We are a group of people drawn together since 1995 to evolve a small settlement with a village atmosphere. Our motivating philosophy is to be self-sustaining in as many aspects as possible, using permaculture principles to create a place to live in harmony with each other and our environment.

A little about some of the eco-villagers and how they're progressing...

Heidelind & Rik:

Heidelind is a Sustainable Rural Development teacher for NorthTec (Northland Polytechnic). Rik taught Sustainable House Design, also for NorthTec. He is a retired Dutch architect, and designed and build his 50m2 (almost) autarkic solar cabin. The cabin faces North and is mainly timber framed (Lawson’s Cyprus) with glass panels on three sides and an insulated concrete/rock wall to the South. To maximise solar gain also the North side of the roof is transparent. The cabin stands on a concrete slab with solar hot water floor heating, a conservatory and a 12V PV power system.

Wolf & Sabine:

Pukahu is the name of our place at the Eco Village. We have a big and welcoming home, with self contained WWOOFer and guest accommodation in the barn. All buildings are built using the light earth method. We have dry composting toilets, we are using alternative power (solar and wind) only and have a grey water system.

We are passionate about creating a sustainable life style with a high degree of self sufficiency. We enjoy the bounty from the garden and land. We are self sufficient in most vegetables, in fruit during the summer months, in eggs, meat and dairy (we are making cheese and sausages). We also brew beer and distill spirits.

We are also very passionate about building sustainable relationships. We believe in the importance of co-operation between people for those who want to make the world a better place. We both work as group facilitators.

Daniel, Jude, Poppy & Oscar:

Daniel is a Landscape Architect and Jude runs a theatre company involved with environmental issues. They moved up permanently in February 2002 having completed stage one of their plans - a straw bale post and beam home with strawbale infill. They have also completed an earth brick and timber barn which provides their bedroom accommodation. Other projects include herb garden, pergola, shelterbelts, orchard, native bush and pond edge plantings, vineyard plus fencing for chooks and a house cow. Keep up the good work!

Sharna & Kapil:

Kapil is a photographer and Sharna is a counsellor and wedding celebrant. Incorporating spiritual ideals within physical structures is important to them, so spaces have been planned for meditation, contemplation and healing. Projects include orchards, subtropicals, herb spiral, and edible hedgerows. Their barn/studio/workshop is called "Wakawhenua" - Earthship - and progress has been intuitive and organic. Building elements include power poles, arches, timbers, mud in-situ adobe walls, mud floors, ferro cement, Onduline roof, recycled bricks, bottles - all to be adorned with copious mosaics and sculptures. Summing up his philosophy Kapil quotes Hundertwasser's eloquent words "Beauty is not a luxury".

Robert, Marijke, Kane & Anton, Nellie & Dolf:

Known as 'The Far Side'. Nellie and Dolf have built a Hebal style house. Rob and Marijke are building a timbercreate "castle", with lots of curves and mosaics. They are also renovating and building the iconic Eutopia Cafe in Kaiwaka. They love to create beautiful thing and enjoy carving, mosaics, sailing and music. Robert works in Auckland 1 day per week. Marijke teaches art to children occasionally. They have extensive fruit orchards and gardens and all sorts of animals share the property.

Peter and Ning:

Peter is a graduate civil engineer enjoying working on his property as well as working within the community. He built his house during the first year of the new millinnum with timber framing, handmade bricks, 90 year old recycled rimu flooring and ironwood beams. Seven square meters of solar panels integrate into the glass roof of the conservatory to produce hot water year round. A soapstone fireplace gives cosy warmth during the wintertime.

Tim and Marion keller-Brown:

We, Tim and Marion have been part of "Otamatea" from day one, co-creating this piece of paradise. In between now and then we travelled and worked in different countries but at present it's home again and we are staying put, while the outside world keeps on turning. Our efforts to live sustainable are not ideal but close to being very good, the best we can do at present. The children, I have five, who at times thought we were just 'flippen hippies' have come around and see our Eco Village as a successful sanctuary and consept. For me personally that's a great achievement, since they represent the future. Tim is an IT consultant with his own small company and works from home and I am a 'Jackie of a few trades' and have various experiences which have proven to be very useful in creating this life style.

Don and Faye:

We bought our 2 Ha of bare farm paddock in the eco-village in 2005 when Don ran a solar water heating business and Faye was a school teacher in Auckland. Our focus is on living lightly on the planet and with integrity. The home we have created works very well for our simple vegetarian lifestyle. We designed it to be as sustainable as possible in construction (timber for framing and cladding and second hand aluminium joinery) as well as aiding us to live self sufficiently.  Most of our property is planted in trees, but we have also securely fenced our 4 goats. We milk 2 of these and make cheese, yoghurt etc. Don has a passion for charcoal as possible way to help address climate change. Our very productive vegetable garden and fruit trees have prospered with this and lots of compost.

We love kayaking on the beautiful Kaipara harbour, launching from home. We have instigated and worked hard on an extensive native restoration project on the south coast of our Ecovillage Peninsular.