Miriam, why did you decide to move your family from Auckland to the Waikato’s Waipā District? My parents had made the move south a decade before, so we’d often go down to visit them or to stay at our family bach in nearby Kāwhia. Driving north back to Auckland, our hearts would sink as we sat in the motorway traffic wondering why we were driving away when we were happier there.
Eventually, Stuart and I decided to make a break from the city too. We took a deep breath, put our home on the market and started the hunt for a home or piece of land to build on in or near Pirongia.