KEY POINTS:
530 Manawaora Rd, Te Uenga Bay, Parekura Bay, Bay Of Islands
Passersby along the road high above Te Uenga Bay, part of greater Parekura Bay, had no idea what they were walking away from when they shook their heads at the For Sale sign on the fence back in 1976.
That was until Paul and Barbara Edwards drove by during one of their annual Bay Of Islands camping trips with their three teenage daughters.
Paul, a civil and structural engineer and then-director of Babbage Consultants, saw opportunity where everyone else saw expensive obstacles.
"Everybody had ignored it because of the difficult access but I knew how I could make it work. I was drawn to the challenge of building the access driveway and designing a house suitable for the landform."
Common sense, economics and a wooden house that Barbara had seen on a trip to India were the motivating factors behind the classic pole-house design, a relatively new concept then for building on sloping sites.
Twelve heavy radiata pine poles extend from the foundations through the structure. The house is clad and lined with New Zealand redwood up to the steep pitched fibrolite roof, with some solid bracing poles beneath the main floor, which is made of native matai.
The home was designed by Kerry Avery, then an up-and-coming architect with Paul's firm, who is now the principal of Avery Team Architects in Auckland.
Paul, who is now retired, surveyed the site, did the engineering drawings and supervised the construction. He man-handled those poles too.
"I have great memories of putting those things in," he recalls, flicking through the family's pictorial record of the house, its construction and its family milestones.
"I took all these photographs so there are no pictures of me doing the work!" he laughs.
Paul and Barbara's daughter, acclaimed Auckland architect Megan Edwards, designed more recent, sympathetic alterations, including the updated laminate/eucalyptus plywood kitchen and matching bathroom, a larger deck off the kitchen, and the third bedroom/rumpus room in the excavated basement beneath the master bedroom.
The collaborative result on this project has given this family the stylish bach they wanted that would honour its location. "It was about a minimum invasion of the landscape," Paul explains.
The appealing functionality of its layout begins at the simple, single front door beneath a small eyebrow veranda roof that opens into a small entry lobby. Stairs lead left to the mezzanine sleeping loft that has six beds configured in two groups of three for privacy. All told, the house sleeps nine comfortably.
The lounge and its full-width balcony steps down off the dining area which is on the same level as the kitchen. The four-glass pendant light fitting is genuine 1970s chic. The original copper-hooded wood burner that burned faithfully for 30 years worth of frequent winter holidays has only just been replaced with a new edition.
Abundant supplies of manuka fuel the fireplace and the original concrete-block barbecue on which the family smoke their fish and cook their shellfish catches.
Paul would always chop the firewood but Barbara was never far behind to help. "I've done a lot of wood carrying in my day," she says with a laugh.
While their house was being designed, Paul and Barbara spent their weekends planting many kauri, puriri and other native saplings to enhance the second growth of native bush that was establishing itself off original farmland.
Every time they arrive from Auckland, they brew a pot of tea, then shut the front door behind them and take a walk through the bush.
For Paul it's about "making my acquaintance with the birds". Or, as Barbara remarks, "To see what the last wind has brought down."
That reminds them of the afternoon a morepork took time out to watch Paul cutting a pine tree that had fallen along the public walkway from their gate to the beach reserve.
"He sat on a branch and every time I moved he would move so he could still see me.
"He never flew away, even though I was using a chainsaw. He watched me and I talked to him. It was gorgeous. You can hear the moreporks at night up here. I love that sound."
Owning and working this property has been a labour of love. "I can work up here all day and love it," says Paul. "Working at home? I resent it."
This place is loaded with memories but the family have agreed that the property - which can be subdivided to accommodate a second pole house with the same aspect - needs the energy and commitment of a new family.
Features: Three bedrooms, including one six-bed sleeping loft, one bathroom, 5000-gallon water tank, mooring
Land area: 9886sq m with subdivision potential.
Price: $1.15 million
Agent: Mairead Anderson of LJ Hooker, Whangarei, ph (09) 428 1332, 027 503 7719
Web: www.ljhooker.co.nz
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