Intermedia artist Rose McLeod made the shift from Waiheke Island to Whanganui four months ago.
It was a huge wrench to leave the island and all her friends, but she is loving her new house and garden in tree-lined Halswell St.
For the previous 30 years her home base has been the island offshore from Auckland, where she pursued her own self-taught art practice.
She is Ngai Tahu. In 2004 she was offered a Ngai Tahu artist residency in Dunedin, and took the opportunity to go to the Dunedin School of Art at Otago Polytechnic.
"The put me straight into fourth year BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts). I enjoyed studying so much that I went on and gained a Master of Fine Arts down there."