The owners of a central North Island retreat who believe they were guided to the property by spirits are selling to embark on their next calling.
Spiritual mentor Annwyn Hanham and her musician partner Raeul Pierard moved from Auckland’s Point Chevalier to Tokaanu, just south of Taupo, seven years ago.
Hanham told OneRoof they had been living in Point Chevalier when they had received the intuitive message that they needed to move south.
“That’s all we were told – south of Auckland – it was very general. I was hoping it would be the South Island because that’s where I used to live.”
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Co-owner Annwyn Hanham has been running spiritual retreats at the property. Photo / Supplied
The couple had been running spiritual workshops around the North Island and were driving between Ohakune and Turangi when she heard the guides speaking to her through light language.
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“It was a 45-minute drive, it was insane, it was like ‘oh my gosh we are getting a really strong message – this is the area’.”
They started house hunting around the area and eventually settled on a property on Humu Street in Tokaanu.
“As soon as we saw that property, we walked in and we were like ‘oh my goodness we are home’.”
Pierard had his cello stashed in the car and asked the real estate agent if he could play it in the house.
The acoustics sounded magical and the couple were completely sold on it after that. OneRoof property records show it last changed hands for $660,000 in May 2017 and it has a current RV of $1.04m.
She said the three-bedroom, two-bathroom property with loft had been perfectly suited to their needs.
The home has hosted many concerts with up to 40 guests gathering in the lounge to watch co-owner Raeul Pierard play the cello. Photo / Supplied
The home has been the venue for weekend spiritual retreats too. Photo / Supplied
Hanham ran her spiritual and meditation retreats from the home, which could accommodate up to 12 people, and also penned her spiritual books there. Pierard converted the third garage into his music studio and performed house concerts with 40 people once crowding into their living room to watch.
The property had been used as a holiday home by the previous owners and they focused a lot of their time on landscaping the once overgrown gardens and letting more light in.
Hanham said the property had amazing energies that their guests who travelled from all over New Zealand to attend the retreats felt as soon as they arrived.
“When they walk through the gates you can just see their shoulders relaxing and they just go ‘aah’. Because they immediately feel the energies – they are very very peaceful, they are harmonious.”
A charming wooden cabin imported from Finland was built in the garden four years ago providing self-contained accommodation for an extra two people. It could also be run as an Airbnb.
The home is surrounded by native bush on the edge of Tongariro National Park and has a stream running alongside the property, which leads directly into the southern end of Lake Taupo.
Like many homes in the area, it has access to the geothermal springs, which was the source for the underfloor heating and hot tub.
Hanham said she often spotted guests indulging in hot and cold-water immersion therapy. They would heat up in the hot tub before throwing themselves off the jetty into the freezing water in the nearby stream before running the short distance back to the tub to warm up again.
“It’s got so many aspects to it – it’s just a great location.”
A self-contained wood cabin nestled in the bush accommodates two people. Photo / Supplied
Soak in the geothermal hot tub surrounded by native bush and the Tokaanu Stream. Photo / Supplied
It is also just 12 minutes from world-famous trout fishing in Lake Tongariro, 35 minutes from the Alpine Crossing and 40 minutes to Whakapapa ski field.
Hanham said it had been the perfect spiritual sanctuary for them, but they were now being “drawn to other places”.
“We live very intuitively. We are complete there – we are simply complete. So he’s going off one way and I’m going off in another. It’s the same way we are intuitively guided there, we have been intuitively guided we are now complete. It’s time for new guardians to come in.”
Ray White salesperson Jo Swanepoel, who is marketing it with Luigi Zuccati, said it was a beautiful property with an impressive water and rural backdrop.
“It backs onto the Tokaanu Stream so it has that water access. You can kayak basically from the back step right down to the lake.”
Zuccati added that build was a French Country Home and what was once the helipad and been transformed into a vege patch.
They said it would suit people who wanted to keep running it as a retreat, retirees looking for a lifestyle or someone wanting a nice holiday home they could escape to.
“It’s not really a family home. It’s too nice to be a family home, it’s more luxurious living really,” Zuccati said.
- 23 Humu Street, in Tokaanu, Taupō, is for sale by way of deadline, closing June 4
