Happy to be here

With modern technology, you really can have it all.

AFTER 37 years in Auckland, company directors Lyn and Ray Walker are leaving the city behind – but not their businesses. As directors of different companies – Lyn is in software, Ray chemical manufacturing – the couple says a reliable electricity service, mobile data coverage and a fast telecommunications link are all that they need to quit their Auckland home and head permanently for the coast.

In 1996, the Walkers paid $232,000 for a somewhat dilapidated two-bedroom bach on a seaside section in Tairua, on the Coromandel Coast. A few years later they bulldozed the bach and built an attractive modern home.

Today the Walkers could sell that home for more than a million – a neighbouring property recently listed for $1.25 million – instead; they plan on moving into it.

Lyn says thanks to modern telecommunications and particularly mobile and web services, she now spends four working days by the sea and one in Auckland, then heads back to Tairua most weekends. "I make international conference calls or attend web meetings from Tairua. I access my company's network using a secure VPN connection. There's great mobile phone coverage and I've got my laptop and a Jetstream connection. Afterwards, I sit out on the deck or work in my vege garden," says Walker.

Born and raised in Gisborne, Walker, now 59, says she prefers the slower-paced community of a coastal town like Tairua – "people actually stop and talk and there are no agendas" – despite the fact the couple's work interests remain in Auckland.

However, while their vision is to live in Tairua full time and direct their businesses remotely, Walker says husband Ray isn't quite ready to quit the city that is home to their companies and their children. "As a couple, both partners need to be ready so we'll keep things as they are for a few more years. But I see Tairua as a place where I can start quilting, making preserves, playing golf and kayaking – all things I have wanted to do for 30 years," says Lyn.

In the meantime, Walker says she doesn't notice the 100-minute commute between her two homes because the roads are good. However, she finds it psychologically hard returning to Auckland, and says her commuting days are numbered. "At my first sight of Tairua the stress just drops away then I come back to Auckland and get onto the motorway and think 'do I really need this?'," says Walker.

Walker says Tairua's quietness and position beside the water reminds her of the peacefulness of her childhood home in Gisborne.

The couple looked at coastal sections on Waiheke Island and north of Auckland but settled on Tairua because they had friends there.

With both homes mortgage-free, the Walkers may eventually sell their Auckland home and use the income to buy two smaller rental properties for a retirement income. They may also decide to invest in other ways or keep both houses. Walker says it's good to have choices.

So is the cost of living lower in a holiday area? Walker says working via the internet and email means there's no need to buy clothes for work, and because she can walk or bike through Tairua, her car is rarely used.

While food costs more, coastal home owners usually find the time to grow their own vegetables and despite being on town supply water, the Thames Coromandel District Council doesn't charge Tairua home owners water rates. "General rates are similar to Auckland, but electricity is also cheaper.

Because of the large number of holiday homes, electricity companies tend to charge a higher standard supply rate but a lower usage rate," says Walker.

Because the Walker's residence is on an estuary, it gets bombarded with salt spray during storms and is also in a high wind area. As a result, Walker says windows need cleaning more often and new house plans need to include sea-resistant cladding and a roof designed to stay put during high winds.

The Walkers were also required to build their new home a metre above the level of the river estuary to protect it from possible flooding. However, the couple had plenty of support from the Thames Coromandel District Council. "They're a progressive council; they went out of their way to help," says Walker.

She says young people are buying up Tairua properties and sharing the cost between two or more couples to afford a holiday home for their children. When the time is right, they sell and split the proceeds.

She paints a word picture for city-bound workers who can afford to 'go coastal' but may be dithering. "The other night Ray and I had finished work and were out on the deck. There was no sound and this huge full moon came up. It looked as if we could just walk out along the moonbeam. It was perfect."