KERRE McIVOR

AS FAR AS KERRE’S CONCERNED, HEAVEN MAY WELL BE ON THE KAˉ PITI COAST WITH GRANDKIDS

When I applied to have the week after Easter off work, I had no idea where I’d be. My son-in-law was due to start his new job in Wellington after Easter, but when I put in my leave application, their family hadn’t found a home to live in yet, so they could have been in the Hokianga, Hamilton or Christchurch – they could have been anywhere.

Wherever they were, I wanted to be, and as it turns out, that's in paradise. I've fallen in love with a whole new part of New Zealand I haven’t really had the opportunity to appreciate before.

The kids landed on their feet when they applied to rent a beautiful beachfront property on the Kaˉ piti Coast. The owners have built their dream home next door and rent out the old house to people until Christmas, when it's reserved for their own children and grandchildren until February. They couldn’t be kinder and more gracious landlords, and the property is breathtaking.

If I can’t be in the Hokianga, then I want to be here. This region has so many gorgeous seaside villages dotted up the coast, each with their own special character, and the coast itself is beautiful in a wild, untamed, glorious sort of a way.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the sunny early-autumn days. My grandchildren are on the beach every day, and it’s only a matter of minutes before their clothes are off and they’re in the water, but I can’t wait to sit in the window seat with the fire lit and watch the storms roll in from the sea during winter.

The community itself has a great café with brilliant coffee and an excellent wine list that I discovered after dark when I wasn’t on kui duty, and it’s opposite a fabulous playground. They’re both within walking distance of the new rental, either around the streets or along the beach. Technically, it’s a 10-minute walk along the beach, but with Bart and Dora pausing to inspect every shell, and imagine every piece of driftwood as a plane or a train or a dinosaur or a horse, it’s more like 30 minutes. I absolutely love that I have the time to be able to wander and imagine with them.

My daughter Kate says she and her husband have been thoroughly ruined when it comes to looking at homes to buy. How could a first home possibly compare to this beachfront beauty? But now, at least, they have somewhere to base themselves while they pootle around in the weekends, looking at different suburbs of Wellington and weighing up the pros and cons.

It’s tough for the young ones, isn’t it? Not just because of the price of the houses in New Zealand these days, but in terms of trying to find the right preschools, get back into the workforce after time out raising a family, and decide whether a lower-priced home in a coastal community is worth the 90-minute commute each way or whether to pay more for less and work closer to home.

I don’t recall ever having a plan when I had Kate – everything just seemed to happen, for better or worse.

But my daughter and son-in-law are far more responsible adults than I ever was, and life is much more complicated these days.

So there are many decisions that have to be made, and thankfully they’ll be made by the young ones. I don’t have to deal with any of the tough stuff. I’m just having to decide whether to go to the beach before or after the playground, grappling with unwieldy carseat buckles and remembering to pack wet wipes and a change of clothes for both kids before setting out on adventures. Grandparenting really is much more fun than parenting, isn’t it?

‘It’s only a matter of minutes before their clothes are off and they’re in the water'