Kawau Island: Living on island time

Designed with entertaining in mind, the expansive living area opens to the outdoors.

Leave your watch at home and move with the wind and the tide on Kawau. By SUZANNE MCFADDEN.

"We saw [the property] on a Saturday, tracked down the owner on Sunday and moved in the following Friday. We hadn't even seen it inside, but we just knew it was special"

Joe and Huia Sinden made a bold decision to walk out of their Auckland business, move to an island, and home-school their young daughter.

It is a decision none of the family regret, but it has now been replaced by an even more difficult one - to sell the Kawau Island property, which has had such a monumental influence on their lives.

Over the past decade, this place - known as Rachellie's Point - with its picture-perfect views across North Cove, has served as school house, weekend haven, entertainment hub and home to the Sindens and their daughter, Rachel.

But now that Rachel is 14 with clear-cut plans for her future, the family has decided that her education comes first, and they are packing up and moving again - this time to the Bay of Plenty.

"A big part of building this home was for Rachel, and now she is a big part of selling it," Huia says.

The Sindens first laid eyes on the property when they were across the bay, visiting another house for sale. "We saw it on a Saturday, tracked down the owner on Sunday and moved in the following Friday," says Joe. "We hadn't even seen it inside, but we just knew it was special."

With three-year-old Rachel and dozens of boxes of home comforts in tow, the Sindens took three hours to make their way up what was then a clay track from North Cove's starboard wharf to the house. Today, the pathway is a fully-lit stairway, which takes barely a few minutes to climb.

The property had a famous history, previously owned by Hollywood director Don Chaffey (whose credits include the Mission: Impossible and Charlie's Angels TV series, and a collection of 1970s Disney movies), and his partner, actress-dancer-Playboy model Paula Kelly. Chaffey died on the island in 1990, and some of his ashes were scattered above the bay.

The Sindens initially used the one-bedroom cottage for holidays and weekends - sometimes accommodating 22 people. "Then we decided to take time out to spend with our daughter," Huia says. "So we left our business [Cashflow Retail Systems] for what was to be a year, and ended up staying for three."

The cottage underwent a major transformation into a modern cedar-clad home with three double bedrooms, expansive living areas with timber ceilings, and 61 sq m of decking.

There is no doubt this house was refurbished with both relaxation and entertaining in mind. In the master bedroom's en suite is a large spa bath, set beneath large windows (mirrored on the outside for obvious privacy) where you can lie back and soak in the magnificent views of the cove. Outside, swings and hammocks sway beneath shady trees.

Surrounding the house are plentiful entertaining spots - a large barbecue area, a viewing platform on the edge of the hillside and a row of wooden benches called The Point, a grandstand where friends and family naturally gravitate to watch boats and sea life. The Sindens have always loved the fact that they enjoy total privacy here.

"You know you're living on an island, but you've got all the mod cons - power, phone lines, internet access," Joe says.

Groceries arrive twice a week by ferry - delivered to the wharf that they are shareholders in - and the family use Reuben's water taxis, run by a born-and-raised islander, to get about. "We can leave work [in St Lukes] and be in our house on the island in one-and-a-half hours," Joe says.

Even though Huia was warned by locals that she wouldn't be able to grow flowers here, she has nurtured a tropical garden guarded by native and fruit trees. The property is famous among boaties for its huge norfolk pine, which the Sindens decorate with festive lights at Christmas.

Huia home-schooled Rachel in and around this house, often taking lessons out on to the sprawling lawns overlooking the bay, but made certain they always stuck to the task and were not lured away to swim with the dolphins or go out for a day's fishing on the Hauraki Gulf. Joe, who uses his 14ft runabout as "a car" around the island, says he never wears a watch here: "It's all wind and tide."

Three years ago, they moved back to the mainland to reintroduce Rachel to school before her intermediate years. "After two terms she won the top academic prize for her year. So life on Kawau must have been good for her," Huia says. Now, they want to take their daughter, who intends to study veterinary sciences, out of the city again. "The Bay of Plenty is just too far away from Kawau. If Rachel was five years older, maybe Huia and I would move back to the island," Joe says. "We know we will never replace it - it's such a special place.

"There's a saying on the island, 'if the island doesn't like you, it will spit you out'. But we are not being spat out - we have always felt so at home here."

VITAL STATISTICS

ADDRESS: Lot 6, North Cove, Kawau Island.

FEATURES: Absolute waterfront property with share of an all-tide wharf; vastly refurbished three double-bedroom home; master with en suite and spa bath plus panoramic views of the bay; substantial kitchen, dining and lounge; woodburning fire; extensive decking and numerous outdoor entertaining areas; large garden and lawns with fully-lit steps to wharf and safe swimming beach; most modern chattels included in sale.

SIZE: Land area 4123sq m.

AUCTION: 2pm, February 16, at Bayleys city auction rooms. CV $900,000.

AGENTS: Barbara Larsen and Allan Dray, Bayleys, Warkworth. Ph 09 425 7640 bus; Barbara 021 228 8833 mob, Allan 027 272 9164 mob.