TIM BREWSTER"Hitting the wall,” after nine years of top end endurance racing was a seriously low point for Wanaka’s Floortje Grimmett."Feeling the signs of over-training etc, being scared, not to be able to exercise again as you are so exhausted, no energy, immunity low.” Her description of last year’s slump might surprise anyone who witnessed her mashing the pedals down last weekend. As the first woman across the line and 11th overall in a time of 7.31 in the 160km Centurion MTB event of the Contact Epic, she has shown her class as an athlete after a remarkable comeback.Originally from Holland, Floortje immigrated in 2000 to live permanently in Wanaka, marrying Darren who manages Outside Sports (useful for the never ending equipment requirements for multisport) and becoming the mother of Ella and Liam.She had competed in athletics as a youth in her home country, but only started competing seriously here ten years ago. [I have a] "big passion for the rugged back country in New Zealand. I like to achieve, pushing limits for myself and also together with my teammates and not knowing what's around the corner.”In the summer of 2015 she had been on a high after her team Tiki Tour had placed third in the Godzone event and the experience had given them the belief in themselves to compete against the world’s best. "We had huge confidence after that,” she said.Floortje Grimmett was the first woman across the line in the Contact Epic Centurion event last weekend.An insight into the world of adventure racing at that level was her recollection of having a few hours sleep on the Pisa Range as a snowstorm halted night travel. "My bike pants were frozen onto the ground; I had to peel them off to put them on.”Determined to keep her fitness up after that race, and despite advice to the contrary about her early warning signs of the stress of overtraining, Floortje entered in the ironically named "Ultra Easy,” a 100km mountain run over Mt Roy and the Pisa Range. It was in the midst of that gruelling event she realised that while she "absolutely loved” endurance racing, her body was shutting down and she needed rest.But for the relentless competitor that she is, overtraining and a thyroid condition simply became another teachable moment she was determined to overcome. A year later after her worst experience in sport (well, eight months of rest to be precise), the mother of two who celebrates her 40th this weekend - "I won’t be an Open women anymore” - had her highest point ever with her team Tiki tour winning the Godzone 2017 in February by a large margin. "It was the best feeling ever. It's absolutely about being in a good team. There’s no ego.”Her Tiki Tour team mates from Queenstown, Mike Kelly, and brothers Tom and George Lucas are now looking for sponsors to assist them to compete in the World Adventure Racing championships in Wyoming, USA, in August.Godzone was followed with a second place in the two day Red Bull Defiance sports category with a new training partner, Cardrona Valley farmer Hamish Mackay."Floortje is probably the most dedicated trainer I have ever met,” Hamish said. "There are countless hours that go into gaining the fitness levels needed to succeed as she has. Probably the one thing that sets her apart from most is mental toughness and the ability to get through the toughest of physical situations.”The two feel they have "unfinished business” in the Red Bull event, Floortje said, after being overtaken in the last leg of this year’s event to leave them in second place. She now feels she is training and competing smarter after her setback. She’s also grateful for strong support and mentorship from fellow Wanaka multisporter Jo Williams. Jo is also heading to the world championships competing with team Seagate who are the current world champions.With both Wanaka women entering the World Adventure Racing championships with formidable reputations as competitors focussed only on the finish line, the race will generate a lot of local interest.PHOTO: LMS Events

For two weeks every other year, Lindsey Schofield becomes one of the most high-profile members of the Wanaka community. She’s in the Wanaka App, on the radio and all over social media. Then she disappears - but not because she’s stopped working. That goes on year round.Lindsey is the general manager of the Festival of Colour, Wanaka’s own biennial celebration of the arts, and of the annual Aspiring Conversations festival of ideas. She has held the position since 2007, when she took over ahead of the third Festival of Colour, which took place in 2009; 2017 was her fifth. "It will be 10 years in September,” she told the Wanaka App.Originally from Leeds, Lindsey studied Media Studies at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) with plans to be a journalist - she went to polytechnic instead of university because the course she wanted to do was not available through university, a decision she said was a little controversial with friends from her high-achieving private girls’ school, and family. "It’s the only rebellious thing I’ve ever done,” she laughed.After poly, she decided journalism wasn’t for her, so fell into work that, indirectly, led Lindsey to where she is today: working at a call centre in Leeds. "The guy in the corner had a sign on his desk that said ‘marketing manager’, and I thought that’s cool, I could do that,” she said. She got a job as a marketing assistant for the Leeds Permanent Building Society, where she worked for a couple of years before heading to London, where she started working for a marketing agency.A job with KLP Media Ltd, a world-wide media conglomerate, followed, with Lindsey working her way up from a position as a "measly” account manager to be on the board - as part of the job she spent a year in Brazil, setting up an office for the agency in Rio and running Coca Cola Brazil’s promotions for the 1998 Football World Cup.The story of how Lindsey ended up in Wanaka is a familiar one, similar to that of many a foreigner who has ended up permanently in this beautiful corner of the world. "I came with my first husband on our honeymoon in 2001 - we were stopped in our tracks and, like everyone does, we decided we wanted to live here.”After moving to Wanaka, Lindsey saw the Festival of Colour job advertised, and decided it was for her. "It ticked all the boxes for me, I’ve always loved the arts,” she said. (She’s particularly into music, and is currently taking bass lessons, part of expressing her "inner rock chick”.)In the time Lindsey has been involved, the festival has gone from success to success, developing a national, and international, reputation as one of the best little festivals around, something she attributes in part to the fact that it is a truly local endeavour. "It’s got a core local community that really want it and really support it. It came out of Wanaka, driven by a group who could see a need for it. There are so many people here who are interested in the arts who previously had to travel for culture.”She explained the festival works hard to make sure the community is involved, with locals able to take part in many facets of the event, including as audience members, patrons, volunteers and performers.She also pointed to the sense of pride Wanaka has about the Festival of Colour, especially around the high calibre of performers who take part. "Time and time again, we get comments along the lines of ‘I can’t believe this happened in our town’,” she said. "Festival directors from other festivals always remark on how everybody just loves it.”As for what she does for the 102 weeks between festivals, "I have lots of meetings,” she said. "Actually, one of the things I love about the job is the variety. No two days are the same.” Her off-season tasks include completing funding applications, contacting sponsors, database management, marketing, updating the website, social media and doing all the accounts.She says one of the highlights for her during the time she’s been involved with the Festival of Colour has been seeing local performers, such as the local students in Sing It To My Face, the members of The Blue Moments Project, and Liz Breslin, who spoke at the ‘True Stories Told Live’ session in 2015, on stage: "You feel pride when you see local people you didn’t know could do that kind of thing.”The next Aspiring Conversations is scheduled for April 6-8, 2018, with the Festival of Colour set to return April 2-7, 2019.PHOTO: Supplied

