Waikowhai: Who bought that house?

39E Cape Horn Road, Waikowhai.

Sold by: Jeannette Young-Smith, Bayleys Titirangi, ph 817 0112 or 021 826 640.

For John Skeates, buying the cliff top house at Cape Horn Road (featured in Heraldhomes on November 19) is a return to his idyllic New Zealand childhood: gangs of small boys making mud huts in the nearby bush, setting flounder nets on the beach at the bottom of the track, and killer trolley races down the hill after the road was sealed in the 1960s. He grew up at No. 9 Cape Horn Road, leaving the neighbourhood when he moved to Christchurch. But the neighbourhood never left him.

"It had been in my heart to get back here; my parents only moved out three years ago and my family have all stayed close," he says. "I had come back to this bush to collect supplejacks to make a bow for my son, went door-knocking and discovered this place was for sale."

John and wife Liz had had no intention of uprooting their three kids - aged 12 to 17 - after spending years building, and finally finishing, their dream house of cedar and schist nearby. John is a hunting and fishing guy (their current house has a distinct lodge feel to it) and the couple had harboured dreams of eventually moving to the country.

But one look at this Andrew Patterson-designed home and plans changed.

Breathtaking 180-degree views of the Manukau harbour, a bush teeming with native birds and a collection of interesting neighbours have already won the family over. Architect Patterson is already being briefed to enlarge the house to accommodate a houseful of teens, adding on a second living space and a bedroom. John longs to replace wooden balustrades on the deck with glass, so his view is uninterrupted, and landscape more tracks through the bush to the beach and reserve.

After the time it took to complete the last house, John has promised the family things will happen fast this time around. He's already picturing working from home and hosting workshops for his software company in the glass walled lounge.