She passed through for many years, living in Palmerston North or Wellington. But one day she stopped at the bach and stayed for two-and-a-half years, where she and her dog Frida would roam the beach every day. “It’s not just the landscape that draws me in, [it’s] the towns and the people – they hold onto their places, their stories and their artefacts – and they are willing to share them. They are honest with no false pretences,” Bell-Booth said in her story. Project manager Kristy McGregor said the exhibition gave the women an opportunity to shine and share what was important to them, the trials they had been through and where they had found hope and fulfilment.