Hamish – Māngere Bridge
“Last time I felt proud? Um, probably going for a walk.
I’m getting older, so it’s doing something physical, basically getting out into the environment.
Okay, sure. I’ve lived in Māngere Bridge for around 14 years, been in Auckland for a good 20 years, came from Gisborne. I worked in corporate up here for a couple of years. I’ve been sort of semi-retired for the last 10 years. My partner and I, Priscilla, run an Airbnb here, so we have a lot of guests in from overseas, and we love the community around here.
In 14 years, Māngere Bridge has changed quite considerably, but it’s still a very enjoyable suburb to live in. Well one of the activities I love, and I’ve done for all the time I’ve been in Auckland, is go to a gym, and I’ve been going to Les Mills in the city for over 20 years.
I haven’t been well in the last six months. I haven’t gone, but I’m planning to take that up again, and I find it very important, the physicality of going to the gym, but also I tell people that I see it as 60% mental relief and 40% physical. I’m looking forward to getting back into the gym. I suffer from, I’ve suffered it always since I’ve arrived in Auckland, a sort of over-reaction to the Auckland environment. In other words, I’m very susceptible to hay-fever and sinus, which drags me down. So physically when I’m at the gym, when I’m well, I can go and work out quite well, do weights and everything. When this hits me, and it usually lasts from between three to six months it, it sort of stops me. A lot of my strength goes and I tend to slow down quite considerably. I’ve been told by my doctor it’s just an over-reaction to the Auckland environment.
Oh definitely. It’s a changeable suburb due to the housing and everything. When we first shifted here 14 years ago [it was] a far more elderly group of people, but a far more younger crowd are coming in, and it’s getting far more diversified which we like, but it’s also changing and we’re being offered more with the facilities around the village and such-like. So it’s very enjoyable. It’s also, with the changes in Auckland, becoming far more close to the central city. So it feels more involved. When you first shifted here, it felt like a closed off little enclave that no-one knew about. I think the biggest problem Auckland suffers at the moment is the housing crisis, especially around this area. We see it with just down on the wharf, people living in their cars.
We’ve actually given up the Airbnb and we’ve got a young Tongan family in that area, because they wouldn’t be able to find housing elsewhere. So I think the biggest problem Auckland faces is the ability to afford to live here, especially based on what the Government says that we’re a low wage economy so we’re paying people the same wage as we did 10 years ago.
I can’t see how people can afford to even pay rent in Auckland in the near future. Yeah, I was going to be a typical capitalist and shift them out over the summer period and get the high-paying American tourist for our Air B&B, but I spoke to them about it, and decided it was easier and just the look on his face that he could stay… and so they’ve now been with us for over a year, and I think that’s what a lot of people have to do now is open their houses, or if they have spare rooms for people, because I can’t understand how people can afford to live on the basic salaries that McDonalds or whoever offer just to pay rent alone.”
