Wow – what a magical spot. We arrived via water taxi to a bay full of gentle stingrays basking in the sun. Tina & Jason met us at the dock and helped bring our gear up to the house. The walk is a decent distance with a lot of luggage, so the cart was hugely appreciated. (Side note: a little wagon or something for carting goods back and forth to the beach would be a great amenity to have.)
The property is beautiful, with lots of wildlife and short walks (you cannot go further into the hills due to logging). Our 3 year old loved riding his bike around the property. The beach next to the dock is excellent for swimming on a calm day. There are 2 kayaks that we made good use of, but they are a bit on the smaller size (my husband was a smidge too large to use).
The house itself is very spacious and was comfortable for our group 6 adults and 4 children. The 2 larger bedrooms each have a daybed, which was super handy for those of us with smaller children. We could have comfortably slept 2-3 additional people.
Not in the listing is a spa on the deck overlooking the bay, as well as more furniture in the communal spaces such as a full table in the conservatory (we loved this space for laying out all our gear, drying togs, hanging out when the weather didn't cooperate), big bean bags for lounging outside, a coffee table in the lounge, etc. This place really has anything you could think of, although I do recommend confirming kitchen supplies before you go as we had understood there would be bread-making ingredients and didn't bring flour (it looks like they've already updated the listing).
Wes connected us with Grant at Katabatic Charters for a morning of fishing, which was a fabulous way to see the Sounds and provided for a 2-day feast of cod, tarakihi, perch, mussels and paua. Cannot recommend Grant highly enough: www.kcandm.co.nz.
We had a wonderful stay here and will certainly return one day!