COAST AND COUNTRY
LOT 5 STARBOARD ARM, KAWAU ISLAND
Christopher Miller has been to Kawau Island about 200 times, but he has never been to the Coromandel. That “200 times” may not be strictly accurate, but it’s how Miller explains one of the drivers for selling his extraordinary waterfront property on the island.
The electronics engineer for Team New Zealand bought the house in 1999 when he and his then partner had finished cruising the Pacific and wanted to settle in New Zealand. The Kawau property offered them the best of both worlds — the cruising lifestyle and a place on the ground.
Miller had not been to Kawau until he went to view the property.
“We had sailed into Opua, noticed the real estate ad and made an appointment to see it a few days later. We were going to sail there but actually we just couldn’t wait so we hired a car, went down there and that was it.”
The idea of living full-time on an island was very attractive to Miller — far more so than living in suburbia. The house is in the Starboard Arm of North Cove on a north-facing site, the house is tucked into the hillside with hundreds of acres of native bush behind it, and the water right in front.
It’s tidal, with boat access to its own jetty up to two hours either side of most tides, and alternative access from the nearby all-tide Starboard Arm wharf. Or, Miller points out, you can walk along the beach.
“I’m a boatie so I like that you can’t just drive up here in your Range Rover,” he says.
“Timing your arrivals and departures with the tide is a nice way to live and it’s certainly better than timing everything around the traffic on the motorway.”
The house appealed just as much as the location. It has dark-stained board and batten and a green corrugated iron roof and recedes into its bushy backdrop. SIZE: Land 2.93ha, house 220 sq m. PRICE: $1.075 million. INSPECT: By appointment. SCHOOLS: Mahurangi College, Warkworth School. CONTACT: Dave Jeffrey, LJ Hooker, 021 951 038. ON THE WEB: warkworth.ljhooker.co.nz/40MHAY/
Miller describes it as “kinda funky” and he and his then partner had immediate ideas on how to improve and upgrade it. Between them, they had five children, so they put in a bunk room with four bunks, ensuring plenty of space for kids and their friends.
The two-level, 220sq m house has a further four bedrooms and there are en suites and bathrooms on both levels. The master bathroom has been refurbished with contemporary fittings and pale grey tiles, but retains a measure of funkiness in the pebbled floor and bath surround. The same pebble work has been used behind the log burner in one of the sitting areas.
A variety of living areas provides space for entertaining, relaxing, cooking, working and even enjoying a game of table tennis, and Miller says they use every area of the house. “I love it here in the winter,” he says. “The house is cosy, it’s protected from the weather and the deck windows and the trees are good windbreaks. In the summer, we just open everything up and play outside on the deck — it’s almost as big as the house.”
They’ve all made great use of the place over the past 17 years and have never had any problems keeping themselves amused on the island. But with kids now 8 and 11 with varied interests, and a career with Team New Zealand that keeps him in the Viaduct much of the time, Christopher accepts that it’s time to move on.
“It has been great but it has kept me from seeing other parts of New Zealand,” he says. “And in the meantime I won’t be looking for a replacement. I don’t want to have more toys than time.”