Land of opportunity

MANGAWHAI 21 LINCOLN STREET

Ron and Julie Sproston were in the process of building themselves a house when Julie wrecked their plans. Driving around Mangawhai trying to get the kids to sleep, she came across a section that was everything she knew they wanted, and went home to tell Ron things had changed.

“We went back there for another look, had a glass of bubbles and put in an offer,” Ron says. “We loved it because unlike lots of waterfront properties, there was no road between us and the water. And we’d previously had a place that looked down on the water, which was what I call a looking view, whereas this place is a living view.”

That living view looks from the house across the lawn and straight over the estuary to Mangawhai’s iconic sand dunes, and it changes constantly.

Their brief to themselves for the house design was, obviously, to maximise the water views, and provide them with a casual, easy-living home built to the sun. They wanted lots of entertaining space, a log burner for winter, and big decks.

“I’m in the spa pool business and I needed to be able to sit in my spa pool on the deck and watch it all going on,” Ron says.

He worked out the spaces they wanted and drew up the plans, which included more than 100sq m of deck.

The house is a simple rectangle built to cope with coastal conditions, with cedar weatherboard cladding, corrugated iron roof and double-glazing. There’s a big entertainers’ kitchen with stainless steel appliances, tiled floors and a casual island bench to provide sitting space for guests. Not too ritzy, Ron emphasises. They share the cooking when they’re on holiday and the adjoining covered barbecue area is always well-utilised.

With an estuary frontage, the property provides ample opportunity for enjoying the water.

“The kids can go off and do what they do because it’s not a surf beach so it’s pretty safe,” Ron says.

Everyone likes to watch the kite surfers, wind surfers and paddle boarders, they fish out front, and Julie often kayaks over to the dunes with her morning tea.

“The great thing about being here is that you don’t need to go anywhere else to do anything,” Ron says. “Other places you have to put everything in the car and drive to the beach, but we’ve got it all right here.”

The house seems naturally to attract guests, and it’s set up to accommodate extras. As well as the master bedroom with en suite, there’s another double bedroom and a fun bunk room that’ll sleep eight or 10 people. A family bathroom, studio, covered barbecue area and a kids’ playhouse complete the space.

And there’s no shortage of entertainment, with five beaches within 15 minutes, surf-casting, rock fishing and boating. There are good launching facilities for trailer boats at the community funded boat-ramp and pontoon. For those who like to stretch their legs there’s Mangawhai golf course and the spectacular Coastal Track. Foodies are catered for by local cafes and thriving chocolate-making, avocado, coffee, wine and olive oil industries.

Ron and Julie are aware that they’ll never replicate what they have here, but accept that they’re now on to the next phase of their lives, which will involve another building project on a 2ha block at Botany.

The kids can go off and do what they do because it’s not a surf beach so it’s pretty safe.