Kawai Purapura Retreat Centre

Fantastic experience: I was Woofer at Kawai Purapura while on working holiday in NZ for about two months in 2013. I liked it so much that when I found a temporary job nearby, I decided to stay as a short-term resident for another two months. I still dream of going back and hope one day I can for a retreat/workshop. As a Woofer, the volunteer hours were more than fair, with plenty of time off and a great sense of camaraderie with the rest of the crew. Yes, living conditions were a little rustic, but by no means roughing it. As a temporary resident (permanent residents paid less if I remember) and as a guest, the prices were a little expensive, but I can't imagine it is cheap to maintain such a space. I felt that KP tried to make the unique events they held affordable which balanced out overnight prices. My favorite event at KP was their Voices of the Earth Festival, in particular the Maori healing workshops. The grounds of the retreat center were beautiful. The surrounding neighborhood was also very accessible. I enjoyed how laid back everyone was, Woofers and residents alike. There were a lot of insightful, fun, and creative people that, combined with the peace of the environment, made KP one of the fondest memories of my time in NZ. *Reading some of the newer reviews, it seems like KP may be under different management or have different practices than when I was there. It would be quite sad if the center changed for the worse. My experience only pertains to the time I spent years ago.

Positive experience: Basic room, small shared kitchen for guests and shared bathrooms but plenty of them. Receptionist very helpful gave tour. Gave this place a 4 as it may not be flash but is exactly what I needed it has a pool, spa and sauna if you want to us it and has different yoga/meditation classes available on site if that is what you want to do most are free or koha. People here all seem lovely enough. Love being in nature too. Awesome quirky retreat place big shopping centre 5mins drive. It does require some maintenance as some of the tracks on the map they gave me I did not find accessible but nonetheless this place is pretty good for the price I think Rooms: But loud is the only thing, brick room can definitely hear the neighbours and passed by. Panel heater for warmth, provided with a clean towel and clean bed made up and spare blanket.

Fantastic experience: The room was clean and stylishly furnished, the location is very quiet and the price was great in relation to it.

Fantastic experience: Volunteering experience: One of the best decisions I've made during my trip in NZ : going to KP for volunteering. Amazing place, amazing people. But there is one BIG problem: you might want to stay longer. So if you want to travel, you might have a dilemma ;)

Negative experience: DO NOT GO THERE!! I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE. THIS IS A VERY UNSAFE PLACE TO LIVE. PEOPLE WITH ADDICTIONS AND MENTALLY UNSTABLE, VERY POOR MANAGEMENT AND I'M PRETTY SURE THEY DO NOT COMMIT WITH THE HEALTHY LIVING STANDARDS. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER.

Positive experience: Beautiful venue for a training. I look forward to their cafe opening for the next training.

Fantastic experience: No frills accommodation but everything you need. Amazing yoga classes and instructors and a beautiful setting to wake up

Negative experience: Booked through AA Expedia because of free cancellation . #72579244374860. Couldn't cancel on website so rang retreat. No answer and nobody replied to my messages. They charged me and I can't get a refund, not having any luck from Expedia . Received an email message thanking me for staying even though I didn't go? I don't recommend, very disappointed. AA shouldn't be recommending this place.

Negative experience: I lived at KP from 2009-2011, for 1.5 years. The community was great for the most part, the residents were lovely, and the nature is beautiful. However, management was terrible and had zero interest in health and safety. The outdoor stone steps to the longhouses were unevenly built. On a rainy night, I slipped down them and shattered my elbow. Previously, another person had broken a rib, and another sprained an ankle. The most management were willing to do was add lighting. I called OSH and Council and neither was willing to do anything about it. There was basically a class system: retreat attendees were first class, residents were second, and WWOOFers/volunteers were 3rd. The complaints from volunteers about their treatment was constant; they were essentially treated like slaves. Safety: The outdoor stone steps to the longhouses were unevenly built. On a rainy night, I slipped down them and shattered my elbow. Previously, another person had broken a rib, and another sprained an ankle. The most management were willing to do was add lighting. I called OSH and Council and neither was willing to do anything about it.

Negative experience: Fecility was nice, staff were kind. We enjoyed time there with kids, but one lady kept asking us if we knew it was a private property. Me and my friends felt quite offended though I wasn't sure if it was a racism or just being super exclusive. Because of her, I felt like I was in somewhere I shouldn't be which was really uncomfortable. I don't know who that lady was, but please make sure that short term visitors are also customers who has a right to stay there and not to be judged&shunned by random people.

