Strange Opportunity - Maybe!

Post Reply New Topic

How would you like to live on a beautiful farm along the coast on an island. The setting is quiet and peaceful. The country is New Zealand, the place where "Lord of the Rings" was filmed. Although this farm is located on the North Island rather than the South Island. You can enjoy horse back riding, walking, fishing, shopping, kayaking, bird watching, swimming or looking at the nice animals.

The only requirement seems to be that you are a nice person, under 70 years of age and an interesting person.

According to the article:

A German multimillionaire has invited 10 “nice people” to live with him on his 550-acre property, which features horse stables, a winery and views of the Tasman Sea, on a remote part of New Zealand.

Karl Reipen, the 70-year-old who made his fortune selling canned iced-coffee drinks, has twice posted an ad with his offer in the New Zealand Herald.

He purchase the property in 2000 and spent 10 years modernizing it.

“Now where everything is finished I would like to share the “paradise” with nice people, up to 10 (women and men). They could live in houses by 2 persons and share a beautiful winery for social meetings and dining,” he writes.

The property, which Reipen has dubbed “Awakino Estate,” is located on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island and was last valued at $5.6 million, stuff.co.nz reported.

Reipen says he has a background in “international business” and liked to work on farms in Germany as a boy. He invites adults up to 70 years old to live at Awakino Estate and welcomes them to bring their own horses.

“If you are interested to live a life with a Group of Interesting people it can be a new life for You.”

Source: German multimillionaire invites 10 people to live in his New Zealand ‘paradise’

The immigration approval process is quite stringent. People can get visitor's visas for short visits but otherwise the process of becoming a resident in New Zealand is not so simple for ordinary people. It appears to work differently for megabuck people like Jeff Bezos, which is a source of concern for most New Zealanders, as citizenship should not be for sale in the view of most kiwis.

i'm not sure that i am the person to decide whether or not i myself am "interesting"

but what an offer.

Back 45 years ago, I looked seriously about immigrating to New Zealand. I did some extensive research and at that time it looked somewhat doable. I had a marketable skill and I think they would have welcomed me with open arms.

A lot has changed since then, believe me..

Digging a little deeper:

The advert, which was published twice in a national newspaper this past week, is headed up 'Living in Paradise', and offers people after "a new life" a homestead with its own winery, indoor equestrian centre and stables.

Since the story of Reipen's hunt for housemates was published on Wednesday, it has piqued the interest of people, and other media, including The Guardian, from across the world.

Stuff has fielded messages from men and women, including a married couple in their 60s, living in places like Russia, Turkey, the United States, Canada, along with a Kiwi living in Europe, who have wanted help to get in touch with Reipen.

Among those reaching out in the wake of the story was a Los Angeles-based film maker who said he wanted to get in touch with the multi-millionaire to see if he would be agreeable to being involved in a documentary about his search to find people to live on the estate.

Source: Interest in millionaire iced-coffee mogul's piece of 'paradise' goes global

In October 2000, Reipen was granted consent under the Overseas Investment Act to buy Pioi Station on Fraser Smith Rd.

In April the following year, further permission was given to Awakino Fortune Limited, a company 100 per cent owned by the German, to acquire Awakino Heads, an adjoining property on the same road. The combined properties were then called the Awakino Estate.

in 2016 attempted to sell the land he is now looking for people to live on.

The property, which was called Awakino Heads but is now Awakino Estate, was listed for $8.5m but the sale never eventuated.

Source: Millionaire: Come live with me

Another article discusses another property that he owns called Stratford Mountain House. It provides some clues:

Businessman Karl Reipen is planning to give away the Stratford Mountain House he bought last year with a dream of turning it into an international attraction.

He wants to hear from individuals, artists, charities and trusts who would have a good use for the historic lodge on the slopes of Mt Taranaki.

Mr Reipen bought the 10-bedroom hotel last year for more than $1 million and is understood to have spent another $1 million on refurbishing it.

At the time, he said he hoped to attract wealthy Europeans and Asians to the pristine environment.

But this year it appeared on the real estate listings with an asking price of $1.8 million.

Now Mr Reipen says the lodge is going for free.

He says a recent quadruple heart bypass operation has made him reconsider his life's priorities.

Mr Reipen arrived in Taranaki from Germany some eight years ago, buying a significant coastal property at Awakino.

He has developed an international quality equestrian facility there and invested heavily in horse and cattle breeding.

The businessman, who made his fortune in Germany in iced coffee drinks, is usually media shy. But earlier this week, he appeared on TV3's Campbell Live to promote his giveaway.

Source: SkyHighCity

From my perspective, Aspies have a strong affinity to nature. We love peace and quiet and animals. It would be nice for Aspies to have a place to retreat from the stress of the modern world. One of the approaches used on Aspies and those on the Autistic Spectrum is animal assisted therapy. One of the programs to treat trauma and PTSD uses race horses that have retired from the racing circuit as therapy for patients. Horses are very intelligent and almost intuitive. Animals can provide a sense of calm, comfort, or safety and divert attention away from a stressful situation and toward one that provides pleasure. Advocates of animal-assisted therapy say that developing a bond with an animal can help people develop a better sense of self-worth and trust, stabilize their emotions, and improve their communication, self-regulation, and socialization skills. It might be a blessing to have a retreat house in a setting like this. A place to heal.

So perhaps this might be a unique opportunity! Imagine all the young people this might help!

It wouldn't hurt to ask.

1,000 go in...
None come out...

On an unrelated topic,
A new sausage processing plant is supplying the local New Zealand community with a gourmet delicacy.

Well just think about this for a moment.

Karl Reipen, worked his whole life amassing a small fortune. Then disaster struck, and underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation. He stared death right between the eyes. Now he wants to spend his remaining days in peace. But perhaps he also wants to leave a legacy. So he made an interesting offer. A type of opportunity.

There is a world of Aspies and in many cases very talented Aspies. There is a need. The need is to help mend the wings of broken Aspies. This ranch could be a special place. It might even be a Never-Never-Never Land.

Maybe there could be a core group to take a vision of what could be and transform it into reality. A place of healing.

There are some people that might fill the role.

Tony Attwood literally wrote the book on Aspies. (I mean literally wrote the book - The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome.) And he come from that neck of the woods, living in Australia.

Temple Grandin has a deep love of animals and horses.

Jason H.J. Lu has a flowpath for transforming low and medium functioning autistics into High Functioning Autistics/Aspies.

David Berceli who developed a method of venting stored stress energy from the bodies core.

This place could be a very magical place. So you might even want to include someone like Chloé Hayden. She has a vision. The Disney Universe is populated by many princesses and she felt that maybe there might be room for just one more, a princess for Aspies. She could be called Princess Aspien.

It is very difficult, though not impossible, to pass the immigration gatekeepers as an AS person (unless you can conceal it and "pass".

This link explains quite a lot about the way the system discriminates and which conditions it targets:
https://www.laneneaveimmigration.co.nz/ ... -problems/

If you scroll down you will see autism on the list.

However it is not entirely impossible to get in. I can think of people who are clearly AS adults who have come through unrecognised and at least one has gained a knighthood for his innovative inventions. He is admired for that but flys under the radar as an AS person.