The southernmost cafe in NZ

A rustic old museum has been turned into the country’s southernmost cafe on Stewart Island.

Blenheim couple Maggie George and Simon Moir fell in love with Rakiura on a road trip in 2019, and have spent the past 33 months planning, renovating and waiting to open The Snuggery.

‘‘We were definitely on island time,’’ George said of the long process.

The cafe was modelled as a retro crib or bach lounge, with a 1970s TV, record player and formica tables, she said.

The couple visited the island in 2019, then travelled on to Australia. When Covid-19 forced them back to New Zealand, ‘‘we thought there is only one place we want to live’’, George said.

The museum building was for sale and they settled the purchase with the Rakiura museum trust in

August 2020. ‘‘I have had a cafe on my to-do list since I was 14,’’ George said.

‘‘We did a road trip of the whole country, we were looking for somewhere we could live one day, we came here and we thought ‘this is it’.’’

They live in the other half of the building. A new museum opened on the island in December 2020.

Covid-19 made The Snuggery paperwork and renovations a slow process, so auto-electrician Moir worked in a garage and did rattrapping, while George worked in the grocery store on the island.

‘‘We are definitely very settled here and happy,’’ Moir said.

They began making coffees and some food in late April and expected to have the final paperwork signed off this week.

And what inspired The Snuggery name? A snuggery was a cosy corner of a pub or den, George said. The name is also inspired in part by a bay and walking track of the same name on nearby Ulva Island.