Home was a quarter of a rugby field above the earth, past the strip lights and the electronic signs and the pre-cast concrete rings, as the wheels turned on Matt Coldicutt and Rose Hansen's 2003 Nissan Primera stationwagon.
The Mt Albert couple were eating ice creams and celebrating the opening of New Zealand's longest road tunnel, one they don't actually use that much, but one which will always have a place in the story of their lives.
They got a box of boysenberry Trumpets from Pak’n Save, Coldicutt says of that first trip through the newly opened Waterview Tunnel.
"Then we just drove through the tunnel as many times as it took to eat the two Trumpets each. We went through two or three times."
They need little excuse to indulge in their favourite ice cream, the 31-year-old says.
But the couple do have an affection for that tunnel they hardly use.
They’re putting the building blocks of life together in their doer-upper first home - bought in 2013 before stricter deposit rules were imposed - above it.
Â
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you
