Blink and you miss it. Garry Wycherley almost did. Something made the Auckland merchant banker turn left off the highway and drive behind the Awakino Hotel as he was heading home from a 2004 business trip to New Plymouth.
"I didn't know Awakino existed before that," the 65-year-old said. "My son was on the lookout for a rural property, so that must have been what did it."
He skirted past the pub and there it was . . . a near-derelict general store with the "for sale" sign the flashest addition in years.
"It was on the river and had potential so I put in an offer."
It was bought as a family bach for about $170,000 and the Wycherleys moved in on June 19, 2005.
"I know that because it was the day Michael Campbell won the US Open. I walked in to the pub to see how he was going and he was chipping on to the 72nd green."
The early notions of a holiday home quickly "topsied" into something more extravagant.
"My ex-wife, Lesley, was a conceptualist and always dreamt of having a French provincial maison." Before they went their separate ways, she left her imprint on the transformation of a trading post into a luxury lodge.
"She designed all this in her head," he says with a broad sweep of his arms.
The casual gesture belies the work and money that went in to the project.
"You can't recognise the inside from what we started with. It's been rebuilt from the stumps to the roof. We pulled out 100 per cent of the internal walls and redid the exterior. It would have been cheaper to bulldoze the lot and start again but then all sorts of new council regulations would have kicked in."
Taranaki and King Country tradesmen were used in the revamp, including the draughtsman who was from Te Awamutu, a Hawera stonemason who used Te Kuiti limestone to build the outside wall, a local who built the kitchen from macrocarpa and a Dutchman living nearby who fashioned railway sleepers on site into a feature dining table.
Of the antique furniture that adorns the lodge, an old sideboard belonged to Garry's father, a work bench was brought in from Christchurch and a massive chest came from Tibet. The French entrance gates were actually found in Egypt.
He understood the reluctance of builders to provide quotes for the major reconstruction.
"When you pull a building like this apart there is so much hidden work. A builder would likely go broke if they tried to give you a quote.
"I'm too scared to sit down and add up what it cost but I know we spent more than $400,000 over and above the purchase price."
W hen Garry Wycherley headed overseas to France for a year in 2008 he leased the building to an Irishman as an accommodation house.
"He used the 'build it and they will come theory' but, by his own admission, that didn't work so I took it back in February."
Business has thrived since with a steady stream of tourists penning thoughts of their stay. A couple from North Carolina walked up one day, stayed and wrote in the visitors' book: "Very much our lucky day when we discovered Awakino. This is better than a five-star hotel."
Comments like that make all the effort worthwhile, says Garry, although the market was aimed more at family functions and reunions.
"We have four double rooms. They were once used by a carpenter, electrician . . . all the tradesmen were in little rooms all down that side.
"It was a general store that serviced the big farm stations like Nukuhakeri and was owned by Newton King for a while. There was a jetty just across the road where the boats tied up. In 1905, they hung a bloke on the jetty for stealing a bottle of whiskey. A fella at the local museum told me that."
A quick blat around the nearby "Royal Mokau" nine-hole golf course provided a welcome break during the months of rebuilding.
"It's not a bad wee course and its $25 sub would be the cheapest in the country. I'd like to become its first corporate member so might give them $100 for four subs the guests can use."
The Wycherley stake in Awakino doesn't stop at the lodge.
Soon after returning from China, Garry's son Gregg bought the old Post Office.
"It was built in 1904 when they shifted it from the Trading Post. Gregg bought it as a home and set about renovating it. Their two daughters were born while they lived there but Awakino wasn't quite for Mei Mei (Gregg's wife). She came from 20 million people in Beijing to eight people in Awakino. It was too much of a change."
The couple still own the Awakino property but live in Auckland where they run an importing/exporting business.
"The long-term plan is to tidy it up and use it for accommodation overflow and there's the hotel which has 8-10 rooms. We work in well with the pub. You have to get the key to my place from them and they get a bit of business from people that stay at the lodge."
If you get hungry there's a freezer full of wild pork bought at a recent pig hunt fundraiser at Mahoenui.
"The 70kg of meat cost me a couple of dozen Lion Red for the hunters and 90 bucks for the butcher. Guests can try a piece if they like and it's pretty cheap."
These days he splits his time between Awakino and part-time work in foreign exchange for the "reasonably big-little" Auckland firm Rankin Treasury.
It has not been an easy year for all of us in Canterbury, however, life goes on, there is snow on the mountains, the sun is shining and business is as usual. Gunyah continues to be the beautiful little jewel, most private retreat at the feet of Mt Hutt enjoyed for its tranquillity, style and good food..
We hope this finds you well and happy!
We certainly are because Gunyah Country Lodge has been nominated for the People’s Choice Award for the category “Best Nationwide Retreat” and “Best Nationwide Hotel”.
We need you to vote for us! This is very easily done by clicking on the voting link on our website www.gunyah.co.nz , you will find it on the right hand side of the homepage. Simply click on it, write a brief comment and submit. You will receive a verification email, hit reply and it’s all done.
You can also get to the voting link directly by entering the following in your browser: http://www.corporateeventsguide.co.nz/companies/christchurch/other/gunyah-country-lodge
