We wanted a beautiful and peaceful place to rest, relax, and enjoy a break from real life. The weather was forecast to be patchy when we came, so we wanted somewhere that still had that nice serenity even if we were stuck inside. We wanted to be able to cook some meals while we were there. Hamish and Kamini's place ticked all the boxes for us.
It was still handy-enough to be able to pop into Orewa, Silverdale, Dairy Flat and Puhoi, all of which we did while we were there.