Positive experience: decent place to stay, room was clean. the place is awesome however, my folding bike got stolen here, it was flat tyre and the back tyre was locked too so you cannot use it unless you unlocked it. the only way the thief could take the bike is to carry it. i asked the staff but they were not helpful at all. i think they're the one who took my bike and sold it off Safety: my folding bike got stolen here.

Fantastic experience: Surrounded by beautiful nature

Negative experience: doesnt do short term accomodation

Fantastic experience: Amazing to reconnect dance and celebrate being Here and now

Fantastic experience: This is a wonderful place to stay. Nice and helpful staff. The accomodation and atmosphere were perfect. Clean, comfortable, quiet and warm.

Negative experience: Yes I would only give kawai purapura one star, it looks peaceful on the outside but don't be fooled, these are some of the most fake people I have ever had the displeasure to meet. Gus and giago are useless at their jobs and also rude abrupt people, they get paid for free up there because they are lazy. FAKE PEOPLE PRETENDING TO BE PEACEFUL AND LOVING, CENTREPOINT TOOK THE HEART WITH THEM AND LEFT FAKE DECEITFUL PEOPLE!! The cabins are dirty and we are still waiting to be refunded by these awful humans. NO HEART OR SOUL AT THIS PLACE, THEY ARE MERELY MONEY GRABBERS. AND I'VE SEEN THE ROOM WITH A DIRT WALL, YUCKY!!!! SHAMEFUL PEOPLE

Negative experience: The teachings and courses they offer there are amazing, however the place itself is poorly managed. There are people who are loud up all night and it disturbs the sleep of dedicated yoga students and practitioners.

Positive experience: Rooms appeared clean but tired and shabby. Showers, toilets and kitchen facilities in a separate area. Fine if you're just looking for a cheap place to sleep, close to the motorway and shopping facilities.

Fantastic experience: I found this place peaceful with kindness, the reception is so good, my room, kitchen and washrooms are clean; i left today though my mind is still there. Before I go there....read some bad reviews in Google and i havnt meet the manager and owners so i dont know about them. Otherwise my experience is great, if you love nature go for it.

Negative experience: Do not stay here. It is filled with weirdos and aggressive people. I had to call the police because a female resident attacked me and another woman and then she claimed we were all racist (I am part Fijian so I guess she missed that). She was not kicked out - just moved away from us. She then revved her car at me and was basically threatening to run me over when she was picking up her stuff from around our room. The rooms are also extremely overpriced and dusty and unclean. There is random furniture just strewn around the place. This place is not peaceful. It’s very much like what most spiritual retreats claim to offer - but then you realise it’s just a business and a scam and you’re being ripped off.

Fantastic experience: Quite a magical place.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful place right within the city fringe. Amazing vibes.

Fantastic experience: Great place to live and visit

Fantastic experience: Awesome place for meditation

Negative experience: This place was weird, still feeling the cult energy and strange feeling my bf and I had. Kitchen was dirty, room was not that clean. I don't recommend it.

Fantastic experience: A peaceful bush setting with a number of venues to host spiritual practice along with accommodation, catered meals, a cafe and a fantastic pool. Regular yoga teacher training is offered and festivals which attract large numbers. Free community yoga classes are offered through the week.

Negative experience: I do NOT recommend this place. My partner and I stayed there for long-term stay. They did not have a room for long term when we went there. But Manager Nicky said the room is available soon, until then we can use another room. And we agree and paid for 2 weeks in advance. ($295 for 1 week) But after 1 week, general manager Paul called us and said we have to move out asap. We have already paid total 2 weeks. Then my partner went to Nicky and talked with her. Nicky said, she can provide another room, but have to pay more than $700 a week. We do not want to take any other mistake, so we moved out. Room is a bit dusty and smelly.