Wanaka’s Nicky Blennerhassett has just walked the length of the South Island, but she’s not sure why."It’s funny because I don’t really know what the reason was. Why do you decide to do anything?” Nicky had tramped before but not in the last few years, and had never done a walk of significant length.She began the Te Araroa trail in Bluff on February 10 and finished at the top of the South Island two months later. Nicky had hoped to complete the whole trail in one go, but curtailed her trip after short days and cyclones made the going difficult.She described the walk as a great experience. "One of the amazing things was seeing the changing landscape over the course of the track. Lots of these places I’d never been before and it was so varied.”From drainage to dog training, kitchens to curtains, find it in Wanaka App Trades/ServicesNicky said it was hard to pick a favourite spot, but thought the Mavora Greenstone Walkway, in Mavora Lakes Conservation Park, was particularly special.Nicky, who is 57, estimated that 80 percent of the people she came across on the trail were in their 20s. "I probably came across about four people my age,” she said. The overwhelming majority of people she came across were foreigners. "I probably only met about eight or nine Kiwis on the trail.”Nicky said she has been asked a lot why she chose to walk the trail alone. "People were surprised, but the huts are very social,” she said. The longest amount of time Nicky spent without seeing anybody was about four days, but the isolation didn’t bother her. "I really do really enjoy the solitude of walking on your own and taking that time out to think”.Nicky said her only sticky situation was while crossing the Richmond Ranges. "Up the top of the range I was in really misty conditions. The forecast was for 70km winds and I think they were about that. It got a bit spooky because occasionally I couldn’t quite see the markers for where to go, and then they’d appear out the mist."There’s the odd day that you don’t like what’s happening but you just accept it and carry on. I missed the Takitimu section [approximately three days long] due to a broken pack, and also had to escape from the trail for a few days when Cyclone Debbie was coming through, missing about four days of the trail south of the Pelorus River section.”"Afterwards I thought I was done with long walks, but after basically three weeks of rest I was ready for it again,” she said. Nicky plans to walk the two South Island sections she missed and the North Island leg of the trail next summer.The Te Araroa Trail is New Zealand’s longest-distance tramping route, spanning 3000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Completed in 2011, it is one of the world’s longest walking trails.PHOTO: Nicky Blennerhassett

Mount Aspiring College Year 12 students Max Hall and Leo Munro Heward have both recently received awards recognising their contributions to the community in leadership, acceptance and encouragement for all. The teens caught up with the Wanaka App this week.Leo was the recipient of a Giving Back Award in the leadership category at the 2017 New Zealand Youth Awards, while Max received a Diana Award, an international award for young role models who are "selflessly transforming the lives of others”.Among other things, the two 16-year-old students are active members of Sticks ‘n’ Stones, a student group dedicated to promoting positive action online. Max became a member in Year 9 while Leo joined in Year 10. "We raise awareness about what can happen online for young people and also in real life,” Leo said.Max decided to join Sticks ‘n’ Stones after observing bullying happening around him. "I have never been a bully and I have never been bullied myself, but after witnessing bullying happening around me it occurred to me that something wasn’t right, and that it had to change,” Max said.Need help? See Useful No's in the Wanaka AppLeo, on the other hand, had experienced bullying firsthand when he was in primary school. "I didn’t want anyone to go through what I went through. It was a short experience for me, but it was still a bullying experience,” Leo said.Leo traveled to Wellington to receive his award at Parliament alongside other nationally-recognised youth. His Wellington-based uncle attended the awards ceremony with him."It was an incredibly proud moment and an amazing moment,” Leo said. "There are some phenomenal things that young people are doing in this country”.Max was one of just two Kiwis ever to receive a Diana Award. He said he was surprised to receive the award. "Everyone in Sticks ‘n’ Stones is so phenomenal in what they do in their work so it could have been anyone,” Max said. "It was very honouring.”Neither Max nor Leo thought there was a lot of "serious” bullying in Wanaka, but there was definitely teasing and lesser forms of bullying going on."MAC is a very mellow school and a mellow town, but we do have quite a lot of teasing and people can be very judgemental,” Max said. "You’ve got bullying and then there’s what comes underneath it.”Their work with Sticks ‘n’ Stones encourages acceptance for all people. Both Max and Leo are also active in the community outside of their work with Sticks ‘n’ Stones.Max is an artist and particularly enjoys painting and photography. He’s spent time teaching painting at primary school. He also enjoys acting, which he started doing at a very young age, and likes outdoor activities like rock climbing, mountain biking and kayaking.Leo loves to dance, focusing mainly on jazz, hip hop and contemporary styles and teaches dance to primary school-age kids. He also loves to sing and spends a lot of time online. After finishing school Leo hopes to study Performing Arts at University.The Wanaka’ Sticks ‘n’ Stones group has 18 permanent members who meet weekly or fortnightly. They are currently setting up a peer support programme at MAC, and also promote events through the school including Random Acts of Kindness Day and Pink Shirt Day - which is coming up later this month (May 26).PHOTO: Wanaka App

Wanaka ultra-distance runner Mal Law will be one of the Kiwi story-tellers featured at this year’s NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival in Wanaka.Festival audiences connect most strongly with content that bears a cause beyond adventure for adventure’s sake, festival organisers said this month, and Wanaka’s Mal Law represents this contingent of filmmakers able to balance adventure and art on the big screen.From early childhood Mal Law devoured stories and Great Walks back to back in just seven days raising a serious amount of money for Leukemia & Blood Cancer NZ. As a nine-year-old he had lost his older brother to this disease.Next mission on the list was to run 50 mountain marathons and climb 50 peaks in just 50 days – The High Five O Challenge. Mal completed the mission on behalf of the Mental Health Foundation of NZ, with more than 300 support runners signed up to join him for a day or so each. The challenge raised a staggering $510,000 for the charity and was instrumental in helping reduce the stigma around the topic of mental health.The festival will offer a chance to hear from Mal about his experience preparing for and running the High Five-0 Challenge, as well as stories behind the making of his award-winning film ‘FIFTY’. Physically, not everything went to plan, with injury, illness and weather forcing the shortening of some days, but 50 peaks were climbed on 50 consecutive days and the equivalent of 40 rough, tough off-road marathons were achieved.The 15th NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival will run from 30 June to 9 July in Wanaka, Cromwell and Queenstown. The festival programme will be announced when tickets go on sale on 1 June.PHOTO: Supplied

The travelling pianist has moved on, but we haven’t seen the last of him - a local film-maker is working on a documentary to tell his story.Vojtěch ‘Pango’ Zámečník caught local attention recently playing his piano, mounted on a wheeled platform, on the beach in front of That Wanaka Tree, the lone willow in Roys Bay that has become an Instagram sensation.The Czech pianist arrived in Wanaka last month, having travelled around New Zealand for a year playing his piano in public places. The right kind of freedom camper, he’d been travelling in, and living out of, a customised Land Rover, which he retrofitted at a cost of $11,000 to carry his piano into off-road locations (the piano itself cost him considerably less - he won it at an auction in Auckland for $1).It’s the sort of story you couldn’t make up, and it’s one that caught the attention of a Wanaka-based creative, film-maker and photographer Pedro Pimentel.A trained mechanical design engineer, Pedro, who is originally from Portugal, has always been "crazy about visuals”. His dad is a photographer, and he said he grew up surrounded by cameras, slides and drawers full of photographs. Professionally, he started out doing mostly editorial photography, particularly working with high performance athletes and expeditions, covering sports like highlining, mountaineering and BASE jumping. He then moved into film - today, his paid work includes everything from large projects like doing marketing and instructional videos for a big ski company in China, down to local jobs such as a promo shoot for a Wanaka water taxi company. But when it comes to film, his true love is telling stories. "Human interaction, our stories and our memories, is what makes us different from animals,” he said. "We exist in the stories we tell each other.”Pedro ran into Pango when he was down by the lake with his family. "I heard music, which didn’t make much sense. This guy was just there with a piano in front of the Wanaka Tree, with about 50 people looking and listening - there was even a girl in her wetsuit who had come by kayak. I said, this opportunity is too good!”Pedro went home, googled Pango, and sent him a Facebook message. They met up the next day and a plan was hatched. It was a very simple plan ("there was no storyboard, no pre-production - it was literally have a coffee and go shoot”) and the time frame was short, as Pango was about to leave town.With editor and film-maker Whitney Oliver on board to lend a hand, they set out to get as much footage as they could, in as many beautiful places as they could, in one day. It didn’t go that smoothly. The weather was awful, there were low clouds everywhere, and they broke the piano before the shoot even started.The piano came to grief on a rough section when they were driving off-road to a spot on Glendhu Bay. But it turns out Pango has many talents. "He went from Pango the romantic poet / pianist to Pango the jack of all trades,” Pedro said, repairing the damage with some of the "arsenal of tools” he keeps in the Land Rover. Pedro filmed the repair action - it’s all about stories after all - and they made it to the location, and got on with the shot.Further filming at a sun-bathed paddock on Mount Aspiring Road followed, and despite the dramas, Pedro said he has enough footage to put together "a cool 10- to 15-minute piece”. But he hopes to take it further. Pango has said he plans to return to Wanaka, and several local businesses have expressed interest in supporting the project going forward. Who knows, it could even go global. "How about Pango at the Great Wall of China?” Pedro suggested, adding he’s already discussed the idea with a contact from China who has shown interest. Either way, he said, he’s made a friend, and captured a story for all of us. "Pango believes he’s not giving people music, but memories: a memory of space, sound and time, all in one.”Visit the Pedro Pimentel Visuals Facebook page for updates and sneak peek clips from the shoot, or to get in touch if you’d like to get involved in the project (click on MORE below).PHOTO: Pedro Pimentel

