Cameron buys three more NZ properties

Movie mogul James Cameron has continued to snap up land in Wairarapa, adding a further three properties to his growing Kiwi empire.

Movie mogul James Cameron has continued to snap up land in Wairarapa, adding a further three properties to his growing Kiwi empire.

The Overseas Investment Office has given Cameron the green light to buy nearly 30 hectares in south Wairarapa, where he already owns over 1000ha of farmland.

Spread across three properties on Western Lake Rd, the prices are all listed as confidential.

The OIO summary of Cameron's latest purchase states that the director plans to reside "indefinitely" in New Zealand with his family.

"They are acquiring the land as part of a larger acquisition of land in South Wairarapa, which they will use as a residence and working farm, " it states.

Cameron and wife Suzy Amis have said they want to raise their children - 10-year-old twins Claire and Quinn, and Elizabeth Rose, 5 - "close to the land and with a strong work ethic".

It is believed Cameron paid about $20 million in January for two large rural Wairarapa properties, one a 250ha dairy farm, the other a much larger 817ha hillside property overlooking Lake Pounui - a lake he also now owns.

In February, The Dominion Post revealed he had applied for residency under Immigration NZ's Investment Plus category - reserved for those investing more than $10m. As such, the 57-year-old director must now spend at least 44 days in New Zealand each year in the final two years of a three- year investment period.

While here it is believed he will work on two sequels to Avatar.

He recently made headlines by diving 10,898 metres to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a solo submarine, as well as releasing a 3-D version of Titanic.

- © Fairfax NZ News