SCHOOL ZONES:
Warkworth Primary and Mahurangi College.
CONTACT:
Jenni Finlayson, Bayleys, 021 506 920.
AUCTION:
December 16
*Off-road parking for 4 cars
With shelter from the wind, and extensive bush and sea views, Patrick O'Connor knew this lifestyle block overlooking the Mahurangi River would make an ideal place for his family home.
Coming from a farming background, he could read the lie of the land.
"There are places on a farm where you will see the vegetation grows straight up and isn't bothered by wind," says Patrick. "You see these glens that you can hang out in and bake in the sun. We could see that when we arrived and that is the place we put this house.
"It a sunny little spot looking out to the harbour."
Patrick and his wife had firm ideas on what they wanted for the house that would grace this land.
"The aim was not a big footprint, energy efficient in terms of the way it attracted the sun, warm and low requirement for permanent heating. The other thing we wanted was to have a nice indoor-outdoor flow so that when we open up all the bifolds we could almost feel like we were under a canvas.
"The aesthetics were about the colour and having a pitched curved roof.
"In a lot of ways we came up with the design ourselves and then a draughtsperson drew it up.
"We did have some discussion with architects; we have three good friends who are architects and one of them is my brother-in-law who is a professor at AUT in architecture, so we got some good input there."
Patrick had moved to the Warkworth area in the 1980s from a farm in Karaka.
"I have lived in the area since and my wife also went to the local school and was from the area as well. Why did I come to Mahurangi? Because it is really beautiful. It has lots of beaches and great boating and islands. And it has developed, in terms of you can get a good cappuccino now. There is a lot on offer this way. It kind of reminds me of the Bay of Islands but you don't have to go all that way."
They spotted this land for sale in the local paper. A farmer had subdivided five lots.
"Originally it was 1.75 hectares and then we did a boundary relocation and took the balance up to 8.695 hectares of mainly covenanted native bush with 150-year-old kauri with two large paddocks in pasture," says Patrick.
Image 1 of 6: Renovated home with a pool, bush surrounds and a cherished kauri tree is close to beaches, boating and islands. Photos / Supplied
The house, built in 2002, has Onduline cladding, concrete floor, timber framing and iron roof.
The family has now moved to another home in Mahurangi West and for the past year, Patrick has been renovating the home, replacing kitchen, bathrooms, decking, carpet, repainting inside and out.
That has given the north-facing contemporary house the appearance of a new home. The new kitchen features bamboo benchtops, there are three double bedrooms, the lounge and a large bathroom. Large bifold windows measuring 5 and 4 metres open to the decks from the living areas.
Those decks are sun traps and overlook the in-ground swimming pool. In winter an open fireplace in the lounge provides warmth but the house has been designed to be naturally warm.
A sleep-out in the garden can be used as a studio or for extra accommodation for visiting family and friends, and there is a large shed on the property.
"And we put in a jetty down into the water, so we can get the boat in and out three hours either side of high tide," says Patrick.
"The view from our home is lovely because you have the mangroves and the harbour and a tributary coming in off the harbour to the northern side of the property.
"You only really have one boundary that isn't water or bush and that is the one where you come down the kilometre-long drive and half of that you go through the native bush.
"It is very private, intimate and quiet. You can't see other houses and you can't hear any of the cars. You could be on 3000 acres in the middle of Northland.
"You hear all the marine birds and you hear the native birds, the tui, wood pigeons, morepork, and wax eyes."
They are selling now the renovations are finished.