Negative experience: This is my experience as a volunteer there during one month. The worst experience I’ve ever had in a so called “retreat center”. The facade is beautiful, the background is different. This so called retreat center is nothing else than a business. Apart the fact that they rent some yoga classes there is absolutely nothing related to yoga’s way of living. I don’t even know from where to start to explain how fake is this place to be honest. So I’ll try to sum up -as almost the entire center, the kitchen and cafe are leaded only by volunteers. When I was there (October 2020) none of the “workers” in the kitchen were qualified as cooker. Some plates were really nice to be honest, some not. 0 conditions of safety. Food over kept (ingredients but also the meal offered in the cafe. Sometimes kept up to 4 days on sale before to be thrown away). Cold storage never cleaned when I was there (moisture and doors etc). Big quantity of plastics used because the shopping is mainly done from a small shop. Very little amount of organic or local products. To specify I worked in the kitchen there few times. That’s why I know all those details. I worked in few kitchen. I’ve never seen that before. They should be order to close it and create rules of safety for the workers and for the customers as well. -the volunteer camp is literally unsanitary. -as a volunteer don’t expect to be able to have a place for your own daily practice (meditation or yoga) cause sometimes all the rooms are busy. Or also sometimes you’re doing your practice but you can’t finish it because sometimes booked the room but the schedule hasn’t been done correctly (as many things there). -this place is not at all a free tabacco, alcool or all kind of drugs area. Since many treehouse are rented to casual persons whom has no interest in yoga, meditation etc. And most of the volunteer smoke weed and tabacco all daily. -during my meditation practice in my own room, the person in charge of the room entered thinking that no one was day to show the room to a new comer. (She first knocked and called me but I didn’t answer because I was meditating. They have a spare key so she just entered and obviously got very surprised) -the place was before leaded by a yoga teacher herself but due to some raisons there is nowadays a ceo whom as any ceo is there to make as much as profit as he can. And in this case without caring so much about the volunteers and customers as long as they make money. Or maybe is simply overwhelmed because he doesn’t know what to do in such a mess. I tried to sum up as I can but it’s hard to explain the the things going wrong there. At least if you’re looking for a peaceful place for good meditation or yoga I highly recommend you to check somewhere else.

Negative experience: Very bad accommodation manager there , bad people there , highly advice not go there , it‘s bad place to learn , it‘s not spirit place , until now they still , they bad horrible people , don‘t go there if want to learn be a good person, you will learn get bad if you learn there

Negative experience: The room is not clean and the view of the garden was of a dirt wall, and I have had a asthma attack. I am unable to stay. Also I was never told that there was no go areas and all I have hurd from people no you can't go here then pointed to another area and once I got there told no you can't go there I was looking for a place to open their arms to me only to be treated as badly as I am in the outside world.

Positive experience: Not perfect... but I like not perfect. The place runs on volunteers and the ones we dealt with were lovely. The room's are quaint little boxes, a bit pricey for what you are getting. It's a lovely setting. The pool was nice. Thanks for your hospitality team. Namaste

Negative experience: The service is bad the receptionist just took the money and sign the papers, didn’t told us about anything, were was the kitchen, not having any yoga classes at the time, the cafe being closed. The room only have one big door to the garden in front of the corridor and there is no windows so you either have no privacy or just cook inside the room, at night because there is no screen everything must be shut because of the mosquitos. The curtains have no blackout so the sun goes straight in. On the room there is a old fridge right next to the bed so expect to wake up with the noise right on to your face, bathroom is terrible, pillow feels like those disposable ones they give you on flights, we stayed 3 nights for $450 I don’t recommend.

Fantastic experience: I've lived in the Shore for years and this was my first visit to this beautiful place. We went for a reiki traditional Maori healing mirimiri, the koha is $20 and well worth it, my husband and 4yr old son also participated. It was easy to find, lots of parking and we will be returning to try their vegetarian dishes in the cafe :)

Fantastic experience: Enjoy your stay.

Negative experience: Went to pick up my Dad from reception and was told to move on or face a $150 clamp fee. Weird vibes at this place.

