- Christchurch couple Aimee Mahuta and Angie Abernethy are selling their healing retreat near Fox River.
- They bought Tui Hill in 2021, hoping to restore its spiritual and community-focused purpose.
- The property is listed for $850,000 after financial pressures and career changes ended their plans.
A Christchurch couple who fell in love with a tiny West Coast town and poured their “hopes and dreams” into a former healing retreat on the edge of Paparoa National Park are now reluctantly parting with the property.
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Aimee Mahuta and Angie Abernethy bought Tui Hill in 2021, in Fox River near Buller, after visiting the area during a mini-break.
Mahuta told OneRoof: “None of us had been there, and we kind of fell in love with that exact spot.”
They started looking for property immediately, and a few months later Abernethy spotted Tui Hill was for sale.
The main timber house was built on Tui Hill in 1980 so the owner could live near her son’s family. Photo / Supplied
They were surprised to learn they already knew the vendors. During their weekend break in Fox River, they started chatting to a couple at the Fox River market and discovered they had mutual acquaintances in Christchurch.
“We were like, ‘Do you remember us at the market?’ and they did. They offered to let us stay with them. It was crazy. The whole process was not like your typical buying a house.”
The vendors lived in the main house and rented out two small cabins to holiday goers, but were selling to move 200m down the road.
The 9081sqm property had previously been the home of Tui Hill Healing Group and Westport Women’s Refuge, and Mahuta and Abernethy were keen to build on that tradition.
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“That’s what was perfect for us because that’s what we were wanting to restore it as – something the community could use for healing practices.”
The couple had been studying Māori healing at the time and wanted somewhere that could accommodate at least 15 people and had a large enough space for meetings and blessings.
When they took over the property, they built two new cabins, but then life got in the way. “We had all these hopes and dreams about bringing back to life that spiritual home it had been for so long. But money ran out ...”
Their focus has also shifted, and they are now immersed in their respective careers in Christchurch: Mahuta is a teacher and Abernethy is a hypnotherapist.
The current owners built two new cabins on the property that have been rented on Airbnb. Photo / Supplied
The new cabins were built to accommodate guests attending the healing retreats. Photo / Supplied
The couple initially rented out the retreat on Airbnb, but then leased the site to a local couple to run as a holiday accommodation business.
That tenancy ended earlier this year, and Mahuta and Abernethy have decided to call it quits. “We were like, ‘OK, it’s going to be in the too-hard basket for us right now’, so that’s why we decided to sell. It was quite an emotional decision to make – it was like letting go of a dream you had.”
Property Brokers agent Jo Makutu has been tasked with selling the property, which has an asking price of $850,000.
Mahuta said it was a unique property and hopes potential buyers realise the same. “You have to be there to understand how amazing this place is. And I think that’s what happened to us. We fell in love with it; we didn’t care how much it was, we were like, we need this place.”
She is grateful for the time they owned it and all the amazing people they met. “It definitely served its purpose. I don’t even know how to explain these years of building and the projects and the dream and all that stuff. It’s just been an incredible period of our life that I will never forget ... it’s been crazy. We are really going to miss it.”
- 5296A State Highway 6, in Fox River, Buller, has an asking price of $850,000
