Not so long ago, the long-abandoned Catholic school at Te Horo, on the Kapiti Coast, was the home of pigeons. What once had been a thriving girl’s boarding school, known as Marycrest, had fallen into disrepair.

But the derelict property was also the site of one of the last remaining virgin native forests on the Kapiti coast. And now, after decades of neglect, it is the home of a new co-housing community of like-minded folk who are restoring the land, preserving the forest, planting gardens and, slowly, repairing the buildings.

Makahuri is a sustainable, safe, creative and harmonious co-housing community. It is a place of beauty where the mauri, forest, land, people and animals are honoured and respected by all.