Worldwide bids to join tycoon’s slice of paradise
German iced coffee baron wants to share his Kiwi lifestyle with urbane neighbours not ‘stupid hippies’
A German multi-millionaire’s invitation to join him at his slice of paradise has drawn interest from people around the world keen to live with him.
But some locals fear Karl Reipen’s advertisement looking for 10 “nice people” to join him on his Awakino estate might have been misunderstood.
After writing about the 70-yearold’s plight to find some company on his “beautiful farm”, the Weekend Herald and Awakino locals have been inundated with requests to join him.
Requests have come from as far as Albania, Bolivia, Kenya, Italy, Kosovo, Germany, Ukraine and the Philippines.
Among them was a 32-year-old German woman who told the Weekend Herald it had always been a dream of hers to travel to New Zealand “and get to know the beautiful landscape and wildlife”.
Another woman from the Philippines wrote on Reipen’s Facebook page that she wanted to move to the estate with her four children and construction worker husband.
“Me and my husband dreamed that some day [we] had a big opportunity to work in Europe but it is a [bit] difficult for us,” she said.
But Awakino locals say the ads have been misunderstood.
One man, who didn’t want to be named, said he had it on good authority that Reipen actually intended to find people around retirement age to join him as a lifestyle choice.
Reipen, who made his money selling canned iced coffee, is known around the small town as generous and a “typical German”.
“My other understanding is he doesn’t want stupid hippies and all that sort there.
“He’s looking for people 50 to 70 years old, urbane sort of people who’ve travelled around the world, who have intelligent conversation.
“He wants them to live in his houses and he’s going to entertain them and have meals with them and have them be part of the community.”
Reipen wasn’t “looking for 19-yearolds or crazy hippies who smoke dope and be idiots”, the man said.
Instead, the millionaire wanted people who he could talk to about “intellectual, world-travel, business affairs sort of stuff ”, the man said.
“So he’s not looking to run mickey-mouse dodgy commune.”
Another local also believed this to be the case and said there was some suggestion the living arrangement wouldn’t be free.
Reipen ran the ad three times in the holiday section of the Herald’s classified listings, looking for people to join him in “paradise”.
He’s also posted about it on Facebook and said people had until December 31 to get in touch.
In his newspaper ads he said he’d been working on the property for the past 10 years and now wanted to find 10 people to share it with.
“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 two persons and share a beautiful winery for social meetings and dining,” he wrote in the ad.
The farm is 223ha and features horse stables, a winery and views of the Tasman Sea.
“Awakino Estate”, as Reipen has named it, was last valued at $5.6 million.
The invite extends to all adults up to 70 years of age. People are welcome to bring their own horses.
“You can enjoy walking, fishing, shopping, kayaking, bird watching, swimming or looking at the nice animals,” he says.
“If you are interested to live a life with a group of interesting people it can be a new life for you.”
The property is about 90 minutes north of New Plymouth and 90 minutes south of Hamilton.
aMy other understanding is he doesn’t want stupid hippies and all that sort there. Awakino resident