Tauhara Retreat and Conference Centre NZ

The Tauhara Centre in Acacia Bay Taupo is looking for an experienced Cook to help cater for our groups. We have a friendly kitchen, and all training in vegetarian catering etc. will be given where needed. We do offer meat dishes form time to time. Mainly Vegetarian. We are looking for a flexible person with a sense of humour and of course good cooking skills! Please contact us [email protected]
or call 021 168 3229

Tauhara Centre in Acacia Bay Taupo, is looking for an experienced Cook to serve our groups. We offer mainly home style vegetarian cooking, but also serve fish and chicken from time to time. All training will be given where needed.
We are a friendly team and lovely environment - please contact us for more information
[email protected] or call 07)378-7507

A stunning sunset here in Taupo tonight, though modern cameras, good as they are, somehow don't quite capture the beauty of Mother Nature apparent to the human eye

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness" wrote the English poet, John Keats, in 1819 in his "Ode to autumn". Tauhara Centre is enjoying an "embarrassment of riches" at the moment, including pumpkins, walnuts, hazelnuts, giant feijoas, quince, apples of many varieties. Mother Nature, we bow in awe and gratitude!

A big shout out to all the seniors who help to keep Tauhara Centre running. Their amazing energy, consistency, enthusiasm and commitment is nothing short of pure inspiration

This last weekend, we had 28 amazing athletes in residence for Mr Smith's Coaching Camp. Led by Gerrard Smith, participants spent much of their time on swimming, running and clocking up prodigious distances on their bikes, preparing for the Ironman in March - if it happens, given the threatening Omicron situation. We are in awe of their commitment and focus

Had a beautiful group in last weekend - Sathya Sai - who had been coming to Tauhara for many years. Nearly 80 adults, teens and children blessing the Centre with their amazing bhajan chanting, working in peace, harmony and joy in the kitchen preparing their meals. Many of them had not seen one another for two years due to COVID lockdowns. Such a joy to witness their delight, laughter and strong sense of community based around a shared faith. Namaste: truly the Divine in me greets the Divine in you. Saava Mangalam!

Mindfulness practice Tauhara style!
Spent the morning creating this floor to ceiling wood stack in our wood shed. A task requiring great patience, acceptance, working in the present moment. Every piece of split, dry wood is different, no regular sizes or planes, working out how best to place each piece with its neighbour, laying the wood back slightly each layer to ensure the stack does not fall out. The ugly, gnarly bits are often the heroes, becoming the keystones that lock the whole stack together. Very satisfying meditation does not require a cushion, lotus position or incense! 🤔👍😎

Sunset at Tauhara Sanctuary [Photo credit: Denise B]

Hello all good friends of Tauhara Centre from around the world. We hope you have had a relaxing and peaceful Christmas break. And may 2022 bring us all many blessings and insights.
Tauhara has been closed since December 16th, having its annual outbreath and resting time, re-ope ing on January 5th for what is promising to be a busy year, with loads of bookings and constant enquiries for as far away as 2023. As we have learnt in the past two years, however, COVID may influence how it all turns out.
In January, we welcome back all the good Sathya Sai folk who have been coming to Tauhara over many years. We have a 5 day Juice Fast Detox retreat starting on the 21st, and for the third year in a row we have a 4-day Ironman Training Camp from the 27th.
We are very pleased to announce, also, that St John will be conducting its training programmes at Tauhara from this year.
With our international borders still closed, there are many opportunities for Kiwis who might like to come to Tauhara on a work exchange basis, contact us at our email address.
May your New Year celebration be peaceful and enjoyable from all the team at Tauhara Centre

Job opportunities for New Year -
Cook and Cooks Assistant at the beautiful Tauhara Centre in Taupo.
We are a small friendly team - hosting groups from all around the world (normally!) If you enjoy cooking vegetarian meals, and also meat meals - we would enjoy talking to you. Full training will be given. If you are a cook/gardener this could evolve into a full time position as we have lovely organic gardens that need someone to love them. Also for the lead cook there is a possibility of onsite residence.
Please contact Catherine Grace 021 168 3229 or send email to [email protected] if are interested.

Today we farewell from Tauhara Rose Claiden, who joined our Wwoofing team back in July before the Delta COVID-19 lockdown. Rose first became known to us as one of the 100+ people who came here each year for the Medicine Woman gatherings. During the last few months, Rose has blessed all the many "altars" of Tauhara: the kitchen, housekeeping, gardening, breakfast cook and any other area that needed attention. But it was the hothouse that really captured her heart, where she sowed many hundreds of seedlings for eventual planting out, cultivated and planted up the beds, sang to the plants and nurtured her natural queendom there. Rose graced Tauhara with so many glorious photos on her page, and there has been a warm response to her postings. Rose, we thank you for all you have contributed, we will miss you, your wonderful smile, your storytelling and weaving, your mesmerising hand conversations, all the laughter and shared irony as we traversed these difficult pandemic times. We wish you God speed as you move on to your next adventure, may you be safe and well, may your work in the world continue to flourish and uphold you. Catherine, Gilma and Stephen

Sunrise over Lake Taupo this morning from Tauhara Centre

Loving this spring weather here in Taupo, NZ. But still a lot of snow up on our maunga, Ruapehu, with a cool breeze at times reminding us that cold snaps can flush up without notice. We have a lovely Self-Realization Fellowship retreat in at present, devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda. The hallowed halls of Tauhara have a beautiful sense of meditative stillness, with chanting gently emerging at times. Namaste!

