Three Hills - Dunedin subdivision

07/08/2017

What a beautiful sight Dunedin is on a snow day!

06/07/2017

Fred Hollows was a remarkable man and, with the blessing of his family and foundation, the street running through Three Hills was named in his honour.

An event was held last year to mark the occasion together with The Fred Hollows Foundation

Below are the remarks by John Dunckley - developer of Three Hills - on the occasion:

Hello everyone and welcome to this event.

A special welcome to the official guests, to Professor Hollows family and of course to Mayor Cull our co host.

Thank you to the Fred Hollows Foundation for graciously allowing us to honour Professor Hollows by naming our new street after him.... and for bringing us all together today.

Its wonderful to see you all....my name is John Dunckley and I am the developer behind the boutique subdivision, Three Hills.

Subdivision is a lengthy, complicated, exhausting, challenging, eye- wateringly expensive, highly weather dependent sort of thing to get into....in your spare time.

It is not for the faint hearted.

And as the finish line approaches...the road goes in ...the diggers go home.....the bills start to slow down....and the constant stream of daily decisions begin to ebb....you get handed the privilege of naming the road you built...in the subdivision you created.

Whilst we had found it relatively easy to name the SUBDIVISION itself.. always a temporary entity....the name would vanish when the last section sold.

Still....we did think hard before deciding on that name.... Because....words...matter.

We chose "Three Hills" as it distilled its very essence ....AND our forty plus years of living in Dunedin looking over the three hills of Swampy...Flagstaff....and Mt Cargill.

But when it came to the ROAD'S name that was very different.

For one thing the Council has a strict set of criteria....and....absolute veto.

Fair enough.

A street name after all is someone's address. It becomes home. It's where they raise their families....or grow old.

It should feel right.

So....with that firmly in mind....our choice.... we felt, should hat tip the University, specifically the Medical school as it played...and plays....a major role in this city's culture....and in our own families' memories.
....We wanted to ground the name in the locality.
And we wanted it to be solid....authentic.

So.....we were really excited to find "Hollows" on the DCC's list of approved street names....and even happier when we were allowed to add FRED to the beginning and WAY to the end.

As the Council deliberated further on our choice....and time passed..... we learned more of Fred's connections with the north end of town.

We discovered that Fred's family was living on the slopes of Mt Cargill, in Pine Hill, when he was born in 1929.

As a little boy he would have looked out every day at the three hills.

Those Pine Hill years....the grinding, hungry Depression years...must have been a hard struggle for his family. Fred would later call Dunedin 'a cold and difficult place' And yet it was here that his father's Christian Socialist beliefs were grounded....beliefs that shaped the direction Fred's life would take.

We found that when Fred returned to Dunedin to go to University....and to Med School....he lived for a time at Bishops Grove in Patmos Ave....a stones throw from Three Hills.

It is not hard to imagine a young Fred Hollows, a keen tramper and mountaineer....setting out....of a day to get fit ....and walking along Malvern st, to get up the Pinapple Track and out onto those iconic hills above Dunedin.

in doing that....Fred would have walked by what would become....a street named in his honour....

Fred's Hollows Way is a small street....in a small city....in a small country....but Fred Hollows Way of DOING things.... that's a massive....internationally inspiring.....movement.

Today...because of him....and his Foundation...more than a million people needlessly blind have had their sight....and their lives restored more than a million....AND counting.

At the entrance to the street that now carries his name we have set one of Fred's quotes.

"Leave the World a BETTER place.

We must meet that challenge.

Thank you.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/dunedin-street-named-after-famous-humanitarian-eye-doctor-fred-hollows

Fred Hollows dedicated his life to restoring sight to people, with his legacy continuing today.

05/07/2017

Dunedin was rated the best New Zealand city to live in according to a survey of 7000 or so Kiwis not so long ago. Housing and civic pride saw our southern star take the title.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/84515240/dunedin-is-the-best-nz-city-to-live-in--just

Affordable housing lets Dunedin squeeze past the capital to become the city offering the best quality of life.

04/07/2017

Whole place, especially the signature wall, is looking an absolute treat. Everything tucked away neatly for the winter.

03/07/2017

It's that time of year when thoughts turn to powder in Dunedin, where every front that washes through leaves more centimetres of fluffy fun on the Southern Alps. The top of these fields is about 4 hours from home.

02/07/2017

We're going to call it the Instatrump effect - the pull and push phenomenon that means New Zealand has become a mecca for mirgrants from developed countries particularly America and Great Britain. There's a new report out today from a company specialising in the business of international migration - movehub - and they call out New Zealand as a major development in the past year.
The pull features are the same as they've always been - incredible scenery and easy access to play in it, not just look at it. What has changed is the way social media allows our little islands to put those qualities onto the world stage. Instagram accounts are full of gleaming New Zealand shots like the ones below that were all taken within an easy day's drive.
The push factors? Well the report reckons the turmoil associated with the election of Donald Trump and Brexit have spurred migration from America and the United Kingdom respectively.
Whatever the truth to that the numbers are compelling.

Here's some lines from the report:
"New Zealand pipped Australia to the post, knocking the crown from the long-reigning champs. Australia has long established itself as the favourite destination for expats, however 2017 saw a 5% decrease in searches from the previous financial year, with the new winner emerging. Interest in moving to New Zealand soared by 30% year on year, showing that the world’s love affair with Australia is on the rocks.
"New Zealand enjoyed its highest ever levels of immigration on record, particularly from the US and the UK, potentially due to the political unrest in both countries. Interest in moving to New Zealand from the US is up a whopping 71% year on year, and from the UK an even more staggering 83%. New Zealand’s strong economy and cheaper cost of living both contributed to the rise in popularity of the new winner.
''In 2016 New Zealand saw its highest levels of immigration since records began. People from America and the UK are leaving the political pandemonium of their countries in their thousands and for the first time since 1991 more Australians are moving to New Zealand than the other way round. New Zealand’s economy is another contributing factor for the surge in immigration; it continues to perform strongly whilst Australia’s mining boom dwindles, pushing up prices and encouraging yet more Australians to seek a cheaper cost of living across the Tasman. Though Australians may be moving to a well known neighbour, Americans and Britons are relocating to a country half a world away, however, it is clear that the distance pales into significance for the chance to live somewhere so beautiful with such a strong sense of community. "
Full write-up and report here:
http://www.movehub.com/blog/australia-no-longer-top-destination

01/07/2017

This is just up the street from the front gate at Three Hills

28/06/2017

There are more than 2 acres of bush held in common ownership. They are full of tracks and birds. Hard to believe it's only two kilometres to George Street

28/06/2017

Some days you can wake up to silence of a snow day.

27/06/2017

Some more recent pictures from up around the top of the development and looking back towards Flagstaff and Swampy.