TLDR: Absolutely amazing view and peaceful location, though this home wasn't our cup of tea.
Pros:
+ As everyone else has said, absolutely amazing view and 95% of the reason we booked this home! Sunrises and sunsets were fantastic, and when the sun was out the living room and bedroom were warm as could be!
+ The bed was SO comfortable and the electric blankets made it so warm and cozy! Made it that much harder to get up for work in the morning :)
+ The kitchen was well stocked (even had a slow cooker!) and the washer/dryer was convenient and worked very well - and the laundry basket was a nice touch.
+ Dedicated parking is always fantastic in any city, especially Wellington, and we actually enjoyed the exercise afforded by the steps up to the home.
+Check-in and parking details were very clear, the home was easy to access via the lock box as soon as we arrived, and the lights on the path that turned on automatically as we returned or departed in the evening were a very nice safety feature.
Cons:
- Ants. Ants were just e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e: on the floor, in and around the rubbish bin, in the pantry, and on the countertop and walls in the kitchen; on the floor, walls, and windowsills in the living room (and on the dirty clothes we had lying around between washes); and on the walls and windowsills in the bathroom. We didn't leave food lying around so we were surprised to see the ants appearing at the scale and in the locations they did, so we just ate out more and sprayed the ants with the cleaner left below the sink.
- Windows/Warmth. The home itself is quite old and the windows are old, single-paned, and we found that a number of them didn't fully close, so the home got quite chilly quite quickly whenever the sun wasn't out and louder than we've experienced in other homes when Wellington's speedy wind whipped past throughout the day. Also, though a heat pump was installed in the living room and a small space heater was provided, the heat pump only worked for us (blew warm air) a couple of times and blew cold air the rest of the time, even after repeated attempts to turn it on and off and adjust the temperature, so this home was on the chillier side of our AirBnb stays and we mostly only used the space heater and electric blankets.
- Hot Water. The hot water didn't last very long during our stay...we found there was only enough at any given time to either take one shower or fill up the sink to wash dishes (there's no dishwasher), so I just adjusted by letting my husband shower first, boiling water in the water kettle to wash dishes, and showering later when more hot water was available. When there was hot water, the shower and shower pressure were lovely.
- Business traveler workspace. My husband and I were both working from "home" during our stay and unfortunately found the dining chairs quite uncomfortable to sit in for more than a few minutes at a time, so we mostly just worked on the couch and/or with couch cushions under us at the table. Comfier dining chairs and/or a proper work desk and chair would be a fantastic addition to this home!
- No separation between living room and bedroom. There was a railing for a curtain between the living room and bedroom, but no curtain was affixed so during our stay we moved one of the bedroom-window curtains to that railing to reduce the light and noise in the bedroom when one of us was resting vs. working. We returned the curtain back to its original location before departure.
Thank you so much Dreenagh and Kevin for hosting us! We didn't reach out about any of these issues during our stay because none of them was that critical or dire so we just decided to make the best of it and enjoy what went well (primarily the view and the comfy bed!).