"We've had some pretty riotous New Year's parties here," Patricia says. "At one stage, I think half of Tauranga Boys' College was camped on the back lawn."
The 59-year-old, who lives at Pyes Pa, was 14 when her parents bought The Pink House in January 1969.
They paid $11,500 for the three-bedroom bach - which takes its name from the rosy hue of its exterior walls - and it came fully furnished, including crockery and cutlery in the yellow kitchen cupboards.
The family bought the 809 sq m property from neighbours in Ngatea, where they were farmers, and Patricia has fond memories of coming to the Mount in her teens.
"It was a big thrill to be able to come here with a couple of girlfriends. For us, the Mount was the city, it was so exciting. It was just the most exciting thing you could possibly do."
She was first allowed to come to the bach on her own after her School Certificate exams and says the bach has always been a social hub for her and her three siblings, and now their children.
The Bay of Plenty Times Weekend found Patricia and two of her three children relaxing in front of The Pink House this week.
A large pink hibiscus provided shade while they sipped beers, read and sunbathed as the temperature soared into the twenties.
Her daughter, Natalie Ron, said she had spent two weeks at the bach every summer since she was born and appreciated as an adult how lucky she was.
The 23-year-old, who is in her final year of medical school at Wellington, said although intensive development had changed the surroundings, the ambience of The Pink House endured.
"We were really dark as that place came up," she said, pointing to a large apartment complex across the road. "But at the same time, it just makes this place look more cute."
Little has changed about The Pink House since it was built in 1958. Only the laundry has been renovated, now featuring a modern washing machine rather than the original wringer.
The stone tub where Patricia's three children and her nieces and nephews were bathed as babies is also gone, but the 1950s kitchen remains (there is no dishwasher), including the yellow wooden cupboards and a sign pointing to the beach. The dining area has a Formica table and vinyl and metal chairs, and there is a cane sofa in the lounge.
While Patricia showed us around, her son, Adam Ron, took a call from a friend who wanted to use the back lawn to park his car.
The 25-year-old computer programmer laughed when reminded by his mum that he, Natalie and their older brother Benjamin used to make holiday money by charging cars $5 to park behind the bach.
Street-side parking has become ever tighter as the number of apartment towers has grown, and pressure on Patricia's father, Ken Jones, to sell The Pink House is also increasing.
"He's approached by land agents all the time," said Patricia. "It's interesting for him to find out it's worth probably as much as a small dairy farm but he's got no intention of selling."
The property has a capital value of $837,000, but similar properties in the area sell in the range of $1.5 million.
Ken makes clear his and wife Pat's determination to hold on to the bach, saying they have no interest in the money it could fetch.
"You're only interested in the price if you're going to sell and we have no intention of doing so," he says over the phone from Ngatea. Ken and Pat, both 83, have bought a similar bach property that backs on to The Pink House as a family investment. That bach is tenanted because, Ken says, The Pink House has all the space his family needs.
"With the grandkids there, they have hangers-on who pitch their tents in the backyard. There's plenty of room for all the toys they seem to have these days. They're not just content with a lilo. They need kayaks."
Pat, meanwhile, continues her tradition of giving her 12 surviving grandchildren keys to The Pink House when they turn 21.
"I don't know whether it's wise or not," she jokes. "But they've been going there since they were babies."
She says any changes to the bach she and Ken suggest are met with refusal: "They won't let us. The family keep saying, 'We like it just the way it is'."
