View of 'God's canvas'

Cindy Galea says she bought her Ashton Terrace house in Castlecliff for the view - "plain and simple".

Dr Galea liked the early 1900s house which was built by a business couple and later owned by the harbour master, but it required a lot of work to get it back to its original state.

Today, Dr Galea is happy with the state of the house - and the exceptional views.

"I wanted a view of the ocean and one that did not look down on houses and gardens," she said.

"The ocean puts things into perspective for one - it is mesmerising and ever-changing."

The view for Dr Galea is "looking at God's canvas.

"The pallet of nature is so beautiful - it clears your head and instantly relaxes you."

It is exciting listening to the sound of the ocean when it's stormy, and watching the foam and waves, she says.

The view from her sun room is over the Whanganui River towards the South Mole, and out to the right is the river mouth.

When it rains the river is brown but, once it flushes, the blue and green of the sea return - and, on a high tide, a blue-green sea rushes upriver.

"The fishing area is so close and so is the picnic area. It's a nice area to walk your dog and I'm going to enjoy walking with Zsa Zsa," she says of the dog that will soon be coming to live with her.

In an eave at the side of the house, also with a view, a blackbird returns to a nest which Dr Galea has maintained in the six years she has lived here.

"We are river people, too," she says of her family's origins by the Calder River in the north of England where she spent her childhood.