Life in a colourful villa atop Wellington’s Mt Victoria just keeps getting better, say its well-travelled owners.
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A decade after visiting Antarctica, Glenys Coughlan can still feel overcome by the memory of the musty scent of fodder hay and pony manure slowly decaying in explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s historic hut.
It doesn’t happen often. But it’s happening now as Glenys pauses for a minute in the Wellington villa-cum-bungalow she’s shared with husband Michael Dunlop since 1996.
It’s here, in the entranceway, that an eerie colour photograph of Scott’s Cape Evans hut by artist Grahame Sydney hangs in a stark white frame. Sydney’s lens leads viewers through a tunnel of darkness to a single wall where the British navy officer’s gloves, tools and skis, along with slabs of seal fat, are exposed by a sliver of light. A rusting spade is encrusted with snow, stowed away for almost a century now.
“I can literally smell the remnants of Scott’s doomed ponies every time I look at this picture,” says Glenys. “It’s haunting. And it takes me back to that trip. It’s truly one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve ever had.”
That’s a big call coming from the public relations company director whose executive roles with Air New Zealand and Saatchi & Saatchi and directorship roles with Te Papa, Tourism New Zealand and Positively Wellington Tourism have taken her all over the globe.
In November 2000, Glenys spent five days at the South Pole, representing the tourism association on the distinguished visitors’ programme. She was joined by art patron Jenny Gibbs, Swedish polar ambassador Eva Kettes and senior fisheries scientist Neville Smith to help increase public awareness of the pristine continent.
For her, Sydney’s photo is both a beautiful piece of art and an ideal memento of the once-in-a-lifetime trip. And it typifies the approach she and Michael have taken to the gradual decoration of their 80-year-old home.
Just about everything – from an antique grandfather clock brought to New Zealand by Michael’s Scottish forbears to a commissioned painting of Glenys’ family crib south of Dunedin – has found its way inside because of the people, places and story it represents.
Even providing directions to their 3000sqm property requires a bit of extra explanation, a quirky yarn of sorts. “Whatever you do, don’t arrive from the Oriental Bay end,” warns Michael ominously. It’s the longer route of the two and access is steep, he explains, in a broadcast-quality voice that befits a formidable career as a journalist, marketer and manager for media organisations such as Radio New Zealand, Television New Zealand and Star TV in Hong Kong. Michael earned a commemorative medal for services to broadcasting in 1993 and is now managing director of Acumen Republic, the public relations firm he and Glenys own and run.
He recommends driving midway up Mt Victoria to The Crescent – a one-way street peppered with some of the capital’s most lavish apartments and beautifully restored villas. From this vantage point, it’s possible to trace the arc of the city centre in an exhilarating view that takes in the golden sands of Oriental Parade, Wellington’s moody inner harbour, the Parliament buildings and, in the right season, the blooming rata of Thorndon’s Tinakori Hill.
In the 1950s, the art and literary community came here to party with then owner Harry Seresin, restaurateur and founder of the iconic Downstage theatre.
Half a century later, another 100 guests added their names to the visitors’ log after picking their way down past flax, karaka and rengarenga lilies to see Glenys and Michael wed, under a marquee, on the ample lawn below.
This Christmas was a quiet affair. But, the year before, friends and family at a loose end were invited to drop in for a feast prepared by the culinary couple. Both like nothing better than spending the weekend in the kitchen, planning and preparing the next gourmet meal.
Yet they agree the best days at home are when their grandkids Emma, Luke and Isabel (children of Michael’s daughter Sarah) or young nephews screech through the front door on a mission to remake the living room into boats and islands. “It’s the chaos I love. It reminds me of how I grew up. Our home was a constant stream of people – always open, no one arriving by appointment,” says Glenys.
Most guests make their way to the couple’s living room to relax, share a meal and chat. It’s a large, welcoming space, filled with an impressive collection of overseas trinkets and New Zealand art. There are paintings by Toss Woollaston, Ralph Hotere and Dick Frizzell as well as glassware by Ann Robinson and a large ceramic sculpture by Christine Boswijk.
Yet it’s a room that also encourages occupants outdoors. Large windows take in a garden of lofty pohutukawa, stringy pines and squat hebe. French doors open to extensive decking where two life-sized bronze figures by sculptor Paul Dibble dance.
The deck was extended in 2000, beginning a renovation project that went on to include a bedroom-to-front-porch conversion, storage shed, outdoor fireplace and hot tub – as well as a 13-metre “jetty”. Glenys admits it was an eccentric addition – so much so that it’s now affectionately dubbed “the folly”. Wreathed in native vine (Tecomanthe speciosa), the structure juts out over Wellington’s Southern Walkway, providing an ideal setting to sup wine or glance back at the muscular hill flanking the rear of the property.
“It’s taken 10 years to clear that hill of pines and replant it in natives,” says Michael, who spends most weekends working the hillside. In the early days he used a chainsaw and strapped himself into a harness fastened to the nearest branch. Today a weedeater does the job.
“We’ve had to walk it all out on foot but it’s been worth it. We’ll go out in a box now. We won’t ever leave this place. We do absolutely adore it.”
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