Moving to Wanaka from Christchurch was a spur of the moment decision for Graham Berry and his family."We thought of it one Friday night, and within three weeks we were here. It could have been even quicker but we wanted to wait until after [daughter] Bella’s birthday.”Graham is the managing director of BellaBerry Chocolate Works, named after his daughter - although it wasn’t until after Bella’s name was chosen for the brand that Graham joined the company."A friend of mine started it. He needed to change the name and at the same time I’d just sent him a video of my daughter Bella for her Board of Trustees rep position at MAC, and the video was really funny. He thought it was so good he wanted to call the chocolate BellaBerry Chocolate.”It was about a year later that Graham and his friend, Giles Barker, decided to merge their two companies. Graham has a degree in chemistry and had been making natural health products for the last twenty years under the name Botanica.It was around the time that Graham joined BellaBerry Chocolate Works that the business - which sells boutique chocolate in a range of unique and often humorous packaging - started to really take off. The company now has manufacturing in America, Europe and Australia and has warehousing and businesses in Singapore, Ireland, America, Australia and New Zealand. Head office is in Wanaka, with a team of six working out of an office attached to Graham’s house, which he shares with his wife Sarah and daughters Freya and Ellie, who are 11 and 8. Bella has left home now, having completed school last year.Since taking on the role at BellaBerry, Graham said he’s never been so busy. "I’m absolutely extending myself,” he said. Despite the busyness, he’s loving the challenge of running BellaBerry."It’s much more fun than selling products for head lice”. (One of Botanica’s top-selling products is called Mr Nits, a single application headlice treatment.)Companies often approach BellaBerry to design a chocolate packaging for a special occasion. Paper Plus Wanaka had a design made for its 30th anniversary recently, and from there Random House got in touch to have chocolate designed for them. Additionally, retailers around the world stock the product, including Typo, who sell the chocolate globally.Graham said people are often surprised by the quality of the chocolate. "People expect it to be not very good chocolate, but it’s really good. There’s an expectation gap there.”The company is currently working on a range of vegan and sugar-free chocolate, and even a paleo chocolate. They also plan to diversify with a range of different types of gifts being created.Graham particularly enjoys the collaborative team approach with BellaBerry, having worked solo on Botanica in the past. "Change is good. I think it’s good for you to do something completely different.”Despite being the managing director of a global company, Graham says running BellaBerry Chocolate Works from Wanaka isn’t a problem. "Everything is on email nowadays. Working from here is easy.”PHOTO: Wanaka App

Jody Direen said she is honoured to have won the Best Country Album of the Year Tui Award at the 43rd annual New Zealand Country Music Awards, presented in Gore last Thursday (June 1).Jody, who grew up in Wanaka and attended Mount Aspiring College, won the award for Shake Up, her third album. This year’s nomination was her second for nomination Best Country Music Album, and Shake Up is her first album to win a Tui.The first single off the album, ‘Gimme The Beat’, reached number one on the New Zealand Heat Seekers Chart. Jody shot the video for the song last year in a hangar at Wanaka Airport; she worked with local stylist Trudie Millar, Wanaka makeup artist Janine Joseph and hair stylist Shannon Vanwalt van Praag for the shoot.The other finalists finalists for Best Country Music Album were Hamilton County Bluegrass Band for the album These Old Hands and Phil Doublet for Endless Highway.Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughn said New Zealand country music like Jody’s is some of the best in the world. "New Zealand produces an incredible amount of quality country music. Year in and year out the talent at the Country Music Awards continues to impress. Shake Up is an absolutely fantastic album and Jody Direen truly deserves this Tui,” he said.Jodi said she’ll be shooting a video for her next single soon, and is asking fans to let her know which song off Shake Up it should be. To have your say, visit Jody’s Facebook page (click on MORE below).The New Zealand Country Music Awards are hosted by the New Zealand Songwriters Trust as part of Gore’s Gold Guitar week, which attracts more than 5000 fans.PHOTO: Wanaka App

It’s not every day you’ll come across a book that packs references to Wanaka, climate change, aliens and the origins of the band name Foo Fighters all into 250 pages, but local businessman Derek Lilly has written one.Invasion AI, released last month, is Derek’s first novel. Set between the present and 2035, with events taking place in and around Wanaka, as well as in America and beyond, the book explores a future in which global warming is threatening mankind, and artificial intelligence is helping to save the world - or is it?The genesis of the story came about approximately eight years ago, when Derek witnessed an unexplained ball of orange light in the sky above the Pisa Range. He combined this experience with his knowledge of Foo Fighters, which before becoming the namesake for Dave Grohl’s band, was what Allied pilots in World War II called the unidentified flying objects they witnessed in the Pacific and European theatres of operation. (The military attributed the sightings to ball lightning, or St Elmo’s Fire. That’s what they told the public, anyway.) "That’s where the storyline came from,” Derek said.Derek is a big fan of sci-fi, especially of the Alien films, with their "mixture of horror, sci-fi and suspense, plus a few guns.” He thinks it’s an enduringly popular genre because of a natural human inclination to look to the future and wonder what it will be like. He said the response to the novel has been very positive so far. "Lots of people call it a page-turner,” he said.The book includes a wealth of information, both scientific and historic, which Derek said involved a huge amount of research, mainly on Google and Wikipedia. He says he likes to think of the book as "science faction” as opposed to science fiction: "it’s not Star Wars, in a galaxy far far away, it’s here.”As for publishing his work, he said it’s not hard to do these days, thanks to services like Amazon’s CreateSpace, which he used for Invasion AI. "What took the time is the writing - it was about three months start to finish,” he said.Originally from Plymouth in England, Derek is a trained mechanical/marine engineer. He spent five years as a soldier in the British Army working in the Royal Corps of Transport (his miltary experince was "handy” when it came to writing some parts of the novel). Although this is his first full-length book, Derek has done a bit of writing in the past. He used to sing in and write songs for a punk/new wave band, a sign of the times he grew up in. "I went to see the Sex Pistols in Plymouth, but they wouldn’t let me in. I was too young,” he laughed.Today, he is the CEO of the kitchen refurbishment company Dream Doors in Australasia and North America, a business he co-founded in the UK. Derek ended up to Wanaka after selling 50 percent of Dream Doors and embarking on a world tour to decide where to settle; he had a friend who lived in Wanaka and invited him to come have a look, saying he’d found "the best place in the world.” He visited in 2006, and came back to live for good with his wife and two kids in 2007.Funnily, it was Dream Doors that launched Derek’s foray into novel writing. Richard Prout, his business partner in Wanaka, said he thought Derek should write a book on franchising and entrepreneurship, as it would be good for the business. "So I went home and had a good think. A long weekend was coming up, and I just couldn’t do it – it’s what I do all day, every day. But then I thought, ‘I wonder.’ I started writing a sci-fi novel instead, and within a weekend, I’d written four or five chapters.”The book will be especially interesting to Wanaka locals, with many familiar landmarks appearing, including the Pisas, Mount Aspiring College and the Lake Hawea Hotel. And while he explained he doesn't yet think of himself as an author as such, his writing career isn’t over with the publication of Invasion AI. He said there will definitely be more than one installment of the story, which could possible become a trilogy. And several readers have indicated they think it would make a good film. "If Peter Jackson rings me up one day, I’d say, great.”For now, though, Derek said, "I’ve been really pleased that people I trust and respect really enjoyed it. They have been so lovely in their responses. It’s been humbling.”To read more about Invasion AI, and to order a print or digital copy, visit the book’s website (click on MORE below).PHOTO: Supplied

