Seaside Vibes
Words: Pattie Pegler
Images: Lisa French
Turn off the highway to Waikuku Beach and there’s an instant holiday vibe in the air. Perhaps it’s the sea air and the picnicking families. Or the fish and chips and the beautiful views over the lagoon.
Whatever it is – Waikuku has long been a holiday favourite with Cantabrians as Charlie and Sue Hand can confirm. The couple spend a lot of time in their Waikuku bach with their scotty dog Clyde. But it was Charlie’s grandfather, Percy, that originally built ‘Barrington Lodge’ bach some 92 years ago – helped by Charlie’s dad, Raymond (Ray), who was then a teenager.
Charlie’s grandfather and father used to catch the train to Kaiapoi from Christchurch and then cycle to the bach.
“It was only the second bach to be built in this street,” says Charlie. “Back then it was just sand roads.”
Charlie’s grandfather started work on it during the depression when new building materials were both hard to come by and expensive. So a great deal of recycled materials were used to create the bach – the porch used to have no top windows, just shutters recalls Charlie and there was chicken wire at the top by the roof to provide ventilation. The shed was built from flattened out corrugated iron (it’s still standing and you can see the faint waves in its wall showing its origins).
It might have been built by hand with recycled materials, but it has really stood the test of time. It’s perhaps part testament to the skills of Charlie’s grandfather, who was a cabinet maker, and perhaps in part to the quality and durability of those second-hand materials.
The bach has been in the Hand family ever since it was built and Charlie has many happy memories of childhood summers spent here. “We all used to come out for a few weeks at Christmas and then my dad would often go back to Christchurch and work and we would stay. We used to practically live on the beach. And I often used to sleep up there,” he says gesturing towards an old tree house tucked up in the gnarled macrocarpas.
Whilst the bach has retained much of its original charm it has evolved over the years. What was the porch is now a bedroom and there are windows now instead of shutters and the chicken wire is long gone. Inside the lounge area used to be divided into small bedrooms says Charlie but now it is one space with comfy built in couches that can double as beds and original floorboards.
It’s also expanded. The kitchen door used to mark the end of the bach. But now there’s a little corridor, a bunk room, a shower and a toilet. Previously there used to be a tin bath and the family used to park the car in what is now the bathroom says Charlie. There’s also a whole extra sleeping area in the form of a new cabin placed at the end of the existing bach. It was put in place ready built and provides a handy extra bedroom when friends and family sleep over.
Despite these changes – the bach has stayed true to its roots as a family getaway. This is no prissy modern holiday home. The wooden floors and cladding are original. A small wooden cabinet has stood in the main room long enough to carry the watermark from a 1953 flood that washed through the beach settlement. And the walls are hung with photos of the family – there’s even one of the bach being built, all faces smiling with pride as their work progressed.
Today the bach still brings the family together and when Charlie and Sue married three years ago in Christchurch, they had their after party here. Now they regular spend time out here, relaxing, swimming, surfing and biking the trails with Clyde as a happy passenger in Charlie’s bicycle basket. And whilst there are some occasional maintenance jobs to do around the place, they are kept to a minimum.
“My grandfather’s advice was never paint it because you’ll have to do it all the time,” says Charlie.
When Percy Hand built Barrington Lodge he created a place for his family and future generations to kick back and enjoy life.
