Robyn Welsh: Beach holds memories

For brother and sister Michelle and Michael Wobcke, the resort vibe of Ōmaha Beach is irresistible.

They've been coming here since they were youngsters, all happily piling into the small modest bach that their grandparents built at the more established north end of the beach.

Following the sale of that house when they were in their teens, they kept coming back here, renting out any of the larger, more suitable, homes that have steadily transformed the south end of the beach over the past 20 years.

Wobcke family holidays have never been anywhere other than their favourite beachside outlook that is popular with Auckland escapees. "We always knew we were going to have a bach up here because we never wanted to go anywhere else. Dad wanted to retire here, too," says Michelle.

Ironically it was the first anniversary of his death on February 14, 2015 that brought Michelle and Michael to this property that has tugged their heart strings and stocked their shared business acumen.

That day in February 2016, they came here to honour his passing and remember his unfulfilled dream, never intending to buy property.

Shortly after arriving here, Michelle chanced upon an appealing "under the million dollar" price tag attached to a property advertised privately. She arranged an immediate viewing with the owner and as soon as she had checked out its assets, she phoned her brother who was still driving up from Auckland.

"I told him to hurry up. This place is amazing. We have to buy it."

We weren't ready to buy, but we fell in love with it. There was just something about it. Everything just aligned that day. We believe Dad guided us to this place. "

Four days later they had the paperwork settled, but they didn't move in immediately.

True to form, they'd already hired a rental house for the forthcoming Easter break, so they moved their builder in to get their small, but significant, alterations under way.

From the outset, they saw scope to add value to this Richard Priest architecturally designed home that is one of 25 freehold homes on this development site.

When Michelle walked past the off-street parking bay and into the house, she saw potential to turn the redundant garage into a third bedroom and separate storage.

This bedroom shares the central courtyard with the adjacent bedroom and main living area.

The remaining one-quarter of the original garage space is now storage for beach toys, racquets and bikes, accessible through the street-side roller door.

"It was such a big space to begin with and it has turned out to be a nice renovation," Michelle says of their house that was built about 2004.

Within the two original bedrooms, there is also scope to add a wardrobe or en suite.

"There's lots of potential there but we decided to leave that. It's all built. It's just not fitted out," says Michelle. Designed for low maintenance and easy entertaining, this house has a marine ply/linear weatherboard exterior, polished concrete floors and bedrooms with new carpet.

The main courtyard has cafe drop-sides for year-round entertaining. Off the second lounge, there is a timber deck that floats out into the mature garden.

Within the kitchen/dining area, a free-standing island bench on castor wheels can be moved around to open up the kitchen or section off the work areas.

From the outdoor shower to the log-burning lounge fireplace, this home has been an ideal step to the bigger home that Michelle and Michael now need for their extended family and friends.

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