Sarah Parkinson (left) and Jessica Wolfgang at Rhyme and Reason.LAURA WILLIAMSON"The name just popped into my head - I decided we had every rhyme and reason to do this.”This is brewer Jessica Wolfgang’s explanation for the name of Wanaka’s newest bar and microbrewery, Rhyme and Reason, which opened for business at the start of June.Jess has started the business with her partner in work and life, Simon Ross. It is Wanaka’s sixth microbrewery, and the town’s first one with an on-license - an open-plan setup lets patrons watch the brewing in action while they enjoy a drink."We wanted people to feel like they’re in the brewery,” Jess told the Wanaka App, and you do. For those of us uninitiated in the art of brewing, it’s fascinating to peer at the big stainless steel tanks, pumps, dials and valves, and wonder what they’re all for. It’s also a setting that’s a tad funkier than your usual Wanaka setup. There’s a foosball table in the middle of the bar, the toilets are are decorated entirely with lovely items found at the beach and the recycling centre, and the wall decor includes skate decks painted by Oamaru artist Ryan Moore with portraits of two of Jess’ favourite beer gurus: Michael Jackson (no not the singer - this Michael was a legendary beer writer) and famous homebrewer John Palmer, author of the definitive text ‘How to Brew’.On offer at Rhyme and Reason is a permanent roster of four of Jess’ beers, complemented by a revolving menu of at least two more seasonal brews (watch out for a coffee stout, coming soon) plus products from other microbreweries - currently these are all Wanaka-based ones, but Jess said she plans to bring in craft beers from around New Zealand in the future. The bar doesn’t have a commercial kitchen ("I want to be focussed on the beer,” Jess said),so Jess and Simon have thought outside the box: they sell TV dinners on-site, allow patrons to bring BYO picnics and are teaming up with local food trucks - they’ll be a pop-up Asian food truck parked out front next weekend.Originally from Coffs Harbour, near Byron Bay in New South Wales, Jess said a move to Wanaka about two years ago was about enjoying the activities our region has to offer, especially mountain biking, hiking, camping, skiing and snowboarding. "Moving here was a lifestyle choice,” she said.Prior to coming to New Zealand, Jess was the lead brewer for six years at Hunter Beer Co. Much of her training to be a brewer was on the job, but she also did a course through the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.She explained that many skillsets apply to the brewing process, so it’s an industry that attracts people with varied backgrounds, including chefing, engineering and chemistry. (Case in point: John Palmer worked for the American space programme and contributed to hardware currently aboard the International Space Station.)When asked about her brewing style, Jess said she makes many different types of beer, so her focus is mostly on doing what she does well. Her goal is to make "the best beer in the world”, and she has her sights set on a Best Small Brewery award at the annual International Brewery Awards, also known as the "Oscars of brewing”.She’s certainly creative in her approach to her craft. Not long ago she brewed a frozen black India pale ale (IPA) for the Beervana Festival in Wellington. The beer was brewed at the Craftwork Brewery in Oamaru, but then, instead using a traditional freezing process, she took the beer up to Ohau Snow Fields and stuck it in the snow.And one of the most in-demand brews at Rhyme and Reason has been the Big Banana wheat beer, which uses a German yeast strain that produces clove, banana and bubblegum flavours. Part of Jess’ inspiration was an attraction from her home town: Coffs Harbour’s famous giant banana. One of Australia’s original "Big Things”, it is part of The Big Banana amusement park. Jess originally made the beer as a seasonal offering, but it has proven so popular she’s put in on the permanent menu. "It’s definitely a point of difference having that on tap,” she said.As for running the business, from "brew day” to pouring takes about three weeks (give or take depending on temperatures and the type of yeast), and the bar is a open every day. It means working seven days a week, and the days are long. At the moment Jess and Simon have one full-time staff member - barista, marketing manager and brewer-in-training Sarah Parkinson - plus two casual employees, but they’re hoping to bring on more seasonal staff as things progress.Their space on Gordon Road also serves as a workshop for Simon, who is a mechanical engineer by trade. However, "he loves beer” Jess laughed, and he has put his engineering knowledge to good use by designing and building automated bottling machines, which he sells in Australia and New Zealand - his machines are now filling, labelling and sealing bottles at 17 breweries.It’s a lot of work, but for now, Jess says they’re enjoying the combination of making great beer and mixing with the people consuming it. "I love working in the bar, seeing people loving and enjoying the product,” she said.As for the beer Oscars, could Jess Wolfgang be the Jane Campion of small breweries? Watch this space.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Simon Williams, as featured in Nikon’s ‘I Am New Zealand’ series.LAURA WILLIAMSONMost kids in Wanaka know Simon Williams as the man who comes to their schools and teaches them cool things like how to make a compost bucket using an old milk bottle, newspaper and some worms, but other people are starting to get to know him for something else: his photographs.Simon’s work is currently featured in Nikon New Zealand’s ‘I Am New Zealand’ series, which so far has showcased eight photographers from around the country and is part of the larger ‘I am Nikon’ campaign, which runs in more than 60 countries (www.iamnewzealand.co.nz/simon-williams). His work is beautiful, and unusual, but it’s something else too. As the Nikon site explains, "Simon has used photography to navigate difficult moments in life; his internal feelings being captured to discover himself.”Simon is the enviroschools facilitator for Wanaka Wastebusters, a job which sees him spending a great deal of time working our region’s children. His aim is "to create a generation of people that instinctively think and act sustainably,” but when he talks about sustainability, he means more than just trees, recycling and the colour green.For him, sustainability is also about communities in general, and about ourselves, especially when it comes to our mental health - ideas he connects to in his photography as well. Originally from North Wales, Simon moved to Yorkshire, where his mother is from, when he was 18. He went to the University of Leeds where he did a degree in Astrophysics, which didn’t lead to a career in science, but did, in the long run, help with his photography."I haven’t studied photography, but I have studied light,” Simon said, pointing out he did two papers on waves and optics as part of his degree. "When I’m going to manipulate something, I can understand how the colours are interacting; for example, when the cloud comes over, that will change how the light comes through. The degree also exposed him early on to the internet. "The first image I ever saw on the internet was from the Hubble Space Telescope. We crowded around and waited three hours for it to download. It was probably 3 MB. It wasn’t very clear,” he laughed.When Simon began to engage with the visual arts in the mid-nineties, he didn’t start with photography, but with videos, centred around skateboarding, a passion since his teens. Back then, he said, you shot something on tape, digitised it, edited it on computer, then put it on a CD and gave it to your mates. It was slow going. One 13-minute video he made - on a Pentium90 computer with 24 MB of RAM - took two days to render.His first "proper job” was working for Planet Online, a business internet service provider in Leeds, on their electronic marketing team. It was when football clubs first started to have websites, and the ISP had Leeds United as one of their clients - Simon would interview players and put the videos, which ran at about eight frames per second ("everyone was still on dialup back then”), online. He then got a job with the UK’s biggest bookie, William Hill, as their frontline designer, helping to set up the world’s first fully-functional online bookmaker. It was early redundancy from that job that gave him the chance to travel. Simon decided to come to New Zealand about twelve years ago, a decision he started to regret after six months in the North Island where he found nothing but sheep and rain, reminding him of home. "Things started to change” as soon as he went through Arthur’s Pass, and in Wanaka he "stood at the lake and took a ride in the forest, and I knew that it was right.”The photography began in earnest about seven years ago. "I think I started to understand the DSLR market was in place, it was achievable – all of a sudden the price was doable, plus having had so many year of experience using photoshop as a digital design tool, it wasn’t that big a leap to start editing photographs.”In the beginning, his work was a lot about the mountain biking scene in Wanaka. But for Simon, photography, like sustainability, has become a much broader thing, a source of community, and a way of looking after himself, and others.Through his website and Instagram, Simon posts regularly and honestly about depression, grief and mental illness, speaking to these both with words and images. He has used selfies, for example, as a way to navigate his state of mind:"If I wasn’t doing great, or I even if I knew I was doing good, I would shoot a selfie. I understood that I intuitively would do what needed to done, and once I was finished I would say, ‘what do I look like?’ It would help me unpack what was happening.”He believes strongly in openness and honesty as mental health solutions. "Depression is something that community solves,” he said, adding that people often write to him privately in response to his work, which, along with selfies, focusses on places, landscapes, bikes, and, delightfully, sneakers (he calls himself a "sneakerhead”).Simon’s work has to date been primarily high-volume and shared digitally, but on Friday (June 23) he launched a new project, ‘Authentic As’, producing limited edition gallery-quality prints.They are stunning, and profound: landscapes that are not just landscapes, sunsets that are more than pretty light. So does Simon have any tips for us? "When the sun goes down, look the other way. Some of the best sunsets I’ve done have been looking east,” he said.PHOTO: Simon Williams

