Albert Einstein famously said if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid. Einstein was dyslexic and this quote is a favourite of local dyslexia tutor Karen Ruddenklau.Fewer than 15 years ago dyslexia was barely recognised in the New Zealand school system. Anyone who was dyslexic usually left school believing they weren’t very bright. More often than not they couldn’t spell, struggled to read and couldn’t keep up with their peers in academic subjects. Because they didn’t understand what was going on in the classroom many got attention by playing up, and were they were labelled as naughty.But dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence. It takes many forms but dyslexics generally think in pictures rather than words. It’s now regarded as a ‘specific learning disability’. “The official term is learning ‘disability’ because it’s not something you can fix,” Karen said. “But we generally call it a learning difficulty or a learning difference.” Official figures say one in ten people are dyslexic, and Karen believes the real figure is probably significantly higher.Dyslexia and its cousins (dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia) are complex learning disabilities and people who have them can exhibit very different symptoms. This has made it hard to diagnose, and hard to remedy. When Karen was a schoolgirl growing up in rural Northland she couldn’t understand why her brother couldn’t spell while she could. He seemed to be just as smart as her, yet spelling was beyond him. This stirred an interest in education and Karen went on to become a primary school teacher.Later she married Southland farmer Grant Ruddenklau. They lived in Dipton for 14 years and had four children. When the children were nearing secondary school age the family purchased a farm near Wanaka and the children attended local schools. Karen worked part-time while the children were growing up and was able to get jobs as relief teaching at local primary schools and Mount Aspiring College.Around 2008 a nephew came to board with the family and go to school in Wanaka. When Karen was trying to help him with his Year 12 English assignments she was reminded of her brother (the one who couldn’t spell) and his struggles at school. She also remembered her mother’s story of how although she read and wrote well, she too just couldn’t spell. “Mum was strapped every day at school because she couldn’t do her spelling.”Karen knew by then that dyslexia had a strong hereditary component, and decided she wanted to train in specific learning disabilities (SLD), so she could help children who struggled at school. At that time there were no SLD tutors in the Upper Clutha but Hawea Flat Primary School principal Sue Heath put Karen onto the Seabrook MacKenzie Centre in Christchurch. She commuted for a year to complete the course, and soon had a growing number of students.  Although there was no Ministry of Education funding for Karen, demand for her tutoring grew and grew.“Parents would come up to me in the supermarket all the time and ask if I could help their children,” Karen said. “They were desperate.” Eight years on Karen’s workload continues to grow and there are several other SLD tutors in the Upper Clutha.“A huge change is that dyslexia is now recognised and children can be assessed to see if they have it, and then get help.” Karen says local children are now assessed at around the age of seven, or eight, which is about the right age for them to start getting help.“Any child can be taught to read. Dyslexic children need explicit teaching and lots of repetition, using multi-sensory methods. And, like any learning, it needs to be engaging and fun. But first and foremost we usually need to do a lot of work on their self-esteem. Once they’ve been diagnosed most kids are relieved to know there’s a reason why they are finding school so difficult.”Karen works with children one-on-one for an hour each week. She usually has them for two to four years.“It’s not a quick fix and progress can be slow. And then you see the light turn on. But every child is different in the way they learn. We work out strategies between us until they are confident about their learning.“It’s an amazing journey.  And I learn as much from them as they do from me. And there’s so much more [for me] to learn.”PHOTO: Supplied

An epiphany at an eventful music festival changed the course of Rhythm & Alps founder and managing director Alex Turnbull’s professional life.Alex was attending the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000, during which nine people suffocated in a crowd surge while Pearl Jam was onstage. It was before mobile phones were ubiquitous, and before social media. The festival had a printing press onsite to print daily newspapers, and Alex recalls the following morning watching festival organisers drive around the festival site, dropping off newsletters which informed people what had happened, and explained why the “show must go on”.“I was just fascinated with the organisation, the whole structure of the business, watching it unfold and how it was managed,” Alex, who was working in the London financial markets at the time, said. “It was definitely an eye-opener. I thought, ‘Why am I doing something I don’t like?’ I went straight back to the trading floor and quit on the spot.”He committed himself instead to the “excitement, raw emotion, and energy” of the festival world.Alex believes we all have our own personal tastes and preferences for “releasing our energy”, and music festivals are one option, like theatre or sports. “Visiting theatre and opera houses around the world, and our own beautiful venues in New Zealand, I think ‘these are the rooms that create beauty and raw emotion’,” Alex said.The energy generated at a festival is almost tangible, he said. “The energy hangs in the arena after the festival is over. You can almost see it, as an orb or mist. That’s quite a special thing to be aware of.”Christchurch born and bred, Alex was schooled at Christ’s College and Wanganui Collegiate before completing a Bachelor of Resource Studies at Lincoln College. He spent ten years overseas, and after leaving his finance job he worked on the road crew for a production company in Europe, then took a night course in releasing and marketing music at the University of London.Once back in New Zealand, Alex and Rhythm & Alps (R&A) co-founder Hamish Pinkham organised the first R&A in the Rakaia Gorge, but Alex said they “quickly learned people don’t go to Methven in their summer holidays”. It made sense to hold the festival at a popular summer destination like Wanaka. But the festival’s first year in Wanaka (at Robrosa Station in Cardrona Valley) had a rough start. A short time to produce the show and bad weather resulted in negative publicity. The following year brought in half the expected revenue, leaving Alex unable to pay the festival bills.“It was a really hard time,” he said, “but I never had any doubt about what I was doing.”In hindsight, Alex believes the rough start was “probably the best thing that could have happened”. He showed his commitment to repaying creditors, and in doing so built “a deep, underlying trust” in the working relationships. “People have a vested interest in it now.”“Any business has ebbs and flows. We just had a speed bump in the middle,” he said. Alex estimates the festival now pumps between seven and ten million dollars a year into the Southern Lakes economy. Alex puts a lot of emphasis on continuity of staff and mentoring new staff. There were 900 crew involved in running the show, including artists, and a volunteer contingent of about 200 people.This was R&A’s eighth year, and the seventh in Wanaka: there were 5,000 people camping and 10,000 people partying on New Year’s Eve. “Every year we try to do it better. I’m pretty big on taking things one step at a time and doing it right.”“The Wanaka community cares about the environment we live in. We are trying to educate our consumers that disposable consumerism is on the way out,” Alex said. This year R&A trialled cardboard ‘Kartents’, with about 50 recyclable tents purchased and well-reviewed by users. The festival will be building on this, Alex said. Cardboard tents made “a bit of a difference”, but the reusable cups also trialled this year made “the big difference”, he said. “It made a massive difference on the ground - not crunching around on plastic cups.”“It’s about educating consumers to take responsibility for their personal waste. We do have a younger demographic and I have noticed a change.”Another change Alex is working on is the introduction of drug-testing kits for festival-goers. He’s working closely with the Wanaka police and St John, and is committed to doing due diligence around what is currently a “massive grey area”. While the festival is working hard to stop people bringing alcohol onsite, some people will choose take other drugs to enhance their experience, Alex said. “It’s not going away. We want educate people to make that choice. If you introduce these [kits] it’s going to reduce problems. There’s a lot of homework to do, but we’re moving forward.”The average age of festival-goer is 24; there are fewer 18-year-olds; and the behaviour is improving each year, Alex said. “We put on music that appeals to 24 to 50-year-olds. I’m 45 and I felt young in the VIP tent this year.”Alex played representative rugby for Canterbury when at school, but moved on to other interests in his early 20s. The rugby culture “wasn’t really quite me”, he said, but he was appointed to the board of the Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) in 2017 and is enjoying the role, which uses his marketing, promotion and commercial revenue generation experience.“I think people should be doing a number of things to keep themselves mentally inspired,” he said. As well as his regular morning skiing sessions at Treble Cone during the winter months, Alex keeps himself inspired with a regular yoga practice. “You need to take yourself away and work on your inner self,” he said, likening the practice to regular car maintenance.Alex has a “blended family” with wife Misi Sharplin; his daughter Lilyvelvet (13) and son Theo (10), who live in Christchurch with their mother, visit often. He also gets inspiration during in his “lull zone” of March to June. This March he and Misi are planning to attend a festival in Morocco: a package of accommodation, talks, cuisine and music. “The relaxing party for 40-year-olds,” he said.It’s not time to relax yet, though: The administration of R&A is 12 months a year; the delivery part is six weeks. It takes a month to build and two weeks to pack down - the pack down is almost over, and Alex has already launched the pre-sale campaign for next year. There are 900 registrations so far.R&A has consent (with landowners Robrosa Station, Department of Conservation and LINZ) to operate in Cardrona Valley for another decade. Alex reckons, all going well, he’ll be partying there at 55. The “excitement, raw emotion, and energy” of the festival he experienced years ago keeps fuelling him.PHOTOS: Supplied

