The World Economic Forum last year published a report stating more than 50 per cent of the globe’s workers were going to need some form of re-training in the next three years. “That’s a massive number,” says Wanaka local Mark Verbiest, one of New Zealand’s most experienced company directors and a speaker at the Festival of Colour’s 2019 Aspiring Conversation: ‘Achieving Peak Performance in the 2020s’.“In the shorter term the forum’s report means we’ve got to get cracking with re-training programmes,” Mark says. “But in the longer term we’ve got to teach young people how to learn and re-learn. Millennials will probably have to change roles several times in their lifetime so we need to teach them how to do that. That’s got to be a foundation capability.”Mark, a fit, youthful-looking 60-year-old, has got to be one of the best people to talk to about this topic. Throughout a stellar legal and business career he has taken opportunities and kept changing and growing – and what’s more, he’s not afraid of hard work.“My parents were Dutch immigrants to New Zealand in the 50s,” he laughs. “I understand Dutch people and their directness. And I understand hard work.”After getting an LLB at Victoria University, Mark became a partner in a law firm by the age of 28 and was still with it when it merged to become Wellington’s highly regarded Simpson Grierson. His legal career was broad. He was leading work for Brierleys, BP, NZ Treasury and the Rugby Union - in the latter case travelling to the US as part of the team to negotiate the Adidas sponsorship.Then in 2000 Telecom’s CEO Theresa Gattung (now a close friend) shoulder-tapped Mark to join the company as group general counsel. It was a new challenge and he relished it.“We had a very diverse team: Men and women, and there was an obvious power in that.”He recalls some fierce debates in Telecom senior exec meetings. “But Theresa always brought us together to go in a shared direction. And then once direction was set, we didn’t waiver or re-litigate.” Mark says one of Gattung’s great skills was choosing the right people. “And if they weren’t right, in the words of Jim Collins who wrote Good to Great, she got them off the bus really quickly. I’ve learnt the hard way,” he adds. “When you try, for all sorts of emotional reasons, to give people more time, you take longer to make decisions that are pretty obvious and you always end up wishing you’d dealt with it quickly right at the start.”Gattung gave Mark lots of opportunity to expand his skills. Aside from legal responsibility there was regulatory and public affairs work, internal audit and risk. “I had responsibility for these corporate teams, and then the comms team. Theresa put me in charge of our investment in Southern Cross Cables (our main internet cable). I was a director, and then chairman of the joint venture company that ran that.” There was also executive responsibility to deliver profits from Telecom’s international arm and the Yellow Pages business.After 2007, when Telecom was operationally separated into two following government initiatives, Mark was ready to take a step back. But his career continued to grow and change. In 2010 he became chair of Transpower and joined the board of Freightways Limited (which he now chairs), along with a couple of other companies. Then in 2011 he was offered the chairmanship of Spark and a chance to continue his work in New Zealand’s telecommunications industry.“The role of chairman involves the liaison between the board and CEO,” he says. “You’ve got to earn people’s trust, have a high degree of openness and you have got to be direct in a good way.”In 2013 Mark joined the board of ANZ Bank Limited and there have been many other roles as well - too many to mention here. “I need stimulation and I need new challenges,” Mark says of his work raison d’etre. “I don’t like being bored. I know that if something starts to look the same, within myself I’ll start to cruise. In governance roles you can’t do that.” In 2017 he stepped down from Spark and later this year he will become chairman of the Meridian Energy Board, having joined the board last year. “You look at a company like Meridian. It’s a mature company but its still got room to grow. The challenges are around technology change and climate change. That’s what motivates me. We have a heap of things we need to do in the next ten years. I like growing things,” he concludes.Today Mark has a flexible working life. If he is not traveling, there are tasks to do – emails, phone calls - from his home with its panoramic views across the lake. But he also makes time to keep his life in balance. The day the Wanaka App visited he was fresh back from a morning bike ride with his wife Sally, and as soon as our interview was finished he was off to a Pilates session.Mark won the Wanaka Ignite Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Outstanding Individual Award and he is very conscious of supporting the place he first fell in love with when he came skiing here as a university student in 1978. “Treble Cone was just open and the T-Bars were going.”Today Mark and Sally live here permanently and Mark lends a hand to many local groups including Southern Lakes Festival Trust (Festival of Colour); more recently the Southern Alpine Rescue Trust (SARs); as well as giving the odd bit of assistance to new start-ups based in Wanaka.He is looking forward to the Aspiring Conversation panel and the chance to talk in his local community on a subject very close to his heart.