Late last year an anonymous donor offered Wangapeka $10,000 to build a new hut in the Skydancer area. The offer was warmly received and then the head-scratching started. A hut would actually cost more than $10,000. Could/should our reserve funds be used for this? How about the resource consent? Was this a Wangapeka priority? Did we have the skilled labour to build it?
Firstly we found that if the hut was no more than 10sqm the expensive and time-consuming resource consent was not necessary. Then Jane Hobday and Graham Sandlant found Allwood, a kitset hut maker in Nelson which looked as if it would serve our needs well. It was going to cost about $12,000 for a kitset that had a mezzanine and deck for walking meditation and there would be additional funds needed for solar lighting, long drop and so on. Next our kind-hearted donor found a donor friend and would give a further $5,000.
We decided on the most suitable floor plan and placed the order with Allwood. The kitset was delivered before Christmas and dropped inside the Wangapeka gate as the truck was too big to get up the drive.
Where to put the hut? Guy tramped all over the steep bush covered land in November and found a likely area. During the Young Adults retreat in January, the participants cleared the vegetation and dug into the bank to create a building platform.
Chris Petzold agreed to take on the huge job of being the overall project manager and he, with help from Graham, Guy, Shea, Heidi and others attending the Sangha led retreat in January have worked over many days often in extremely hot weather to dig holes for the piles and construct the retreat hut. They have also taken the extra precaution of adding wire mesh in the roof to keep the rats out.
It is looking really good with a fabulous view. To get to this stage has taken enormous generosity from a wide range of people. There is still much work to do but it has been a truly collaborative effort so far.
We hope that this retreat hut is used for many years to come, for the benefit of many beings.
Many thanks to all those involved.