Wanaka theatre director Gilly Pugh had a blast making people laugh and cry at the 2019 Wanaka Pantomimers’ second production, ‘Jac and the Beansprouts’. She reflects on her theatre career and promises more belly laughs early in 2019.When you think about homegrown Wanaka theatre, Gillian Pugh and her family spring immediately to mind.Gilly and her partner John Schwarz, a performer and dancer, have been at the forefront of Wanaka’s performance scene for several decades.Their actor and musician sons Bene, Gabriel and Stefan had “no choice’’ but to follow in their parents’ footsteps.“They would be sleeping upstairs while we were rehearsing downstairs,” she said.Gilly and John became famous in Wanaka and New Zealand in the early 2000s when they toured their comedy show, Four Play With Friends.Even the title got people giggling.“It’s F-O-U-R. It was very funny. Gabriel once went to school and told his teacher, “My Mum and Dad do Four Play.’’Over the years, Gilly and John shared the Four Play stage with many friends, including Mario de Bono, Miranda Schwarz, Vicky Billingham, Greg Inwood, Brian Cope and Denise Ward.Gabriel Schwarz as Jac’s mother in ‘Jac and the Beansprouts’. PHOTO: Wanaka AppAfter that show ended, Gilly and John founded Wanaka’s Aspiring Children’s Theatre company and continued to perform in and contribute to many other productions.Comedy is Gilly’s favourite genre. She found music and “serious acting’’ studies in Dunedin “a bit boring’’.“I studied music at Otago University but it was all a bit boring so I left and went to a performing arts school in Christchurch, where I met John. We ended up travelling together on a road safety show. That was our introduction to a particular style of theatre.’’Gilly attended every theatre course she could and was particularly influenced by directors Bryan Aitken, of Christchurch, and Hillary Norris, of Dunedin.Her ethic for lifelong learning saw her collaborate with another homegrown theatre company, Silk Tent (with Lucy O’Hagan and Lizzi Yates).They received funding from the Mental Health Foundation to develop a script for a multi media theatre performance exploring a community's responses to mental distress. It resulted in the play Girl with no Name.Silk Tent is “now taking a holiday’’, Gilly said.Gilly’s “patchwork life’’ of performance, festivals, event work, and teaching has been balanced by “real world jobs’’.Her present administration role with a Wanaka accommodation provider allows her to continue exploring her creativity and support her family.When Jac and the Beansprouts writer Liz Breslin invited Gilly to direct last year’s pantomime, Cindy and the Villanelles, she had to research the British genre thoroughly.“I had no pantomime experience when I was young. I had never been to a pantomime in my life. I just jumped in. I had to spend a lot of time researching because it was not a normal directing experience. There’s all these conventions that you have to adhere to. Well, you don’t have to, but it would be at your peril!’’To be true to tradition, audiences must be allowed to banter with the cast. No-one can control the improvisation.“My normal had to change. But because of the cast we’ve got, we’ve been able to make it real.’’Last year, Liz Breslin rose to the challenge of including the line “We reject your heteronormative realities’’ in Cindy and the Villanelles. Two formidable Dames (aka Bene Schwarz and Simon Brebner) stole every scene, Cindy’s heart was stolen by another woman, the prince didn’t mind and everyone lived happily ever after.This year’s slapstick production continued to bend genders while poking fun at health and safety conscious helicopter parents.Three professional actors living in Wanaka volunteered their services: Jay Simon (the villainous director), Becky Plunkett (the magic fairy), and Joel Herbert (the giant).Gilly said opening night was “brilliant’’ with lots of high moments for her, including the hilarious dance scene and when Jac (Jennie Salter) climbed the beansprout.Now pantomime season is over, the cast and crew will take a break before coming together next year to work on the third annual production, again including a fundraiser for Kahu Youth.But Gilly and family will be taking just a short break, before hitting the boards again early in the new year.“There has been some pretty serious rumblings from my family to do something together. It is hot on the heels of what we are doing now, before Gabriel goes overseas. It is a comedy. The biggest argument at the moment is what to call it.’’Expect nothing serious. Just some special guests and a laugh.“Making people laugh is much nicer than making them cry. But if you can manage to do both at once, that’s pretty cool!”Click here to read the Theatreview review of Jac (who is resilient) and the Beansprouts.

I have been following the fortunes of those who “live the dream’’ in Wanaka since 2003 and one thing I’ve noticed: ambitious trainers abound.While world champions haven’t quite reached plague proportions (some cyclist-hating motorists would disagree), I’ve learned that many who move into our growing district are quickly infected with the Wanaka addiction and begin training for world domination in anything from triathlon to taekwondo to rock’n roll dancing.Many years ago, I met former Te Anau farm girl Mops (Melissa Newell), at my favourite watering hole. We are now regular sitters at Kai Whakapai’s round table.Four years ago, Mops announced I too was in “training for the worlds’’ and she’d coach me. It was a mega surprise to me and still is. I don’t know what or where my “worlds’’ will be or when it will happen, and we’ve only ever been on one bike ride together (Sticky Forest, I fell off, cried, end of story).Back in 2014, Mops - a former New Zealand representative in rugby, soccer and basketball  - was a teacher at Mt Aspiring College, recovering from a hip operation and thinking about becoming a triathlete. Her sights were set on the 2015 Xterra World Triathlon Championships in Hawaii and she intended to qualify through the Motatapu Race at Wanaka. Mops was the first to admit her hip was holding her back. She could not run –had not actually run for six years – and was still learning to swim. But she could ride a mountain bike. Fast forward four years, Mops (39) still has to do any Xterra triathlon and is now working as a hammer hand for builder Mike Plimmer.Mops during the Deans Bank race 2017. PHOTO: Wanaka App While Mops saw no reason in 2014 why she should not aspire to potentially unachievable goals, she proved adept at tweaking her goals once it became clear they were not working.So she rode her bike a lot and now she is the 2018 Master Women’s Enduro Series World Champion.Mops has proved difficult to pin down for coaching advice over the past four years (she’s been busy riding her bike) so I haven’t started working on my own race plan. But I did me catch up with her to learn more about her worlds.First up, I reprise a question from 2014: why should people aspire to “the worlds’’?“Everyone should think big, dream big, have courage and say “Why not’’. The only person who says you can’t do something is yourself,’’ Mops said.So, now she has a world championship trophy, what does she dream about now? Another Enduro world championship bid, this time in the women’s professional elite category. Based on this year’s results, Mops could have finished a creditable 15th.Mops is going “back to basics’’, training under Wellington coach Tom Bradshaw, before starting to ramp things up in March for her 2019 season.In early December, she raced Dunedin’s Three Peaks Enduro as a “shake down’’ and was fourth woman. But she is okay with that. She had just completed a 50km training session before the race and was fatigued.“I had some really good learnings and that was really cool ... My proprioception [sense of equilibrium and balance] is a bit off when fatigued and I was not hitting my lines. It makes you go, “Okay. What I need to do is regain focus, to strip things back to basics.’’ A big thing for me was my body position, keeping a good, strong, safe position ... I didn’t give myself the best opportunity to perform, but I wanted to be up against it,’’ Mops said.Mops says she has thrived on the international stage. “I definitely didn’t intend to be the Enduro world champion. It all just happened by accident. Back then when we were sitting at Kai, that genre of mountain biking hadn’t come up on my radar. I wasn’t competing in Enduro. I had ridden cross country but not at World Championship level, just at Nationals and Oceanias. Enduro sits outside those events.’’ Although the Enduro World Championship Series is stand alone, like other mountain biking disciplines, it has a points system and requires qualification through New Zealand and overseas races.There are eight races in the series and the rider with the most points wins. Mops raced five: Chile, Columbia, Canada, Spain and Italy.Her risk paid off, just. The woman who finished second, just 25 points behind, raced all eight events and could easily have taken the title if things had gone differently in Italy and Spain.“I was only 25 ahead and was cutting it a bit fine. I had a shocker of a race in Italy. I was third. It was bitter sweet. I had mixed emotions. It was a terrible race but I got enough points,’’ Mops said.The 2018 world championship bid cost about $26,000. Mops is now hoping to raise a similar amount through business sponsorship so she can step up to the 2019 elite series.She will keep working full time for Mike Plimmer and squeeze in her training outside work hours and in weekends.“My biggest hurdle is I am time poor ... But I love what I do,’’ she said.Mops’ competitive season begins in Rotorua in March. She then travels to Tasmania, Portugal, France, Italy and Switzerland, aiming to complete seven of the eight races.An Enduro race consists of several timed race runs over off-road courses. These are separated by untimed “liaisons’’ or routes the cyclist must ride or walk, to get from one race run to the next. Riders usually cover up to 70km a day.

The youth members of St John have had a number of significant achievements in 2018, divisional manager and area youth manager for Central Otago Tina Simmonds said.There are 45 youth members in Wanaka, made up of ‘penguins’ aged six to nine-years-old and ‘cadets’ aged eight to 18-years-old, which divides what the young members do at St John.The ‘penguin programme’ is educational and fun, involving games, activities and sports, plus offering trips, excursions, picnics and more. The older cadets are also offered a fun and educational programme which gives young people exciting opportunities through a varied programme tailored to individual needs.Three Wanaka cadets achieve the Grand Prior’s Award this year, which Tina said was a huge achievement.To earn the award, cadets set goals to achieve in any of 29 subjects and must complete six compulsory badges, six badges of the cadet's own choice, and 100 hours of community service. Once the 12 badges and community service are completed, the Grand Prior's Award is completed and awarded at a ceremony in the presence of the Governor General.“The award is revised every year and is one of the best educational youth programmes in the world,” Tina said. “Learning objectives are built on the New Zealand Education Curriculum to ensure that cadets are given an edge outside of school and that we don’t overlap what is done in the classroom.”Last weekend Maddi Frazer and Kenzie Muir were presented with the award at the Central Otago St John Prizegiving. Kate Goodsell, who also achieved the necessary tasks for the award, was unable to attend the ceremony. The three cadets join six St John Youth members who have earned the award in the past.Two members also earned their ‘super penguin’ award this year, where ‘Penguins’ follow a course of nine badges, each divided into main topics. For each badge that is completed a Penguin is awarded a colourful sew-on badge and matching certificate. It normally takes two years to complete all nine badges.This year’s new ‘super penguins’ were Emily Hunt and Isla Ingham.Wanaka also achieved well at the South Island Competition at Living Springs, where St John Central Otago sent three youth groups.“Along with one other team and four cadets competing as an individual, Central Otago came away with many places and for the first time ever took out the prize as champion district,” Tina said.St John also presented its cup winners at the district prizegiving last weekend, with ‘outstanding penguin’ going to Harriet McKay, ‘outstanding green’ to Oli Wryth, while Lily Wilson earned the ‘outstanding blue’ and Eva Wilson ‘outstanding gold’.Those interested in joining as a cadet or penguin can view the programme online at www.youth.stjohn.org.nz or email tina at the address listed above. The 2019 programme will start on February 12.PHOTO: Supplied

