Bachelorette NZ couple plan to move in together after 'sneaky' summer romance

The Bachelorette NZ’s newest couple are already planning on putting down roots together.

Following last night’s season finale, in which Bachelorette Lexie Brown chose Hamish Boyt as her new beau at the final altar rose ceremony, the pair today confirmed they intend to live together in Mount Maunganui – happily ever after.

“There was a real natural and genuine fit to us, and we are a real couple,” Brown told Stuff.

“We think we want to live in Mount Maunganui but we’re still figuring that out.”

Brown explained the pair had spent some time exploring New Zealand together – and getting to know each other without the cameras.

”We’ve just been travelling around.My grandparents and my mum have been amazing and so have Hamish’s parents, and we’ve got beach houses.

“We are pretty open, and we’ve had lots of open chats. We’re really happy.”

READ MORE:* Bachelorette NZ: Lexie has chosen her winner* Bachelorette NZ: The shock departure that left Lexie in tears* Bachelorette NZ: Is Lexie getting 'coached' to be nice?* Bachelorette NZ: 'Love shouldn’t be about eternal possession'

With shooting on the show finishing in early November, New Zealand’s latest celebrity pairing have enjoyed spending the summer together.

“It’s been good fun. We’ve been doing heaps of sneaky missions without being seen,” Boyt explained.

The couple took precautions to avoid being spotted together in public while the show was still unfolding on our screens. Both altered their appearance to remain incognito when they attended a couple of music festivals, and Boyt even adopted an alias.

“I was wearing a blonde wig,” said Brown, with Boyt adding: “I had grown a moustache, and we were telling everyone I was Patrick.”

Brown and Boyt share a passion for outdoors adventuring and fishing, and a quick glimpse at their respective Instagram videos show they have travelled far and wide to explore much of the North Island.

“When we’re up in Whangarei we go out in the boat out off Oakura and bounce around Cape Reinga, and out to the Hole in the Rock. The fishing there is pretty good.”

And fans will be pleased to know Boyt has redeemed himself as a true man of the sea, after he came up empty when the pair tried to go fishing and diving during their last Fantasy Date.

“We’ve eaten a lot of Kina,” Brown said. “Literally bags of it. Every time we go out in the boat we’ve collected bags of it. You can’t make that stuff up.

“We’ve done loads of stuff. We’ve been up Mt Hikurangi in Gisborne, Taranaki, we’ve done lots of adventuring around Whangarei and Ohope Beach as well.”

Overall the couple are happy with how they were portrayed in the show, but Brown is disappointed that their bond and connection was not made obvious to viewers until very late in the game.

“We feel like Hamish and I and the way that we were together was not highlighted until that last conversation,” she explained.

“I think the show played down a lot of that for their own objectives of having some jeopardy right up to the final.

“And they really went for the Friend Zone narrative and slow-burn narrative with Hamish. There were parts of that - the slow burn was a real thing.

“It’s just the way it is. I’m sure most people these days understand reality TV. It is real life but there’s definitely elements that are out of our control that aren’t shown or celebrated.”

Boyt ultimately upstaged the runner-up, likeable Australian Todd Dialectos, but many viewers felt sympathy for fellow 26-year-old Jack Becroft, who exited the show on his own accord, after Brown expressed concerns over their age gap.

“It’s a bloody good point,” said Brown. “I honestly don’t know what to say to that. I know it sounds crazy, but it never occurred to me once to compare their ages.”

Brown insists in Boyt, she’s found her one true love, and bats off suggestions that Jack remains the one that got away.

“No, he’s not. I would make the same decision again.”