The crema of the crop: Sarah Veasey in action at the the Atomic Latte Art Throwdown.LAURA WILLIAMSONThere are those of us who really believe that making coffee is an art, and now Wanaka can claim to be home to one of its top artists.Sarah Veasey, a barista at Florences Foodstore & Cafe, beat out 32 competitors to win the Atomic Latte Art Throwdown at World Bar in Queenstown on Thursday (June 22).The Throwdown is an annual event which tours the country, challenging New Zealand’s top baristas to create their best latte art. The designs are created by pouring steamed milk into espresso, and are judged on factors such as the position of pattern in the cup, the sheen and texture of the milk, and whether there is a high contrast between the white of the milk and the brownish crema. The Queenstown event was the last stop of this year’s tour.Sarah said the competition, which is run in a series of head-to-head knockout rounds, was "nerve-racking”. For the first round, the baristas had to create one of five patterns chosen at random from a stack of cards: a swan, a three-tier tulip, a five-tier tulip, a rosetta or a heart.A overhead camera recorded the action and projected it on a large screen, while the judges were seated directly in front of the competitors and pointed at their favourite design - the majority winner went through to the next round. For the next three rounds, the baristas were able to choose their own patterns, but were not allowed to repeat themselves; in the final round, a pattern was chosen at random again, but the design had to be executed in a smaller, more difficult, espresso cup.As for her win, which came with a $1000 winner’s purse, Sarah said, "I was very surprised”. She said she was so nervous she couldn't even bring herself to watch the judges: "I turned around and waited until I heard my name over the microphone.”  Sarah has been making coffee for "quite some time” - she worked at Soul Food when she was in high school, and has been doing latte art since she started working at Florence’s, about 18 months ago. Rather than going for overly-intricate designs, Sarah told the Wanaka App she tries to stick to the basics, and do them really well. It’s a strategy that obviously worked. Her win aside, Sarah said she enjoyed the fact that three of the four semi-finalists were from Wanaka, with Sarah joined at the coffee machine by Sumin from Alchemy, and Bonnie Lam, who is planning to open a coffee shack next to the crepe truck on Brownston Street. Bonnie even knocked out the winner of the Christchurch Latte Art Throwdown, who had come down to have a crack at the Queenstown contest. Sarah said in this sense the competition was really positive for Wanaka. "The MC was going on about how we’ve got some of the best baristas in country,” she said.PHOTO: Supplied

Paul van Klink and Hoki at work up the Routeburn.CAROLINE HARKERThe passions of Paul van Klink are an unlikely combination of birds and bikes. The birds are the feathered kind, preferably native and usually endangered; and the bikes are ideally motorised, often step-through, and generally small - no more than 50CC.A Wanaka resident for the past five years, Paul’s longest home base to date has been the West Coast. He lived there for 15 years working in conservation, but came to Wanaka five years ago. Two years ago he took a job with Fish and Game, hoping it would give him more time at home.Conservation is his greatest passion, but back-to-back field trips meant he was always away.As a wildlife contractor on the coast, Paul spent most of his time in the bush. He still loves the bush, and spends a lot of time there, when he’s not tinkering on old motorbikes, that is."Bikes have been breeding in my garage,” he said. "There are five of them there now.” His favourite is a 1971 Suzuki 50. Paul is passionate about classic scooters, mopeds and 50CC motorcycles. He’s the man behind the annual Upper Clutha Scooter Hooter. The sixth event is scheduled for September 23.However birds were, and will remain, Paul’s first love. While his job at Fish & Game involves managing numbers of game birds (mainly ducks and quail) and sports fish (trout and salmon) he doesn’t shoot birds himself."I prefer bigger game, such as deer. I can’t bring myself to shoot birds. But I love fly fishing, and whitebaiting.”The main bird species Paul has been involved in helping protect are whio (blue ducks), weka, kiwi and kea. On Thursday (June 29) he gave a public talk on surveying whio with the help of his conservation dog Hoki. He also spoke about the declining national kea population - down to between 3,000 and 7,000 birds - which is largely due to predators. Although kea have been legally protected since 1983, Paul said they are facing a wide variety of threats to their survival. He hopes to give a talk in Wanaka devoted to kea later in the year.Paul has been working on whio protection since he was 17-years-old, and that work alone has taken him all over the country. Male whio on guard."Whio are the iconic bird of backcountry rivers,” he said. "But there are only about 3,000 left. And they are crepuscular, which means you won’t often see them out and about except early in the mornings, or late afternoons.” Paul’s whio surveying work involves monitoring numbers, and locating nesting whio, which he couldn’t do without the help of his springer spaniel border collie cross, Hoki.Hoki has been specifically trained for whio and can pick up their scent when Paul can’t see them. "They’re usually hidden away, often under river banks, so it’s very hard to spot them. Hoki will let me know there’s a duck nearby and then it’s my job to find it. I wouldn’t have a show without her.”Paul said traps targeting stoats on both sides of rivers, together with the use of 1080 for possums and rats, has been very effective, and whio numbers have stabilised or are increasing where predator programmes are in place. Paul said taking eggs off whio nests very early on in the breeding season and hatching them in captivity, while leaving the ducks to renest, has increased numbers too.Monitoring whio involves a lot of time walking up and down backcountry rivers, so it’s no wonder Paul’s happy to be in his garage tinkering with old bikes when he’s got some spare time. Not that he’s got much of that. If you see a tall slender man on a very small Suzuki around town or heading up a backcountry river with a large white and black dog, chances are it will be Paul.PHOTOS: Supplied