“Jesus is the reason for the season,’’ St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church minister Ian Hyslop says, as Wanaka begins counting down to Christmas.Three years ago Ian, 60, was called to “grow the church younger’’.When answering the call to Wanaka three years ago, Ian and his wife Jacinta also set themselves some fun outdoor challenges.Ian, a former Southlander and keen Highlanders supporter, is delighted all their missions are on track and that more families and young people have joined the church community.“There’s a lot of youth, almost 1000 kids at Mount Aspiring College. My motivation when I came here was to grow the church younger and that has actually happened,’’ he said.Ian is proud that St Andrew’s intern, Aaron Johnstone, a former engineer in his 30s, graduated this month from the Knox Centre for Leadership and Ministry.Aaron looks after St Andrew’s young adults, children, and music groups and is preparing to lead the St Ninian community at Hawea Flat from March 2019.Ian, a former primary school teacher, has previously had ministries in Geraldine (20 years) and Edendale (eight years).Like many others, he holidayed in Wanaka from childhood.“I love the area but for me, the main thing was God’s calling. The church has a desire to reconnect with the younger generation,’’ he said.St Andrew’s growth strategy focuses on building capacity, positive relationships, the community and outreach projects, such as raising funds for Orphans Aid projects in Bangladesh and Northern India.Presbyterian Minister Ian Hyslop with the St Andrew’s Church nativity display referencing the parish’s Christmas appeal to help Orphans Aid establish an orphanage in northern India.Ian is also a member of Wanaka Combined Churches, which meets regularly to share ideas.Developing social media strategies, using technology and modernising music were “no brainers’’ that helped connect with the Millennial generation, he said.The church also hosts Mainly Music programmes for young children and Ski Worker Dinners in the winter.Its alternative Halloween event, Angels and Heroes, saw more than 300 people enjoy free family activities, bouncy castles and a disco at the church.However, there is no longer a Wanaka community Christmas dinner. The annual Combined Churches event ended several years ago for logistical reasons, Ian said.Ian knows although Wanaka is a great place to live, people are busy and under pressure from high living costs. At Christmas, families received guests, farewelled those going away and continued to juggle work and personal issues.“When I first came here, someone said if you scratch below the surface, you will find the same issues sitting there: mental health, affordability, growth issues that impact on schools and businesses. I see it up close and I see people who work very long hard hours and I’m pretty concerned about that,’’ he said.Ian is impressed by the volunteering ethic he has witnessed in Wanaka and within the church.“I am about to join the Coastguard but there’s the Food Bank, Wheels to Dunstan, Community Networks, a whole lot of things to support . . . [There are a lot of] people who are dislocated. They have come here from all over New Zealand and the world. When they face difficulties, oftentimes they feel no support. Their families are a long, long, way away. But I think Wanaka is a very caring community. It is a mark of this church, I think, that we have a very caring community. I count it a privilege to be minister of this church,’’ Ian said.Over the next few Sundays Ian is creating a still space at church for people to reflect and reconnect with the Christmas message – celebrating Jesus’s birth.Ian expects at least 400 people, including holiday makers, at church on Christmas Day and they in turn should expect a “surprise’’.“I know for us, Jesus is the reason for the season. What will we be doing? We are having an intergenerational Christmas service with 14 different families involved in leading that service. And on Sunday the 23rd we are having our annual remembrance service for people who have had funerals in the church in recent years. Everyone brings along a long stemmed flower. While the service is on, the floral arrangers will work away behind the scenes. At a particular stage, they bring them in. The flowers will be there for the rest of the service and also for our big service on Christmas Day.’’On a personal challenge front, Ian has taken up mountain biking – he’s just signed up for his third Motatapu event - and put his hand up to join the Coastguard.He and Jacinta have also committed to a daily dip in the lake for the entire summer. They swim regardless whether they are busy or it’s blowing a gale or raining. They even squeezed in a quick swim on December 4, a busy day when parishioners marked International Volunteers Day, celebrated Aaron Johnstone’s graduation and farewelled popular St Andrew’s parishioner, the late Michael Hyndman.Ian said his favourite quote (from the late Gospel writer Eugene Peterson) sums up his attitude.“The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.’’PHOTOS: Marjorie Cook

“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” The adage certainly applies to local musical artist, trustee, compere, volunteer extraordinaire and man-about-town Paul Tamati.If you haven’t yet met Paul - you will - he pops up in the most unusual places volunteering to organise this, arrange that, extend cultural understanding, coordinate security; and from events and locations as varied as the Upper Clutha A&P Show, school boards and Stars In Your Eyes. By day he manages the team at Guthrie Bowron Wanaka - by night, or any other spare moment he has, he dons his volunteer wonder-suit.It all began 13 years ago, he said, when his daughter Erina turned five and started school. “That same year they were calling for nominations for the [Wanaka Primary School’s] board of trustees. I thought this would be a good way to track how my daughter progressed through school.”And, as Erina got older and moved on to high school, so did Paul, switching to the Mount Aspiring College (MAC) board where he still remains as his youngest, Hadley (14), progresses through school.Paul and the team at Matariki. PHOTO: SuppliedFor 12 years now he’s been the brains behind the Upper Clutha A&P Show’s trades’ display. Hundreds of individuals, businesses and companies pay for a prized section of turf on the showgrounds or Pembroke Park and it’s Paul’s job to coordinate all their demands and lay out the acres of display lines.It’s a mammoth task and one for which he was “willing to take an unpaid week off work. I decided the show would be my one thing I give back to the community”, he said. As it turned out his employers for the last five years, originally Mitre 10 and now Guthrie Bowron, both supported Paul’s commitment to the A&P Show and have continued to pay him. His coordination of the food stalls, entertainment and trades displays at the annual Wanaka Rodeo was also by chance - a spin off from his A&P Show experience.“Often one thing leads to another,” Paul said, and that seems to be the origin of one of Paul’s successful ideas for children’s music which resulted in the creation of Aspiring Young Musicians (AYM). Paul helps Marianne Roulston in the Wanaka Preschool’s kitchen during Maori language week. PHOTO: SuppliedBeing a talented singer, Paul has worked and performed with Wanaka’s musical stage production ‘Stars In Your Eyes’ for more than 20 years. SIYE was looking at ways to diversify which organisations it funded and that coincided with Paul’s desire to establish “a fantastic and fabulous kid’s orchestra”, he said. “I loved the idea but I realised most kids couldn’t afford expensive brass instruments, not to mention the cost of tuition,” he said. But, three years later and after much encouragement from both the Wanaka Primary and Hawea Flat Schools, AYM is thriving. Seventy students, aged between five to 10-years-old, learn to play brass instruments, purchased from funds donated by SIYE. Paul is the chair of the committee which supports AYM. Paul’s also involved in the YAMI - Youth and Adults in the Music Industry - weekend event of workshops, panels and showcases last year. YAMI shares knowledge about the NZ music industry and how to get a foot in the door. Paul’s role, however, was to share his Maori heritage as he was asked to set out the powhiri - “which is a true privilege”. He said he is honoured to share his cultural heritage, which is also part of the reason he’s involved in the annual Matariki celebrations as master of ceremonies and he applies his experience as a chef in preparing the hangi.Paul grew up in Cromwell and when he graduated high school he trained to be a chef. Four years into the career he discovered he hated being stuck in a kitchen. Instead, he returned to Central Otago and ended up at Edgewater Resort working as a day porter and “talking to people - my favourite thing”.His experience working with the Kahu Youth team on Matariki led him to establish the Matariki Tupu Hau kapa haka group, which has 12-25 members. “I find kapa haka a way of maintaining and promoting te reo Maori by way of waiata ringa (action songs),” Paul said. Paul also recently joined the Freemasons in Wanaka. “When I was a chef I used to work at a rest home that was run by the Freemasons in Rotorua and I was always curious about how they operated and the lavish things that they used to do.”And next week he’ll turn his hand to providing security on the shores of Lake Hawea at the Relish festival - a four-day, family run festival. “They wanted a happy person, a friendly face, working security, not a grumpy old thing so I got asked,” he said, beaming from ear to ear.Paul said his “volunteering” doesn’t spring from some self-fulfilling need to be wanted. He’s just someone who likes to get involved and it’s a way of keeping abreast of what goes on in his town. His parents contributed to their community in their way and his daughter, Erina (18) will be joining him in a couple of weeks to sing at the annual lighting of the Wanaka Christmas tree on the lawn adjacent to the Wanaka Hotel.Paul said if there was one thing he’d like to change about this community it’s to improve communication and engagement, particularly between the long-standing residents and the new arrivals. He’s lived in Wanaka since 1992 and said “there seems to be a resistance to sharing ideas between the old and the new”.He believes the solution is to participate. “You want to be a part of this community then be a part, get involved. Don’t just go home at 5:00 after work and think your job is done, get involved.”

Wanaka man Brook Van Reenen has set an ambitious goal: to run the Te Araroa, a 3000km trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Brook said he imagines it will take around 130 days, covering 20-30km each active day, but he hasn’t set a time limit to finish. While his Te Araroa run will begin in September next year, Brook (a long-time Wanaka local) has set what he describes as a small challenge for the end of the month: He plans to climb seven peaks in seven days to kickstart his training.“It’s a wee challenge I’ve set for myself,” he said. “Malcolm and Sally [Law] are going to run the first two days with me, then I’m doing Isthmus Peak, Breast Hill, Grandview, Little Criffel, and going to Queenstown to do Ben Lomond, where I’ll be joined by friends.”Despite his description of seven peaks in seven days as a little challenge, Brook hasn’t always been a long-distance runner. He decided he wanted to do a marathon before he turned thirty (Brook is now 32), and got hooked. “I just found I really liked it and caught the bug,” Brook said.Before that, it had been a different story. But the Te Araroa trail is still a big challenge for Brook, and he hopes to raise $5,000 for mental health for the run. “This it will be a big mental challenge, and a good mental battle to overcome,” Brook said. “Some of my closest friends have been affected by [mental health issues] too so it is a good cause to do it for.”Brook is taking part in numerous marathons over the next year which will form part of his training, and said support from other runners like Malcolm Law helps keep him motivated. “This idea’s been in my head for a while, but I’ve always been that person thinking I can’t do this I can’t do that and coming up with excuses. I thought it was just time to do it.”Visit Brook’s fundraising page, and to keep up-to-date with his training journey, subscribe to ‘Running Te Araroa’ on Facebook.PHOTO: Adam Keen

