From Wellington to West Coast for award-winning musician and massage therapist

The shift West

“Prue had never been to Westport, so I thought I’d arrange a trip down to the Coast with her,” Daimon said.

“It was around Easter time and the weather was amazing. We stayed up in Granity at the Old Ghost Lodge. We had dinner on the balcony at Tommy Knockers and went for a walk on the beach, to our surprise we had the entire beach to ourselves, and we loved that.

“I then asked Prue is she could see herself moving down to the Coast, she turned to me and said ‘yes I can’ we went back to Wellington and started the move South.

“Prue thought it would happen in six months, but I had a better plan, six weeks! She finally agreed and we moved to the Coast!”

Nomad Audio and Video

Daimon, an award-winning music artist (aka The Nomad), was getting tired of his Wellington lifestyle of touring and working long hours with little return.

“I had a brainstorm and wanted to take on a new career path where I could bring my years of audio engineering experience to a new job opportunity. I came up with the idea of learning video production and post-production editing,” Daimon said.

He bought some new equipment and approached a friend who owned Havana Coffee Works at the time in Wellington and offered to make a television commercial and produced an original music score to go with it.

“It all worked out really well and it all just went from there. It was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made. I then did a million hours of Youtube tutorials and brought a drone and even got a pilot’s license to go with it.”

Before coming to Westport, Daimon contacted the Buller District Council and EPIC Kawatiri Westport to arrange a catch-up to see what opportunities were available.

“We caught up with Tash and Ben Dellaca from EPIC and they offered us both a space to work from and also had lot of local business contacts for networking.”

Through his business Nomad Audio and Video, Daimon offers a wide range of audio and video services.

“I have a lot of exciting projects coming up. I have also just re-invested heavily into a new camera and lenses for the business, for me it’s very important to keep up to date with change and new technology,” Daimon said.

Holmstyle Therapies

Prue also took advantage of the shift to the West Coast to set up her own business.

“Years ago, when I lived in Queenstown, I had a snowboarding accident which resulting in me going between physio, massage therapist and a chiropractor for recovery. What I found for my body type, was my body responded best to the deep tissue massage,” Prue said.

“I decided to go to Wellington and train to become a therapeutic massage therapist and help others. To have an understanding that every individual body is different and responds differently to body work, has helped me become an understanding massage therapist.”

“I started Holmstyle Therapies as I have a genuine love of massage and of helping others.

Holmstyle Therapies offers 30-, 60- and 90-minute massage treatments tailor made for the individual client.

“Some clients are after a nice relaxing massage to help de-stress and feel pampered and nurtured. Others are after more of a therapeutic treatment to reduce muscular discomfort and ‘iron out’ any muscle adhesions / knots.

“There are so many benefits from regular massage from relaxation to improved circulation to recovery of soft tissue injuries. In today’s busy world people really benefit from just taking an hour out to themselves and going inward for a bit.”

Never looking back

Moving to the Coast allowed the couple to start their own businesses and has opened other opportunities.

“We bought our first home here. We wouldn’t have been able to afford one in Wellington, so we are so grateful to be able to step into the housing market at the right time,” Daimon said.

“Another advantage is the size of Westport and the surrounding towns. It makes it very easy to network and travel to jobs for work and at the same time appreciate the beauty of the Coast and incredible nature.

“But the best thing is the local community spirit and how many amazing people live here, not to mention our incredible neighbours that live next door on all sides.”