Suze Kelly and Sherpa Kami Rita on the summit of Everest.CAROLINE HARKERWanaka’s Suze Kelly, 47, has become the sixth Kiwi woman to summit Mount Everest (8,850m), treading on the "hallowed ground” of the world’s highest peak, after many visits to the region (as general manager for Adventure Consultants) and one earlier attempt to summit.Summiting wasn’t on Suze’s wishlist until she climbed Lhotse [8,516m] in 2013."Climbing Lhotse you take the same route as if you were climbing Everest all the way to Camp Three. From the Lhotse summit you are looking across at Everest.”The big one is 300m higher than Lhotse - a significant difference at that altitude - and definitely a tougher climb. Suze said she learnt a lot climbing Lhotse that was useful for her Everest attempts, in particular when to step back from being the company GM, leave the logistics and organising to someone else, and focus on being a climbing team member and look after herself in preparation for climbing.Suze attempted Everest in 2015 and was at Camp One with partner Guy Cotter (Adventure Consultants CEO) and a group of climbers when the April 25 earthquake struck. As soon as it happened, Suze knew their summit attempt was over. What became important was the fate of their staff and clients, and their families.Two years later she was ready to try again.This time the Adventure Consultants group included seven climbers - three women and four men. One man had to drop out after breaking his wrist, another had problems with asthma, and a third had acclimatisation problems, which left one man and three women for the final summit attempt. One of the women had to turn back but the other three made it to the top, along with another woman who was one of three AC clients on private expeditions. It’s the first time more female clients than men have summitted."Adventure Consultants had 30 [Everest] summits this year, including guides and sherpas, which is the most we have ever had.” Suze didn’t mention that she and her climbing partner, Sherpa Kami Rita, were the first to summit on May 22, but was happy to point out that Guy Cotter and another AC party summitted Dhaulagiri (8,167m) the same day.After 21 years working for Adventure Consultants, Suze’s Everest climb was a mixture of poignant memories and new experiences."It was amazing to see Nepal getting back on its feet after the 2015 earthquake. The ongoing rebuild and the resilience of the people is amazing.”At Base Camp they were joined by Jan Arnold, the widow of Rob Hall, who founded Adventure Consultants and died in the 1996 Everest disaster. Jan summited Everest with Rob in 1993, becoming the second Kiwi woman to do so. The others include Hawea-based mountain guide Lydia Bradey (who did it in 1988 without oxygen), mountain guide Penny Goddard, Chris Burke and Rochelle Rafferty.Suze said a Kiwi summiting Everest doesn’t get much attention in New Zealand these days."In New Zealand, we have one mountaineer who has climbed Everest and that is Ed Hillary.”Guy Cotter, who has summitted four times, agrees. "Our overseas clients who summit get huge publicity when they get home, especially Americans. They’re always on television. Here, you are just another climber who’s done it.”For Suze, arriving at Base Camp also brought back memories of the April 18, 2014 avalanche which claimed the lives of 16 mountain workers on the Khumbu Icefall."Out of respect for the dead no-one does anything on Everest on April 18. Everyone stays put, and remembers those who died.”Going through the icefall reminded Suze not only of those who have lost their lives there, but also of her own crossings in 2013 while climbing Lhotse and in 2015 when she was attempting Everest."It’s mental in there. Everything is moving and changing. There’s such a level of chaos with ice going in every direction and the sounds of it creaking and banging. Once you are in there there’s nothing you can do except focus on getting through. It takes a long time.” The need to acclimatise means Everest climbers go up and down the icefall three times, once to Camp One, once to Camp Two, and a third time to attempt the summit."The second and third times you can go faster so it’s less of a hazard,” Suze said. Sherpas cross the icefall many times, taking oxygen, gas, tents and food up to the higher camps. In the words of AC mountain guide Mike Roberts, "This is one hell of a way to earn a living. Without these stoic efforts of our Sherpas, we wouldn’t have a summit attempt.”For some years AC has lobbied for the Nepalese government to give them permission to helicopter equipment over the icefall to minimize the danger to the Sherpas. So far they have managed to get permission to helicopter fixed lines across, but not other equipment.Further up the mountain at Camp One Suze was reminded of the 2015 earthquake again. This is where she was when the earthquake struck. Higher still, Suze thought about her Lhotse climb, and her first climb at altitude - Island Peak in Nepal (2008).Suze said while she notices the effects of being older, climbing at altitude has become easier with experience."You learn so much each time. It’s all about pacing. You need to measure out your energy over long days. Mental and physical energy. And do lots of training beforehand.”"Going up into the Western Cwm was phenomenal, even for the second time. It’s an amazing place. Everything is ‘Everest-sized’. Everything above Camp Four is hallowed ground. There’s so much history with it, and it’s really beautiful going up.”For the summit push, Suze and her party left camp at 9pm. She and Sherpa Kami Rita reached the summit at 4.20am, May 22, in time to watch the sunrise. It was Kami Rita’s 16th summit, and for expedition leader (Wanaka-based) Mike Roberts it was his ninth.It was a busy day at the top of the world, Suze said. Adventure Consultants had 16 people on the summit that day (including guides and sherpas), and 30 this season - a record for the company.Now that Suze is down and back in Wanaka, she’s busy back at ACs organising ski touring and ice climbing trips locally, and Northern Hemisphere trips for later in the year.Personally, she is keen on more high altitude climbing, but hasn’t decided where just yet. ACs offers clients the chance to conquer the "Seven Summits” - the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Now Suze can add Everest to her tally which already includes Kilimanjaro (which she guides) and Aconcagua, she wouldn’t mind adding one or two more. Options include Elbrus (Russia), Carstensz Pyramid (West Papua), Delani (Alaska) and Vinson Massif (Antarctica)."Everest was an amazing journey. It’s a great relief to actually have made it to the summit after all we’ve been through. I’m not sure which will be the next one. The main thing is being in those wild environments.”Photo: Supplied

Book cover: Under the Himalayan SkyCAROLINE HARKERAmongst the mountaineers speaking at the Mountain Book Festival in Wanaka last weekend was a different kind of adventurer - Wanaka’s Marg Jefferies, who went to live in the remote Khumbu region of Nepal in 1979 with her husband Bruce and three young children.With no electricity or running water, living on a traditional Nepalese diet dominated by potatoes and tea, at an altitude of 3,500m, the two-year sojourn was an adventure the Jefferies family all loved.Nearly 40 years later Marg has finished writing a book about it. That seems a long time, but Marg has had a busy life. She and Bruce have lived in Wanaka for the past 11 years - which is the longest they have lived anywhere together.Their married life started with eight years at Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park where Bruce was a park ranger. During that time their three children were born. After that they went to Wellington for two years where Bruce worked for the NZ National Park Service, and then to Nepal to help establish the Sagarmatha National Park - which includes Mount Everest and is home to the Sherpa people. This is the period Marg’s book Under the Himalayan Sky is based on.After Nepal, the family returned to Whakapapa for seven years. Marg and Bruce’s globe trotting with Bruce’s conservation work continued - with three more years in Nepal, two in Gisborne (where Bruce was the Department of Conservation Regional Conservator), five in Papua New Guinea, and five in Laos.So why did it take Marg so long to write Under the Himalayan Sky - Establishing the Sagarmatha National Park - A New Zealand family’s experience? One reason is that as well as raising her family, she was busy writing five other books.They include two editions of The Story of Mount Everest National Park, a third on the same area (2006), one on Chitwan National Park, A Visitor's Guide to Taupo, and two editions of Adventuring in New Zealand for the Sierra Club (1993, 2000)."I wrote the NZ adventuring book when we were based in Gisborne. I drove all around the country doing it, sometimes on my own, sometimes with company. I realised I knew far more about our country than most DOC people did.”Under the Himalayan Sky is the first time Marg has written a personal book. When she and Bruce took their family to Nepal in 1979, daughter Lynda was 10 years old, and sons Nevan and Kerry where eight and five. She has based her memoir on diaries written during their two years in the Khumbu, letters she wrote to her mother during that time, and information she has gathered during many return trips to Nepal."I wrote it on and off and put it down for up to 20 years at a time, when I got busy with other things. It never seems quite the right time to publish a book about something that happened in the 70s, but with the advent of e-publishing everything seemed easier. Vajra Books [in Kathmandu] said yes to the book straight away."In May last year the manuscript was ready and [husband] Bruce got a World Heritage job in the [Sagarmatha National] Park. It seemed like karma, so we went. I left the manuscript in Kathmandu and went to the Park for a week and when I came back the galley proof was ready. We did the rest by email, so it was easy.”The book offers a great insight into a family adventure in this once remote area, now visited by 35,000 tourists and mountaineers annually. It is a compelling read, whether Marg is describing the difficulties of feeding her family, the saga of installing an aga, the many treks the family embark on, friendships with the locals, or the dramas of helping establish the national park.For a taster, here’s the first paragraph:"My fingers and toes were numb. Sweat generated by the effort of climbing from our house to Syangboche airstrip at 3600 metres had dampened my clothing and now, after an hour of inactivity, I felt cold and fidgety. The morning was still young, with that cold crisp clarity found only in the mountains. Stretching before me, south towards India, was the short airstrip carved across the rolling hillside. Beyond it the blue sky faded to a faint distant haze. On both sides jagged peaks soared skyward in picture perfection, their toothed ridges, stark black spires and snowy glaciers creased by crevasses glittering in the sunlight. It was a scene I would never tire of."While they love going back to Nepal, after 11 years living in Wanaka Marg and Bruce still love it here. "There’s something about the mountains here,” Marg said. Son Nevan lives here with his family, which was a big drawcard, while daughter Lynda lives in Hamilton, and Kerry in England.Although they now have a long-term home, Marg and Bruce don’t stay still for too long. In September they are off for another adventure, this time to China and Pakistan.PHOTO: Supplied

