Photos of the House from Inside




The living room looking towards the north. The flooring is made of a rather special and unusual timber, silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii) (Maori name Tawai/Tawhai), which is normally used for making furniture. The timber is a deep red in colour, extremely compact and dense. When first laid in the house it was bright pink, but after seven coats of polyurethane became a bright brown. In the 19th century Colenso recorded that the wood was being used by Maori for making the shank of hooks used to catch barracouta because of its red colour. Enlarge
The living room looking towards the west. The late afternoon sun streams into this window. The living room measures 6.2 x 6.25 metres and has seen some sizeable gatherings of people at Xmas and on other occasions. Enlarge
The living room looking towards the east, and the entrance into the kitchen. The door on the right leads to the vestibule which provides access to the staircase and the lift. The walls are lined with Pinus radiata. A very efficient wood burner is sited in the far corner, and quickly heats the living room during winter. Enlarge
The living room looking towards the south. The open doorway leads to the corridor and the bedrooms and bathroom. The narrow door on the left of the corridor is a coat storage cupboard, and the door to its left leads to the first floor vestibule. The living room provides an open and airy feeling with its high ceiling of 3.2 metres (12 ft 6 in) at the peak. Enlarge

The kitchen looking towards the north. Breakfast bar and servery on the left, double sinks in the middle with additional micro-filtered water supply, built-in two drawer dish washer, and ample bench space. In the centre is a sit-in food preparation bench and butcher's block at the end. Cupboards and drawers are plentiful in this kitchen. Enlarge
Another view of the kitchen looking towards the east. This is a sunny kitchen at all times of the day, and has spectacular views of the surrounding Bay and hills. Enlarge
The kitchen looking towards the south-east. The cooking area has a large extractor hood over a ceramic hot plate, electric grill plate, and two gas hobs. A large Italian-made wall oven big enough for a leg of venison completes the cooking facilities. The door on the right is the entrance to the walk-in pantry. Enlarge
The walk-in pantry, looking south Enlarge

The pantry, looking towards north Enlarge
The control box shown here is just inside the door of the pantry. It is the main controller for the house and garage security system. Motion detectors are installed in five rooms in the main house and also in the garage. The wall switch below and to the right of the main box is a series of three programmable switches for motion detection flood lights around the outside of the main building. Enlarge
View of the corridor from the bathroom towards the living room. There is a large laundry cupboard on the right. The spiral staircase provides access to the second floor belvedere which is the radio shack. The linen cupboard and a storage cupboard in the next photo are both fitted with low power single-tube heaters. Enlarge
View of the corridor from the living room to the bathroom. The laundry cupboard is on the left. In the background there are three doors. The one on the left is the cupboard for the hot water cylinder, the central door is the bathroom, and the one on the right is a large storage cupboard with shelving. Access to the two other first floor bedrooms are to the left and right of these three doors (obscured). Enlarge

The master bedroom is 3.6 metres wide by 3.8 metres long. The photo shows a 'King' sized bed with more than enough room for two small cabinets beside it. Enlarge
The master bedroom looking towards the south. Enlarge
The master bedroom looking towards the north-west. The afternoon sunshine heats up this room and when the house was built a small air conditioning plant was installed as shown. This did not prove adequate for cooling down the room on very hot days and nights so the larger heat pump was also installed and is very effective. The small square box above the smaller air conditioning plant is a bell that is wired to the main bedroom of the Grannny Flat in case of emergency. Enlarge
The master bedroom looking towards the north-east. The north wall is taken up by a large walk-in wardrobe. Enlarge

The east bedroom is a large and airy room which measures 3.45 x 3.8 m. Enlarge
The east bedroom looking northwards. There is a large walk-in wardrobe along the north wall. Enlarge
The east bedroom looking eastwards. Enlarge
The bathroom has a walk-in high pressure shower, toilet, bidet, wash basin and mirror, electric point for shaver, two heated towel rails, cupboard area with washing machine and stainless steel tub. Enlarge

The third upstairs bedroom. This is currently being used as an office and study. The bookcases and bench will be removed before sale so that it can be tuned back into a bedroom. This view is towards the west. Enlarge
The third upstairs bedroom looking towards the east. This room measures 2.75m wide and 4.4m long, and could take three single beds or four bunks as a children's room. Enlarge
The third upstairs bedroom loooking towards the south-east. Enlarge
The third upstairs bedroom looking towards the north-west. Enlarge

Ground floor study/office. This measures 4.45 x 3.45m and is well provisioned with electric points (three with 4 outlets each). The room is the main entrance point for broadband. There is also a TV jack point connection from the living room. A shielded 25 wire cable runs up to the Belvedere, and there is an intercom to the Kitchen upstairs. Enlarge
Ground floor study towards the northeast. There is an air conditioning plant mounted through the wall which can be very useful on very hot days in summer. Enlarge
Ground floor study looking northwest. All the bookshelves in this room will be removed before sale. Enlarge
Ground floor study looking towards the southeast. Enlarge

The second floor of the house is a belvedere measuring 3 x 3 m with a spiral staircase leading up to it. There are windows on three sides, and room is used as a radio shack for Ham radio. It would serve equally well as a sewing room, or just a pleasant sun room. Enlarge
The shack is dominated at the moment by radio equipment,computers and cables to antennas. Enlarge
The shack towards the north. In the corner above the bench are the two controllers for rotating antennas, one for HF and the other for satellite. Enlarge
The shack facing north-west. There is a large solar panel (obscured) mounted on the balustrade of the decking outside which charges a series of large capacity lead acid batteries for running civil emergency radios. The bench seats around the west and south walls consist of a box-ottoman for storing equipment. Enlarge

Access to the decking on the roof is via the window, not especially convenient, but the best option available to the architect who designed the house. It is a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a G&T in the late afternoon, with a spectacular view of the fiord and surrounging mountains. Enlarge
The south-west corner of the radio shack showing more of the box-ottoman. Enlarge
Access to the belvedere is by a spiral staircase from the first floor of the house. Enlarge
The view from the main bench when operating the radio equipment. In the distance is a peninsula which was once used as a fortification during pre-European times by Maori. During the summer there are many boating activities on the water. Enlarge

The view from the bench which is used for radio construction work in the radio shack. Enlarge
The staircase from the first floor, leading down to the ground floor. Enlarge