"We were looking for something that was on the water - and had access to the water - that was quiet and flat, and that had an outlook that would never change," says Elizabeth.
The serene house on 1714sq m at 22 Kingfisher Grove put ticks into every box, with a wide frontage on the upper reaches of Waitemata Harbour, extensive water views and its own jetty.
The fairly new house opened on to a dead-flat lawn, with the water beyond. Elizabeth and Gino could see it would be a magical place to raise their boys while they ran their nearby restaurant, Collins House (now a cafe in the Greenhithe Village called Palette).
And so it proved. The boys grew up waterskiing and canoeing, and the family would sometimes motor around the corner to Riverhead Pub.
Elizabeth and Gino extended the house substantially. The first challenge was fitting in their full-size billiard table, which they had shipped from Britain without realising that New Zealanders had adopted the smaller version of the game. The house had plenty of living space, but they still had to expand the formal lounge to fit the table in.
The next problem was the lack of view from the original master bedroom. Although the boys' bedrooms' sliding doors opened to the pool, the back lawn and the view, the master was tucked around the side of the L-shaped house.
To right those wrongs, the couple built a second floor and put the master bedroom in a commanding spot, with its own private loggia enjoying sweeping water views from the north to south. Elizabeth says this is her favourite spot in the house; a great place to sit and read.
Building the deck off the master bedroom had the added benefit of creating a covered outdoor area off the lounge downstairs, which is now part of an extensive west-facing landscaped entertaining area ideal for admiring sunsets.
"It's the perfect house for entertaining," says Elizabeth. "I've had 150 people here."
They also built a large fifth bedroom upstairs - also with views of the water - and a self-contained one-bedroom apartment, where Elizabeth's father lived in happy semi-independence for 12 years.
With all the extensions, the house is an enormous 559sq m, with neatly landscaped extensive gardens.
Elizabeth is now widowed and her boys live in Wellington so, after 27 happy years, she's looking for a much smaller home, perhaps in Takapuna.
"I'm very sad to leave," she says. "It's a special place. There are lots of spaces in which you can enjoy the quiet. You wouldn't know that we were 20 minutes from the city."