Anna van RielAward winning local musician Anna van Riel has launched a new single for children, with a focus on positive empowerment around money.The track, One Little Dollar, was inspired by the upcoming campaign by the Commission for Financial Capability to help encourage children to save money."This year in August we have "sorted money week” which is kind of like music month in terms of promoting money education, awareness around debt and planning,” sorted.org.nz coordinator Claudia Gunn said. (Claudia is also a Kiwi Kids performer - as is Anna.)Claudia initially sent an email to the Kiwi Kids Collective; a group of children’s music performers in New Zealand, offering the opportunity to submit a money song."I never learned any money skills in school and spend the longest time fumbling about, trying to figure out how to manage funds and invest. Even if it’s deciding on whether it was smarter to spend your pocket money on bubble gum or pineapple lumps, understanding how your money works is a gold,” Anna said. "I jumped at the opportunity, and started writing a song right away. I took it into Danny Fairley in his Wanaka studio and he helped me make it fun and encouraging”.One Little Dollar will be shared during the Money Week launch.PHOTO: Supplied

John Darby has been getting kids into science for half a century.MADDY HARKERWanaka’s John Darby has been made a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand for a lifetime of work dedicated to research, conservation and communicating science.Only three people from across the country are receiving the distinguished award this year."It came from left field for me,” John said, "but I’m very honoured to receive it”.John will be presented with the award by the president of the Royal Society of New Zealand in Wanaka on August 4. This date also happens to be the 150th anniversary of the society.In Wanaka, John is best known for his conservation work with endangered grebes, but he actually has a lifetime of work promoting science behind him."The real reason for the award has been for the promotion of science and particularly taking it into the public arena,” John said. "I’ve always been passionate about science and what it can do and what it can achieve.”John began promoting science more than 50 years ago, when he helped with a children’s science club in Canterbury.When he moved to Dunedin, John started the Young Explorers programme, a week-long science programme for children. Young Explorers ran for 17 years, and would include about 400 children each week.He also started science workshops for secondary school children, which were run in conjunction with the University of Otago."I was very aware that a high proportion of kids didn’t know what they wanted to do when they left school, so we took 10-12 subjects that kids were not taught at school and taught them. It was basically to open their eyes to the various disciplines in science.”Some of the children John mentored have gone on to be professors in science.There is now a programme called ‘Hands On Science’ offered at the University of Otago which originated from the programme John founded.Other career highlights include setting up the world’s first yellow-eyed penguin reserve, being a founding trustee for the Otago Natural History Trust, and setting up Discovery World as an interactive science centre at Otago Museum.John also received an honorary lectureship of zoology at the University of Otago, having helped students in science with their postgraduate studies for 20 years.His work with the grebes in Wanaka came along by chance."I had only ever seen a single grebe in my entire life, and I came to Wanaka and saw two, and thought as a zoologist ‘is there something we can do about that?’”John started writing the Grebe Diary, published regularly in the Wanaka Sun, to introduce people to the biology of the species and spark interest. John said he thinks he has written around 100 Grebe Diaries since conservation work began four years ago.He is amazed how well the grebes have done: "I never imagined we would fledge 150 chicks in Roys Bay marina.”To be considered as a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand, an individual must be nominated by their peers. Nominees are then judged by a special panel of members of the Royal Society of New Zealand.Companions must have outstanding leadership or eminent contributions to promoting and advancing science, technology or the humanities in New Zealand.PHOTO: curiousminds.nz

Mark DaveySUE WARDSMark Davey figured out early what he wanted to do with his life: all it took was completing one exercise in the classic job-hunters’ manual ‘What Colour is your Parachute.”"I never read it, but I did the first exercise: write seven paragraphs about yourself,” Mark said. It was immediately clear his skill was in having something to communicate and figuring out the best way of doing it.Mark has now clocked 20 years in advertising, mostly with his boutique advertising agency ("a very classy way of saying small”) Black, which focuses on "compellingly communicating causes”.Black has won a slew of awards, including the Davey Award last year - a creative award for Indie agencies. Black won it for a Salvation Army ad which depicts people falling at 1000 frames a second into darkness. It was the most successful Red Shield Appeal ever, Mark said."We’re good at doing a lot with not much, and eliciting a response,” he said.Mark cites a World Vision campaign as one of his proudest achievements. The campaign aimed to get 1000 children sponsored in 1000 hours - double what had been done before. They reached the target and other World Vision marketing directors went on to use the concept successfully."That is one idea that went global and has resulted in a massive positive spiral of over 100,000 children getting sponsored and their families supported,” Mark said. "It demonstrates the power of an idea and the positive spiral of an idea if I can do my job well.”After realising his life’s goal back in 1996, the business and communication management graduate and his wife, Lucy (they met at university in Palmerston North and married at 20), moved to Australia and Mark soon started working at advertising agency Pilgrim, which was set up to help charities.When Pilgrim set up in New Zealand Mark moved to Auckland and got a position on the board of both companies. When Pilgrim decided to sell up in 2005, Mark decided to fly solo, and re-branded the agency as Black."I wanted something memorable, simple, and New Zealand,” he said. He trademarked Black and the NZ Rugby Union eventually came calling - which is why he now has an exclusion from selling sportswear.It’s unlikely Mark would have the time for a sportswear business anyway. He and Lucy are "quite entrepreneurial”. In addition to Black, they’ve set up a boutique digital company - Halo - and are currently securing prime locations. Halo markets large scale digital billboards, which can offer six ads on rotation at eight seconds each, and can be customised to respond to the data around it (for example, the billboard can recognise the make of vehicle driving towards it and select an appropriate ad). Cloud-based, the billboards can be operated by Mark from Wanaka. "Someone can book something from overseas and I can get the ad up in minutes.”The couple have also established two non-profit websites: truthcoaches.com, a seven session "life changing” course, and seektofindgod.com."I’ve had an awareness of God as long as I can remember. To me it’s the greatest story of love that there is. It’s a bit hard to get past the God who died for you,” Mark said.It seems the couple have practiced what they preach for many years. They were giving soup and support to kids getting wasted at Bondi Beach back in the 1990s, and these days they are putting their money where their mouths are by donating 30 percent of their business profits. They’ve given "loads” to projects around the world, such as a community bank in Cambodia."People and planet before profit. That’s our M.O, to set aside profits for environmental and community based causes, most of which have an evangelical element,” Mark said.The Bible doesn’t have the monopoly on truth, Mark said, and proves it by quoting a famous Steinlager ad: What you say ‘no’ to defines you."We don’t pick up clients when we can’t reflect their values,” he said. It’s all part of trying to change the world for the positive. Mark, who was on the board of the sustainable business network in Auckland around 2007, also ensures their businesses are sustainable (business cards are made from polypropylene and their vehicles and Mark’s flights are all carbon neutral - offset by tree planting)."And now we’re virtual, really,” Mark said. People contribute to Black from all over the world, and a good example is a recent campaign for German client Christian Blind Mission International. Images of Uganda were sent to Wanaka; the script was written by a guy in a La-Z-Boy in Tauranga; it was edited in a Waiheke Island bach, and designed in a bungalow in Onehunga.Mark pulled the whole thing together from Wanaka, where the family has been based for the past five years."We were in Auckland but not from Auckland,” he said. He grew up in Otaki, but Lucy’s parents live here and her family had an association with a holiday house in Tarras since the 1950s."It was always our desire to live here if possible,” Mark said. "It’s as natural as breathing.”"There’s nothing as rich as meeting people in person, but I see clients about as much as I used to - it’s mostly email and telephone anyway.” But he travels every fortnight, and said the amount of travel takes its toll on the family. "When I’m away I’m working, but to them I’m just absent.”Having Lucy, a director of both companies, working from home makes it possible, Mark said. Lucy is also a children’s author and songwriter - she’s had 12 books published with Scholastic, and more with Mainly Music. The Davey family includes Hannah, 19, Samuel, 16, Holly Grace, 12, and Hope, almost 2.Mark has been in the business of helping people with "audacious and worthwhile” visions for 20 years, but it’s a long way from the relaxed young surfer he was when he first picked up What Colour is Your Parachute.Years of planning for clients helped him transfer those skills to his own life. He and Lucy take time every year to examine their personal and family goals, and Mark said he no longer feels that life’s slipping by. "It’s very freeing to be purposeful. People don’t just get wiser by getting older - it doesn’t happen unless you make it happen.”Surfing the wave at the Hawea Whitewater Park and helping to change the world: it’s all part of Mark’s plan.PHOTO: Supplied

