SCHOOL ZONES:
Waimauku School,
Massey High School or Kaipara College.
CONTACT:
Simon Spiller, Bayleys, ph
021 968 068.
FEATURES:
Quintessential Kiwi bach
comprising five small buildings,
sheltered but with dramatic views of
Maori Bay and Muriwai Beach. Massive
pohutukawa, native bush next door and
stepped easy-care garden. Romance in
spades.
Most houses described on pages such as these are all about size, luxury, architectural cleverness or just location, location, location. Certainly dramatic views of Maori Bay and Muriwai Beach loom large in the picture of the quintessential Kiwi bach that is Dan and Jenni Abdelnoor's home. But to say thatwas all would be denying its most important asset. For this is a house that is all about heart.
What then makes it so special? For Dan, it is the way he can run his worldwide dog training business from the hammock, thanks to the joys of broadband and Wi-Fi, all the while checking out the surf on the beaches below. For Jenni, it's things like the port-hole stained-glass windows or the way the sea, from horizon to shore, turns silver at the time of the harvest moon. In fact, there are so many things both of them love about their home, if it weren't for the fact that one-year-old Stanley is about to have a sibling in the near future and they need more room to run their businesses, they wouldn't be thinking about selling it.
Six years ago, when Dan and Jenni bought the five little cabins on the hillside above Muriwai, everything was much shabbier than it is today. What couldn't be changed were the views which could never be built out and - thanks to a quirk of geography - shelter from the sometimes fierce westerlies. Likewise the way the cabins rambled across the land under the sheltering arms of a giant pohutukawa didn't need altering, but the gardens were undeveloped and the buildings were a tad shabby. Not daunted, Dan quickly painted them in the pohutukawa colours of dark green and red, and set about establishing gardens.
Now, thanks to his hard work and green fingers, the whole property looks trim with nikau filling the glade of vacant land beside them, cacti, herbs and flowers spilling over from every corner and pale shells gleaming on the pathways. Dan's father Jason, currently visiting from Britain, likens this shell covering to the pebbles that led Hansel and Gretel through the forest. "They really show up in the moonlight. They certainly lead the way when you're coming up here late at night."
Each of the cabins has a different function with the one nearest the road being where Dan runs his business. Although not huge, it is big enough to have a work desk and to tape dog-training clips for his Doggy Dan website. Linking this to the kitchen and living cabin is a courtyard dug out of the hillside and filled with a profusion of plants. The living cabin is charm itself. Tiny and so low in its kitchen lean-to that Dan's head brushes the ceiling, it is as warm and intimate as a ship's cabin. A small deck out front is another perfect place to sit and watch orca pass by below or seals lounge on Oaia Rock.
Next up the path is the utility cabin, complete with "a loo with a view", a bath positioned to take in the best of the nikau glade and a shower curtain suspended from a piece of supple-jack vine. Somehow a laundry tucks in as well. Alongside is the cabin where Jenni and Dan sleep, with Stanley's cot in an adjacent linked room. A circular stained-glass window throws a gentle light as he sleeps the sleep of the very young.
Last but not least, is the guest room tucked away like a honeymoon retreat near the top of the path. "Friends come for a couple of hours," laughs Jenni, "but they end up staying all weekend. Lying up here, listening to the birdsong and watching the ocean, the world seems very far away."
