SCHOOL ZONES:
Bayswater School, Belmont Intermediate, Takapuna Grammar.
CONTACT:
Dayle Candy, Harcourts, 0274 336 862.
Rugby followers know him as Buck but at home the former All Black captain is Wayne to his wife Jo Shelford and children Eru, Lia and Mitchell.
And although their house is this distinctive Sholto Smith-designed Californian bungalow in Bayswater, it is first and foremost a home, says Wayne.
"Wefeel so comfortable here."
Wayne tells how he had moved to Devonport from Rotorua in 1975 to join the Navy. Since then, he and Jo have lived in Glenfield, Red Beach while they ran the Wade Tavern in Silverdale. They had tried apartment living in Takapuna while the children were at school and university, and travelled and lived overseas.
But it was always their aim to shift back near Devonport, to a home base where their circle of family and friends would feel welcome.
Their wooden home has the Canadian architect Sholto Smith's trademark canopy gateway, black and white sarked ceilings, built-in leadlight display cabinets and quarter-paned windows (double glazed).
Previous owners had built an extra storey and renovated the kitchen, so Wayne and Jo could enjoy the home exactly the way they found it.
From its distinctive gateway, the pathway leads to the front veranda, the formal hallway and into the modern kitchen and family room.
Off to the right of the hallway are two lounges -- one is tagged "Wayne's"; the other "Jo's" -- and the sunroom where the couple like to breakfast. French doors open to the veranda from the sunroom and family room.
Two bedrooms (one with en suite) plus a family bathroom and office (potentially a fifth bedroom but usually home to Wayne's rugby mementoes) lead off the hallway behind the main entrance hallway.
Upstairs are two bedrooms and a storage area Wayne says could be developed into another living area, plus great sea views. Jo says the water is only five minutes' walk away at Shoal Bay, a favourite spot with kite surfers and young children.
Image 1 of 10: Rugby great Buck Shelford's elegant Californian bungalow is a place family love to visit, he tells Donna McIntyre
"It is an older home and has good bones," says Wayne. "This place has history, the Irish came to Bayswater and settled here, and five homes in this street were built by the same builder."
As well as central heating there's a working fireplace in "Jo's lounge". And so much storage, says Wayne, who adds: "We're tall people and there is a great sense of space. You can have a lot of people in here. The oldies will be inside having a chat, the young ones are out on the deck having a beer and the babies will be in the lounge."
Jo says: "Family is important to us, we have always had homes where people get together. Wayne is the oldest boy in his family and I am the oldest girl in mine. We open up our houses to people. We have always bought with that in mind.
"Over Christmas we make my lounge like a marae. We take the couches out and have mattresses on the floor. And the children love to climb the puriri at birthday parties, I had my 50th and 51st birthday on the lawn ... And the neighbours are lovely; there are a lot of families."
The property has covered and uncovered outside areas, a front and back garden, both with lawns including a tell-tale patch of soil where Wayne put down a hangi for a post-wedding whanau gathering on Waitangi Day, delighting his daughter-in-law's overseas family.
Jo says they don't mind mowing the lawn but have kept landscaping simple, tending a few roses, grapefruit and lemon trees and the front camellia hedge.
They are selling to return to Silverdale where their daughter, her husband and their granddaughter live, and where Wayne is developing a commercial site.
