Welcome

Hi, I’m Anna, its so nice to have you here.
I’ve been a treasure hunter for as long as I can remember. My grandfather was an auctioneer and in his backyard he had a three-bay garage filled to the brim with all the wonderful things he was stashing away for a rainy day auction.

I spent days upon days rummaging through those treasures. I basically lived in that rustic old shed with its tin walls, which heated up beautifully when the sun was out in the cold Kurow winters. I’d eat the grapes my grandfather grew while sitting on the windowsills, blowing dust off old cigarette tins and polishing Bohemian lamps, vases, artwork and all sorts of other treasures waiting patiently for their next home.

Then, when I was about 7, I started a gang. Because — yeah, I did!

But I specifically chose the spot for our treehouse headquarters to be overlooking the town dump. We’d jump on our BMX bikes and ride there every day, watching people throw their rubbish away before swooping down to collect tossed-out couches, old gates and other treasures to decorate our decadent treehouse with.

It was actually a very strategic spot to choose, even as a 7-year-old. I was already scoping out scenes from better vantage points and figuring out ways to always, ALWAYS try and get things in from an unconventional angle.

I suppose I’ve been hunting since - forever.

I began my worldly travels at the tender age of 16. I left Ōamaru with a one-way ticket to Detroit and never looked back. I spent the next 20 years backpacking, travelling around the world and back again — twice over.

I lived in London for six years, America for a year, Dublin for a year, South Africa for a year and Australia for a few decades. I’ve travelled to and lived in more than 52 countries and cities!

Some favourites were Egypt - every single corner of it, Cape Town, Zanzibar, Český Krumlov, LA, Seychelles, Bali, India, London, Bolivia, Uruguay and Detroit.

I lived in Detroit for a year in 1999, working as a nanny. And the live music scene in that city was absolutely wild.

We also spent a good few months just drifting around Egypt back in 2001. That is the one country I am totally pinning to go back to!

I guess you could say I’ve always been curious about what was around the next corner.

Sean and I met 21 years ago in a backpackers in London. I moved into the bunk above his and we fell madly in love. Together, we went on to travel the world before eventually putting down roots in New Zealand.

Together we have our beautiful daughter, Frankie Soleil. She’s now 10 years old and the coolest person in our life. Everything is about her and our little family unit.

There have been a lot of adventures, a few business ventures and rather a lot of moving house — and we’ve finally landed here in Ōtautahi.

She Hunts Op Shops began
with a simple love of the hunt for treasures.

She Hunts — I guess you could say, has been my most beautiful mistake.

I never set out to have a heaving social media space. I was just taking a shed load of photographs of the op shops I was visiting as I worked around the Melbourne suburbs photographing families. I was constantly finding myself in new, random pockets of the city through my work and, naturally, I wanted to know where the op shops were too. So wherever I was shooting, I’d investigate the local ops. I wanted to remember which ones had the good stuff, where I’d found particular treasures, and which places were worth going back to.

I’ve never been able to read an actual map to save myself. So I did what any sensible person would do: I made my own. A big, beautiful, visual map using my photographs, so I could actually see where I’d been, what I’d found and, most importantly, where the good stuff was hiding and which op shops were close by.

But I needed somewhere to house all those photographs so I could access them while I was out on the road. Facebook was still pretty new back then, so I simply started a page and began storing my photos there. It was never meant to be a business, a brand, or anything remotely resembling the slightly bonkers corner of the internet that She Hunts would eventually become.

And then you lot started turning up.

And then more of you turned up.

And somehow, 15 years later, that little treasure map I made for myself has grown into a community of tens of thousands of fellow treasure hunters across New Zealand and Australia.

But I’m rather glad it happened. I share op shops, vintage stores, markets, secondhand finds, thrifting adventures, creative reuse and all the wonderfully unexpected things you can discover when you slow down and look around.

But She Hunts has grown into much more than op shopping. I share all kinds of photographs, personal stories from my often eclectic life, plenty of laughs and random adventures, and I’m passionate about advocating for mental health and creating a space where we can talk honestly, laugh loudly and find a little joy in the everyday.

I believe there’s an art to the op shop. Once you know that art, these places become powerful little portals into community, the circular economy, creativity and connection — and, quite simply, places that make you smile.

For me, it’s about stories, sustainability, creativity and connection,
and the sheer joy of finding something brilliant for five dollars.

About 15 years ago, I decided one day that I wanted to be a photographer.

So I poured my entire universe of creative energy and light into becoming a kick-ass photographer. I taught myself everything I needed to know — how to take unique and incredible photographs, how to build myself a website, how to find customers in an already saturated creative market, and how to actually run a business, from accounts and pricing to structure and insurance.

And it worked.

For a whole decade while we lived in Melbourne, I ran my little photography business full time, often booked out years in advance, specialising in natural newborn sessions and incredible boho weddings and every other kind of peoply photography.

It was busy, creative, completely consuming and I loved it.

She Hunts and One Velvet Morning were both born at the same time, and honestly, it was the marrying of the two in those very early days that made them both explode into the world.

And then there was the poo business.

From 2020 to 2026, Sean and I co-owned and ran a sanitation business in Ōamaru — yes, we literally shovelled shit for a living for five years, and it was equally insane and fun.

I reckon you know you’ve made it in business when you book a couple to photograph their wedding, book their portaloos for the wedding, and then tow those very same portaloos to the wedding yourself.

Yep — not one, but TWO weddings. Apparently, it was a thing.

Running a poo business in rural New Zealand was fucking insane.

Excuse my language, but it's true. I'm still struggling to find the right words to describe the experience, and for now, I think those two words sum it up rather nicely.

I'm currently writing a book about it.

I think that's what it is, anyway.

I’ve lived a pretty crazy life so far.

The stories we have from our travels, our adventures, our jobs, our experiences and our interactions are often, even to me, completely unbelievable.

Mostly, I’m just curious.

I love old things, beautiful things, useful things, weird things and things with a story. I love getting lost down little country roads, finding an op shop I didn’t know existed and meeting the people behind the places I discover.

I think that’s probably what She Hunts Op Shops has always really been about — following my curiosity and seeing what I can find.

So, welcome to my little corner of the internet.
Have a rummage around, explore my Op Shop Guides & Nature Guides,
wander through my space, look at some photographs,
and come along for the adventures.

And if you’d like to see another side of what I do, pop over to my photography website, One Velvet Morning where you can explore my work and the stories I tell through a different kind of lens.

Thanks for wandering in.
Keep curious, keep hunting, and keep finding the magic in the unexpected.
Love, Anna x