Long-time local Graham Taylor was a member of the Wanaka Promotion Association 30 years ago, when there were only two annual events held in the district - the A & P Show and Warbirds.He’s lived here almost all his life, witnessed enormous change and played his part in it as well. Graham sat down with the Wanaka App recently to talk about the joy he takes in the progress of his community and the pleasure he finds in restoring things.Known as something of a mechanical wizard, Graham can turn his hand to constructing, repairing and restoring just about anything that has a mechanism. Repairing things seems to be in his blood so it’s no surprise he joined the family business as soon as he finished high school.He and his family have lived in the district since the late 1940s, and the family business, Taylor’s Implements, manufactured farm machinery at Lake Hawea for decades before the economic downturn of the 1980s forced Graham to relocate the business to busier Wanaka.After more than 50 years in the business he’s now “semi-retired”. “I still do repairs and maintenance for customers,” he said. His wife Cheryl says he works many hours every day but he reckons he couldn’t quantify exactly how many hours he works “because every week I do stuff for myself, I do stuff for other people, and I do stuff for the community”.“I’m not interested in tracking my time. As long as I can pay the bills at the end of the day and have some fun that’s all I’m worried about.“My first hobby was vintage cars and that started when I was about 11 years of age with a 1925 Model T pickup,” he said. He “picked up” a second Model T, his 1923 Ford Model TT Ton truck, when he was a teenager but restored it only recently - in time for the celebration of the centennial of Luggate’s Red Bridge in 2015.Graham Taylor in period costume on the set of "The Light Between Oceans" at St Bathans in 2014. PHOTO: SuppliedHe takes particular pride in the 1923 Model T as, although he owns a number of vintage and classic cars, this truck is his only vintage vehicle with a traceable New Zealand history. “It’s a genuinely historic motor vehicle which used to collect people and goods from the wharf at Makarora and trundle them up to Makarora House, which was the only ‘establishment’ in Makarora in those days. It transported a lot of very important people in its day.”“Nowadays it doesn’t go on the road, but if people want to drive a Model T, I can teach them how to drive on the property here,” he said.“The reason I like the older cars is they’ve got those few quirks and things; they’re more interesting to drive and if you have the odd breakdown there’s usually a mass of people around you like a swarm of bees to get you sorted.”An estimated count of the many vehicles on his property near Luggate provides a conservative total of nine, eight of which are currently operational, but only five are registered for the road. He’s had a 1959 Morris Minor for the past 25 years but the vehicle he currently uses most often is a 1972 Austin 1300 which, like most of his vehicles, is a hybrid modified with parts from other vehicles.“I’m not a big spender on these cars. I don’t have bottomless pockets but I do like them to go properly,” he said.As a younger man he was a member of the New Zealand Vintage Car Club (NZVCC) but by 1985 “I’d been there and done that for a while, but my family weren’t too interested in vintage cars then”, so he gave it away. His interest in vintage vehicles was ignited once more by the chance to restore a 1923 Overland four-seater touring car.His friend Doug Wilson said his kids “didn’t want the old car sitting in his shed. Turned out it was a 1923 Overland and I thought I’d enjoy bringing her back to life. So I bought it and fixed it up,” Graham said.The Overland has since featured - ever so briefly - in a Hollywood movie. Four years ago, Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks filmed “The Light Between the Oceans” at various places in Otago. It’s set in the early 1920s and a call went out through the Central Otago branch of NZVCC to those with suitable vintage cars to help out.Graham and fellow branch member Murray Pryde “spent a whole day in St Bathans, getting dressed up and being filmed”. It was a typical movie shoot in that the film crew was running all day but he and Murray spent most of the time in ‘hurry up and wait’ mode. “All we saw in the final film was a 10 second scene,” he said.While vintage vehicles might have been his first love, Graham also spent 18 years in the aviation world. In the early 90s, he and a friend built their own kitset aircraft, an 80hpw rotax turbo engine, two-seater, highwing, Kitfox. “I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of building and flying my own aircraft. There’s nothing like getting your pilot’s licence just to learn things about navigation, trigonometry, mathematics and the weather,” he said. “So when I look at the weather now I observe it with quite a different eye and have a lot more appreciation for it.”Another friend, Ernie Colling, mentored him and they would go flying together. “We had the same sort of aircraft but his technique was just that much better that I’d chase him all over the sky and I’d catch up by cutting corners.“I did have one emergency landing. I came down in the Cromwell Gorge and didn’t put a scratch on anything,” he said. “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation, believe me."Since he moved to Luggate eight years ago, Graham has thrown himself into a variety of community projects. “I’m really enjoying living at Luggate. We’ve got a great little community association here.”He’s the coordinator for the Red Bridge restoration, a 10-year staged project to turn the once overgrown wasteland adjacent to the Red Bridge into a recreational and historic reserve.“The work at the Red Bridge is proceeding slowly but steadily,” he said. “It’s a big job. The recreational reserve has a lot of potential and it is a privilege to be the guiding hand so to speak.”Graham’s happy to be a part of the Luggate community and says its population now (estimated at 400) is roughly the same as Wanaka’s was back in 1960 when he was starting high school.Having longstanding roots in the district has given Graham a certain perspective on its growth. “All I’ve seen since I’ve lived here is change,” he said. He reckons 90 percent of the change is positive as the increased population has resulted in better facilities, improved schools and more employment options.“The most you can ever hope to do with growth is keep a guiding hand on it. You’re never going to stop it and, if you try, you just end up creating more distortions.You need to allow it happen - but with a fair degree of common sense,” he cautioned.“If I were to sum it up, I’d say the problems of growth are infinitely better than the problems of decline, and you need to have people to make things zing.”

The snow business is a challenging, unpredictable one, but an innovative instructor training company established at Treble Cone more than 20 years ago is still going strong.Garett Shore and Dean Hunter are the founders of the Rookie Academy, a ski and snowboard instructor training company. Garett was one of the participants in the first rookie instructors’ course run by Dean at Treble Cone in 1992, and the pair now run the business - considerably evolved from what it was back then.Garett is a Dunedin boy with strong family ties to Wanaka (his parents holidayed in Wanaka from before he was born, and he skied with his family from the age of 11). He was finishing his first year at university in 1992, unsure whether he wanted to continue, when the first rookie course offered him the opportunity to get an internationally recognised qualification in ski instructing and start working back-to-back winters. Garett got through his second year at university and “fell into the trap” of the skiing circuit, he said.“It’s a way of subsidising travel,” he said. From 1992-97, Garett did back-to-back winters in New Zealand, Canada and the US, teaching, hanging out with like-minded people “always in an amazing place like Wanaka or Whistler or Aspen - resorts you probably couldn’t afford to survive in if you were just a tourist”.Garett - hooked on coachingA “sporty, competitive guy”, Garett said he always needs something he can sink his teeth into. So when instructing at Treble Cone, he took note of what was happening on the rookie course. “I saw what Dean was doing - the coaching side of it. That got me hooked.” Not motivated by teaching privates and groups, Garett was more interested in “higher end” instructor training. “It’s not just telling you what to do, it’s telling you how to do it, and why to do it. There’s more depth to the message, more of the psychology of teaching; and you’re working with people over a longer time frame.”He took every opportunity he could to hang out with Dean and get involved in the training, and in 1997, they set up the Rookie Academy - still operating at Treble Cone, but independent of it.“We wanted to see if there was potential there to run full-time training. We saw an opportunity to put together a package. No one had done it before in New Zealand.” Fortunately, it all fell into place. “The stars aligned a little bit.”“In our first couple of years our expectations weren’t high - we were ski bums! - and we were surprised at how well it was doing.”When Garett did the rookie course in 1992 the commitment was one day a week for 10 weeks, at a cost of about $500. Now there are options from three to 11-week courses, and prices ranging from $6K to $16K, covering full-time training, accommodation, lift passes, transport, and even exams.From the 1990s through to about 2006/7, the course participants were “all Brits”, Garett said, “but after the global financial crisis we had a real slow down in the British market.”After 2008 there were some “tight seasons,” he said. One year the clients got down to about 70 people. Since then the market has changed a lot. “In the past four years there’s been a big growth in Asian clients. China’s probably the biggest market.”This season there were 22 trainers and 140 students, from “all four corners of the world". Garett estimates the academy contributed to 7,200 bed nights in the town this winter.The Rookie Academy has fared well in an unpredictable industry. “We’ve become a lot smarter and more scientific about how to approach the learning. The product is a lot more guest-driven.” Garett and Dean are still involved in training and certifying instructors, and Garett is a member of the New Zealand ski committee, which sets the direction for the curriculum.In the summer Garett stays in Wanaka and does the company’s admin and marketing while Dean heads to the northern hemisphere. The academy is also established in Aspen, Colorado, and Mont Sainte Anne and Canada. Dean and Garett are also pushing into China, which they visit a couple of times a year.Of the 22 instructors, seven are Kiwis, and the others are from the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. Some have been with the academy for more than 10 years.Being one of the very few ski resorts in the southern hemisphere is a real advantage, enabling the academy to attract instructors from the northern hemisphere. “Our team of trainers - you’d never get a group like that together anywhere else in the world. They are the elite.” The trainers can also hang out and learn from each other. “It creates an amazing culture and working environment.”That’s just one of the factors which keeps Garett motivated and rewarded in this industry.“We’re most proud of the fact that we said, ‘this is where we want to live, how are we going to make it work?’ There have been plenty of times when we could have gone, ‘this is too hard’. It’s not the easiest industry to survive in: It’s a short season; it’s unpredictable; you’re at the mercy of a lot of different global markets. It’s a sport - so it’s cyclical. It’s a roller-coaster ride,” he said.“But it’s an amazingly enjoyable way of working. It’s hard to walk away from.”PHOTOS: Supplied

