Bay retreat was holiday haven for 'true Kiwi'

Two wooden seats, tied together by a small table, sit empty and lonely among the marine plants on the front lawn of a well-kept fibrolite bach at Waihi Beach.
A contented Sir Edmund Hillary sat there for hours with his wife June, underneath the large Norfolk pine, during the hot summer days.
He would gaze out to the sea - probably thinking about more adventures - and he enjoyed watching the children having a fun time on the beach.
Now, the empty seats are a poignant reminder that Sir Ed, as he liked to be called, will no longer visit his beloved beachfront retreat - something he had done for the past 25 years.
Sir Edmund died of a heart attack in Auckland Hospital yesterday, aged 88.
Some of his family were staying at the newly-painted beach house and received a phone call early yesterday. They immediately packed, locked up the quaint 1940s bach and headed for Auckland.
There was a subdued atmosphere as the news filtered along the beachfront.
Neighbour John Francis said Sir Edmund was a typical Kiwi guy having the ultimate Kiwi holiday on the beach.
"He would sit for hours watching the kids in the water. I think he felt quite private down here. He walked along the beach and people wouldn't recognise him for a while - until they looked twice. He would say hello to you.
"You could see over the years that he was getting slower and slower as he walked on the beach. I hadn't seen him around here for at least a year and we knew he was in hospital - the word soon gets around," said Mr Francis, from Kumeu, who has had a holiday home near the Hillarys for 12 years.
Mr Francis - like other neighbours - was "shocked and saddened" by Sir Edmund's death.
"The most devastating thing is this is an end of an era of an important New Zealander.
"I can't think of anyone who had the same mana as Sir Ed. Everyone respected him and you never heard anyone criticising him." said Mr Francis.
"He's a true Kiwi - a very down to earth, modest bloke who made good. He devoted himself to good things. I would challenge anyone to name someone more famous," he said.
Across the street, Johnny Hammond - a carpenter who had moved from Te Awamutu - said "we have lost a New Zealand icon."
He said he never saw Sir Edmund much. "They would drive the car down the side of the bach and park out of the way, and they mainly kept to themselves."
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the Hillarys were just another family that used their beach place for their holidays.
The locals knew where he stayed but out of respect they left him alone to enjoy the peaceful beachfront - Sir Edmund could look straight out to Mayor Island.
"He spent a lot of good times here and we like to think of him as a Bay person," said Mr Francis.