On the edge of a recent suburban housing development this project is no great exemplar of the medium density housing Kapiti Coast needs: it’s a home for one person on five acres of grass covered sand dunes. The land looks like it ought to be farmed, but ecologically it shouldn’t be. It should be a soggy wetland covered in flax bushes. There is very little the owner can do on her property to revive the wetlands, but how might this stretch of coast be re-vegetated in some other form? It is difficult to imagine how the public purse might fund all the re-vegetation necessary along the Kapiti coastline, but it is heartening to consider that a generation of planting enthusiasts might take on the task in their retirement. Maybe there is public opportunity in the lifestyle block after all. Goodbye cows. Hello Kowhai.