“I think people underestimate how quickly things are going to change and how quickly things are accelerating. In my own profession there will be a lot less lawyers going forward because of automation and artificial Intelligence. Big chunks of legal work can be done by robots or machines, so the business model will change. “Lots of people hate change, but we shouldn’t be scared by it. We need to think how to navigate it to ensure sustainability (the research does suggest net job growth). Sustainability should be at the forefront in every sense: social, environmental, financial.“From an economic impetus point of view New Zealand needs to up its economic productivity. Its labour productivity. We’re below the OECD average. “In order to do that automation can help a lot but at the same time the economy will suffer if we leave people behind.” The ‘Achieving Peak Performance in the 2020s’ Aspiring Conversation will take place on Saturday April 6, 9am in the Pacific Crystal Palace.PHOTOS: Supplied

Laura Williamson, the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour’s general manager, could be the textbook definition of a Renaissance woman: talented, educated, and knowledgeable in many different fields. She’s arty, wordy, and sporty: in fact her only failing, according to her son Liam, is “she’s not good at being tall”.In 2017, the role of Festival of Colour general manager was up for grabs after Lindsey Schofield (the festival’s first GM) resigned. Laura had attended six festivals, every Aspiring Conversations weekend, performed at the festival (she is the co-writer, along with composer Angela Mote, of the Blue Moments song and spoken word cycle which premiered to a sold out crowd at the 2017 festival), and worked as the festival’s schools’ coordinator.Festival director Philip Tremewan, when announcing she had secured the job, summed it up well: “Laura brings great energy, warmth, intelligence and organisational skills to this demanding role.” It was just months out from the 2018 Aspiring Conversations weekend, which went on to experience unprecedented demand for tickets.Born in Quebec City, Canada, Laura was raised in Vancouver where her father was a criminal defence lawyer and her mother (also a lawyer) was an editor. Laura’s father was eventually a supreme court judge and her mother went on to teach judges how to write clearly.Laura wrote from childhood; she had poems published in the newspaper when she was at primary school, and had her first poem published in an anthology during her last year at high school.Laura with tuatara in Invercargill, while doing a travel story for Kia OraLaura also describes herself as “the biggest music nerd”: growing up, she negotiated a weekly allowance equivalent to the cost of an album. She wrote music and film reviews while studying at McGill University (she holds a BA (Honours) from McGill University, and an MA in History from the University of Toronto), and reviewed for the Groove Guide after she moved to New Zealand. Music writing remains her favourite freelance work. “It’s the most interesting challenge, to try to describe music with words.” Unfortunately, except for poetry, it’s also the least lucrative, she says.Growing with a “mountain right in the middle of the city”, Laura not only became a skilled skier but a coach and instructor for Olympic track youngsters in ski racing (both in the US and New Zealand). She is an ISIA certified alpine ski instructor and coach.Laura first visited New Zealand when she was nine (and has a clear visual memory of the confluence of the Clutha and Kawarau Rivers). New Zealand was a “beautiful, warm, happy place” she wanted to get back to, and she eventually did in 1997, at the age of 27.After spending a few winters instructing at Mt Hutt, Laura “wanted somewhere better to live year-round than Methven” and chose Wanaka. She and her then-partner moved here in 1999, a week after the big flood. The high water mark was still visible on New World’s walls.Laura’s first job was receptionist at Wanaka Medical Centre (“a great way to meet everyone in town”), working the late shift and weekends to make time for skiing at Treble Cone. After a few years she instructed at Cardrona, spending her summers at Park City Resort in Salt Lake City.Meanwhile she was writing “a little bit”; op-ed pieces for the Otago Daily Times (ODT), and a film column for the Wanaka Sun called ‘The Flick Chick’. The column morphed into a regular job at the Sun, in the days when Dave Smith was editor and the three or so employees did everything, including laying out the paper. Laura’s graphic design skills (yes, more skills) were honed on the job.Taking a break from work to have her son, Laura made a pact with herself to get something published, and achieved it with a poem about Mt Roy, which was published in the ODT. She quotes a line: “There’s a sharp line between ridge and sky, life and death, you and I.”Laura biking the Timber Trail on the North Island.After Liam was born Laura wanted a job she could enjoy and which would work with having a baby; she chose teaching and quickly and efficiently - the way she tackles everything - earned a post graduate diploma in teaching from Victoria University and secured a job at Mount Aspiring College, where she worked for ten years, splitting her time there with freelance writing.She packed a lot of work into that spare time: launching and managing ON Magazine with Annabel Wilson and Bridget Hall, editing mountain bike magazine Spoke (cycling is another of Laura’s sporting skills and passions - she has also written a book about cycling), writing for the ODT, North and South magazine, Kia Ora (Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine), The Dominion Post, The Press, The Southland Times, The Melbourne Age, Theatreview, Groove Guide, Interface Magazine, Wet Ink Magazine, Mountain Biking Australia and New Zealand Ski and Snow. She also ghost wrote other people’s memoirs as a private service, and wrote part time for the Wanaka App from its launch until December 2017.Read Laura’s Wanaka App profile of The last miner: Wattie Thompson ‘Prolific’ barely covers it, but Laura says the output was partly from financial necessity. “I’ve always needed to write a certain amount to supplement my income in order to live here.” She can quickly churn out work for magazines, but says; “The creative stuff is just an itch I need to scratch.”Just over a year after taking on the Festival of Colour general manager role, Laura is relishing the challenges of running the festival, which she says “makes Wanaka such a special place”.“It’s an endlessly changing job. You do accounting, sound engineering, writing, the logistics of building sites, communications with performers, staff, patrons, and the public.”Another plus is seeing the process evolve from an idea in Philip Tremewan’s head to a full and final programme, she says. There’s also plenty of hard graft: Laura spent four months filling out funding applications. “Getting the money together to make it happen is a huge job.” And there’s always the need to “prepare for the unexpected to happen, because it totally will”.That creative itch still needs to be scratched though, and Laura has continued to write and perform, including appearing in Tall Tales & True last August, and maintaining her creative alliance with friends and fellow poets Annabel Wilson and Liz Breslin. ‘At the drop of a hat’ is their latest collaboration: audience members drop words into a hat, which are drawn onstage by the three performers - who must then perform poems related to the word. Laura says the concept is about making things more interesting, challenging themselves, and - importantly - engaging people with poetry to “share it as widely and broadly as possible”.She still finds the time to keep her hand in with one of the most sought-after gigs in freelance writing: travel writing for Kia Ora.Laura lives in Luggate with Liam and a collection of vinyl records dating from the 1980s, but it’s not surprising she doesn’t often go home to just relax.“Luggate is beautiful and peaceful and there’s an amazing community there,” she says. She should know - she’s writing a history of the area for the Luggate Community Association, and says “I have yet to find someone who lives in Luggate who isn’t completely fascinating.”PHOTOS: Supplied

With International Women’s Day being celebrated worldwide this week (officially it was Friday March 8), it seemed appropriate for the Wanaka App to talk to the woman behind next month’s much anticipated local series of public lectures entitled ‘Her Voice’.This isn’t the first event Amy Pearl has held in Wanaka. Some years ago she formed an organisation called The Weaving House - with the mission statement: “Gender equality is a precondition for peace, for the eradication of poverty, for sustainable and equitable development and for the protection of our environment”.Under the auspices of The Weaving House Amy organised Te Whare Pora in 2016 – a convention on gender equality and women’s empowerment, which featured many remarkable speakers including Louise Nicholas (campaigner for the rights victims of sexual violence), and Dame Margaret Sparrow (reproductive rights advocate and author), and comedian and writer Michele A’Court.Next month’s event, Her Voice, has attracted an equally impressive line-up of speakers including Professor Marilyn Waring (author and former MP), Lillian Tahuri (UN Women Aotearoa board member), Professor Juliet Gerrard (the Prime Minister’s chief science advisor) and Traci Houpapa (named by the Listener as one of New Zealand’s top 10 influencers).The Wanaka App started by asking Amy how she managed to persuade these high-powered women to come to Wanaka.“I think the many serious issues at stake persuaded the speakers to come, and they are gifting their time, so it’s a huge privilege to have them here.“I've had the opportunity through advocacy work to develop relationships with most of them or the organisations they represent. I think The Weaving House has a good reputation for upholding important values in the fight for gender equality and on most social issues.”Amy herself became aware of feminist issues as a small child.