Muriwai: Pipe dreams

Nelson's view sweeps from the coast to the Muriwai golf course.

Two big sections on Auckland's west coast offer huge potential for lovers of surfing, golf or gannets.

Nelson Taylor was 13 and had amassed a substantial sum from collecting scrap metal and bottles from around his home in Onehunga.

Then his father sat him down one day and said he should invest the money in his future by buying some land. He pointed out some sections that the former Waitemata County Council was subdividing at Muriwai Beach. The council was selling them by ballot, so young Nelson chucked his name in the hat.

"And this is the one I was allocated," says Nelson, sitting outside his bach on the land some 48 years later. In 1956 it cost him 70.

It's easy to see why even a 13-year-old could appreciate owning this coastal gem - positioned midway between the surf beaches of Muriwai and Maori Bay, access to the water is just down the road. The north-facing view stretches from Oaia Island off Maori Bay, to forever up the coast, and around to the Muriwai Golf Course just back from the beach.

"Me and my mates would hitchhike out here most weekends," recalls Nelson. "It would take one to three hours depending on how many lifts you got. To begin with we slept up here in a big wooden case that car parts were imported in, then when the surf club got bunks and a stove we slept down there."

Nelson joined the Muriwai Surf Lifesaving Club the year after he bought his land, and is still a member today. His teams used to win Auckland championships in the 1960s, in the days when the only rescue equipment surf lifesavers had was a flotation belt and their swimming skill.

He also surfed, and still has the 2.5m longboard (8ft 6in in surfer terms) that a friend brought back from Hawaii for him in the 1960s.

"We'd also paddle out to the island on our surf skis and go fishing," he says.

For half the year they had thousands of gannets for company. The Takapu Refuge on a headland in front of Nelson's property is a world famous gannet colony to which the birds return in spring to nest and raise their chicks through the summer.

When Nelson was 21 he decided it was time he had a bach on his property, so started looking for buildings for sale. He found an old canteen at a venetian blind company in Mt Roskill, bought it for 120, with money earned from his bread run around west Auckland, and had it trucked up to his site for another 40.

In 1988 Nelson bought the bushclad section next door. He planned to build a house on it, and even had the foundation poles helicoptered in and planted deep into the hillside.

They are still there if the new owner wants to build on them.

"I've lived in Waterview for the past 26 years, but my wife Christine doesn't like coming out here - it's a bit too basic for her," says Nelson. "And my health's not good - I've had three bypasses. I haven't slept here for five years."

Nelson also has other another interest these days which consumes a lot of his time - restoring classic cars. He has a 1929 American Packard, and has restored two Ford Zodiacs for his daughters.

He admits he is sentimental about selling the land, but has chosen to be realistic.

It's ready for a new era, with a new owner who can make full use of its many benefits. In this day and age, however, he or she will probably be older than Nelson was when he bought it.

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Section with bach 928sq m, neighbouring section 997sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected above $450,000 for each section. Tender closes July 14.

INSPECT: Sunday 3pm-3.45pm.

CONTACT: Simon Spiller, Harcourts, ph 411 7994 bus, 021 968 068 mob.

FEATURES: Bach with breathtaking coastal views. Near two surf beaches and the Muriwai golf course. Opposite Takapu Gannet Refuge. Section partly bush-clad, neighbouring section completely bush-clad. North-facing and next to the Muriwai Regional Park. Bach has power, phone and water tank.

+ No garage but lots of offstreet parking.