kirk enclave on the family land in Putiki. His sister, Huia, lives next door, his son, Sean, and family are in the old house and there's a sleepout ready for daughter Felicity.
Ann Kirk's work has been caring for the elderly, and these days she spends lots of time in the garden. Sean, "a rough diamond with a heart of gold", does a good job of looking after his parents.
He has a tattoo studio on the property, and also works in wood. Mr Kirk potters in the immaculate workshop too.
The neighbourhood is different now. Former neighbours the Takarangis, Butters and Donalds all knew and visited each other. These days there are more people, but less visiting.
"Now everybody's working and getting on with their own things, and you just don't see them," Mr Kirk said.
The road is busier too, especially since construction of the wastewater treatment plant began, and on nights with speedway events. Many drivers don't stick to the 50km/h limit past the houses - and Mr Kirk says police are some of the worst offenders.
The Kirks are still happy living in Wikitoria Rd.
"It's been a good life. It's been hard, but it's been fun too."
Mr Kirk is 82 and may end up leaving in one of the coffins he is making in his workshop.