Gordon (89) and Bob Pittaway (91) spent a night at Pittaway's Cottage, their family home from the time Bob was 10 months old.
The pair came from a family of nine, who squeezed into the tiny cottage and spent their formative years in Arrowtown.
Bob was born at Nightcaps while Gordon was born at Lake Hayes.
While structurally the cottage was the same, there were some distinct differences, Bob said.
What was now the kitchen was the bedroom for three boys, three girls occupied one of the two remaining bedrooms and their parents the other.
At the time the population of Arrowtown was about 150, with one policeman and two hotels.
''There was no electricity in Arrowtown in those days. It was like the Black Hole of Calcutta,'' Bob said.
''We had ... no running water, no insulation.
''I think back [and] I don't know how we existed.
''I don't know how my mother did it, living the way she did.''
Gordon recalled wetting his hair and slicking it back in the morning before walking to the old Arrowtown School.
''By the time I got to the church it'd be frozen.
''But you knew it was going to be cold. You'd go prepared for it.''
Gordon became a farmer, initially milking cows for 5 shillings a week.
He went on to work at Glendhu Bay before heading to Waikaia and after marrying in 1950, moved to Wanaka.
Bob was a foundation member of the high school, lasting a year before he went to work at the Arrowtown Post Office, which next month will mark its centenary.
He later worked at the BNZ, starting there on July 1, 1939.
Bob eventually moved to Whangarei.
Thursday night was the first time he had slept in the cottage, which has just been sold, since he left at age 19.
''I have a lot of time to sit and dwell on the past. My mind, my heart is down here, but I'm realistic enough to know I'd never be able to stand a winter here.''
