59 acre Pakatoa Island for sale on the Hauraki Gulf. Video / Ray White
If you spent a tough lockdown cramped in your lounge room running Zoom meetings while home-schooling the kids, then you are probably dying to escape to a new dream home.
Maybe one with a spare office so you can work in peace or a bigger backyard so you can sipan evening wine while the kids run free.
But why not let your dreams run a bit further? It's been a tough year, so here's a chance to peek inside the homes that the top 1 per cent live in – the Hollywood stars, rich-listers and business tycoons.
Here are some of New Zealand's flashest homes on sale right now – homes in which you need never fear lockdown again.
Monteith Grove combines luxurious extravagance with unusual taste. Photo / Supplied
Let's start with a taste of the bombastic. If you've ever wanted to spend lockdown living like a James Bond villain, then you need a home with its own cable car and waterfall.
Monteith Grove ticks those boxes. It boasts incredible panoramic views of Wellington, seven bedrooms, room for five cars and sits on a huge 2278sq m block of land.
The "palatial" home also – according to its owners' own admission – combines "unusual" styles.
That includes mixing a 1980s California and Florida-inspired exterior with 18th century Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian-styled bedrooms brimming with Persian rugs and oil paintings.
Then there is the indoor swimming pool and hot spa. It draws inspiration from Roman baths and Balinese spa culture – two styles well-known as complementary muses.
And of course there is the private cable car that can ferry you a few storeys from the bottom of the property to the top so you need never walk a stair again.
Offers above $3.95m for this one, please.
30 Wyuna Rise Queenstown
Stunning Wyuna Rise is among the most stylish homes on the market. Oh and the backdrop isn't bad either. Photo / Supplied
If Monteith Grove is a tad too much for you, then Wyuna Rise is a statement in modern minimalism.
Made with earthy stone and wooden materials, this five-bedroom home boasts stunning lake and snow-capped mountain views, including towards the nearly 3000m-high Mt Earnslaw.
Part of a small, exclusive residential hamlet carved out of Wyuna Station, if you take your kids here stunning Lake Wakatipu will be their backyard.
Yet should you need to suddenly zip back to town then, no problem, your private helicopter can come fetch you from the home's helipad.
Paradis Trouve in the Bay of Islands comes with its own beach and golf course. Photo / Supplied
If the sunshine is more your thing, then Paradis Trouve near Russell in New Zealand's Far North comes with nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, its own beach, a flood-lit tennis court and even world-class golf course.
And if that isn't enough adventure, the resort-like home is also close to the Bay of Islands' sailing, diving and fishing water wonderland.
It's just an "easy" 45-minute helicopter flight from Auckland, and as the new owner you would get the choice of staying in one of four luxury homes positioned around a swimming pool and spa that are designed to house an extended family group.
It also comes with boat sheds, a floating pontoon wharf and even a cocktail bar and Teppanyaki hot plate so you can cook up the catch of the day.
This one is a cool $19.75m.
46 Hobson St in Thorndon, Wellington
This Wellington home in Thorndon boasts plenty of warm, family entertaining areas. Great for any future lockdown. Photo / Supplied
This Wellington home doesn't come with the helipad or swimming pool of the other rich-lister properties, but it does make a beautiful urban retreat in the heart of Wellington.
Boasting a gorgeous vintage and urban design, the wooden home is designed around a series of pleasant entertaining areas.
They include an outdoor courtyard with comfy couches and dining table positioned around a powerful fire as well as the chance to take lunch in a greenhouse patio should the weather be a tad too cold.
The grand weatherboard house also comes with expanses of lawn in a part of the city that has otherwise already been given over to multi-storey apartments and commercial offices.
Offers above $6.5m.
Westhaven Retreat 336 Te Hapu Road, Mangarakau
Imagine waking up to these Golden Bay sunsets everyday. Photo / Supplied
It sits on a stunning strip of coastal land at the South Island's north west tip, filled with forests, beaches and spectacular limestone cliffs.
Should you snap this one up, you will takeover 330 hectares of west coast peninsula land close to Golden Bay that includes a working farm and allows you to go mountain biking, horse riding or to simply take in the view from a heated pool.
Owner Bruno Stompe said he and his wife fell in love with the property's natural beauty.
Selling for $22.5 million.
60 Victoria Avenue, Remuera
60 Victoria Ave comes with a Wimbledon-esque tennis court. Photo / Supplied
If you need to live in Auckland, then 60 Victoria Ave might appeal given its spacious comfort and the fact it looks like a late-Medieval Tudor tower.
Sitting on a huge 2580sq m estate it comes with five bedrooms, a theatre room, swimming pool and secluded tennis court that looks like one of the back courts at Wimbledon.
There's no mention of what price you'd need to pay to pick it up, but Auckland Council has valued it at $16m.
Halfway Bay Station, Wanaka
Halfway Bay Station on Lake Wakatipu comes with its own mountains, heli-skiing and river. And also a $50 million price tag. Photo / Supplied
The gorgeous Wyuna Rise we mentioned earlier might come with a spectacular architecturally-designed home that inspires you with its beauty.
But it is the incredible land that comes with Halfway Bay Station that will send your draw dropping.
The $50m gorgeous lakefront land lies nestled amongst Queenstown's snow-capped mountains and gives access to world-class fly-fishing and heli-skiing.
That's right, you can go heli-skiing on your own mountain, located on your own property.
Halfway Bay Station comes on an 18,000ha pastoral lease that contains four separate mountain valleys and 7km of shore-front land on Lake Wakatipu.
Twenty-three kilometres of the Lochy River - a world-renowned fly-fishery flowing with rainbow trout - also passes through the station.
Expect to pay about $50m.
Pakatoa Island, Hauraki Gulf Islands
There can't be a better place to isolate during a Covid-19 lockdown than on your own personal island. Photo / Supplied
Okay, so you got your own mountain with the last property – how about your own island?
Well should you fork out $40m, you can get your hands on Pakatoa Island, located just a 15-minute helicopter ride from Auckland or 75 minute ferry cruise.
The 24ha island comes with three white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and even a wharf capable of mooring a ferry.
It also has a 62-unit resort building, squash court, gym, spa, pool and poolside bar and even a golf course.
Its selling agents did describe the existing buildings as "being held in a time warp" so they may need a bit of renovating.
But with so much to do on your own 24ha private island, keeping the kids entertained during the next lockdown should be a breeze.
