Blair Somerville is an inventor. He loves making things, but what makes him special is that he is an automata - the only one in the country.
He invents and crafts self-propelled mechanical gadgets and gizmos that he calls art.
He lives in one of the most untouched places in the country – Papatowai in the Catlins on the South Otago coast.
It is here inside an old Leyland bus that Aucklander Mr Somerville seeks sanctuary, letting his imagination flow.
Mr Somerville opened up the bus nine years ago, trying to earn a living making mechanical things, gizmos and gadgets from recycled cast offs.
"The correct word is automata, not something that is big in New Zealand," he says.
The bus is full of his imagination and ideas, like the 'pleasant nose pincher', shells that gurgle, the unique Papatowai radio, wind-up rope drawings and the vague warnings of doom.
Word of the curious gadgets has spread. It is now a popular tourist stop where visitors from all over the world cannot help but be curious.
"I just think it is a place where people can come and let their imagination wander a bit and just interact with things," says Mr Somerville.
"Different people will be drawn to different things. Some will like the more humorous things more, and some will like the more arty and mechanical things."
So where does he get his ideas from?
"I have been asked that before, and so we have come up with a book of ideas," says Mr Somerville, flicking through a tiny book with empty pages. "You've got to use your imagination of course, and then once you get through the little book then we have the collectors' edition and you also have got to use your imagination."
Mr Somerville is a bit of a big kid - ironically it is children that cause him the greatest stress, so he put up a warning sign outside.
"Some kids are wonderful, some kids know how to wind things gently and get a lot out of it and go away and I don't get stressed," he says. "Unfortunately that's not quite the majority. I am getting very close to banning them which would be a great shame."
They are a mini version of him, are they not?
"And that's the problem," he says.
Mr Somerville's newest gallery above the bus is out of bounds for children, home to his one off more complicated creations.
He also has a cycle-powered television, a unicycle on a high wire and his music room.
Mr Somerville has been asked to teach at schools, but has turned them all down. He reckons kids should turn off the TV and play with Lego.
"I get a lot of joy out of how things interact, and I mean it could be as simple as a crank but there are so many different things you can do, and to get your head around all the movements and how they combine and when you get it right you feel a bit clever, when things work."
So the next time you are in the Catlins, pop in. You will be amazed by Blair Somerville's bus of curiosities.