Cate Davis is a familiar face to many Wanaka locals, having been a friendly face at New World since 2004, and now more and more people know her as the former “heart kid” soon to embark upon an adventure of a lifetime.  Cate has lived all over southern New Zealand, and has spent 14 years in the UK during two long stints. Her career has also been varied: Cate went to secretarial school and has worked in libraries (including volunteering in Wanaka) and dental practices (both private and public). It was a summer job that eventually led to her long-term role at the local supermarket.Cate’s early years in rural New Zealand (her father is a farmer) shaped her love for Central Otago and rural life. “I loved growing up on a farm,” Cate said. “It was really good and when I left school I wanted to be on a farm but that didn’t quite happen. I still get a taste of it because I still have family that farms, and I still get to enjoy the country every so often.” Rural life offers many of the same pleasures as farm life, and it’s something which drew Cate to Wanaka in 2004. “There’s something special about being in Central Otago. My father grew up here and we got to know it over many years.”Her family must feel the same way: Cate’s father and his wife now live in Pisa Moorings, and all of his siblings live in or around Wanaka; Cate’s brothers both live in the South Island.“Family is one of the main reasons I love living in Wanaka,” Cate said, but the list of reasons she calls this small town home are numerous. “I love the place, the mountains, to be able to get outdoors and do things, walk and get out on the bike. It’s nice knowing your community and over the years I’ve got to know a lot of people here.”Despite working full-time Cate makes time for her role as the Central Otago chairperson for Heart Kids New Zealand, a national organisation dedicated to helping people with congenital heart defects lead full lives. Through Heart Kids, Cate has just begun training for the adventure of a lifetime: a ten-day cycling trip through Cambodia next May. “The reason behind the trip is that people born with congenital heart defects have challenges every day - our challenge will be this cycling trip in Cambodia.”‘Cycle For Heart Kids Cambodia’ is a fundraiser for the organisation, and the ten-day trip will involve cycling in and around Cambodian destinations like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Cate was a ‘heart kid’ herself, undergoing open heart surgery when four-years-old. Many children born with congenital heart defects have ongoing health issues and require multiple surgeries. “For me, I’ve never had to have another surgery,” Cate said. Cate’s involvement with Heart Kids was serendipitous: While serving a customer at New World she saw that the person’s cheque book said ‘Heart Kids’ and asked about it. She quickly became involved with the organisation. She joined the local Heart Kids committee in 2006, later became the treasurer, and her role as the chairperson of the branch keeps her busy. Cate will head to Cambodia as a part of a group of eight who are from all over New Zealand. Included in the team are a father and son, who are cycling for another member of their family; a Dad who is cycling for his three-month-old son; and a man whose mother has had heart surgery. Cate’s riding partner will be her Dad’s wife, who has decided to take on the challenge with her. Each person going on the trip is asked to raise $4,000 to give back to the charity, and a quiz night held last week (September 13) helped Cate reach her fundraising goal. She wants to thank everyone who showed up and gave for the cause. “I was absolutely blown away by how well we did,” Cate said. “It’s just amazing.”The quiz night, which happened to fall on Cate’s birthday, was a reminder of the special connection between friends and strangers in Wanaka, and the relationships she’s built over the years. “It’s the community spirit that is special here.”Cate’s feelings six months ahead of the adventure are a combination of excitement and nerves: as an experienced traveller, she’s looking forward to seeing a new country; at the same time she’s a little afraid of how the humidity in such a warm country will affect her. There’s also the training, which has tentatively begun, but Cate says she’s not particularly sporty. “I’m going to have to start pushing myself now. I’m not a natural sportsperson at all, and very much a leisure skier and recreational cyclist; I like to enjoy things and see where I’m going.”During the trip the group will cycle through rice paddy plantations; visit housing on stilts; see temples; and take a Cambodian cooking class. Excitement or nerves, it’s a worthwhile adventure to be a part of, Cate said. “We’re doing it for kids that really need it.”PHOTO: Wanaka App

Viv Milsom’s Sunday dinners growing up in Dunedin were often accompanied by a glass of wine. Her father, a wine and spirit merchant, would often bring home imported wines to taste. Before New Zealand wines were on the map - or even being made - the only way to get a good wine was to drink the imported varieties. Viv has spent the past ten years living in Wanaka working as a freelance writer, after beginning her professional career as a television and radio news journalist and later moving into secondary school education. The return to Wanaka and writing (Viv visited for ski holidays as a child) also drew Viv back to wine - and she’s just written a book all about it. But instead of imported wines, the book celebrates the wines made right here in Central Otago. The Vineyards of Central Otago: A Passion for Winemaking on the Edge, is Viv’s first book. The luxurious hardback coffee table book tells the stories of Central Otago’s vineyards, and the people whose passion for the industry has made the region a wine destination. “We’re a tiny little place at the end of the world but in just over 30 years these guys have established this global reputation,” Viv said. The early pioneers started in Gibbston, Alexandra and Wanaka, and “when they started they really had no idea what would grow”.There are now nearly 2,000 hectares of vines in the region (78 percent of which are growing pinot grapes) and 130 wineries, and Central Otago wines are winning top awards internationally.Not bad for a place - the southernmost wine region in the world - that didn’t start growing wine until the 1970s.From start to finish, the book (published by Penguin Random House) was a 12 month process. “It was a fantastic journey, and it was a steep learning curve too,” Viv said.“When I took my concept of the book to them, they were immediately enthusiastic. It doesn’t happen very often in life, but sometimes you do just get green lights. When Penguin Random House say yes to you, you don’t go anywhere else.”She teamed up with Wanaka-based photographer Mike Wilkinson to capture the visual beauty the wine-growing region has to offer. “The last book that looked at the Central Otago wine growing region as a whole was in about 2000: I wanted this book to be an overview, and a celebration, of the wine region. It’s a region that not only has beautiful wine, but has also marketed itself very successfully.”Choosing which 21 vineyards to feature was one of the most difficult tasks for Viv, who decided in the end to pick methodically, by covering each of the six wine sub-regions: Gibbston, Alexandra and Wanaka, and Lowburn/Pisa, Bendigo and Bannockburn (the last three are all in the Cromwell Basin). “We also wanted to cover winegrowers that had skin in the game,” Viv said, “and look at different models of ownership.”The result is a selection of some of the best in the region. Choosing the concept and getting a publisher was just the beginning, but Viv found herself wondering how the wine growers would react to her wanting to write about them. She needn’t have worried. “Everyone was so generous with their time and sharing their stories. There are so many passionate people that work damn hard doing what they love.”When Viv isn’t writing, she enjoys soaking up the best of the Central Otago lifestyle by playing golf, skiing and walking in the hills near her home with her chocolate lab, Fudge. Viv also likes travelling and spending time with her family - she’s recently returned from a trip to London to visit a new grandson.The Vineyards of Central Otago: A Passion for Winemaking on the Edge will be available from October 1 and the launch will be held on October 10 at Rippon Hall. Tickets are available at Paper Plus Wanaka.PHOTO: Supplied

Donald Lousley is a well-known local figure. You might know him as the photographer, the computer guy, the SAR person, or from a myriad of other things that he’s done in the time he’s lived here.Donald first moved to Wanaka in 1982 when his then-wife got a teaching position here. But Donald was already familiar with the town, as he’d visited with family during his upbringing in North Otago.The changes of the seasons, and the opportunity each of them brings for Donald’s many hobbies, are some of the reasons he still calls Wanaka home."I love how it merges into spring and you can go for walks and go mountain biking,” Donald said. In winter, there’s cross country skiing, which Donald does whenever he can. And in between there’s blogging, writing, photography, and whatever else he might be into at any given time.His career has been as diverse as his interests - he’s helped geophysics scientists create significant shock waves with explosives in Antarctica, advised trampers, climbers and tourists at Mount Aspiring Hut, and worked as a mountain guide during the early days of heli-skiing. His first ever career was as a tradesman - there’s been too much in between to list them all - and now Donald continues to do computer and website maintenance for a small-ish number of clients.The best place to go to better get to know Donald - aside from meeting him of course - is by visiting his blog, Southern Light.It’s here that one can get a sense of Donald’s love for the outdoors. Described as "a richly illustrated eco initiative featuring nature’s wonders in southern New Zealand”, it’s a chronicle of Donald’s many discoveries and lessons in this corner of the world. Other people also contribute to Southern Light, but it mainly illustrates Donald’s encyclopedic knowledge of off-the-beaten-track New Zealand.Readers of Southern Light get a glance at many beautiful and remote parts of New Zealand, but Donald knows where his favourite is without giving it a second thought. "The Otago valleys. They have the combination of river, mountain, beech forest and glacier.”The furthest from civilisation Donald has been is Antarctica, when he spent four months helping scientists profile an area adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains to successfully find out why the longest mountain range in the world "popped up” where two of the earth's tectonic plates pulled apart.Donald would help not only maintain a shifting camp over serious glacial terrain, but also drill holes with hot water, then place and detonate the high explosives at a couple of hundred metre intervals over a distance of approximately 140km to gather the data needed.Wildlife mostly eluded him on the seismic line known as "deep, deep field” in Antarctica. He saw only one skua ("a very aggressive gull”) over the 44 day period it took to conduct the main activities of the experiment.Donald returned to Wanaka, and "didn’t want to see any snow for two years”.The next job for him was being a Dad. His son Dougal, now 25, lives in Dunedin. Donald says parenting was the best job he ever had. "It was so rewarding, but hard work.”He shared his knowledge and passion for the outdoors with Dougal, taking him on various trips as a boy. Dougal earns a special mention on Southern Light, and a recent photo shows them adventuring together at Jackson Bay on the West Coast.Donald captures the summer "chop” on Lake Wanaka from the prevailing north west winds in summer PHOTO: Donald Lousley.Donald - who is a kind yet fairly reserved character - bravely decided recently to weigh in on a 1080 debate on local social media page recently. It’s a subject that has earned a vitriolic following from the fringes."I went away from targeting people,” Donald said. "We don’t have a choice: you vote for vermin or birds.”He invited people wanting to learn more to speak with him directly, and offered to connect people who wanted to make a difference with the relevant groups."I've learnt a considerable amount living in the midst of full-blown predator control and bird monitoring,” Donald said.It’s another career among many that Donald has fitted into his life - he’s also been a part of Search and Rescue, and a geophysics field assistant in Central Otago, mapping fault lines and deep alluvial gravels/rock.The interest in landscape photography makes a lot of sense given his other interests, and it’s something he began as a young boy. He’s made the shift from film to digital, but unlike many photographers, knows there’s a time to put the camera away."A camera can get between you and the environment. I do want to see what I’m in.”Donald has a second website dedicated to Wanaka images and photography. It’s more of a look at what urban Wanaka and surrounds has to offer, and showcases his exceptional photography.Donald has watched Wanaka change and grow over the decades, and his feet are still firmly planted here."We’re just so lucky to live in this country.”

