Jean Hunt says she and husband Grant's build in Gulf Harbour had a lot to do with the golf course next door. "We look at the signature hole, actually — you can hear the golf balls being pinged." The views out to the Hauraki Gulf were a big drawcard, too.
"My husband especially loves to sit watching the golfers, and we watch the boating. The yacht club's just around the corner as well, where the ferry goes from, so there's certain days when all the yachties come out.
"We've got views from Kawau to Rangitoto, and we've got Tiri (Tiritiri Matangi Island) of course — the ferry comes past every day to take people out for bird watching."
Jean and Grant's architecturally designed, two-level home in the gated enclave of Pacific Cliffs was finished last year.
The couple used to live in Titirangi but were co-owners of an apartment on the Gulf Harbour canal, so they'd been coming to Whangaparaoa Peninsula for weekends and would go boating.
Their house was designed by Kim Bouman of Franklin Architectural Design, with a brief to take advantage of the views and the golfing.
"We have friends come and stay the weekend. The two bedrooms downstairs are both en suited as well, so everyone's comfortable and have their own space."
Every room has fantastic views — you can even see Rangitoto from the master bedroom en suite.
"We've also got an office on the top level that's got its own entrance, so if someone wanted to work from home they've got a separate entrance. They don't need to bring people through the house."
Jean and Grant wanted the house to be interesting, so there are wide hallways, various angles and different height ceilings, with an open plan flow.
"For us it works very well. We've got two separate areas to sit in and we designed it really for the golfing lifestyle and work from home thing."
The master bedroom, which has a dressing room/walk-in wardrobe, is at one end of the house upstairs and guests are at the opposite end downstairs, where there is potential for a kitchenette to be added.
The house was also designed to fit the landscape, Jean says. "The section was fan-shaped and we didn't just want a square little box, so the house does fan out from one side to the other and is smaller at the back."
The sunrises are gorgeous, and as Grant commutes to town by ferry for work "he gets all that on the ferry in the morning. They see the dolphins and then he has a really nice commute home at night."
Jean says though the views and the golf course attracted the pair, they also liked that Pacific Cliffs is gated and safe.
There is a small body corporate which looks after the roading, lights and gates.
This is a reluctant sale but Jean says she needs to be closer to her elderly mother who lives across the Harbour Bridge.
The house will be hard to leave because it is "the nicest house I've ever lived in".
