Awhitu Peninsula: Flounder by a beach fire

An idyllic piece of land that has been in the same family for more than 70 years is offered to a new generation.

Kauri Road, Awhitu Peninsula.

Stuart Dickey remembers decades of summers spent camping on his family land at Awhitu. There were flounder to catch by torchlight at night, and scallops waiting two minutes off the beach by boat. And endless fields, it seemed, of grass to run up and down. He and his extended family slept in tents, or bunked down in a couple of implement sheds by the sand. There was no power, so light and cooking heat came from gas canisters, or fires on the beach. Water came from a bore. They were perfect Kiwi holidays.

So it is with some emotion that Stewart is finally parting with the last 8 ha piece of the 60ha farm bought by his grandfather, Samuel Dickey, in the 1930s. The dairy farm, which had a wharf at the end of the road, was originally owned by an early settler family, the Garlands. They also ran the Boat Hotel and the Awhitu Wharf Store and Post Office on the land. They built a tennis club with three clay courts in the 1920s, which become one of the peninsula's social centres. A corner of the farm housed a dump first for sea shells, then for metal barged from Onehunga, with which the peninsula's roads were made.

After buying the land, Samuel Dickey lived in the store building until it was demolished in about 1950. In the early 1960s Stuart's father, Gordon Dickey, sold the farm, but kept the 8 ha block by the beach.

It is to this that his children and grandchildren have returned year after year.

It's easy to see why. Even on the blustery, showery day we visited, 180 degree views are visible from Whatipu on the other side of the Manukau Heads, across to Auckland city, and around to Waiuku. Grassy headlands at either end of the bay sweep down to a central flat, empty bar a couple of implement sheds. Under the pohutukawa-lined cliffs is another little bay.

Stuart owns the land in equal shares with his brother, sister and mother. Some members of the family feel the need to move on, so they have agreed to sell the land together.

The land is being sold as one title, and at present could not be subdivided easily, if at all (see story below).

But it presents a wonderful opportunity for someone to build a dream house, which would be completely private, on this peaceful finger of land.

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Land 8 ha.

PRICE INDICATION: Offers over $3.1 million.

INSPECT: By appointment.

CONTACT: Cheryle Gail, Century 21, ph 027 244 8691 mob, 09 238 4236 bus, 09 235 1588 a/h.

FEATURES: North facing, elevated grassed land and also some that is absolute beachfront. Two implement sheds. Bore water. Expansive views. Seven minutes by helicopter from Auckland Airport, 90 minutes by car from CBD.