But the 30-year-old’s move south rapidly hit the skidsWithout cash or a place to stay Arbuckle-Hill was living rough around the city.
He scrounged cigarette butts where he could and it was that pursuit that had him outside the Portobello Hotel late on June 1.
There had been a family birthday party at the establishment and nearly everyone had gone home when the owner saw the defendant in the smokers’ area rummaging through ash trays.
The pair had a convivial conversation and Arbuckle-Hill continued while the other man went back inside.But the good-natured encounter counted for little a couple of hours later when the defendant returned.
He moved a ceramic planter box on to the concrete floor of the smokers’ area and used paper, a cigarette lighter and a deodorant can to start a fire.
The blaze was less than a metre from the wall of the hotel and a plastic curtain, the court heard.
Arbuckle-Hill fuelled it with plastic and ripped clothing as it grew to a metre in height.
"It was mere fortune one person remained up after everyone else had gone to bed," Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said.
The hotel owner extinguished the flames and pursued the fire-starter down the road.
By this point, Arbuckle-Hill had scrunched up paper and placed it by the wall of a nearby gallery.
Before he could ignite it, the victim demanded he hand over his lighters.
When the defendant appeared in the Dunedin District Court last week, Judge Kevin Phillips revealed he had two previous convictions for arson, from 2005 and 2016.
"You are becoming a recidivist arsonist," he said.
Arbuckle-Hill pleaded guilty to arson but his counsel, Sarah Saunderson-Warner, said her client did not intend to harm the occupants of the Portobello Hotel.
"He was unable to give any clear explanation [as to why he did it]," she said.
Ms Saunderson-Warner told the court the man’s arson convictions included burning a fence and a wheelie bin and did not involve risk to life.
Judge Phillips sentenced Arbuckle-Hill to three years’ imprisonment.