Tania BrettSUE WARDSFrom happy and humble beginnings growing up in Wanaka’s deserted paradise, Tania Brett is inspiring a new generation of Wanaka young people to learn about Maori culture.One of the few Ngai Tahu residents of Wanaka, Tania grew up on Warren Street in Wanaka, opposite the old school."It was just like Paradise - with nobody around,” Tania (42) said. Tania grew up barefoot and "always outside doing sporty things”. She remembers the school playground as her own backyard, having fun with the neighbourhood kids, and splashing in the old swimming pool at the Dinosaur Park."I used to just go down to the lake, that was my escape. Now I have to go all the way past Penrith to escape.”She attended the Wanaka Area School before moving to the "brand new high school” (Mount Aspiring College) from form 2 (Year 8), when the roll was about 200 students.She and her husband Lachy really were childhood sweethearts: they met at age 10 (in Noelene Pullar’s class). "I used to move my desk in line with his so I could see him,” Tania said. They started going out when they were 14. Now with three children (Melia, 11, Rahana, 8, and Kahu, 6), and a double degree from Otago University, Tania still has a special connection with Wanaka and a special role supporting Te Reo in the area.Growing up in 1980s Wanaka there was a tangible contrast between the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, Tania said. Her father Dave (who worked for the Pest Destruction Board) and mother Lyndal raised four girls: Nadine, Teneka (Bop), Tania and Cholena.Tania remembers the "little things” - like wearing socks on her hands in the winter, not having an extra school blouse when hers got ripped, and having to front up to the school secretary to say she didn’t have the money for school ski days and suchlike."I think I grew up thinking ‘I want more than that’,” she said.There was an extra stigma as one of Wanaka’s only Maori families, Tania said. "People expected us to speak Te Reo, sing it.” But the family had lost touch with their language. Tania’s maternal grandfather, for example, was strapped for speaking Maori at school and didn’t pass it on to his children."There was always something missing for us. I really wanted to get back to my Maori roots.”Tania followed Lachy to Otago University and studied education papers with a Te Reo component, but struggled. "It’s never been an easy road for me, I’ve struggled with discipline. We were party people, not into education. There were times when I just wanted to give up. I was always on the back foot.”Lachy suggested she take a year out to work for his father, dentist Steve Brett, back in Wanaka."His parents helped me heaps, I got inspired by both of them. They introduced me to this other side of life.”Tania was motivated to return to university and earn a degree. "I loved learning, once I learned that I could actually learn! I always thought I couldn’t do it.”Tania said her self-confidence came through sports (she has excelled at netball, basketball, softball, surfing - the list goes on), but with her new maturity she returned to university to take on a double degree (Bachelor of PE and Education).Seven years later, in 2000, Tania graduated. She was the first in her family to attend university. "To me it was a really big milestone in my life - it was just a hard road. That was a huge thing for the whole whanau.”She earned her black belt in karate the same year. Studying karate, which she took up as a teenager (Lachy started even younger), helped give her focus and discipline, she said.After a few years teaching in coastal Otago, setting up a karate dojo with Lachy, and getting into the property market, homesickness for Wanaka became too strong."Lachy and I used to come back home in our university holidays. We’d go rock climbing; we used to bike up Mount Maude and we could see the area growing. I always wanted to come back. I missed the lake and mountains. I have a real sense of whanau here.”The couple had planned a year of climbing in 2004. "Lachy and I got right into rock climbing and mountaineering.” (They had climbed Mt Aspiring in 1998.) She resigned from her teaching job and they prepared to move, then she became pregnant. Melia was born in 2005.The couple lived next door to Tania’s parents when Melia was a baby, before moving to Tarras, and now Hawea Flat - opposite the school. "Because we grew up beside the school, that section was quite appealing to me.”Tania has four lines of Maori blood: Ngai Tahu, Waitaha, Kahungungu and Katimamoe. "It’s been a huge journey for me to try to track it down.” She is mostly self-taught in Te Reo: "I’m still learning. I still feel like a beginner.”Tania taught Te Reo part time at Tarras School for a few years and loved it. She is now relief teaching at MAC (PE and home room - she taught Te Reo last year) and teaching kapahaka with fellow teacher Kaz Saunders. "We take the kapahaka students every Wednesday at lunchtime and last period, supporting them in their waiata and haka.”"Wanaka is monocultural, so it’s important to get the group out performing. It gives them a sense of community and belonging, it gives them the relationship with the community. I don’t want it to be tokenism, but if we’re just out there doing it, it will be part of the culture.”The kapahaka group has become an impressive fixture in the community, with notable performances recently at the opening of the Wanaka Recreation Centre and the opening of Cardrona’s chondola - in freezing conditions.The group is growing in popularity too, with as many as 35 members now.Tania sees her role as supporting the group in the background, but she strongly believes in the visibility of Maori teachers. "I think it’s really important for Maori kids’ confidence. I’m Ngai Tahu: going into the classroom, being up there and being confident and happy, that can help other Maori people rise up.”"I’m not the best Maori speaker, but I just do it. Often I say ‘yes’ to things that are way out of my comfort zone - it’s for my family, my kids, those others.”She’s working with the college to incorporate the Maori values of aroha (love), whanau (family), and manakitanga (being a good host) in the school’s strategic direction. The well known Maori proverb sums it up best, she said: "He aha te mea nui o te ao - what is the most important thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.”Tania is also the Maori liaison person, representing Ngai Tahu, on the Festival of Colour board of trustees. "I’m passionate about the Maori side. I really enjoy supporting them in that role, and I’d like to get more local Maori involved - we’re bringing in the kapahaka group as well.”Tania’s doing her best to change that cultural aspect of her home town. Meanwhile the quiet town she grew up in has grown and changed in other ways. "I’m trying to embrace it, grow with it. I’m just learning to accept the changes.”PHOTO: Supplied