SCHOOL ZONES:
Parnell School, Epsom Girls’ Grammar, Auckland Grammar
CONTACT:
Pene Milne, ph 021 919 940.
Monique Morrison spent 18 months searching for the perfect apartment to downsize to from the family's three-level, five-bedroom home in Mt Eden.
They were all either too big, too small, leaky, dingy or in the wrong location. That is, until she found this gem in a sought-after block of nine10-year-old apartments, near the seaside end of St Stephens Ave in Parnell.
"The location is to die for. We like to walk and run and bike and to eat out. From here you can do all of that in every direction," says Monique.
The Morrisons decided on a one-level apartment a year ago because their son Callum, now 21, was studying in Melbourne and daughter Sian, 18, was about to leave home. The Morrisons wanted a smaller, lower-maintenance home and, as Hugh often travels for his work, Monique also wanted the security that apartment living offered.
They seized the opportunity to buy this three-bedroom apartment, which is on the north-facing second level of their three-level block in one of Auckland's best-dressed streets, just a few hundred metres down the road from Prime Minister John Key's palatial home.
The apartment block sits back from cliffs overlooking the Sky Tower, inner city, the Ports of Auckland, Devonport and the inner Hauraki Gulf. It is also just a few minutes' walk down to Judge's Bay, the salt water Parnell Baths and waterfront walks linking Hobson's Bay and the Orakei Basin.
"The outlook from where we are is stunning. We get to see the full effect of the Sky Tower at night, we can watch yachts coming and going and about one cruise ship a day during the season.
"You can also watch the weather coming in across the harbour. So I can lie in bed, look out the window and decide not to go for a walk if I see the rain coming in."
The apartment block's grounds have been landscaped with lush subtropical palms and shrubs bordered by formal hedging. The Morrisons' covered balcony looks down over a large communal swimming pool and spa surrounded by paving, and shaded seating areas on the northern side of the property.
Monique says they have made good use of the swimming pool and the spa, which they often have to themselves.
"Living here has been like being in a resort. We have enjoyed all of the features that are on offer with none of the work."
Image 1 of 5: 2B/138 St Stephens Ave, Parnell. Photo / Ted Baghurst
One of the apartment's aspects Monique has most enjoyed has been its user-friendly layout. "We've often said that if we ever built a house, we would base it on this floor plan."
That plan includes a central, U-shaped kitchen with the open-plan living spaces and dining room wrapping around it. "I love the fact that it is one large space so I can be in the kitchen and chat to everyone as well as looking out to the view."
Behind the kitchen is the large, north-facing master bedroom, which opens out to a balcony that is also accessed from the living room. The apartment's other two large bedrooms, the main bathroom and an office that could be a fourth bedroom are on the other side of the living space, which gives the sense of the house having two separate wings.
The carpeted apartment has excellent central heating, under-floor heating in the two bathrooms, which the Morrisons have rarely used, a good-sized laundry and two carparks in the basement of the building as well as a lock-up.
With both of their children abroad, Hugh and Monique now want to explore their own options for working overseas.
