A holiday rental with a view
After having photo-snapping tourists repeatedly block their driveway, Shaan and Jessica Caskey saw an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade.
To make the most of the constant flow of visitors the pair moved a tiny-home type unit onto their Taranaki property, which they began renting it out just after Christmas.
The couple’s Mangorei Rd house, which has views of both Mt Taranaki and the ocean, is 20 minutes out of New Plymouth and near the beginning of the Pouakai Crossing walk.
The walk in Te Papakura o Taranaki (Egmont National Park) is increasingly popular, especially over summer when hundreds of people can make the climb to the Pouakai tarns each day.
The holiday rental is now helping them earn an income from tourism. But it does more than that.
Planning and building it also gave them something to focus on as they grieved over losing their son Hugo in 2017, when he was born early at only 24 weeks.
And it has provided another source of work for Shaan, who found it hard to stay in an office all day following a head injury.
‘‘We were very lost and there were a lot of ideas chucked around at the time when you’re grieving, and we were just talking and looking over there and it was just a wasted paddock but amazing views and that’s when the seed was planted,’’ Shaan said.
‘‘A lot of this is to do with Hugo, and Shaan’s head injury, and tourists coming up,’’ Jessica added.
‘‘We love meeting new people and travelling, so why not.’’
It wasn’t until their daughter, Willow, was born in 2018 that the wheels really started turning, and they began planning the build.
They have called the cedar and black cabin Mangorei Heights and said putting the sign up seems to have stopped people pulling into their driveway to take photos.
There were a few other accommodation options around but the pair believed their point of difference was their views out over the ocean and New Plymouth.
‘‘We love our home and are happy to share it,’’ Jessica said.
Since moving in seven years ago the couple have planted roughly 700 native plants on the 10-acre property, which has private access to a river and swimming hole.
They already have resource consent to open two more cabins but Shaan said that would depend on the success of their first one.
A range of people had been staying so far, not just those doing the Pouakai Crossing, although the walk had been getting increasingly busier, Shaan said.
‘‘It’s got progressively busier as the council improved the road and put the car park in.
‘‘It’s always been a popular walk and people just come for their Sunday drive up here, too, on a fine day anywhere from six in the morning there will be a constant stream of people.’’