“I remember the many occasions of not being allowed to play like the boys, so as not to ruin my frock, or scrape my knees, or get too rowdy. Boys would run and climb and find the mud, [and] tears would roll down my face. I understood as a three-year-old there was something inherently unfair about that. Girls being treated differently and confined by specific rules that boys didn't have. But as a toddler you're not thinking feminist theory, you're thinking 'that's unfair'. Girls have a whole life-time of ‘unfair’. It's a man's world.“If I had a lightning bolt moment, it was when I realised the best way to help bring about change was through feminism. I found if I focused on looking at the world through a gender lens, every issue was a feminist issue. I slid into my new vehicle and joined the feminist movement.”Amy is an unashamedly self-taught feminist.“I've not done a lot of study through the usual channels, I could never sit still as a youth so classrooms never suited me and I've no qualification to my name. But I wholeheartedly love and find great joy in learning.“In my work for The Weaving House it's easy to read up to 30 articles a day. There are numerous publications from various women's and human rights groups globally. And I'm ever thankful we're living in an era where there's a lot of literature being produced by women writers who really know their stuff. Being able to access them has left me forever grateful.“For that reason, whenever possible The Weaving House donates feminist literature to our local library, like Barbara Brookes's The History of New Zealand Women or Marilyn Waring's latest book, Still Counting.”Amy’s eclectic education is getting another boost in June when she’s been invited to attend an Advocacy Academy offered by Women Deliver.“Women Deliver is a leading global advocate that champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women.” After the academy, which Amy says will be a “few days of intense study”, she will attend the Women Deliver Global Conference in Canada with about 6000 people.“I'll be meeting women there from all over our world who I know and work with online but have not had the opportunity to meet in person.”So how did Amy come to be living in Wanaka, when all the real feminist action is, arguably, taking place in big cities?“I grew up in a rural community and my love for our natural environment evolved there. Twenty years ago I passed through Wanaka for a few hours at the end of a mountaineering trip, and when I went back I found myself pining for Wānaka. I'd never experienced that physical pull to anything before, it couldn't be ignored. So I moved here, and the rest as we say is herstory.”PHOTO: Supplied

Born and bred Southlander Grant Ruddenklau didn’t get to choose a profession - as the only son of a farming family, it was his destiny to be a farmer. But Grant’s lifelong habit of putting his hand up for community groups has provided a counterpoint to farming, and put him in a strong position to tackle the “urban/rural divide” present in our community.Grant - the new chair of the Upper Clutha A&P Society’s first board - went straight onto the family farm in Dipton after schooling at Waitaki Boys and a year of shepherding in the North Island. But his assertion that he’s only been a sheep and beef farmer doesn’t cover the full picture.“We almost had to leave Dipton to get off all the boards we were on,” Grant says of the family’s decision to move to Wanaka in 2002.“We’ve always put up our hands to be involved - it’s great to be involved,” he said. After moving here, Grant became chair of the Mount Aspiring College Board of Trustees (he’d spent 15 years training boards of trustees for the NZ School Trustees Association); he has been president of the junior rugby club; and he’s on the steering group of community development group LINK Upper Clutha. He also became involved with the Upper Clutha A&P Society (“just helping out”) when he moved here, and five years ago became the society’s junior vice president. Last year he was voted as chair of the society’s brand new board.The A&P Society’s constitutional change made in October last year is significant: a board structure has been formed with five board members (Grant, deputy Jan Allan, Mike Scurr, Doug Stalker, and Chrissy Stevenson - “a good, diverse team”) elected from the society’s membership.“The A&P Show has grown so significantly as an event we needed a structure with governance,” Grant said. “We tended to spend 90 percent of the meeting talking about management.”Former president Alan Kane assisted the process, which saw the 82-year-old committee structure make way for a governance board which will in turn give direction to the “fabulous management team”.From left: Grant and the other Upper Clutha A&P Society board members Jan Allen, Chrissy Stevenson, Mike Scurr and Doug Stalker. PHOTO: Supplied“I think it’s quite exciting,” Grant said. “Our first strategic plan will be prepared this year once the show has concluded.”The organisation has had limited opportunity to plan ahead before, he said, and it will be looking at the society’s original goals and aims, such as promoting and educating about agriculture - “which is probably more relevant now than it was then”.“One of my real passions is the rural/urban divide. I think this is an opportunity to help the rural community bridge the gap,” he said. “We’re one community, and we won’t get to achieve anything unless we work together.”When the Ruddenklaus moved to this district in 2002 the majority of people here had had an association with farming in some way or form, Grant said, but as the township has grown there are fewer and fewer people with experience of farming life - reflecting New Zealand’s urbanisation.