Staying with us
A homestay is a whole different creature to a guesthouse or a B&B. We are as much a family as you need us to be. We like to eat together and talk about all of life’s joys and conundrums. But really, it’s OK to go and out and ignore us altogether! You choose… We are three gay men who welcome people from all walks of life to come and stay with us.
Arrange to join us for meals or bring your own supplies and knock something together in the communal space. We have musical instruments for you to tinker with but enjoy our quiet evenings too. Andy can play the didgeridoo. Well, even! If you need more music, choose from the best of the ’80s, ’90s and beyond from Kris’ CD wall.
Between the three of us, we have collectively spent over 60 years in New Zealand’s ‘coolest little capital in the world’. This is officially the city with the cleanest air on the planet – which is just the start with Wellington! We can help you on your way to all sorts of adventures in this region. From paragliding on the Kapiti Coast, mountain biking on the southern coastal tracks, and scuba diving off Island Bay, we are outdoorsy and know about this stuff because we do it! Chris is a caving enthusiast (he started in the ’70s!) and can talk caving till the lights go out…
We do theatre, film, culture and all things industrial design. Not exactly wall-flowers, we have been known to cut the rug at various establishments around town. Hello!
Chris & Kris wear their volunteer hats and aprons at BATS Theatre, a well-loved creative hub on the other side of the city in Mount Victoria. Super-famous film couple, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh continue to take the lead in all things creative in Wellington by purchasing 1 Kent Terrace (which houses BATS).
We are particularly proud to be able to say that Kris is an award-winning designer who received a gong at Wellington’s internationally renowned annual World of Wearable Art (WOW) 2014 show with his work ‘Transformer’.
We slipped neatly into the role of cultural ambassadors when Sir Ian McKellen needed to feel more at home in Wellington city during his time here filming The Lord of the Rings. In turn, Sir Ian has become something of an ambassador for Wellington and a New Zealand enthusiast who promotes our little country from all the way up there in the UK.
Gardening enthusiasts will enjoy the tour of Andy’s eccentric garden; his impressively colourful, spikey (!) and gorgeous project of 20 years standing. We have rigged up two vintage cast iron baths side-by-side overlooking the harbour. These are fed by taps on mains water, plumbed in straight from the house. Lay next to your mates, with hot and cold running water under the Milky Way itself! Feel free to wear whatever you want to (or not) and lounge around on our back lawn. Other delights include an outdoor shower (also plumbed into the mains water supply) and a retro, home-spun wooden weights bench.
Finally, we three have all worked tirelessly as conservationists all these long years. Chris & Andy recently spent a temperate three months in the sub-Antarctic islands saving the New Zealand sea lion. As Andy is an eco-minded veterinarian, this was well within his brief.
We have all been on the payroll of DOC, working our passion and actually getting paid for it. Chris & Andy made a six-month tour of duty as volunteers on Raoul Island in 2013, New Zealand’s northern-most territory, (half-way to Tonga) de-weeding, wearing dresses and singing along to the soundtrack of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
We are happy to do our bit to keep Wellington a little oasis for native plants and animals by monitoring stoat traps and counting mice at Zealandia, the world-class conservation predator-free zone near our house and for the Rimutaka Forest Trust in the hills north of Wellington harbour.
We live on a steep hillside – the front door of the house is 40 steps uphill from the street below. If you have personal mobility problems you may wish to seek alternative accommodation.