Marie de Groot reckons district nursing in Wanaka is unique. “District nursing here is very different to almost anywhere else in New Zealand,” she said. She attributes that not only to Wanaka’s relatively affluent society but also to the remarkable relationships Wanaka’s district nurses have with other local medical professionals.   Marie is one of four qualified district nurses who works in the Wanaka district utilising her specialised nursing knowledge and assessment skills to care for a range of patients from treating wounds to palliative care. The District Nursing Service is a community based service providing a wide range of free care to patients in their own homes and at clinics.   Marie trained in Dunedin and worked in the hospital there. “It was the best experience for becoming a District Nurse,” she said,” because you worked in every department and gained a breadth of knowledge.”“We’re all “generalists” in this job,” she said.Marie has witnessed the rapid growth of the district through her working experience. When she started nursing here 17 years ago, only two nurses were employed to meet the needs of the seven day service.“Now there are four of us. We work a rotating roster 3-4 days a week including weekends, 8-9 hours a day and it’s constant, every single day,” she said. One nurse will work from the clinic at the Wanaka Lakes Health Centre while another is on the road providing home care. Between the two they’ll handle an average of 18 patients a day.The seasonal increases in population always puts an enormous strain on the system, Marie said. “Our workload just quadruples.” As well as squeezing in a lot more patients into their busy schedules they also have to cope with congested roads, she said. “We know all the shortcuts yet our ability to get to our patients is still ridiculously compromised. Like every other local, we’re sitting at the roundabouts yelling at the car in front - ‘go, go now’.”Complicating it further is a tax-payers funding system which doesn’t recognise seasonal changes to population. “So we go from 7,000 to 30,000 over the summer and we get no more funding or resources,” she said. “It’s not fair but it’s accepted.”“The government pays us only for the 20-30 minutes contact time with our patients,” she said. “It doesn’t pay for the two hour journey to Makarora; or for writing up notes; or arranging referrals to an occupational therapist.”She said the Central Otago District Nurses see a lot more patients than they are funded for by the District Health Board but they also pick up funding from ACC which pays the shortfall. “We see the problems as they’re occurring and we stop them and keep people out of hospitals. We are the ambulance at the top of the cliff but we could do it so much better with more resources.”The problem is, she said, those with the funding are making decisions which apply now. The pay-off for the ambulance at the top of the cliff is in 10 years, not next week, she said. “Governments are not prepared to think a decade down-track when this would actually come to fruition.”As a nurse she has “learned to be very resourceful, and very patient, and accept what you can’t change - or go mad.”Marie admits to have grown more cynical about the job but still derives enormous satisfaction from the good days.“Our chemo ladies - they go through their treatments and we have a laugh. We make it as pleasant an experience for them as much as we can. We get to know them really well and try to make their treatment fit in with their lifestyles while they’re healing.“You walk these journeys with people and at the end of the day you can feel good because you’ve actually achieved something.”She said this district was “incredibly lucky” with the medical care provided locally. “We have great collegial relationships with the practice nurses and GPs. It means if we come across a problem, we can pass on the information to a practice nurse, she takes it to the GP and it can be dealt with that day.” In her experience that just doesn’t happen in the cities.She believes the greatest single concern this district is going to have to cope with is its aging population. “If there’s one thing that makes me want to stay fit….”“The one-downside to Wanaka is that it’s a real bubble. Everyone here has money; even the ones who say they haven’t, they still can afford to live here and go on holiday.”She compares it with her early days nursing in Dunedin. Their relative affluence means, in general, local residents have taken better care of their health. “They don’t have the really chronic conditions.”Most of the patients she treats are in their 70s, 80s and 90s “and they’ve reached that age in pretty good shape.”  Age has made them “a bit broken or dented” but they’re not chronically ill with complex conditions.Money also makes them “well motivated to get better,” she said. They still plan to enjoy the next stage of life; they’ve got an overseas trip to look forward to. “That motivation makes a huge difference.”Marie and her husband and children moved to Wanaka from Dunedin because both her and her husband’s fathers died young, at 62. “That’s a big wake-up call,” she said. “We decided we needed to do what we need to do because you may not get as much time as you thought you’d have.”Her husband Rob (they’ve been married for 33 years) is the outdoors type, who holidayed in Wanaka as a child, and thrives in the Wanaka environment; and her children Abby and Patrick have both grown up in Wanaka enjoying activities on the lake and in the mountains.Both children are pursuing careers (Abby teaches at a low-decile primary school in Porirua) and Patrick is an electrician, but the “empty nest” Marie and Rob were enjoying has had to adapt to the recent return of Patrick, who now works in Wanaka. Marie stays fit, active and relaxed by walking the environs with the family dog Axel - who has a penchant for nipping over to the primary school, checking for any “leftover sandwiches” - and kayaking in the summer or taking out the jetski. She and Rob also like to travel two to three weeks each year (although as Rob said “she organises it, I just come along”). She admits she likes doing the research and organising the trips early “to get the bargains. I like four star at three star prices.”Marie said she’s content doing what she does at present but not she’s not sure about retiring in Wanaka. “I don’t know if we want to be that far away from medical services and I don’t know if it’s going to give me the lifestyle I want when I’m retired that I can afford. “There are other places where there is cheaper housing, cheaper groceries, more affordable health care but we’ve looked around and I really haven’t found anywhere else. It’s a real quandary.”PHOTO: Wanaka App

Despite her years working with organisations and on projects to bring about change in our community and environment, it has taken a while for Sophie Ward to embrace the term ‘activist’.Sophie grew up in Melbourne with a strong role model in her father, who was one of the pioneers of paper recycling in Australia. But Sophie’s initial career path seemed set when she completed a business degree and spent years working in banking.Then she travelled overseas for a year, including biking through China, Vietnam and Nepal. After that, it no longer made sense to her to work for an organisation that wasn’t contributing to the planet or the environment. "I decided I never wanted to work for an organisation that didn’t have a positive outcome.”A sideways step into wastewater project management was more aligned with her values, and that was followed by a move to Wanaka in 2005, with her then-boyfriend Mal."I always thought if I had the opportunity to live in New Zealand, I’d take it,” Sophie said. "My perception was that New Zealand was clean and green.” She imagined buying organic, locally grown food in a sustainable environment, but the reality was somewhat different. In fact, the first time she asked to buy a reusable shopping bag at the supermarket, "they didn’t know what it was”.However, Sophie loved the mountains, the landscape and the lifestyle. "I was living in such a beautiful place, and it’s definitely a town where people are really passionate about the environment. Now I just love the whole seasonal excitement of the food that comes and goes - the first tomato of the year, the first asparagus.”Her first job here was summer work with Backcountry Saddles horse trekking in the Cardrona Valley, followed by contract work for the Queenstown Lakes District Council on waste issues.Sustainable Wanaka had just been launched, and Sophie contacted Megan Williams, the coordinator, more or less begging to be allowed to volunteer her time and expertise for the organisation. Megan probably couldn’t believe her luck.Sophie’s first project with Sustainable Wanaka was the Bag the Habit campaign. She’s quick to point out others had been working on the issue for years. "I just picked it up and ran with it, gave it a new name,” Sophie said. The project ran for a few years: reusable bags were made and given away, awareness raised, and at one point about 40 percent of Wanaka shoppers were taking their own bags to the supermarket.Then Sophie moved to Wastebusters, and the bag campaign got bigger - it joined with the Get Real campaign to reduce plastic bags and packaging. In 2012 Get Real successfully pressured Foodstuffs to introduce a 5c charge for plastic bags, but there was a lot of resistance (although not locally), and the decision was revoked after just a few months. Foodstuffs were on their own, Sophie said, and Nick Smith (the Minister for the Environment) and the packing council were saying there was no problem with plastic bags, and recycling was the answer.The Get Real team was philosophical, Sophie said. "We thought ‘I guess New Zealand’s not ready for a plastic bag ban or tax’.” They turned their attention to packaging.Their ‘Unpackit’ awards for the best and worst examples of packaging made national headlines and were funded by the Ministry for the Environment for three years. Sophie and the team got to travel all over New Zealand with Unpackit. "Foodstuffs will say those awards changed the way they packaged fruit and vegetables.” (Both supermarket chains Foodstuffs and Progressive have now agreed to phase out single use plastic bags by the end of 2018).Sophie celebrating with Gina Dempster when both Countdown and Foodstuffs announced they would phase out plastic bags last year. PHOTO: SuppliedBut there is a long way to go: Sophie is currently doing Plastic Free July (an international campaign which encourages people to try to avoid buying any plastic for the month). "It’s hard. There are some products where it’s not possible. There’s such a long way to go.”After leaving Wastebusters and doing some contract work here and there, Sophie and Mal went to Nepal for the best part of a year (2015), where Sophie volunteered for Karma Flights, a small NGO which raises money through the paragliding world to fund girls’ education. "It was a great life,” she said.One day they were having coffee with friends in Kathmandu when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck. They ran outside and huddled together, watching the buildings weaving like trees in the wind. "It was terrifying,” Sophie said.Within two days Karma Flights had taken trucks filled with supplies to the epicentre - they were the first group on the ground. Sophie and Mal started their own disaster relief programme, working with Sir Ed Hillary’s granddaughter Amelia Hillary to get aid to badly hit areas. Sophie described it as "a very intense three weeks”, with no sleep, amid constant aftershocks. She and Mal opened a Givealittle page, and through their contacts ("it was probably more Mal than me,” Sophie said) raised $120,000 for the relief efforts.Sophie then went on to work for the UN for two months, working 12 hour days "doing logistics” for the remote area operation getting aid, meals, and people to where it was most needed. She loved it: "The work was really interesting and they were amazing people.”Sophie doesn’t like to do the same thing twice, so on her return to Wanaka a role with LINK Upper Clutha beckoned, doing lots of research, event management and community engagement. But when the government changed last year she was drawn back to Wastebusters."I felt the context had changed around waste with the new government. I was like ‘this is our moment, this is our time to be in this space’. We’ve got a Green Party Minister for the Environment [Eugenie Sage], and she’s saying that waste is a problem. And that is something we have not heard for a long time.”"I feel like the crisis around recycling is such a big opportunity to focus on reduction of waste. And you can feel it - people are talking about it.”Sophie’s project work with Wastebusters included the Waste Free Fair, which took place earlier this month. It had "energy and excitement”, Sophie said, and people were keen to learn. Plastic Free Wanaka is still committed to its ambitious goal of Wanaka becoming plastic bag free by 2019. "We’re about to find out how far away we are,” Sophie said: the group’s next step is to compile a list of local plastic bag free retailers.Meanwhile, she lives simply (but eats "really well”) and is modest about her "not very hardcore” outdoor activities: climbing, trail riding, bike packing and touring, tramping, and skiing."I kind of dabble in things. My Melbourne friends think I’m super adventurous, but in Wanaka - I’m at the back of the pack.”Sophie said she’s always avoided the term ‘activist’. "I never felt like it fitted me.” But she was inspired by the advice of climate change activist Bill McKibbens (who visited Wanaka in 2009) to do what you can do; work actively in your community; change your work to align with your values; and lobby."Basically, be an activist,” Sophie said. "I think I’m owning it a bit more now.”

