Post-World War II They are almost always small structures, usually made of cheap or recycled material like fibrolite (
asbestos cement sheet), corrugated iron, or used timber. They were influenced by the backwoods cabins and sheds of the early settlers and farmers. Other baches used a
caravan as the core of the structure and built extensions onto it. Many cities were dismantling
tram systems in the 1950s, and old trams were sometimes used as baches, most noticeably on the coast of the
Coromandel Peninsula on the
Firth of Thames, to which more than 100 trams were relocated. A reconstructed example of a typical bach from the 1950s can be found in the
New Zealand Maritime Museum on
Princes Wharf in central
Auckland. The period-furnished bach is complemented with an adjacent beach shop with original products from that time. While older baches tend to be fibrolite lean-to structures, modern kit-set buildings are becoming popular among bach owners. Some figures estimate that more than 50,000 baches exist around New Zealand (population million people).
Recent times Early baches rarely enjoyed amenities like connections to the water and electricity grid or indoor toilets. They were simply furnished, often with secondhand furniture. In more recent times the basic bach has been replaced by the modern "holiday house", which is more substantial, more expensive (reflecting increases in affluence, and vastly increased coastal land values) and usually professionally built (due to stricter building codes). Another important change has been the subdivision of coastal land, bringing increasing numbers of residents and visitors, along with traffic, cafes, mobile phone coverage, craft shops, and other conveniences, to what were originally empty beaches and bush-filled gullies. Some bach-dotted beaches of the 1950s have today become suburban areas flourishing with life and new culture.
Comparison with cabins In New Zealand, a
cabin refers to a specific category of small, prefabricated, transportable single-room buildings. The New Zealand cabin is characterised by its use as supplementary residential housing (a "
sleepout") or work-from-home office space. A cabin will not be plumbed but will have electricity and be subjected to local building regulations. ==Legal status==