- Gary Monk’s Waimairi Beach home, built 30 years ago, is now surrounded by neighbours.
- The four-bedroom house features an in-ground pool and Airbnb setup.
- Monk and his wife are selling to downsize, citing retirement and the house’s large size.
When Gary Monk built 30 years ago at Waimairi Beach, in Christchurch, his house was all by itself out on the dunes.
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Now the subdivision is built out, and there are plenty of neighbours, although Monk says his stretch on Driftwood Lane is still peaceful and the beach is often isolated.
Monk and his wife, Beth, have reluctantly put their home on the market for sale as they seek to downsize. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has an RV of $1.05 million.
Waimairi Beach is to the northeast of Christchurch and about 15 minutes from the city centre, and Monk said their house was one of the first to be built along the coast.
Gary and Beth Monk’s house in its frame stage in the late 1990s. Photo / Supplied
The couple have spent the last 30 years tweaking and improving the house. Photo / Supplied
“It was just flat sand right along that coast. They were developing it; there was no landscaping or anything happening at that stage. For us, we considered it an expensive section - I think it was $105,000 for a piece of sand, but it was right on the coast.”
The couple had just started a family and liked living in the South Brighton and New Brighton area, so they decided to build (Monk was lucky in that he played squash with the designer, and his brother was a newly qualified builder who built the home to a shell stage).
One of the biggest challenges they faced was early on in the build, when someone stole all their insulation, which was gutting because at the time the couple had no insurance. “Someone just took all the packs of Bats. When I got the new lot, I immediately opened them up, and they just filled the house. If they came back to steal them, they’d have a hell of a job.”
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Other than that, the house has been a great family home, he said, and the beach a beauty. “If you’ve got a dog and you like walking on the beach and that sort of thing, it’s just absolutely fantastic,” Monk said.
“In my younger days, I used to do a bit of wave skiing down there and a bit of body surfing and that sort of thing.”
The house features open-plan living and two balconies, has an in-ground swimming pool, boasts plenty of parking, and is in-zone for Parkview, Shirley Boys’ and Avonside Girls’ High schools.
The property is next to the beach. Photo / Supplied
When the Monk children left home, the couple converted the bottom floor into an Airbnb, which they have run for the last eight years. “We normally get anywhere between 130 and 260 days of occupancy during the year. That allowed us to stay in the house, but the house is far too big for the two of us,” Monk told OneRoof.
“The only reason we’re moving is we both retired, and we’re thinking we probably should downsize a wee bit, and we’re going to move into something that’s single story.”
The property is being marketed by Ray White agents Holly Jones and Charlotte Mason.
- 9 Driftwood Lane, Waimairi Beach, Christchurch, is for sale, deadline closing March 17
