'We never thought we could afford waterfront': The Kiwi bach that became a full-time home

“It was this idyllic little house by the sea,” Pip Kefali says. “It was something we always wanted but didn’t think we’d be able to afford.”

But the couple say it was “a real do-up”. Inside, there were partitions - the walls between the rooms didn’t go right up to the ceiling, and there were curtains for doors.

“All there was here was the bach on the grass, with maybe a metre of decking out from the front door,” Maz says.

The two-bedroom bach was not insulated, so the couple stripped it right back, putting in new walls and doors. Maz relined the walls, adding insulation. “We basically rebuilt the inside, and we purchased a fire to be put in the week we moved in.”

“I have gained a reputation in the community for being a dumpster diver. When people are demolishing and renovating, they say ‘Maz, would you like this timber’, and we smuggle it under the house while Pip’s out.”

An outdoor kitchen right outside the window is another recycled feature - it’s used for cleaning fish. “The neighbours were throwing it out and they asked me to help them demolish it. I said, no, let’s keep it and I quickly built a deck to put it on.”

Wherever possible the couple has kept the character of the bach - it still has its original painted kitchen cupboards that date back to the ‘60s, and the same tapware. When they needed to replace the stainless steel benchtop, they commissioned a copy. And the built-in seating beside the window is original.

But it’s what’s happening outside that’s the biggest drawcard. There are steps down to a wee strip of beach and the sea. The couple has 10 grandchildren, who love to go out in the kayaks (they have eight, including three children’s kayaks, plus a dinghy).

And the couple fishes right off the beach, mainly catching mullet and kahawai. When using a net they walk out 20-30m to catch the incoming tide, or they go “round the point” to cast a line.

“We smoke the fish and when we have more than we need we give them away in the neighbourhood to elderly people, friends and family,” Maz says.

The couple has chosen to put the property on the market, because they feel the need to be closer to family, including an ailing parent, and it’s one of the toughest decisions they have had to make.

“We’re just feeling like it’s time to be not so isolated,” Pip says. “Maz, because of his health journey, can’t do the driving, so a lot falls on me.”

They say some of the grandchildren are particularly saddened by the decision: “They all love to go out kayaking.”

“For most of them, this is the only home they associate with us,” Maz adds. “Quite a few of them have learnt to swim, fish, kayak, row a dinghy, smoke a fish here. If we were millionaires we would keep it as a family bach, but we’re not.

“And although there’ll be a sadness leaving, there’s a gratefulness that we’ve had over a decade fulfilling a dream and there’ll be other dreams. What we’ve observed too, is that sometimes people leave a choice like this [too late] till it has to be made for them. As opposed to saying, yes, there are some health challenges, but if we make this move now, there’ll be another whole 10-15 years to being able to enjoy the next season.”

The property, at 32 Clinton Rd, Baddleys Beach, Matakana, Rodney, has been listed with Terry Mills and Mitch Norris of Ray White Warkworth. Mills is very familiar with the location as his own family has owned a bach at Baddeleys Beach since the 1960s.

“My sister-in-law lives in it now,” he says. “I must have made about 60 sales out there in the 20 years I have been working here, some of them, like this one, repeat sales.”

The property is listed at $1,045,000, which is $10,000 below the RV. Cotality puts the median value of property on the Tawharanui Peninsula at $1,657,339.

This article was originally published by stuff.co.nz