Customers lining up at the Tauhara wildbird cafe this morning...

When our iconic Gum tree up near the Sanctuary was diseased and had to be cut down - we were very sad - our local Tuwharatoa people came up and we all participated in a farewell gratitude ceremony with many tears - however now we have planted our new baby golden Totara in the arms of the beautiful old Gum. Dedicated to Ian Noble one of our founding Trustees.

A curious meteorological phenomenon at dawn today. A polar front racing up Te Ika A Maui ran along the eastern flank of Taupo-Nui-A- Tia (our great lake) embracing the town in its icy grasp, but leaving us in the west in a clear atmosphere, with the last quarter of the moon basking in azure skies

Big appreciation to the team of 10, including 6 Wwoofers, for all that has been achieved during the recent lockdown. Mountains of wood split, years of accumulated branches turned into chip for mulching, tree rings weeded, composted and mulched, vege gardens cultivated, composted, replanted and mulched.

We have recently installed some lovely solar lights on the path to our Sanctuary and down to our retreat chalet. Thanks Rainer and Simon at Mana Retreat for the inspiration and sourcing of these lights

Recently we put out a request for help in purchasing a stick vacuum for all those quick little vacuum jobs that are needed to keep Tauhara sparkling. Within a week, we had several donations that made it possible for us to purchase a really good Dyson. Heartfelt thanks to all those generous souls that made this possible 🙏💖

Hello dear friends of Tauhara - to help us in our cleaning of the dining room when we have large groups, or even small ones, we would love a Dyson mini vacuum. We have collected nearly half of the money needed to purchase it from staff - and are short by $400.
Are there any kind friends who would like to make a small or not so small donation towards our goal of buying a rechargeable Dyson - it will make a lot of difference to the daily clean up of the dining room and foyer!
If you feel drawn to help us the bank account number is
Kiwibank 38-9009-0271000-05
Thank you for reading and considering this 🥰

from the tauhara clean up fairies.!!

Over the past year, we have been upgrading our caravans, refurbishing indoors, and creating sheltered sitting out areas. The latest caravan upgrade is Sylvia, named after the original owner and old friend of the Centre, Sylvia Durkin. Water damage had brought Sylvia to the brink of ruin, but thanks to the amazing skills of our building Wwoofer, Ben, she has been restored to even greater glory, including insulation. Thanks also to Tristan, who laid carpet, built and modified beds, and constructed all the decks of the caravan enclave 🙏👍😍

On a misty morning, a Potala Palace of spider houses is revealed by the dew ...

Clear skies tonight, a bright moon, calm has returned to Tauhara Centre in Taupo, NZ, after the passing of rain. Tomorrow we farewell the month of May, only 3 weeks to winter solstice, when each day begins to lengthen by a minute once more. And thus the seasons inch forward on this beautiful planet ...

Our first snow dump of the cooler seasons has arrived, adorning
Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe, our guardian volcanoes. Cold nights but pristine skies have blessed us today here at Tauhara Centre ...

Sunrise through the mist this morning...

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness" wrote the English poet John Keats over 200 years ago in his Ode to Autumn. Mother Gaia has blessed us once more with feijoas, gathered, scooped and frozen as pulp for nurturing breakfast fruit and delicious crumbles in the months ahead at Tauhara

The "fires of autumn" warming our hearts here at Tauhara this morning..

Has the famous nor'west arch of Canterbury slipped north? Dawn at Tauhara today

There's a wonderful Working Bee under way here at Tauhara Centre in beautiful weather.Over 30 people bottling, wood splitting and stacking, workshop decluttering, gardening, vegetation trimming, hazelnut gathering, vege garden weeding and building spruce ups. We are so blessed to have so many people responding to the call, from as far away as Wellington, Auckland and Hawkes Bay. Thank you!

Photos from Tauhara Retreat and Conference Centre NZ's post

Will they or won't they ...?
With the lack of overseas volunteers since last November, we missed the usual planting time for corn seeds in December. But we managed to pick up some orphan corn seedlings at The Warehouse, planted 46 of them on February 12th. They're going gangbusters, so we're hoping for a long, regularly damp and warm autumn to bring them on to bearing luscious ears of corn for our guests, fresh and into the freezer. Optimism is the foundation of Tauhara Centre, and that spirit lives on in our organic garden!