“A lot of people have never touched a sheep, never been close to a cow,” Grant said. It’s important because “ignorance breeds contempt”, he believes.“It’s got significantly worse with social media - everyone’s a journalist. You’re fighting that, but the majority of farmers are individualists, who just get on and do what they do.”Related: Celebrating dyslexia: Karen Ruddenklau“One of the biggest issues around here is water. One of the really frustrating things is I don’t think urban people really understand the impact they have on water quality. If more folks were aware of what goes into Roy’s Bay after a rainfall event - down the stormwater drains - I’m sure behaviour would change.”Urban people don’t realise farmers are in the environment every day, and 99 percent of farmers care for the environment, Grant said. A case in point: Grant and Randall Aspinall of Mt Aspiring Station founded the Wanaka Catchment Group 14 months ago. It’s a group of 16 farmers, from a catchment area of 19 farms, who meet regularly to gather information, using Beef and Lamb NZ’s Land and Environment Plan 3 (LEP3).The LEP3 aims to develop standards to monitor quality assurance and the farm environment. The group is working with Chris Arbuckle of the Touchstone Project (a direct action initiative to support those concerned about the Lake Wanaka water catchment).“We did that willingly to understand the impact we’re having. It would be nice if the town people did the same,” Grant said.Grant’s philosophy is that “life is about learning, educating and understanding”. That’s one reason why he’s excited about the A&P Society’s new structure.“We can use the society to educate as well as run an event [the show],” he said. We’ve run the Golden Fleece [an annual exhibition of the best fleeces in New Zealand] - there’s no reason we couldn’t run other day events.”Thinking outside the square could involve a school coordinator working with local schools, and other ideas as part of a “shared vision” with the board, management and members, Grant said.“It’s a blank canvas really.”So while Grant is “kept busy during the day” contract managing the neighbouring Mt Burke Station in the Maungawera Valley where the Ruddenklaus live, he has a lot more on his plate than farming.“I’m probably at the stage of my career, at age 57 after 41 years of farming, where I’ve turned a corner - I’d like to give back and encourage where I can.”

Mylrea Bell probably knows as many people in Wanaka as anyone does. She’s lived and worked in the area for nearly 40 years, had two sons grow up here, and gets to know at least 60 locals every year in her role as tutor of small business and money management courses. Mylrea’s also one of those community people known for their kindness: She can regularly be found baking for someone needing support, or helping out with other people’s children. In short, she’s one of those people who’s a very good friend to have. For all her sociability, Mylrea spends a lot of time alone. While her tutoring takes her out three nights a week the rest of her job is done from her home in the Maungawera Valley.Mylrea’s partner Andy Woods is away a lot, busy with his range of jobs which include being a fixed wing pilot, a jet boat skipper and a professional photographer, and her two sons have left home.But Mylrea’s quite content on their rural lifestyle block, and her work, love for animals and varied interests keep her busy.“I love it in the Maungawera. I like working from home and I’m never bored. I’ve got a cat, and pet hawk which I feed. I love birds of prey.”  In her spare time she likes to learn about Maori art, natural history, the West Coast, and her own family history. Before ending up in Maungawera Valley, Mylrea’s journey - and her curious spirit - took her all over the place, as it did the generations before her. Mylrea was born and bred in Milton; and her ancestors came from the Isle of Man. The name Mylrea was originally a family surname, but now many of her female relatives are called Mylrea. This weekend she is visiting a distant relative from Australia she met online (Diana Banks) who has written a book called “The Mylreas of the Isle of Man”. Mylrea’s own research has recently unearthed some ancestors and their journey to New Zealand. They were her great-great aunt and uncle Elisa and Philip Mylrea, who left the Isle of Man and went to the United States learn the confectionary trade on their way to New Zealand. While in America, Philip and their four-year-old son died of fever. Elisa continued on alone, only to be shipwrecked off the coast of Brazil. She and a small group of other survivors weren’t found for several months, but once she had recovered from the ordeal Elisa carried on to New Zealand where she opened her shop E. Mylrea Confectioner in Nelson. The entrepreneurial spirit has continued down the generations. Our Mylrea studied English at Otago University and then trained as a teacher, lasting just one year in that profession before seeking more adventures.She spent the next seven summers cooking at Pyke Lodge on the Hollyford Track (where her husband-to-be was a jet boat driver), and seven winters working at Treble