Marlene Bain had a dream: to live an off-grid life of peace and quiet on the outskirts of Huntly.
With a small plot of gorse-invaded land, some helping hands and some determination, she made that dream a reality in just one year.
Beginning with an overgrown section of her family’s land, Bain has been working through sun and rain (and then much more, much heavier rain) since late 2024.
She, with the help of her son and his friends, stripped the land of the prickly weeds, and built a humble home from two portable cabins connected with pallets, shed roofing, sweat and tears–whatever they could find.
A rock drain bends around the entrance and a garden grows out of the once overgrown soil.
“It’s quiet. Except for the trucks going by. It’s nice having the horses, and the birds,” Bain says.
“I want to stay off the grid like this.”
She enjoys the peaceful life, brewing tea on a portable stovetop and sitting in the sun. Those moments are her reward for the mahi she still puts into making her home.
“I want to make some little huts for animals, if I ever get a dog. And I’ve got a generator that I need to put somewhere.”
She’s also planning to do up an old caravan at the back of the property, and working on making her home more weather-proof.
“The storms have been getting worse. We’ve been pretty solid though.”
Two horses and a goat graze the now healthy grass growing behind the cabins, surrounded by the weeds and gorse that Bain is still chipping away at.
Although quiet, life isn’t boring. A horse got out this morning, Bain muses.
“We were chasing it down the road. All the cars stopped to make a barricade so we could catch it. Just people driving past and taking the kids to school.”
But she can’t say the peace or the novelty are the only things drawing her to the off-grid life, however. Across Aotearoa, things are getting difficult for everyone.
“I can afford to live here. I’m not going to pay 400 dollars for a unit or 500 for a flat,” she says.
Before the off-grid life, Bain had been working at an emporium in Auckland. She moved to Huntly to be closer to her family.
Although she pays a little more now for things like batteries and candles, the investment towards self-sufficiency is worth it to her.
“It’s not just for money, I am choosing to do this. I like it here.”
by Sarah Morcom