Monique Kelly has always liked a busy life, and this week surely proves it: the nationwide sustainability network she co-founded was launched, and she leaves today (Sunday September 2) for Europe to display the award-winning and innovative chair she has designed with her husband Alex Guichard.There’s a lot more to Monique than design talent and a passion for sustainability: she’s a lawyer who consults for the United Nations (UN) and has an unusual perspective on sustainability - its foundation in international rights.Monique and Arna Craig (the brand development manager for Monique and Alex’s business Revology, and the founder of Feverpitch) co-founded ONE New Zealand, which launched in Wanaka on Tuesday evening. ONE is a sustainability framework based on the UN’s sustainable development goals, which Monique hopes can be used by other communities to monitor progress on sustainability and provide information and resources to everyday Kiwis wanting to be more sustainable at home and in business. ONE will also host a sustainability festival in this district in October.The mission of ONE is to accelerate the understanding that we are one interconnected, diverse economy, community and environment. "If we understand the simple idea that our planet is one system, we can start finding some really innovative ways to make the whole thrive,” Monique says.Her interest in the issue goes back to her legal studies at Otago University, where papers on international law and human rights piqued her interest. “I’ve always been interested in international law, and a lot of it has to do with rights. I didn’t want to get into corporate law, I really felt this was a space where I was comfortable.”Monique finished her studies in Auckland (after taking a year out to ski in Canada before “knuckling down”) then moved to France for a year - but after meeting “this lovely man” Alex, stayed for 14 years. The couple lived near Geneva; Alex worked in the composite industry and Monique secured a job as an intern on the legal team of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), under the UN umbrella. That was 2001, and she continues to consult for the organisation.“The ILO was the first articulation of human rights (in this case focused on workers) on a global level. It’s one of the UN organisations that actually has some teeth - they’re not sharp, but they are there,” Monique says. While in France, the couple had two children (Romy, now 13, and Carter, 11), and enjoyed their shared interest in design.Monique, a Southlander from generations of farming stock, grew up creating: she made her own clothes and created art from a young age. If she hadn’t chosen to study law she would have studied design. (She financed some of her studies by selling her original oil paintings).In Europe she saw many humble bistro chairs, an Austrian invention of 1835. The inventor patented a “totally innovative” way of bending the wood with steam and sold the chairs as kitsets. Monique and Alex wanted to do the same thing with a new material - shaping and moulding it into “something gorgeous”. The result is the Revology chair, a twist on the classic bistro design, made with flax fibre, bio-resin and brass.“It’s a marriage between Alex’s and my interests, values and expertise,” Monique said. “I’m so proud of what we’ve done.”The chair is just their first planned product (in design, Monique says, a chair is one of the hardest things to get right, and they can quickly become collector’s items).“It’s a way of showing sustainability can be not only good for the planet, but also beautiful.” And while the chair in itself is not going to solve any problems, Monique says, it is “pushing problems to be solved”, such as innovative ways to use natural fibres and the technology to support it.“We know that we have to think about materials differently. We know we’ve got to go away from fossil fuels and we need to find something else to replace them - because we don’t want to go backwards, we want to go forwards.”The next product, which Alex is already working on, is a bike. This will solve problems, Monique believes: A beautiful bike made from flax, light enough to be carried up stairs into urban apartments; enabling lighter e-bikes to attract wider use.The couple’s business, Revology, was set up in 2014, the year they moved to Wanaka to be close to Monique’s parents and give their children a different life to the one they had in France. Research and development of their chair has been a necessarily slow process, but today Monique and Alex leave for Paris Design Week, where they will have a pop-up store and gallery. Then they will travel to London for the London Design Junction, a similar display. They are planning a limited edition of 1000 chairs, and this trip is to attract orders. Production starts next month. But despite the demands of the business, Monique “keeps coming back to sustainability” - hence the development of ONE New Zealand.Monique believes the UN’s sustainable development goals are the first step towards the adoption of environmental rights, the logical evolution from the adoption of economic rights for workers post World War I by the ILO followed by human rights adopted by the UN post World War II.“It’s an interesting evolution with a crisis at each time - now it’s a climate crisis, but it’s a catalyst for change that’s much more holistic.”Monique is watching with interest international cases brought by communities against governments, such as young people taking a case to the USA federal court arguing the government isn’t acting on climate change, therefore infringing their human rights. “We’re going beyond human rights to biosphere rights. We have rights, but the other species on this planet which can’t speak also have a right to exist. It’s recognising we’re part of this system - not just stewards.”Developing a nationwide sustainability framework and an innovative global business from Wanaka is made possible by the “greater freedom and reach” offered by the internet, Monique says. But Wanaka remains a place where Monique and her family are “grounded”. “Life is so much simpler, easier and healthier here than in France” she says. “When you’ve got a really busy business life; the support of my parents, and knowing my children are happy and independent is so important.”PHOTOS: Supplied

Francesca Voza moved to Wanaka with a working holiday visa and $600 in her pocket. She’s now a renowned food entrepreneur, with 11 eateries and counting. If you’ve lost track of the number of businesses that have come about since the Francesca’s food truck first parked up in Wanaka, you’re not alone. Francesca has barely taken a breath since she first built the food truck as a way to stay in Wanaka after moving here for an OE with her husband. Her most recently-opened business, the Prince Albert English-style pub in Albert Town, was opened by Francesca and business partner James Stapley last week. Their first cookbook, published by Penguin, is due out in October. Another restaurant and a fish and chip shop in Albert Town have added nightlife to the Wanaka fringe suburb, while further afield eateries in Christchurch, Dunedin and Timaru are adding to the foodie destinations in the South Island. The Wanaka App spoke to Francesca about her love of food, how her early life prepared her for a career in the restaurant business, and how she keeps it all together. Francesca was born and raised in England, with trips to visit her Dad’s family in Italy influencing her eponymous food style. Her parents had Italian restaurants and Francesca started working in them at a seriously young age. “I started working for them at six and I managed my first restaurant at 14,” Francesca said. There were no excuses, Francesca said, and she was doing all aspects of restaurant work before she had even finished school. Members of her Dad’s family that still live in Italy - where she and James Stapley went to write their first cookbook - run restaurants and hotels (one even has a buffalo farm where she learned to make fresh mozzarella) to this day. Absorbing all that knowledge from a young age undoubtedly helped Francesca get to where she is now; although the origins of her food business were still fairly random and the result of two things. The first, Francesca and her husband (also called James) wanted to find a way to stay in Wanaka; the second evolved from a frustrated comment by her husband.“James [Stapley] and I used to work together and we would always say to each other ‘what would you serve if you had an Italian restaurant?’ and ‘how would you do this if you had your own restaurant’. Eventually my husband just said ‘would you guys just hurry up and start your own food business?’.The growth of James and Francesca’s restaurants has surprised her as much as others, and managing so much at the same time is an ongoing juggling act. “My big thing is to answer every question as it comes through. I try to get everything in a day that needs to be done. If staff need something, as soon as it happens, I react. But I still surprise myself most days.” Putting out consistently great food across multiple venues in different parts of the country is another test - and one Francesca puts down to having great staff. “Good management is key,” she said. “My head chef at Francesca’s Italian Kitchen is the first person I ever hired. We try to have good retention.”Good management is something that allowed James and Francesca to take off to Italy a little over a  year ago to write their cookbook. They continued to work while away, but remote work and opposing time zones meant emails weren’t coming in while Francesca was working. This allowed the pair to spend more time on the book, discovering and refining recipes. Her favourite recipe from the book, “Fritto Misto”, is something she discovered in Italy and ended up eating daily - together with mozzarella cheese. “We hiked in Italy in Cinque Terre and would buy this all the time. It’s made with fresh octopus and squid lightly fried and served in a cone. It’s so amazing.”The cookbook also has all the Francesca’s Italian Kitchen favourites, from polenta fries to tiramisu, and lots and lots of pizza. “We wanted it to be homely, approachable and rustic,” Francesca said. “We’ve tried to keep it an approachable and affordable cookbook for any kitchen skill level. There’s something for everyone.”The pair had intended to self publish until Chris “Lumpy” Lumsden from Wanaka Paper Plus brought the team from Penguin Books into Francesca’s for an evening. “They had such a nice night they decided to publish us. We would never have gotten that deal without Lumpy.” The book’s photography features Wanaka heavily, an intentional choice by Francesca and James. “We didn’t want it to be all about Italy. Francesca’s began in Wanaka so it was important to showcase it. We don’t want it to just be a cookbook, it’s almost like a memory of Wanaka too.”Francesca is insistent there aren’t any more eateries in the works right now, but will “never say never” for more in the future. She hopes to eventually work a little less, but accepts that a seven-day week is a part of doing what she does - for now at least. “We [she and her husband] used to go hiking every day when we first moved to Wanaka, and go on a lot of overnight hikes. I don’t get a heap of time to get out and about now,” she said. Working on the food truck in summer does offer its perks though, like the opportunity to travel all over the South Island for events. “It’s still work, but I see a lot of the country that way.”PHOTO: Wanaka App