Cone. Mylrea started in the ticket office, then moved into administration and human resources, eventually becoming the marketing manager. “I wanted to make sure I was doing it right so I did a diploma in business studies by correspondence from Massey while I was working at TC.”After that Mylrea helped establish, and then managed, the Wanaka Work Initiative Centre (1991-2003) which focused on fostering employment opportunities and community and economic development. In 2004 an opportunity came up to teach money management and small business courses. Mylrea felt she had the right skill set so applied for the contract, and that’s what she’s been doing ever since. This year’s courses start later this month, and range from a 20-week certificate in money management to two 36-week courses in small business and project management. “The money management course attracts all sorts, from people who are maxed out on their credit cards to people who have some money and want to invest it. Many New Zealanders are financially illiterate. I wish I had done a course like this when I was 18.”The small business and money management courses are for people wanting to start a small business or those who already have but would like some help. “Wanaka’s a great place to set up a business because it’s got a growing population. I really enjoy the people on the courses. They’re usually very able, they’re sparked up and they have a good sense of humour. They share a lot of information and it builds everyone’s confidence. They’re very practical courses and it’s great watching people build their businesses and being a part of it.” Mylrea’s definitely more than “a part of it”.  Many former students say they wouldn’t have succeeded without her expert tutoring and support.  And it looks like that support will be there for years to come. After 14 years in the job Mylrea says she has no plans to retire any time soon. If you’re interested in taking one of Mylrea’s courses this year, please email [email protected]: Andy Woods

John Darby is one of those locals whom many associate with one activity. He’s one of us because we see him regularly doing his thing - even though we might not know his name.In John’s case, he’s “the grebe man”. The chap who appears to have single-handedly revitalised the local population of grebes. In 2014, a count of grebes on Lake Wanaka revealed a maximum of six breeding pairs, John said. Four years later, another survey discovered 52 birds on Stevensons Arm alone.Grebes, which John describes as “a very elegant and beautiful bird but also very complicated”, are considered a rare and threatened species, found only in small populations in the South Island.Until he moved to Wanaka, John had only ever seen one grebe. “When I came here I heard about a pair of grebes, which had tried to breed at the marina, and I thought wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could get these birds to breed successfully,” he said.Grebes can barely walk so they design and build their nests to float on the water. A recreational whitewater kayaker for many decades, John discovered he could observe the birds more closely from the water and began to encourage the birds to breed by building floating nesting platforms which could rise and fall with the change in lake levels.“I put the first nesting platform out at 9pm at night because I didn’t want anyone to see me towing this pile of what looked like compost behind my kayak, and tied it under the marina. I got up at 6am the next morning and I couldn’t believe it - there were a pair of grebes going absolutely flat slats improving on what I’d done. It’s just worked.”John approaches nesting platforms in the Wanaka marina by kayak. PHOTO: SuppliedIn the six years since, John and fellow grebe supporters have fledged almost 260 chicks in the Wanaka marina area. There are six nesting platforms anchored to the lake bottom and the rest are attached to the marina.The proximity of the nesting platforms to the shore and nearby public walking path in Wanaka also allows locals and visitors “to connect more closely with the lake, to own it, which is so important for the healthy future of the lake”, John said. The subsequent public interest in the grebes on a national and international scale is quite amazing, he said.Since childhood, John has held a fascination with the natural world. Born in England before World War II, John survived “turbulent years” in the church system of orphanages, discovering peace only by running away and exploring the natural history of the English countryside.A failed attempt to emigrate to Australia at 16 led to his sponsored emigration to New Zealand by Lincoln College as a 17-year-old farmhand.John undertook study at Lincoln and went onto work at Ruakura Animal Research Station.It was while he was at Ruakura in 1959 that he and a friend hitch hiked to Wanaka via the newly built West Coast Road.