Front-row seats...for life in Matapouri

27 Waetford Rd, Matapouri. Photo / Supplied

27 WAETFORD RD, MATAPOURI

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SIZE: Land 658sq m, house 330sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: CV (2009) $1.725 million. Auction November 24.

INSPECT: Sun 1pm-2pm.

ON THE WEB: www.bayleys.co.nz

CONTACT: Penny Kempton, Bayleys, ph (09) 470 0960 or 027 434 3803.

FEATURES: Rare opportunity to buy beachfront at Matapouri Bay. Property sits in the middle of the bay and has a reserve alongside. The 1970s house is in original condition, with open-plan layout to maximise sea views. The self- contained flat downstairs has been recently renovated.

Having a long association with Matapouri Bay paid off for Michele Wooding's father when he snapped up a waterfront section that came on the market in the 1970s.

Michele says her father, Bill Flower, had a civil engineering business in Whangarei but loved taking his family holidaying at Matapouri.

"We used to stay in army huts on leasehold sections," says Michele. "When a better section came up to lease we would move to that one - we probably had four or five sections over the years but Dad didn't want to build on them because they were leasehold."

Back in those days, Michele says the living conditions on holiday were basic: her father would dig a hole to keep the milk and butter cool, and would go to a nearby creek for water.

"You couldn't have a bath so you had to have a swim," laughs Michele.

But then a local family decided to make some sections freehold - Bill got first pick and chose the one "right in the middle of the bay and right beside the reserve".

About two years after buying the section, Bill and his wife Pat built a two-storey home of concrete block and brick with a tiled roof.

"It was really put up to be a beach house - somewhere to stay for the school holidays over Christmas," says Michele. "But once my mother went out there she wouldn't go back to Whangarei.

"It was a bit tough on my Dad because he was still working in Whangarei so he had to make the trip in for work and the road was only tar-sealed out to Ngunguru."

Bill also had a boat moored at Tutukaka, so fishing was a big part of family life, as well as surfing.

The front of the house looks out to sea and is taken up by a lounge and bar area, which opens on to a glass-balustraded deck facing northeast with views of the bay. The upstairs of the home also has four bedrooms, with the master having an en suite.

Michele's husband Laurie, a builder, did some alterations in 1982 that "pushed the front of the house out a little bit and made it more open-plan so you could take the view in better".

"It's like being on a boat," says Michele. "You've got a prime position there with the reserve next door, which is like having a free section."

Downstairs is a self-contained flat with two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom. A double garage is at the rear of the flat.

The flat was renovated about two years ago, with a new kitchen going in, plus new carpets and tiles. It opens out to a wide lawn where the family would have barbecues and, from here, it's just a few steps down on to the sand of the beautiful, crescent-shaped beach.

Michele says it's been wonderful that her children and their cousins got to stay at Matapouri with her parents over the years.

"They've all got to enjoy that sort of beachy lifestyle."

But with Pat having died some time ago and Bill having passed away last year, the home has now gone to Michele and her sister, who have decided to sell.

"It's very hard to let it go because there are so many memories there," says Michele. "But it means it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone else."