Fantastic experience: I recently attended a Mindfulness Course at the Centre and was blown away by the amazing, yummy food. I understand it was all vegan. Everything we had was soooo delicious. Thanks to the fab chef and helping hands. You’re very talented. Lisa Lyford :)

Positive experience: Good place to eat KFC, only 4 stars because they tried to turn me vegan

Fantastic experience: carpark next to tepe is good for skids

Negative experience: #spent 3 weeks there and I agree with John Smiths review from october '17! pro: + good range of yoga sessions + nice people + good rooms for yoga, workshops available + well connected to public transport + shopping centre nearby + cafe has good food + well situated in the green (hooton reserve) kontra: - management lacks communication skills - issues ingnored by management - not runing environmentaly friendly - female wwoofer dorm is a former slaughter house - no sense for yoga as a philosophy (some guests, residents, staff drink alc, eat meat and many dont attend yoga classes) - although situated in the park you can hear traffic noise

Fantastic experience: The spring School holiday program in Kawai Purapura was a blast. My daughter enjoyed every single day of it, learned so many new things and made lots of new friends. It's great to have a program to take the children off the devices and teach them to enjoy nature. A great experience! We are obviously coming back again.

Positive experience: I give it a 4/5 star Rating cause I really enjoyed my visit to Kaiwai Papakura. It was fun. I got to have first hand experiance with the Tea Pee and the yoga rooms. Plus the All organic and vegan pies were amazing. Would 100% come back again in the near future :)

Fantastic experience: Our heartfelt gratitude for the beautiful and peaceful environment you have created. Our centre members had a most memorable day at Kawai Purapura. We all felt taken care of with the delicious lunch and dinner. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: This is a hidden gem! A Peaceful and calming retreat in the heart of Albany. I love it here and would recommend it to anyone keen to just quieten the mind, heart and soul. They offer Yoga, peaceful forest walks, and so much more.

Fantastic experience: I regularly go to Kawai Purapura - if I could name one place in Auckland that is my favourite place in the world it would be there. I went to the yoga festival which was an excellent few days out of my normal life, which afterwards I even saw an increase in my health and wellbeing. I would recommend this place for anyone who is looking for a break from life, and to learn how to better master their thoughts and wellbeing. It also has great cacao too!

Negative experience: I contacted the 'accomodation manager' Gus to enquire about renting a room at. By email he seemed friendly and it seemed like there was plenty of rooms. We organised a time to meet, that suited him. He got my name wrong, complained about how hard his job was and showed me 3 rooms from the outside as he had forgot the keys. I told him I would let him know by the end of the day. He didn't show me any of the amenities, the only thing he mentioned was the three weeks bond and weeks rent in advance. I contacted him that evening and said I would take the room. He sent me a terse email saying all the rooms had been rented! As an aside, as I was leaving, one of the residents came up to me and told me I was trespassing! The place was filthy with dogs running around, even though it clearly states on the website, no dogs allowed. I'm relieved not to be in this awful place.

Positive experience: Wow. What a mixed bunch of reviews. Yes, it is true that the wwoofers accommodation is below tolerable if your expectations are to be in the same staamdard as the retreat participants. And the organization needs some work. But it doesn't seem to kill the spirit of the beautiful travellers i had the pleasuere to meet there. My favorite thing was the pool(which is clean, but might die your hair green) the surrounding nature and the kitchen. Hands down one of the most talented and caring vegan cooks I have had the honour to work with. Thank you for the inspiration. The wwoofers make this place a little paradise, albeit simple and non luxurious

Negative experience: No hotwater on the 2. Night, extra charge for the kitchen, No massage and the swimming pool is dirty....

Negative experience: Kawaipurapura has a beautiful natural environment on the surface. I was attracted by the spiritual messages and promise of peaceful living. However, after being here for two months I have suffered sub standard living conditions and sad stories. Residents and wwoofers are treated as dispensable place holders. Conflicts are dealt with unpolitically and tears are commonplace. It was a mistake to live here.

Positive experience: I wwoofed here when traveling, met some of the most amazing people, truly magical. Some gifted healers here. The accommodations for the wwoofers weren't the best (huge dichotomy btwn retreat goers and workers...) but it was OK. All else - wonderful

Positive experience: Nice, quiet, serene, clean, organised and friendly staff & participants. Sit quietly, you will hear birds sweet chirping & insect calls. Nature balances mind.

Positive experience: I stayed at this place for almost 4 months... It was an awesmoe time where i meet so many interessting people.... To be honest i´ve never tried the retried thing ... and im also not into yoga... but i liked spending my time here and would go here again... But i hated the owner! J. .... She´s the Devil in person and if you plan to wwoof here make sure she´s on one of her india trips...

Fantastic experience: best retreat in Auckland, one could forget that we are actually in the city.

Negative experience: Out of respect to those of the past should never be used again.