Sustainability, where do you start?
It the small things. The first steps are being conscious of how our daily choices impact on our environment.
It does not matter where any of us start our sustainability journey, it’s about our desire and our willingness to get on that continuum of change that really makes the difference. Here's our story.
Read MoreGetting sick is part of life for most of us - something we want to avoid as much as possible. It’s inevitable that at some stage, we are all going to be exposed to the covid-19 virus in New Zealand – vaccinated or unvaccinated. Boosting our immune system is one of the best ways we can help reduce the impact of such viruses. There are many ways we can boost our immunity and spending time in nature is a great start.
Read MoreThe best destination weekend wedding is one that you plan for yourselves. It’s a way to spend time together as a couple and create the perfect memories with the ones you love, without all of the stress and craziness that comes with planning your wedding from afar
Read MoreWe wanted to change people’s thoughts on composting loos; to prove that, when designed and used properly, they are naturally the best option to use when considering our environment. The thought of having an enviro-friendly option for waste fits so well with our eco-glamping and eco-weddings. Our aim was to have a loo that looked inviting, it didn’t smell, and it provided valuable compost for our fruit trees.
Read MoreEloping in the past, has been when you run away, you escape and get married to the one you love, without telling anyone. Sometimes it is considered a cheap way to get married. It can be as cheap, or as expensive, as you want. Nowadays more and more couples are choosing this option. The word, ‘elope’ originated with the Middle Dutch word, ‘lopen’, meaning, ‘run away.’
Read MoreNew Zealand has typically been a nation of people who love to holiday in the great outdoors. Some families escape to the family bach for rest and relaxation, but for a great majority of New Zealanders, the favoured type of accommodation is camping in a tent or staying in a caravan. It’s getting back to nature, the great outdoors that brings Kiwis out from the towns and cities into the beach areas and the bush.
Read MoreThe Covid-19 pandemic brought forward the closure of the Auckland Department of Internal Affairs Office, as a place to hold registry weddings. It was to close in July 2020, outsourcing all registry office weddings to registered and verified celebrants. This means any registry office wedding is now directed to a celebrant of the couple’s choice. The marrying couple can choose their own wedding site and a short registry wedding will be held.
Read MoreForest bathing is a relatively new term in New Zealand, and here in Auckland we have the chance for you to try it out at Warblers Retreat. You may ask, what is forest bathing? The phrase, Forest Bathing suggests it’s soaking in a bath in the forest, but is it? And, what’s the purpose of Forest Bathing? What are the benefits?
Read MoreThere are many rituals that can be included in a wedding ceremony and celebration, and a Kauri Love Site is an eco-friendly extension of one of those traditional wedding rituals. Activities such as handfasting, candle lighting, tying the knot, breaking the bottle of champagne and planting a tree have been around for years. The added bonus of our Kauri Love Site, is that it adds a touch of eco-friendliness to your wedding.
Read MoreWe have had the best time ever! We have been given the gift of time. Time to do the things we really want to do, and to do them with no pressure, no guilt but with absolute passion. It’s given us the opportunity to actually stop and smell the roses, to do everything that we do in a more relaxed and healthier way. We have inadvertently been more focused and more productive than ever been before. So why can’t we be like this all the time?
Read MoreWell it would seem that Mr and Mrs Bear have packed their bag, they have left the safety of the Cottage and have gone walkabouts, for Easter. FOUND, in the garden, with a couple of yummy hot cross buns! There’s lots of places to picnic in the gardens at Warblers Retreat! The seat they are on is an upcycled ex North Shore Council seat that overlooks
Read MoreRecently, in fact the weekend before lock down, we had a fantastic weekend at Warblers Retreat. The Breeze Radio Station ran a “Breeze Retreat” here. It was amazing! The lucky winners were given a relaxing weekend away where they did a range of activities. One of the activities was mediation run by Jocelyn Oades. Check out her tips in this video which was filmed here, on site in Pare-dise!
Read MoreThis lovely young couple on honeymoon over here from the UK, were our last guests to stay before the lock down. They were really nervous about flying home and we totally felt for them. They would love to be living here in New Zealand, and I can tell you they are such a lovely couple. They were some of the lucky ones having spent…
Read MoreI am in my element! I have been so keen to cut another track in the bush, up through the gully. Bush gardening is my escape from office work, and will be my gymnasium for a long time! Because we have experienced the driest summer in over 50 years, a lot of the undergrowth is dead, making it a bit easier to navigate a pathway through.
Read MoreDave has plenty of beer and he is making great progress on his project. He’s using up any bit of timber he can find. It’s not as though you can go down to the shop to buy more at the moment. It just takes longer to de-nail used timber, but when you have the time, it’s a great way to go. It’s called being resourceful; using what you have in hand, being creative.
Read MoreEven though we had decided to bed in and not go out for the 4 weeks lock down, Dave ran out of beer-necessities, so he had to make the quick exit into the supermarket. Needless to say, we are now well stocked! He loves a beer at the end of the day, and it certainly keeps his spirit levels up!
Read MoreCovid-19, Day 10 , Saturday, 4 April 2020. Autumn is a great time of the year for the Kereru as there’s plenty of food to snack on at Warblers Retreat. One food we had no idea they would be attracted to, is the humble old kumara (sweet potato), plant. For some reason the Kereru just love to eat the kumara leaves!
Read MoreCovid-19, Day 9 , Friday, 3 April 2020. We thought it was a great place to get married before covid-19, but now we think it’s an even better place! For someone considering eloping, as we were in 2015, it’s private, hidden away, and now, more so than ever before, it feels very isolated!
Read MoreCovid-19, Day 8, Thursday 2 April 2020. I wonder what will be different? It’s been said many times over, things will be different when we get out of lockdown, well there’s so much that we are doing now that is different in our daily lives, and many of these things will stay.
Read MoreCovid-19, Day 7, Wednesday 1 April 2020. Changing tracks, many of us are going to be doing that in the future, but here at Warblers Retreat, we are changing tracks in a different way!
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