Living the Dream

Living the Dream explores dream lifestyles around New Zealand's coastlines and waterways. It presents captivating stories and sensational images of people who have made these enviable life choices, along with what it has taken for them to get there.

How often do you wish you could stay on at your holiday destination?

Many people dream of a waterfront home and a laid-back lifestyle on the beach or beside the lake. This book tells the fascinating stories of a range of individuals who have made it happen. Though the lifestyles are enviable, it requires planning, tough decisions, and hard graft to achieve them. From family baches passed down through generations and revitalised, to architect-designed beach houses for young families, there is a simplicity of approach and a single-minded focus on the end goals that is common across these diverse situations.

Would you be prepared to pull your kids out of mainstream schools, and home-school them so they can live on a wild beach? Would you give up your career and find another way of working so you could surf, swim, or kayak every day? These pages reveal the stories of people who have done just that and are living their fantasy.

The homes and people featured are located in: Ahipara; Bay of Islands; Matapouri Bay; Whananaki; Piha; Raglan; Pauanui; Lake Rotoiti; Papamoa; Gisborne; Mahia Peninsula; Oakura; Golden Bay; Pelorus Sound; Greymouth; Kaikoura; and Dunedin.