Paewhenua Island is bounded to the north and west by the Mangonui Harbour and Doubtless Bay, to the east by the Oruaiti River, and to the south by State Highway 10. It has panoramic north facing views of Mangonui harbour and the township, but is hidden from the road by the bush covered slopes forming it's steep southern perimeter.

Twenty-six sites are resource consented and range in size from 0.3HA to 1.1HA. Russell Green, the owner/developer, owns the 13HA vineyard and also Lot20 on which he plans to build. Development started in 2001 and to this date Stage 1 and Stage 2 have been completed.

As of last week no-one is living on the island. Russell employs two maintenance workers who look after the vineyards and the grounds. One of the lot owners has staked out their foundations but thats it! It will be very very quiet there for awhile yet.

The island is approx. 110HA and was probably purchased for $1.25M USD. 80HA is covenanted bush and open pastoral land. The convenants cover less than 10HA and pre-existed the development. The remaining 70HA are common lands and consist of open grazing, common areas, a restored wetlands and the jetty area. The Far North District Council has zoned the land "General Coastal". The surrounding area zoning is here.

The 80HA will be the responsibility of the "residents association" and the cost of maintaining this and the common infrastructure will be born by that association. All lots have a 1/26th share in the common area and each will have one vote in association decisions. A notable exception to this is that the vineyard will bear 40% of the road infrastructure costs.

Russell sees no reason for the association costs to be excessive but only time will tell. It is only after Stage 3 has been completed (and sold) that the residents association will be formed, until then Russell has sole responsibility.

Once completed a property maintenance fund will be established and Russell will seed that fund with an initial $20k. Thereafter the residents become responsible for commons maintenance.

Most of the lots have a "no build" zone which is in place to ensure that the view from other properties cannot be built out. Apart from this no other restrictions exist apart from those incorporated in the "design guidelines".

Stage 3 development, along the western side, will probably not commence until Stage 2 has been sold. Stage 3 represents a further six (6) lots.