Matakana: Global themes

897 Takatu Road, Tawharanui Peninsula, Matakana.

Before even walking into this home it is obvious that this is a property with international links. Its owners, Brian and Lindsay McPhun, met in California and worked there for many years until Lindsay became a well established painter of African wildlife.

Both had links to New Zealand, either by upbringing or heritage, and both cherished the idea of eventually building their dream home here.

Brian knew the Tawharanui area from his surfing days and was delighted to find it had become a regional park in his absence. When the 4.1ha block on which this house is built came up for sale in 1998, high on a crest above the sea with a natural amphitheatre below and rolling rural views behind, the couple leapt at the chance, and worked day and night to make it happen until they were able to move into their new home in 2000. "We'd ask each other, 'Why are we doing this?' and go, 'Oh, our house in New Zealand'," laughs Brian.

Building a house long distance is never easy but both Lindsay and Brian recognise the job was made achievable by the input from local architect Graeme North and builder Keith Robinson, from Mairangi Bay.

Both men took the project into their hearts in a way that went beyond the mere professional, and the result is a truly extraordinary melding of cultural inputs. While from the outside it has definite origins in its New Zealand setting and heritage, inside it has the soaring wooden ceilings and the curved apex of an African lodge, and more than a hint of Southern California and New Mexico in the floors and double-height brick fireplace.

A grand curving staircase leads to the upper floor, which through its rugged simplicity and the way it hugs the centrally located fireplace, somehow exemplifies the shared cultures that its owners and designers have drawn on.

On both sides of the cavernous living areas are banks of floor to ceiling bi-fold doors. On still days both sides are opened out and the interior flows out to meet the gardens and decks in all directions. But even on the breeziest of days because of the way the house lies along the crest of the ridge, simply by opening or closing some of the doors there is always a sheltered spot from which to admire the views. The front lawn is big enough before it falls away into the valley below to park a helicopter flown in by a visiting friend from California, while the rear gardens and decks have been known to host parties of hundreds.

Upstairs, the master bedroom and its adjacent bathroom is the perfect place to lie back and admire more vistas of clouds, sea and green hillsides, and downstairs two more bedrooms and another big bathroom are accessed down a glass-walled passageway. This is not a house which does things in half measures.

Across the garden is Lindsay's studio with more work in progress strewn around, but because it has its own bathroom and living space is able to double as private guest accommodation when required.

"I love working here because it's quiet and separate, and has a huge variety of views. I work to a big scale, Africa is big after all, and so the big views somehow all add to it."

Further down the driveway is a large barn which provides garaging and a workshop where Brian organises the packing and dispatch of Lindsay's work to its new owners around the world.

But although Brian and Lindsay are moving, they're not going far.

As Brian explains, "We love the area so much that when we heard a subdivision was planned for the valley between us and the sea, we bought the farm. We've covenanted to restore and improve the bush on all the steep marginal areas, and are looking into the possibility of restoring what was once wetlands down on the flats."

So while the surrounding land will remain as parkland in perpetuity, they will build a new house on the land a bit further up the hill and they can't wait to get started - but there is the small matter of a safari in Africa to undertake first. Lindsay can't wait to revisit her roots and then come back and start painting.

Vital Statisics

BEDROOMS: 5

BATHROOMS: 3

GARAGE: 2

SIZE: Land 4.13ha, house 300sq m.

PRICE: Expressions of interest around $3.5m.

INSPECT: By appointment.

CONTACT: Shane Romani, Barfoot and Thompson Warkworth, ph 09 425 8742 bus, 021 889 906 mob, 09 422 6363 a/h.

FEATURES: Extra barn, studio and guest accommodation and second self-contained guest cottage, all with spectacular sea and rural views. Covenants protecting and improving bush in the valley below. Outdoor living and landscaped grounds surround a truly impressive property.