Great, it's raining men over on Barrier

Salli Beaumont, who arrived from England in October, has been enjoying the attention she gets from the Barrier men. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Members of Auckland's singles scene who are becoming frustrated with the so-called "man drought" may have an option on the horizon - there's a shortage of women on Great Barrier Island.

While much of the country has more women than men, Statistics NZ Census data shows there are 90 more men on the island than women - a notable difference, given that fewer than 900 people live there.

The island's men say more women are more than welcome.

Although local builder Haz Got has already been snapped up, he said he had always noticed the shortage of women during his 20 or so years on the island.

"Particularly in winter - winter's a real sad state of affairs for some of our red-blooded gentlemen residents."

Mr Got admitted island men might be a bit fussy.

"We are picky about our women folk. There's only certain women folk that will fit the bill," he explained.

"You get your fancy ladies with their lipstick and their high heels and they come in here and wave their arses around and they think they're in," he joked, "But the boys aren't interested."

Another local said with a huge laugh: "The women on the island - they've got hair on their arms and legs you can make a rope with. They're scary creatures, man."

Another said the island's isolated living, with power coming from diesel generators and solar panels that sometimes break down, didn't appeal to most women.

"You need to be a certain type of woman to actually want to live here," he said, adding that to get hot water at his home, he needed to light a fire at least two hours beforehand.

"That's not an easy lifestyle - especially if you're a woman and you want to do yourself up."

English visitor Salli Beaumont, who has been working on the island, has noticed the extra male interest since arriving in October.

"Especially if you go to Fitzroy," she said of the island's other side. "The minute you get there it's like, 'Do we like her, can we keep her?"' she laughed.

"They're not too bad - I think they're scared of me."

Asked what sort of eligible bachelor women might find on the island, a local woman, who asked not to be named, said: "They like drinking. They like a good time.

"They're very, very capable and independent. They're not necessarily desperate to have a woman look after them - they can quite easily do it by themselves.

"They're a bit rough around the edges but also very pure of heart. They'd do anything for anyone - most guys on the island would."

She agreed it took a certain strength of character to stay on the island.

"You do need to be a certain type of woman to handle the Barrier men. They're used to being on their own and you know what bachelors are like - they have their own lifestyle and that's fishing and drinking and hunting and all that kind of thing.

"But once you nail them down they're actually big softies. And easily tamed as well," she added, giving her partner an affectionate smile.

THE NUMBERS

GREAT BARRIER ISLAND
* Men: 471
* Women:381
* Total: 852

AUCKLAND
* Men: 634,491
* Women: 668,577
* Total: 1,303,068

Source: Census 2006 data.