SPOTLIGHT ON LEIGH
Views, private beach, an olive grove, 600 pohutukawa trees and a spacious house. What more could you want? Well, a lighthouse, of course, writes LEIGH BRAMWELL.
100 Omaha Block Access Road 4 3 2
If his extraordinary property at Leigh doesn’t sell, Neil Noran won’t be sad. And when it does sell, he knows there will be times when he will regret it. He regards himself as having been very privileged to own 100 Omaha Block Access Road, describing it as a little world away from the hustle and bustle of Auckland.
He says owning and developing the land here has been an amazing journey. “When we bought the property it was rundown, but it’s all done now.”
The 26-hectare block sits at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf on a north-facing headland at Leigh and occupies about 1.5km of coastline with riparian rights. The undulating farmland, pockets of native bush and manicured grounds border the Goat Island Marine Reserve, where the surrounding ocean waters deliver some of the best snorkelling and scuba diving in New Zealand.
Cresting the hill on the private road leading to the property delivers impressive sea views, with the blue ocean extending as far as the eye can see. Access to the water is by a foot track that meets the shoreline at a clutch of rocky outcrops rising like menhirs from the ocean. A walk around the bay reveals a small private beach where the sand and shells dip away to deeper water.
Lightly farmed, the land has been contoured and enhanced over the years with more than 600 pohutakawa which provide a generous display at Christmas, thousands of other natives and an olive grove.
The olive grove, established by a previous owner, happened by chance. There had been a slip in one of the paddocks and without really knowing much about olives, he planted the trees to stabilise the area. Now, many years down the track, the mature trees provide oil for Neil’s own press.
Overlooking the farm and the sea views is a spacious, three-bedroom cedar home built in the ‘80s. Earlier owners who built the house owned the land for 7-8 years before selecting the building site, finally deciding on a position from which they would get the full 360-degree view. The brief was for something spacious, open-plan and uncluttered, and that is what they achieved.
Neil acknowledges that at 40-odd years old the house needs some modernising. “But that’s a personal thing so we are leaving it for new owners.”
The sale is driven by a desire to spend more time with children and grandchildren, but the changing vistas the location provides will be sorely missed. “We see seals, orcas, dolphins, ocean liners and cargo ships.”
Neil isn’t the only one who watched the coastline. On the property is the Cape Rodney lighthouse, a fully automated, solar-powered lighthouse maintained by Maritime New Zealand. It features an LED beacon with a range of 10 nautical miles, and has marked safe entry to the harbour since 1967.
Sale: Price by negotiation Contact: Kellie Bissett, Bayleys, Bayleys, 027 530 6843