KEY POINTS:
Real estate agent Steven Lindsey is busy ironing a shirt. He has to be in South Auckland later in the morning, but it's hard to tear himself away.
"That's a multi-million-dollar view," he says, looking out of the window towards the Harbour Bridge and the downtown skyline.
"Bloody marvellous."
But his is no ordinary home. Steven is one of a small number of boat owners living on board their vessels at Bayswater marina on Auckland's North Shore.
They include single professionals, like himself, retired couples, old salts and young families. Some are permanent residents, some are passing through. They all share a common bond - a love of the sea and living on boats.
"It's a pretty good lifestyle," says Steven. "I spend half of my time in Tauranga and half in Auckland, so it suits me better living here. I have a property that gives me all these comforts and that's affordable. And I don't have any lawns to mow.
"It's better than some apartments I've seen."
On the weekends he unties his 19m boat from its $100,000 berth and heads off around the Hauraki Gulf.
"I have the freedom to come and go. I can sit up on deck with a chilled pinot in hand. It's fantastic."
At least one family lives at the marina, with children at local schools. However, the Romeros - 14-year-old twins Anderson and Daniel and brother Joshua, 15 - are home-schooled by US-born mum Diane.
She and Spanish husband Juan sold their house in Britain to spend a few years travelling through the Caribbean and the Pacific on their catamaran Azul. Film-maker Juan is working in Paris, and the rest of the family have called Bayswater home since December.
"I love that Auckland skyline," says Diane.
The kids have quickly made friends and enjoy kite-surfing as they prepare for another trip into the Pacific before heading to Nelson and school. "Bayswater has been excellent," says Diane.
"You can form a bond with people fast, because they are like us, doing the same thing."
The interesting thing about boat kids is they don't care what age other kids are. There's none of that selectiveness."
Rob and Diane Burson are regulars at the marina, after spending about eight years wintering on their launch Janesta.
They've always owned a boat, but started living on board fulltime after renting out their Devonport family home to the Oracle yachting syndicate for 18 months in 2001.
They liked it so much they decided to sell up, buy a rental property and take to the sea fulltime.
"That house with its four bedrooms and two bathrooms - I could spend my life vacuuming it," says Diane, who used to work at the nearby naval base.
She and her builder husband bought a berth at the marina for $40,000 and pay about $500 a month to live on board. They have family and friends nearby, and easy access to the city on the Bayswater ferry. They have a herb garden on board and there is a veggie patch in the marina carpark.
Their life is easier than friends who have lived on a boat anchored offshore for 18 years, she says.
There's no one type of person who lives on a boat, she says. "There's a guy here who's a bigwig at the agriculture department and wears a suit. He's not living here because he needs to save money."
Burson has no wish to return to living in a house . "I feel like I am on holiday all the time."
LIFE'S A BERTH
It's little wonder living on a boat appeals to those paying big-city rents.
The average cost of a two-bedroom Auckland home was $330 a week in March, and an extra bedroom added about $100.
Compare that to the $672 total monthly rent (including electricity and water) paid by Warren Johansen. The former architect has been living in Bayswater for about eight years in the wooden topsail ketch he designed and built.
Forced to give up work due to failing eyesight, he rented a berth. "If I was in a flat I'd be looking at weatherboards. I love it here. I like it at night, seeing the moonlight shining on the water."
Berth rental depends on boat length. Monthly prices range from $330 for a 10.5m berth to $900 for 18m.
Residents pay an additional live-aboard levy, which is 20 per cent of their daily rental price. The cost of buying a berth also varies according to length.
Berths currently for sale range from $78,000 for 12m to $745,000 for 40m. Berth holders also pay monthly operating expenses which vary from $193 to $601 which cover electricity and water costs.
