A West Coaster who could give legendary hunter Barry Crump a run for his money is selling the property that he has hunted on for nearly eight decades.
The 302ha property at Awakiri River - AKA Madman's Creek - has spun almost as many yarns as one of Crump's novels. That includes stories of the author's old Toyota Hiluxes from the Bugger adverts rusting on the property.
Owner Johnny Curry told OneRoof he was one of the many old Coasters whose tales Crump adapted for books. In Curry's case, it's a story of the hawk blowing the door off the hut in A Good Keen Man, although he doesn't quite approve of how it was adapted.
The bushman, who doesn't own a phone and lives off-grid, spoke with OneRoof on a rare trip into town.
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As a child, he lived very near to the property. It was a landscape full of mountains, caves, mine shafts, sawmills, and gold mines.
"I [started going there] as a seven-year-old kid with a cousin and a dog and a pocketknife chasing wild goats for the skins," he said. "There were six crossings of the river to get to it; there was no road in there then."
The cousins would sell the skins, Curry said. "During a miner's strike, one of the miners was chasing the goats because he was selling them for money to live. He gave us half of what he was getting. Threepence for nanny goat skins and sixpence for big billy goat skins."
Barry Crump in the 1990s. Curry says he used to catch up with the author over a whisky. Photo / Supplied
Curry started hunting for goats on the land when he was seven. He was given the chance to buy the property in the 1970s. Photo / Supplied
The cousins graduated to hunting goats and deer with guns after a few years. "We were given an old 0.32 Stevens, single shot, about the age of 10," he said.
After he left school in Charleston, Curry started working for the landowners, Hardy and Thompson. He did logging and built a bridge over the river in 1961. "My initials are still on the concrete under the bridge," he said.
At one point, Hardy and Thompson offered to sell the land to Curry, who duly bought it. The property included a derelict house. "I've gradually built it up," Curry said. "I've got two, three huts and a shed that I live in."
It may be remote, but Curry's 38 descendants, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, have run free on the property.
Over the years, Curry has farmed and logged the land as well as run cattle – albeit only seven head currently.
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As for the Crump stories, Curry used to catch up with him over whisky in pubs in Havelock and Charleston. The author would pick all the local bushmen's brains for stories and anecdotes for his books. "Every time I saw him in a pub he shouted me a double whiskey," Curry said.
Curry is selling the property because at 85 he thinks it's time to retire and go hunting and fishing. The land, which was just "an old piece of bush" when he bought it, is now for sale for around $4 million.
"Well, I'm 85. I'm not that keen to sell, but the thought of, you know, a reasonable amount of money ... I'll buy a late model mobile home and hire a helicopter and go hunting and fishing."
Curry is worried that "Yanks" will buy the property and was pleased to hear recently that his listing agent, Ged Hay from New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty, is "bringing a Sheila up to have a look. She's a New Zealander, and she doesn't want the overseas people to buy [it]." But ultimately, he's keen to sell and will part with the land to anyone who can "come up with the money".
Curry isn't keen to sell the property, but at the age of 85 he thinks it's time to put his feet up. Photo / Supplied
He adds that he would like the new owners to complete the power scheme he started. "I've got a three-quarters built power scheme with a dam that I'm building, and I'd probably like to see that [finished]."
While Curry has lived an off-grid lifestyle for multiple decades, his life hasn't escaped the modern world entirely. He appeared on TVNZ's Seven Sharp programme once, and the documentary Madman's Creek profiled him in great depth.
In the film, Curry describes his complicated relationship with logging. "I'm a fourth-generation Charlestonian bushman. My great-grandparents milled here, and my grandfather and all my uncles, and I've been a bushman all my life," he says.
"I've cut down more, probably more remote trees than anybody in the world. Yeah, that's a shame, but that's the way it is."
In recent decades, Curry has become what could be called a conservationist, preserving the remaining bush and building ponds with his grandchildren to help protect native freshwater fish.
Hay said when he was first invited to the property to appraise it, he spotted a Toyota Hilux rusting under a tree. Most Kiwis remember the old Toyota Bugger ads that featured the popular utes. Whether it was one Crump's old Hiluxes is not clear. It wasn't the only one on the property, and Hay advised Curry to remove some of the old car bodies. Only one remains. "It's got gorse growing through it," Hay said.
Listing agents Ged and Nadia Hay, from New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty, has tourism potential. Photo / Supplied
In the listing on OneRoof, Hay and his colleague Nadia Hay write that the land has tourism potential. "Previously part of a popular tour called 'Johnny's Journey', showcasing ancient Māori caves and the iconic seam of Pancake Rocks and abundant birdlife and wild deer. With rave reviews before the pandemic, this property holds immense potential for tourism revival." It could also offer viable farming. "Clearing the river flats would offer significant lush grazing and pure water for your stock."
Hay noted that Madman's Creek also had gold prospecting opportunities, and highlighted Curry's efforts to restore native fish. "He's been very busy trying to increase the local natural whitebait and kokopu numbers."
Hay said the native trees, beautiful valley, crystal-clear river, abundant deer, birdlife and native wildlife made the property a rare gem.
“I've got a couple of very interested parties at the moment that want to preserve native bush and would love to just keep it the same and possibly build a lodge there." He laughed when he admitted that one of them was the "Sheila" Curry had talked about.
"It has the potential to be completely off the grid. It has good sun orientation, and it has a huge hydro power potential. Using water to generate power for the dwelling that they would build is easy-peasy."
- Awakiri River, in Charleston, Buller, is for sale by negotiation
