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A NEW HOPE

Kim and Mona Dotcom first visited New Zealand on a fortnight's holiday in 2008, not long after they had met. The romance was wickedly quick — the couple had married and she was already pregnant with their first child, Kimmo. It was the sort of visit which is restricted to the super-rich, even though Dotcom's earnings from Megaupload were more than $US4 million at the time — they were yet to skyrocket to the incredible levels they would in a few years. The couple jetted into Auckland, then flew to Taupo's exclusive Huka Lodge by helicopter and tripped about.

Dotcom has always had an eye to the future and the holiday with his young wife and soon-to-be-born child had triggered thoughts about the family they would have. Mona says both knew then they wanted a large family; Dotcom says he was thinking about where that family would grow up: "We were thinking about not just being in Hong Kong in the future. It was just in the back of the head. It was not the primary reason we came here. It was just a holiday."

They returned in 2009, this time traveling with friends and colleagues, including Finn Batato and Mathias Ortmann, and touring the South Island. Evidence would later emerge of questionable driving among the group, with one or more pulled over for speeding on the winding mountain roads around Queenstown.

Dotcom returned to Hong Kong with the idea of moving somewhere else in the world growing in his mind. He browsed the web for the sort of places he wanted to live and raise a family.

A mansion in the Auckland suburb of Coatesville was listed for sale on the Sotheby's website. "Sotheby's had this property listed, $35 million US with all the pictures. Because we liked New Zealand on that first holiday I found that property . . . looked at the pictures and got in touch with the owner." Dotcom said the couple wouldn't buy it outright, instead wanting to spend a month in the house to "see how it feels" and

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