Seclusion above the harbour

60D Sentinel Rd, Herne Bay. Photo / Ted Baghurst

60D SENTINEL RD, HERNE BAY

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SIZE: Land 393sq m, house 293sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Similar homes in area have sold for around $3 million. Expressions of interest sought. Set sale date September 5.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 2-3pm.

ON THE WEB: rwremuera.co.nz/RMU21372

SCHOOL ZONES: Ponsonby Primary, Ponsonby Intermediate, Auckland Girls' Grammar, Western Springs College.

CONTACT: Nicholas Dallyn, Ray White Remuera, ph 021 444 744, (09) 520 9100.

FEATURES: Three-storey freehold solid masonry apartment, one of five in gated enclave. Triple- height glass atrium, northwest harbour outlook. Ground-floor living could be third or fourth bedroom. Bathrooms plus powder room. Internal and external gas fireplaces, sound system throughout, touch-pad audio-visual system. Off- street parking for two cars.

Some home buyers travel to the ends of the Earth to find their dream home. In John Bromley's case he drives three and a half hours from his main home in Taupo to this piece of paradise that is his Auckland base.

As he pulls out of his central North Island property, he leaves behind the horses that he trains in Marton in Manawatu.

Here, he settles into a new rhythm, with clifftop Waitemata Harbour views from this three-storey state-of-the art home at the foot of Sentinel Rd in the heart of Herne Bay, central Auckland.

Beside the electronic gates to this secure enclave of apartments there are public steps down through bush to Sentinel Beach reserve.

Behind John's front door, it's a completely different world and a welcoming one.

"I'm in the middle of Auckland and I can't hear the traffic of the harbour bridge. It is totally quiet and totally private," he explains.

This home has expansive casual and formal living areas on the middle level with the master bedroom suite and large paved deck occupying the entire top level. Off the ground floor entry, with its triple-height atrium and marble floors, there is one double guest bedroom and one large living area that opens to the courtyard, in-ground spa pool and swimming pool with jets.

John says there is scope for a new owner to reconfigure this living area as one or two more bedrooms, in line with the choices available to the original buyers off the developer's architectural plans.

The mid-level kitchen, dining area and casual living area features newly refurbished American oak flooring. Through double doors, the carpeted formal lounge with its gas fireplace and louvred windows is a cosy retreat.

"You can close it off so that in winter, it's just like a giant snug," says John.

Outside, by the dining area, the courtyard captures that beguiling view across the harbour to West Auckland past a shoreline dotted with the profiles of exclusive waterside homes.

Framed by the his own neighbour's tropical gardens directly in front, this is John's favourite view. "The yachts, the people fishing off the jetty, the pohutukawa tree and the lights all lit up at night ... I never tire of it."

The rear, private, face of the contemporary house to the right is, says John, "a magnificent piece of sculpture" that frames his view of the harbour bridge to the northeast.

Sculpture is a big interest of John's and the pieces that have found a happy place in this home include copper bird sculptures by Wellington sculptor Nick Dryden. "Icons are important in my life, and these birds - shags, pukeko, godwits - are part of that."

John's home is the only one in this complex to have double off-street parking and he has filled his, appropriately, with a horse sculpture he bought at a fundraising auction for the Melanoma Foundation. It's a fitting signature piece given it was the thoroughbred mare Princess Coup that John co-owned, which won New Zealand's richest horse race, the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes in 2007 and 2008.

On the home front, John Bromley has been travelling to Whanarua Bay, in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, for many years. He first went there on a camping holiday when he was 10 years old. "It has kept calling me back ever since and that's where I'm going to build my dream home."

For John, this taste of clifftop living in Auckland has been a delight that he describes as "the transition on the way to the dream".