– Thomas and Sheena Southam are selling their Cable Bay home for $939,000 to move to Melbourne.
– The couple, known for their Chasing a Plate YouTube channel, need to be in an urban centre for work.
– Their three-bedroom home features panoramic views of Doubtless Bay and was built as their “forever home”.
Two social media stars with a hit YouTube channel are selling their Northland dream home for $939,000 to move to Australia.
Kiwi husband and wife team Thomas and Sheena Southam have found fame through their Chasing a Plate videos, which they started uploading to YouTube in 2016. The videos were a fun way to fund and highlight their food travels around the world.
When the pandemic hit, the Southams returned to New Zealand, bought a 750sqm section at 6 Sunset Heights, in Cable Bay and built a three-bedroom home with stunning water views.
The couple, who now have a toddler, have loved their time next to the beach, but they are heading to Melbourne for their work.
The house belongs to YouTube stars Thomas and Sheena Southam, pictured here with their daughter. Photo / Supplied
The Southams found fame with their Chasing a Plate videos. Photo / Supplied
“We’ve loved having fishing, boating and beaches on our doorstep, but it’s time to head to the city again,” Sheena told OneRoof.
In an ideal world, they’d keep 6 Sunset Heights as a bach, but they couldn’t get the numbers to work.
“We don’t want to move. We’d keep the house if we could. We love it here, we really do. The house and the location are just a dream, but the reality is we need to be in an urban centre to do our job,” Sheena said.
“It doesn’t mean that we don’t want to come back. It’s a dream location. We just can’t afford to keep it as a bach. But that’s life. Hopefully, we’ll be back one day.”
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Sheena said having a baby had also changed their lives. “When we moved up here, we weren’t expecting a baby to show up. We thought that we would be able to travel more freely and then come back to paradise to do our editing and whatnot. Then we’d go off again.
“We thought we’d be able to leave for Auckland at the drop of a hat if something came up or we got an invitation to an event. But it just hasn’t worked out that way. Also, we can’t afford to live in Auckland. That’s the tricky part.
“With Melbourne, we can afford to live in a better location. It’s got public transport and a very vibrant food scene. It’s a city that, for what we do, ticks so many boxes.”
The house boasts stunning views of the water and is close to the beach. Photo / Supplied
The kitchen is a standout feature for obvious reasons. Photo / Supplied
Haze Real Estate listing agent Joel Vieviorka told OneRoof that the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home had an excellent kitchen and boasted panoramic views of Doubtless Bay from nearly every room.
“It was built as their forever home, but their plans have changed.”
Sheena told OneRoof that Chasing a Plate started off as a way to “meet people, have fun, and eat”. As the couple’s social media presence built sufficiently to provide some income, new opportunities arose, and they gave up their corporate jobs. “We thought it would be a way of traveling for a year, but it ended up being eight years now,” she said.
“We’re Aucklanders originally, and so we’ve done a fair bit of filming obviously in Tāmaki Makaurau. That’s been great too.”
The family still takes overseas trips for filming, although fewer than prior to the pandemic. “Our two-year-old has already been to 13 countries,” Thomas said.
The couple have a following of 200,000 on YouTube, but the more important metric, they say, is that they have nearly 30 million views of their videos on YouTube.
– 6 Sunset Heights, in Cable Bay, Far North, is for sale for $939,000