The spacious timber deck of Genina and Paul's downstairs waterfront apartment in Swansea Heads is perfect for lounging.
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You might cozy up with a magazine and a glass of wine while gently rocking in the wicker swing, or you might take some photos.
It's hard to take a bad photo at the only place where the ocean meets Lake Macquarie via the Swansea Channel. Genina says she regularly spots schools of dolphins playing in the bay.
She regularly spots schools of dolphins playing in the bay.
"You're looking out at Salt's Bay and Swansea channel. The ocean goes into Swansea channel which then goes into the largest salt water lake in Australia. This is the only ocean entrance into the lake," Genina says of the view from the apartment.
"Any boats coming in and out of Lake Macquarie pass. Some weekends we have a lot of activity with big cruisers coming in and out of the lake.
"Some of them are magnificent million-dollar cruisers, so you sit and watch all these beautiful boats and lots of yachts."
It's a unique location. And, good news, this little apartment is on Airbnb.
Genina and Paul renovated their downstairs two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment to make it more modern, open and tranquil. It didn't always have the deck or the big view.
Together Genina and Paul are raising five children. They've lived in the home above the apartment for the past seven years.
Before the renovations and Airbnb, their daughter was living downstairs, but she's since moved out. They had their first Airbnb guests in November, and they haven't looked back.
"It's the ultimate weekend getaway, just two hours from Sydney. We thought 'we've got this beautiful area down here we don't use that we could share with other people. Why not give it a go?" she says.
Where there's now the sliding doors and windows, previously there was only one sliding door and a window in the bedroom. They replaced it with bi-fold doors. They removed a brick column. Paul is an electrician, and he helped with a lot of the renovations.
The revamp took about a year. One of the biggest challenges was boxing in the area that went from the downstairs to upstairs to make it more private and self-contained.
Now guests have their own entrance, and the couple have been surprised at how unobtrusive the Airbnb process has been.
"You greet them (and then) people could be there for a week, and we don't even know that they're there. It doesn't intrude on our privacy at all," she says.
Genina decorated the apartment once the renovations wrapped up at the end of last year.
She included shells and driftwood she found around the area.
"I didn't want to overdo it, didn't want it to be cluttered. I wanted little knick-knacks that people would look at and wonder where this comes from," she says.
"Setting up an Airbnb you think, 'OK when I go on holidays, what do I expect?' I wanted to keep it relaxing. You come here and you feel like you're on holidays."
They live in the perfect location to have an Airbnb with beaches and beautiful walks.
"Caves Beach used to be very quiet. We recently had the apartments built up at Caves Beach; in turn they've put in a new restaurant," she says.
"The Caves Hotel has been taken over by new owners; they've made changes.
"I've noticed just in the last two or three years how many more people are coming to our area. Caves Beach on the weekend in summer is just crazy."
As it's a great place for surfers and water lovers, she has kayaks on her property for guests to use for free.
Genina couldn't have picked a better time to start welcoming guests into her home.
"We didn't know how we would go at first," she says.
"We didn't know if it would suit us, it was a new adventure. How is it going to be, to give up a part of your home to complete strangers?"
Now, several months in, they're regularly booking guests and they love it.
Genina describes the Airbnb process as "very relaxing" much like the apartment itself.