It has been more than a generation since the Upper Clutha premier rugby team won the coveted Central Otago premier league championship. In 2009 the Rams came close, making it to the finals; but the last time the team won was in 1979.The Upper Clutha Rams has played an extraordinary season of rugby this year and made it through to the finals locking horns with the Cromwell Goats. The Wanaka App sat down with the Rams coach Paul Glynn a few days before the weekend’s brilliant final (Saturday, July 28).Like many New Zealand rugby coaches, Paul started out as a junior rugby player rising through the grades and moving into the player-coach role at grass roots level.A loose forward, Paul continued to play and coach in Southland regional competition (especially around Waikaka) for more than 10 years, including two fun years coaching at Clinton, until injury forced him to reassess his options. He moved to Wanaka in 2008 for a job opportunity but only stayed for four years. His return to Wanaka in 2015 to manage a farm near Luggate turned out to be beneficial for the Upper Clutha Rugby Club as he took over as head coach of the Rams. What he encountered when he arrived at the club was a team without cohesion. “It wasn’t that it was bad, it was misdirected and the team wasn’t pulling together,” Paul said. It’s been a struggle for the club to truly get in behind their team, he said. There have been some strong personalities with strong opinions and “I’ve had to stand on some toes,” he said.“Some people have the mentality that they like to see others fail and that’s sad. I’m fairly astute, and if I hear anything like that I stomp it out pretty quickly. “I like to call it ‘weeding the garden’. When I came to this team three years ago I had to weed this garden fairly severely. The culture had to be changed; and that’s what we’ve done and now we’re reaping the rewards.”“Now I’ve got a core base of 35 guys. There’ll only be 22 selected, so potentially there will be 13 very disappointed guys but they are still here, week-in week-out, because they’re all part of the team.Finals week, Paul expects to work 25-30 hours but normally he’d put in 12-18 hours each week - and it’s completely voluntary. “I wouldn’t do it any other way,” he said.“The reward is not just us being top of the table with a win on Saturday. Coaches can get hung up on the win. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win and I’d do anything for the boys to win but there’s more to rugby than winning,” Paul said. “It’s about community, especially in this town. The team can become the community hub; a place where young guys can go and be a part of a group and have some fun.”That’s why he coaches - it’s the involvement with young guys growing up and a chance to shape and develop them. “There’s a lot of kids who leave school at 17 or 18 and they don’t know what they want to do; some still don’t even know when they’re 28 or 29 - they’re still acting like kids. They haven’t got the fundamentals about respect, honesty and discipline. “A lot of them go through struggles and it’s just good for them to have a shoulder to lean on, to get some advice, to give them leadership and direction.”Paul said he was fortunate growing up to have had a strong family base and to be exposed to good coaches from whom he learned. His club also put him through a week-long coaching course in Palmerston North where he learned about what sort of coach he wanted to be.Many coaching clinics are directed at coaching players competing at a high or professional level and there’s no attention put into people’s welfare or the roots of a club, Paul said. “It’s all about performance and the 80 minutes out there instead [of being] about these kids growing into good men, good responsible adults, to be doing the right things on and off the paddock.”He said his team knows he has zero tolerance for drugs. “It’s banned 100 percent. Some of the parents think it’s acceptable but it’s not in any shape or form.” Drinking, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be a bad thing as long as it’s managed, he said. “We have a culture where pies and beer go hand-in-hand with rugby and young guys will try to push the boundaries but that’s where the clubs have got to step up and manage it responsibly.”When asked if he thinks he was a better as a player or a coach he laughs and suggests “it depends on who you ask”. “Some people might be good rugby players but it doesn’t mean they’ll be a good coach,” he said. “Coaching is more than just coming out and telling a player how to play or what game plan to use. It’s almost 80 percent off the paddock now. It’s about managing guys and making sure people are in the right headspace - and that’s the hard bit as every individual is different.”He admits his coaching style has changed hugely since his early days and that’s largely been driven by the current young men he’s coaching. “Where I was brought up [in Tuatapere] you got in the team, you said nothing, you worked hard, and you earned your right.“Here those basics still apply to some degree and you can’t achieve anything without doing hard work. I still believe the team that works the hardest will get there - and these boys have worked hard.“But these boys have softened me up a lot. I used to rule with an iron paw and some of these boys couldn’t handle the pressure. So I’ve changed a lot. I can still be fairly grumpy, and if I feel that people aren’t being honest with themselves I will bark-up.”He also said he used to like to control everything but he’s learned to rely on a few support people. “I’ve learned to put good people around me; people that are better than me in certain aspects. It means I can focus on the bits I’m strong at.”He singles out the team’s manager Robert ‘Wiener’ Nolan - “his work rate is excellent”; and previous club coach Paul Cosgrove - “he’s my springboard for bouncing ideas off”; and former All Black Isaac Ross (who’s currently playing in Japan) - “was tremendously influential at the beginning of the season”. As soon as rugby season is over, though, Paul will be off fishing. “I could spend every living minute fishing. I love the independence of it.”He said he chose to move to Wanaka from Southland because he wanted to be up in the mountains and rivers. “That’s where my heart is; it’s what I truly love - and I got sick of wearing gumboots; I need some sun.” But this past week Paul wasn’t looking any further ahead than the finals on Saturday. “We’ve got a team that’s capable; I’ve got full belief they can do it and I’m confident going in. If we get our focus right, our process correct, the right result will happen. The boys will be disappointed if they don’t win but it’s not the be-all and end-all. If they’ve done the best they can and they don’t win, so be it. There’s no regrets.” And in Saturday’s magnificent Wanaka winter sunshine the Rams were victorious: 27-8.PHOTOS: Wanaka App

She’s lived in Wanaka for almost 24 years and in that time has established three businesses, one of which, Chapter 5, still continues. She’s witnessed the growth of Wanaka first-hand not only as a resident but also from a commercial perspective and still chooses to call Wanaka home.Claudia MacAulay has lived on Mt Alpha’s foothills since the early nineties when she and her husband, Ron, and two boys, Shayne and Dan, relocated from the Waikato. The boys attended Wanaka Primary and Mt Aspiring College, while Ron became one of Air New Zealand’s first long-distance commuter pilots, travelling from Queenstown to Auckland to go to work.Purchasing 90 acres of rural Wanaka to establish a private airstrip, hangar and the homestead was designed to be part of Claudia’s first business in Wanaka. The concept was to create a unique "Sky Lodge” - a place where like-minded people from the flying community could fly in for short stays while Claudia provided dinner-bed-and-breakfast."The intent was "Air BandB” - land your aeroplane and stay the night; it would have been amazing but the council put the squash on that and made it all too hard to get consent,” Claudia said. Having built the house with six bedrooms and five bathrooms, Claudia still ran a bed-and-breakfast in the traditional sense, juggling it simultaneously with her second Wanaka business, Coco’s Hair Salon.For Claudia, Coco’s was a natural extension of what she had been doing since she was a teenager. At 16, she left school for a hairdressing apprenticeship and by 20 she owned her first salon. She operated two salons in Auckland, married Ron, travelled, and gave birth to her sons before relocating to Wanaka. "We moved from Waikato to Wanaka,” she said, "So I’m not really a JAFA.”At the time she established Coco’s on Brownston Street, Wanaka’s resident population was fewer than 2000 people. Only the streets in the centre of town were sealed and while New Year’s was relatively busy with a massive influx of holidaying Kiwis, the shoulder seasons stretched interminably. "I hated the quiet times when you used to be able to fire a rifle down Helwick Street…”Coco’s built a loyal clientele and Claudia operated the salon until a repetitive shoulder injury, caused by decades of hairdressing, forced her to put down her scissors. "I never understood why people refer to it as a glamourous vocation,” she said, "I never saw it that way in 36 years as a hairdresser. It’s bloody hard work.”"Stuffed legs, shoulders and backs are common with hairdressers,” she said. She sold the salon as a going concern but still keeps her hand in. "I still love it, still do it a little bit,” she said. "But making people feel good about themselves, that was the best part, that’s why I did it for so long - that and it satisfied the artist in me .”Claudia at her retail store, Chapter 5, in Pembroke Mall. PHOTO: Wanaka AppThat artistic sensibility also led her down a new path to establishing her fifth business. One of the longest running businesses in Wanaka still operated by its original owner, Chapter 5, a retail clothing store in the heart of Wanaka’s Mall, was opened 14 years ago.Her vibrant store assaults the senses with colour and that is partially why she’s attracted to being a clothing retailer. "It’s the colour, the style, the textures, the fabrics and, once again, it’s the satisfaction of making people feel good about themselves.”"When we had the idea of the shop I said to Ron I want a point of difference that no other shop has in New Zealand.” Kacper (pronounced like the ghost) shoes became that touchstone. They went to a shoe trade fair in Melbourne and were blown away on first sight by the colourful Polish brand of men’s and women’s shoes on display.Their first trip to Poland in 2004 was an eye-opener - for the Polish manufacturers. "They were rapt,” Claudia said. "They couldn’t believe their shoes were selling in New Zealand, let alone a small alpine town so far away.” Now you can find Kacpers in Australia, she said, but Wanaka was the first downunder market for the Polish brand and Claudia is still the only New Zealand importer. "They’re still pretty stoked about it.”At the time, being new to the retail business, it was a gutsy move. "You don’t know it’s going to work out but sometimes you’ve got to take a gamble. And it worked. Fourteen years later they’re still selling like hotcakes.”Chapter 5 is also known for its massive Easter Sunday sale which has become something of an institution. Outside tables in the mall are filled with excess stock selling at low prices. Claudia started the Easter sale in the second year when she had some extra stock.Having witnessed the feeding frenzy of shoppers looking for bargains around the tables, she said "It’s bloody awful, but it works. Even my accountant says it’s much better moving the stock on than having it sitting in a box at home.”"People call us from all over saying they’re coming to Wanaka for Easter, asking will the sale be on again? And if we don’t do it one Easter Sunday - I think we’ll be in trouble.”Having experienced almost a quarter century of growth in Wanaka, Claudia’s willing to share her opinions on that growth. "It’s good and bad. The infrastructure is improving and I like it when there’s more people around,” she said.And while Claudia said she doesn’t have a problem with more visitors per se, she admits to a low tolerance of overseas visitors who disrespect our environment and make no effort to adapt to the New Zealand culture. "We’re a relaxed, considerate culture; we don’t barge in front of people and we’re not generally impolite and arrogant as some of the foreigners who come here. That’s my experience anyway.”When she gets a chance to relax, her garden or her art beckon. "Gardening and painting are my space-out times.”Claudia has been "arty-farty” for a long as she can remember. Acrylic paint is her favoured medium and she paints for her pleasure, as well as on commission, and she’s exhibited her paintings and sold several in auctions and fundraisers.She also confesses to having "a wee bit of a green thumb” as her new "edible garden” attests with lettuces still growing in outdoor pottagers during June, and nothing protecting them but some good mulch and peastraw. "I love growing something that you harvest and eat and share with others. There’s something really nice and satisfying about it.”"I’ll probably stay here for the next...who knows? Being an old age pensioner now I’m allowed to paint, and do my garden, and see my grandchildren a bit more.”Aviation is the reason Claudia and her family moved to Wanaka. While she has learned to fly and still enjoys going on flying adventures with the family, she doesn’t share the same passion for flying as the "three men in her life” (all commercial pilots).Wanaka provides easy access to a naturally beautiful environment, she said. "Being able to fly into the bush for a day’s outing, landing in a riverbed…. I realise we’re very fortunate and I hope it doesn’t change. I love it here because my family calls it home and they love coming home.”