House Sitting In Raetihi

For the past several days I’ve been in Raetihi, a small town located about 12kms south west of Ohakune, in the Ruapehu district. My current assignment is not so much a house sit, but more of a lodge sit. 🙂

Where I’m currently staying is Snowy Waters Lodge, which is an old nurses home. Not a home for old nurses, you understand – but an old home for nurses. In other words, in its original life it provided accommodation for nurses, more specifically the nurses who staffed Raetihi’s old hospital, which used to sit on the same section.

The hospital was opened in April 1922. It closed in August 1995 and would eventually be demolished, in the mid-2000s I believe.

The nurses’ home was sold in the early nineties and bought by Raetihi’s resident doctor, and he would live there with his family for about 14 years.

When the building was sold again, it was allowed by the next owners to fall into rack and ruin.

In 2008 however the nurse’s home was given a new lease of life with a new owner, and it has since become a popular accommodation lodge and events venue, where can be hosted such gatherings as conferences, weddings, murder mysteries, and family reunions.

It’s an awesome building with a nice 1940s feel to it, with really nice grounds, and you also get an super view of Mt. Ruapehu, from which the town gets its name of Raetihi (rae = ‘headland, promontory’; tihi = ‘summit’).

Essentially my job is to keep the lawns looking nice and tidy, and help to keep an eye on the place.

Detailed info on the lodge can be found on the Snowy Waters Lodge website.

It’s a really nice around this area. Bit chilly in winter perhaps, but I’ve always liked it. I spent that first hard covid lockdown of two months tucked away in a bach in Ohakune. The New World was just up the road and I had a good view of the mountain from the lounge so overall it was a pretty good way to spend a crazy time.