Albany: Noise prohibited

It's about total escape. By VICKI HOLDER

Just five minutes from Albany Megacentre, Albany Lodge is a tranquil paradise nestled in a secret valley among the native bush.

The feeling of total escape begins to register as the track from the road heads through a forest of shaggy punga to arrive in the clearing. By this time, traffic noise is a distant memory and an almost otherworldly calm invades the senses. Noise is prohibited in the valley. The silence is only broken by native birds and trickling streams.

It's easy to see how owners Sally and Chris Minoprio fell in love with the property when they first came here in November. After years spent in the motel industry in various parts of New Zealand, plans to live their dream of sailing the world were suddenly shoved aside. They couldn't resist the chance to own something so exquisitely natural that would also provide them with an income.

Sally explains the bowl-shaped property was subdivided off a larger plot 20 years ago. An art education centre was established here for enthusiasts to participate in workshops. In 1981 it was expanded as it switched to a conference facility and corporate retreat, which has gradually been enlarged over the years. During their tenure, Sally and Chris have maintained the property in pristine condition.

Simple buildings, including two pole houses, adhere to a back-to-nature theme, stepping down the hill around the immaculately groomed lawns hugged by tracts of bush and subtropical palms. The slope faces due north, making it a suntrap when the weather is fine.

Sally and Chris enlarged the deck from the main function centre at the top, adding a pretty timber pergola as a welcoming entry point. Tables are now spread out across the deck, allowing visitors to lap up the warmth of the sun and enjoy the outlook across the large pond.

The main function centre comprises a commercial kitchen and dining room where around 50 guests can take their meals from a timber servery. An abundance of timber in the matai floors and ceilings gives it an inviting ambience. Warmth from a gas fire rises upstairs where a large, round meeting room with a tall, pitched, beamed ceiling offers a convivial setting and versatility for any kind of occasion, big or small. Windows around the room let in lots of light, and in summer when it's too hot, air conditioning keeps the area cool.

At night, many guests like to play cards or read in a cosy lounge that adjoins the dining room. A barbecue offers alternative meal-time possibilities just outside the doors.

Dubbed the Pool House, another small meeting room opens through bifolds to a deck overlooking a swimming pool and spa. Sally says it has proved popular with groups like the bunch of women who escape the humdrum four times a year to pamper themselves with professional massages and grooming.

There's plenty to do here. Bush walks through the native woodland are fascinating and there's a petanque and badminton court hidden beside the property.

Visitors stay in eight rooms, all with en suites, that adjoin the office and the manager's residence. Big enough for two single beds or one double, the rooms are comfortable and carpeted with free-standing cupboards in the corner that house televisions. They each step out to a covered veranda that looks down over the garden and pond.

Because the facility has proved so popular in recent years, part of the manager's residence has been converted into a secondary function centre. Sue keeps an eye on proceedings in the room below through her lounge window. Lunches are served in an adjacent room that spills out to a delightful terrace suspended in the bush.

Sally and Chris are finally giving into their yearn to travel. However, they envisage their beautiful environment holds all sorts of possibilities for the future. Almost self-sufficient with its own water and septic tanks, it could make an enviable lifestyle getaway for a family, a health spa or homestay, a spiritual retreat, a bed and breakfast or a lodge.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 474 Wright Rd, Albany.

FEATURES: Conference facility and corporate retreat in bush-clad bowl; eight accommodation units; two conference centres; commercial catering and dining areas; relaxation lounge; administrative office plus live-in manager's residence; pool house with swimming pool, spa and sauna; parking for at least 35 vehicles; bush walks, petanque court and badminton court; 20 minutes from CBD and close to East Coast Bays coastal communities and beaches.

SIZE: Land area 3.4479ha.

INTERNATIONAL AUCTION: On site, August 29, at 2pm.

AGENTS: David Nightingale and Courtney Tierney, Harcourts Top Bays Realty. Ph David 027 227 2949 mob; Courtney 0275 343 222 mob.