It’s the ultimate Kiwi hideaway – tranquil and leafy, so far away from the madding crowd that barely anybody knows about it – and a member of the well-known Richwhite family says he hopes that’s how the clan’s treasured bach and boatshed will always stay.
He explains that his grandfather built the only freehold property on Waihāhā Bay, himself, during the 1920s, using timber brought over from the Taupō, by boat.
“When my brother and I were growing up we learned all our basic life-skills over here – including fly-fishing, and it was a great life for kids in summer – out on the water, just mucking around.”
The fishing is indeed so good that the then future King Charles III visited as a teenager in 1970 – flown in by RNZAF Iroquois for a thrilling experience which saw him hook more than half a dozen trout, although the Richwhite family member notes that there are fewer fish in the lake these days.
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Sir Bernard Freyberg was another well-known guest at Waihāhā and so was George Wilder. The notorious folk-hero, prison escaper, installed himself at the property, which was empty at the time, while on the run from police during the 1960s. He then casually rowed back to Taupō after a stay of unknown duration, using the Richwhite family’s boat.
“He was polite enough to leave a note, thanking us for our ‘hospitality’,” laughs the family member.
The family has resisted suggestions that they upgrade the home.
The shed is a museum in itself, with tools and materials built up over a lifetime.
Waihāhā is reached by boat in a journey of around 20 minutes from the Kinloch Marina – 20km from Taupō town and can also be accessed by helicopter – or on foot, via a walking track which runs around the bay.
The family has resisted suggestions that they could upgrade the home itself, which has charmingly mismatched furniture, somewhat bold paint colours, fishing gear and memorabilia that fills the walls, and shelves crowded with a variety of books read over the years by family and friends enjoying a break from television and other media.
The shed is a museum in itself, with tools and materials built up over a lifetime.
“We used to listen to the radio a lot but there is cell phone cover now, so you don’t feel quite as isolated,” says the family member, adding that a wood burner keeps the home cosy in winter and there’s always plenty of water from a reliable water bore.
Waihāhā is reached by boat from the Kinloch Marina, on foot via a walking track which runs around the bay or by helicopter.
Bayleys Taupō agent Alison Whittle says she’s been fielding enquiries from all around the world, from people looking for their own special slice of paradise.
He says that he and his siblings all have wonderful personal memories of Waihāhā but they all are getting on in years and the property simply isn’t being used as much as it once was.
“The young ones all have other interests, so they don’t tend to come over now, and we all feel that this is the right time to let new owners discover what a great place it is.”
Alison Whittle, from Bayleys, Taupō is marketing this unique property and says it represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
She’s fielding enquiries from all around the world, from people looking for their own special slice of paradise.
She says that everybody she’s spoken to envisages the property as their own family bach – a fact that will surely please its current guardians.
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