There's something romantic about lighthouses. The isolation, the ice sleet and snow, howling winds, raging oceans and firing up the light to keep ships and souls safe from the madness of the sea. Stories of courage, resilience and loneliness; it's boyhood stuff.

Welcome Bay's Mike Chase got the bug. 'Always been a bit of a lighthouse fan. The history of lighthouses is awesome, isn't it?”

Especially the building of lighthouses. 'The effort that went into construction and the conditions in which they had to work.” History bears him out.

Because on March 7, 1879, a southerly blast completely demolished the framework of the Akaroa lighthouse during construction. And three weeks later the overseer of the lighthouse construction died from exposure. Dangerous and then deadly work.

Anyhow, it would be another 138 years before Mike would be drawn into the one million candlepower beam of the Akaroa lighthouse.

'I was smitten by the idea of the lighthouse.” And of all lighthouses, the Akaroa lighthouse. There are about 60 lighthouses around Wales, the Channel Islands and England where the 74-year-old retired insurance executive hails from. 'But my goal was to build a model of the Akaroa lighthouse as a project.”

He's been to see the Akaroa lighthouse and was 'quite impressed”.

'So I scrounged some materials, recovered others from bins.” And he's quite ‘chuffed' he managed to build the roughly 1/10^th scale model for just $220. '[So] $50 of that was for glass and glue and bits and bobs.”

And the lighthouse took 21 days. 'I kept a record.” Twenty-one working days.” And I suppose if you work that out for a time-served carpenter, it would have come to several thousand dollars.

That's the money side of Mike, but there's also the artisan. 'After retiring from the insurance industry I wanted to do something more meaningful, something which had end result.”

He tapped into the skills and knowledge of a few old willing chippies and built several houses. '[I] Didn't lay every brick, but picked up a lot of the skills.” And he added a bedroom and ensuite to a house when they arrived in Welcome Bay.

Then he fell off a ladder – broke seven ribs and punctured his lung. And took a tumble down a bank – broke both ankles. The tool belt was forced into idleness.

But when Mike was hobbling around town he spotted the model of the Akaroa lighthouse outside the Cargo Shed. It was one of two replicas built by Keith Goodwin.

'That was my inspiration and I thought it would be a nice thing to do.”

He consulted with Keith, took a few measurements and the tool belt was taken up again.

And just as the original Akaroa lighthouse stood high on a bluff at the heads , Mike's roughly 1/10th scale Akaroa lighthouse now stands at his front door, high above Victory St in Welcome Bay with a commanding view of Mauao.

'You can see the damned thing from the Welcome Bay Rd traffic lights. And as you drive down Welcome Bay Rd, before turning into James Cook Drive, it's quite visible.

So there are now three Akaroa lighthouses in Tauranga, but just one Akaroa Lighthouse at Akaroa.

'So a bit of a lighthouse fan, a project I could get stuck into and lastly a nice feature in our garden.” And since he finished his project, Mike reckons he could have started an order book. 'I have a mate in England who's insisting I make him one.

'We will see.”