- Historic Northland hotel building for sale for $1.15m.
- Owners bought and restored it while living in Australia.
- "It was such a perfect spot for corporate burnouts from Sydney."
A historic building in a picturesque Far North town is on the market for sale after a near-$2 million renovation.
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Kiwis Ginni and Rufus Post told OneRoof they picked up the historic Wharf House in Rawene, in 2015, while they were still living in Sydney.
With the help of Rufus’ dad John and Ginni’s brother Kermit Ryan the couple embarked on an ambitious, long-distance restoration project before they returned home just before Covid struck.
The landmark property started life in 1871 as The Harp of Erin hotel, but over subsequent years has been a parsonage, a boarding house, and a restaurant.
Ginni and Rufus Post, with children Saskia, 7, and Arend, 5, restored the house long-distance from Sydney before moving back to Rawene. Photo / Supplied
The Wharf Hotel, on the far right, has been a prominent building in Rawene, Hokianga, since the 1870s as shown in this picture from the 1900s. Photo / Supplied
When the Posts bought it, it was in a poor state, although the previous owner had completed some restoration work.
Ginni would not say what the couple paid for the property, but was blunt about the renovation costs.
“Between us and the previous owner there’s been an estimated $1.8 million spent on the restoration,” she told OneRoof. “Plus over 15 years of blood, sweat, and tears!”
The Posts are selling up to be closer to their kids' school in Kerikeri, but have fond memories of the town and the house.
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“My father-in-law has lived in Rawene for over 20 years,” Ginni said.
“He and his late partner ran the Postmasters Lodge as a BnB, and he’s in his 80s and he still takes bookings. We’d go up there and stay and just loved the feeling of all the stresses of the world melting away.
"A two-night stay felt like a week’s holiday, everything just slowed down. It was such a perfect spot for corporate burnouts from Sydney to retreat to.”
When Wharf House came on the market nearly 10 years ago, they initially decided to pass on the opportunity. However, fate had other plans.
“We’d decided not to buy the property, but out of curiosity registered as phone bidders. I closed my office door and jumped on the auction. Silly me, I put in the opening bid,” Ginni told OneRoof.
The couple bought the semi-completed Wharf House in 2015, which had been under renovation since 2006. Photo / Supplied
The grand living room, dining room and kitchen today. Photo / Supplied
“Luckily, it got passed in. I freaked out as I wasn’t meant to bid and Rufus wasn’t with me. And then we had a rush of adrenaline and went back with a negotiation.
“I went straight into the bottle shop and bought a bottle of Veuve champagne and got a taxi home. We popped it and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, what have we done?”
Ginni admitted that her day job, communications for hotel chain Accor, gave her the “romantic idea of running my own boutique hotel”, but when they first visited the property four months after buying it blind they realised the challenge ahead of them.
“It was ripped back to the studs, and things like wiring and plumbing had been started but we had to complete it," Ginni said, adding: “For the record, I don’t recommend remote renovations!”
The property had a Heritage listing that protects the interior but the couple insisted on adding more windows and skylight to bring in more light to the traditional spaces.
The main two-storey part of the house has a grand room, called the dining hall, with high ceilings and chandeliers, opening to the kitchen. In the adjoining single-story cottage with verandah is a second living space, and a second kitchenette/laundry.
The restored home now boasts five bathrooms for the five bedrooms, one of which has an accessible hospital-style fit-out. The building has double fire-lined gib, wool insulation, four heat pumps, and a generous country-style kitchen.
The restored building overlooks the water. Photo / Supplied
Ginni's father-in-law John sourced all the recycled materials for the home, including vintage doors and heritage floorboards from local native timbers, while brother Kermit, "a proper old-school builder", drove up from Matamata to bring the restoration to life.
Only two old bathtubs were still left to use, but a lot of the original detailing was long gone.
The couple came back from Sydney for three months in 2017 with baby Saskia, but it wasn’t until the end of 2019, when the property got its code of compliance, that they made the permanent move back home. Covid changed everything for Ginni’s hotel work, but Rufus continued his tech job remotely.
Deciding to sell the place after so much effort had been hard, Ginni said.
“We’ve invested so much emotionally in it and we’ve put so much of our own blood, sweat and tears into the house and it’s been a family project. So it is a bit hard to say goodbye to it," she said.
“It’s been a great journey but it’s just time to kind of have the next chapter in our lives with our young family,” Ginni said.
Bayleys agent David Baguley, who is marketing the property with colleague Sheree Robinson, said Wharf House was zoned commercial and residential and was part of a buzzy tourist enclave that included the ferry, a cafe, and art gallery.
“Rawene is a quiet haven that combines nature, culture and history along with a modern yet alternative vibe. The area has attracted Aucklanders and others wanting an escape; it has that artsy feel yet still with amenities,” he said.
Baguley said buyers need to visit the town to understand its charm. “The $1.15m sale price represents tremendous value compared to anything closer to Auckland or even on the east coast of Northland.”
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