“Wanaka was just a village in those days but I fell in love with it.”John resigned from Ruakura to enrol as a student in Zoology at Canterbury University and was employed as a technician during his holidays. The job morphed into a full time position as a photographer - skills which he then used to support the University’s Antarctic Research Programme, where he carried out the first aerial photo survey of the wildlife of the Ross Dependency.He spent two more summers in the Antarctic before he completed his degree at Otago University.An engineer wishing to help with the grebe breeding programme built a splendid nesting platform which immediately sank. It now resides in John’s garden. PHOTO: Wanaka AppIn 1969, John was appointed scientific officer in Zoology at Otago Museum and two years later became the museum’s assistant director when he started a science based holiday programme for some 400 primary school children. Science workshops were added for secondary school students, and science fairs, and eventually he established the first interactive science centre (Discovery World) in the country.As a former board member of the Otago Peninsula Trust, John was one of the group that negotiated the opening of the Royal Albatross Colony to the public. He is also known for his groundbreaking conservation studies, conducted over more than 20 years, of Otago’s yellow-eyed penguins (“My kids grew up with penguins in the bath”).While based in Dunedin, Wanaka became his family’s preferred playground for skiing and climbing and eventually he settled here permanently in 2004.A former Guardian of Lake Wanaka, John has a passion for the conservation and uniqueness of the natural history of New Zealand and strongly believes in the need for effective and continuing communication to achieve this.He also mentors 15 Wanaka children who are interested in natural history and science, encouraging them to take an active role in the conservation of the grebes.This interaction with the children of the “grebies group” is a privilege, he said. “They’re a pretty amazing bunch actually.” He recognises in this group that, in a way, he is passing on the torch to the next generation.

Tim Pierce has that unmistakable quality of someone who knows what he’s doing with his life. He’s making films. He’s driven, passionate, ambitious, confident and very busy. This is a man going places.Tim grew up in Wanaka, the son of Tim (senior) and Linda Pierce. From a young age he always seemed to have a camera in his hand. This passion for photography expanded to include moving pictures and it soon became obvious that Tim Pierce was one to watch in the filmmaking world.He started his own production company at the age of 18, and five years ago teamed up with old school friend Toby Crawford to form a new company called Two Bearded Men. (And yes they do both have beards.)As Tim is quick to point out, you can’t pigeon hole Two Bearded Men into any one category. “Our business is incredibly diverse within the film production industry. We create commercials, digital content, web series, music videos, virtual reality films, television series and dramas. Along with photography too.“Our diversity is the key to our business and that we love the huge array of work we attract and the challenges it presents. Essentially we’re in the business of story telling and problem solving.” Two Bearded Men (TBM) has an office in Reece Crescent, with three full-time staff and an intern. There’s Tim (general manager/director) and Toby (general manager/executive producer), Claire Dooney (producer/production manager) and intern Oscar Hetherington (another Mt Aspiring College graduate with a passion for filmmaking).Depending on the size of projects, TBM employs up to 40 contractors for different jobs, including actors, production/film crew, and post production teams around New Zealand. “We’re incredibly lucky to be able to tap into such a great crew of specialist contractors in our industry, which means we can have a small team in house, and then scale up for large commercial jobs. There’s really no job too big or too small”.Right now the company’s main business is digital content and commercials. For Tim it’s always about telling stories. Whether he’s making documentaries or commercials it’s about real people. “We’ve got a reputation for making commercials that don’t feel like commercials. They are authentic and real. I started off making documentaries and it’s storytelling that I love. “With digital content we are making advertising for any screens [not just television] so there’s a lot of openings for original ideas.” Tim recently made the ‘Meanwhile in New Zealand’ series for Air New Zealand and found the company great to work with. “Their concepts always give us us creative freedom to be weird or quirky or wonderful. It was amazing to have briefs like this for a brand of that size.”Tim is proud to have built up a film production company which is based in Wanaka. However he is about to move to Auckland, “for a couple of months anyway. We’ve got a lot of clients up there.” Locally Tim is probably still best known his documentary ‘Winter of Wells’ and for the character portraits he made for Lake Wanaka Tourism some years ago. These were a series of short films starting local identities from fishing guide Harry Urquhart to musician Martine Harding. Like many filmmakers, Tim has had no formal training. “I was a digital kid and a ‘google’ student and I’ve learnt by doing,” he says.What kind of films Tim will be making in 10 years time is anyone’s guess. He certainly doesn’t know. But one thing does seem certain - he’ll still be making films. For more information see twobeardedmen.com.PHOTO: Supplied

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