Andy VauseMADDY HARKERWanaka’s Andy Vause and two friends are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a 2000km journey across India by rickshaw.The journey is made more hair-raising by the fact that it has to be completed in just over two weeks, and Andy’s description of their vehicle as a "7-horsepower glorified lawnmower”."The distance is about 200km per day,” Andy said. "We worked that out at 20km per hour, we’re talking about something like 12 hours a day on the rickshaw.”Andy, along with Matty Lovell (Christchurch) and Jalen MacLeod (Canada) will travel from Jaisalmer in India’s north to Cochin in the far south.The trio will traverse diverse topography along the way. "The top of India is very hot desert, and the bottom is a rainy area, so it’s going to be a mixed bag,” Andy said.The Rickshaw Run will begin in Jaisalmer and end in Cochin.The two rules of the journey, organised three times a year and named The Rickshaw Run, are: you can’t drive at nighttime; and you have to get to the finish line with your rickshaw by January 15."The only certainties are that you will get lost, you will get stuck and you will break down,” the Rickshaw Run website states, comfortingly.If you’re wondering what has possessed these three men to take on this epic, you might be surprised to hear it’s not a joyride, or crisis-induced: it’s to raise money for charity.And raise money they have. The trio have surpassed their ambitious $50,000 goal by $25,000 already.The funds will be divided equally between the Cricket Live Foundation (India) and The Inspire Foundation (New Zealand).Andy, who works as a paramedic in Wanaka and also runs Black Peak Media, came on board after meeting Matty, and being enticed by the adventure."I met Matty earlier this year. Initially [my company] was to be one of the businesses that was to provide media for him. We didn’t know each other from a bar of soap and I started asking questions. ‘How many in a team? We’re looking for a third. What if I came on board and filmed the adventure? Yeah.’”Andy was also inspired by Matty’s commitment to raise money for charity along the way (it was one of two things left on his bucket list, and he thought it was time to tick it off)."I come from a background of volunteering and providing services to charity and our values were aligned,” Andy said.The two charities were chosen for their commitment to helping people from all parts of life."Some of the young people the Inspire Foundation is supporting here in New Zealand are just amazing. These are our world leaders they are supporting. That’s one end of the spectrum and the Cricket Foundation is the other end of the spectrum.”The objective of the Cricket Foundation, founded by kiwi Alex Reese, is to bring cricket to the children of Sri Lanka and India who currently live in underprivileged environments with limited opportunities."Using cricket as a medium, the foundation is changing people’s attitudes towards school and life,” Andy said.The journey itself is expected to test the three men both physically and mentally. Andy described the team’s rickshaw as a "7-horsepower glorified lawnmower”."It will be a good test of our abilities and our character,” Andy said. "Traffic in India has no rules, so we have to be very careful how we drive. I think the horn is going to become our greatest asset along the way.” "And if people think we’re crazy enough, and it is worth it, then hopefully they can consider supporting our two charities.”The trio plan to post on social media daily, with videos and photos provided along the way to show what they’re up against. Ultimately, they hope the trip will inspire others to go on an adventure of their own, for a good cause.To learn more, donate, or sign up to social media updates, click MORE below.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Rod AndersonLifelong local resident Rod Anderson has received a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) in the New Year’s Honours list for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community.Rod has lived in Luggate, on the same property, since 1972, and his service to the Luggate community spans more than 40 years.He has been Luggate’s chief fire officer, is a life member of both the Luggate-Albion Cricket Club and the Wanaka Rodeo Club, and is a local Civil Defence coordinator and deputy chairman of the Luggate Community Association.Rod told the Wanaka App he hadn’t "got my head around” the award, even though he’s known about it for a while."It’s an odd sort of feeling. I am humbled by it but also quite proud of my family”Typically, Rod’s pleasure in the award relates to how it may help Luggate."It also raises the profile of Luggate in a positive manner. We’ve had so much negative stuff recently with the hall and water chlorination. You never know what might come out of it - maybe more positive action such as getting the hall back in action.”Rod said he feels he’s been doing his thing in the Luggate community for so long that he’s "a bit of a bloody dinosaur”, but there are still things that need to be done, such as the hall, development of the Red Bridge historic reserve, and keeping the fire brigade operating.Rod has been an advocate for the restoration of Luggate’s town hall since it was closed in August after being assessed as an earthquake risk. He is concerned about the hall particularly from the point of view of civil defence. "If we have an emergency now where the hell do people go [in Luggate].”Rising property values in Luggate make it hard to keep volunteer fire fighters in town when they have to leave to afford to buy a house for their family, Rod said. He is committed to recruiting more members for the fire service.Rod is also a key member of the group developing the Red Bridge historic reserve, a project "which is very personal for me”, he said.Rod’s history to this area goes back generations, and his great-grandfather ran the punt at Albert Town.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Snow Sports NZ athlete of the year Zoi Sadowski Synnott.SUE WARDSWhile some Wanaka high school students are spending their summer holidays enjoying sleep-ins, sun and socialising, 16-year-old Zoi Sadowski Synnott is back on the snow, training hard for the Olympic Games.Zoi, a Mount Aspiring College student, will represent New Zealand in snowboard slopestyle and snowboard big air at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang in February.The young snowboarder was selected for the New Zealand team in October after she won both a World Championships silver and World Cup gold in slopestyle. The Snow Sports NZ Snowboarder of the Year 2017 and Overall Athlete of the Year 2017, she is currently ranked third on the FIS slopestyle list.The Wanaka App caught up with Zoi by telephone as she was enroute to Breckenridge, Colorado this weekend.Zoi has lived in Wanaka since she was six, moving here with her family from Sydney. Her parents leased the Snow Park back then, providing their five children with plenty of access to the snow. Although Zoi learned to ski as a pre-schooler, she remembers not particularly liking it."I just didn’t like skiing. It was weird having two separate things on your feet,” she said. Trying out snowboarding for the first time at the age of nine, she thought: "This is so much more fun, so much more free.”Zoi in action.Zoi’s competitive side surfaced quickly. "I started off playing soccer and I always wanted to win,” she said. Her first snowboard lesson at the Snow Park was with her older sister Reilly, who had had lessons before."I was so competitive about it and tried to surpass her. I was always trying to keep up with my older brothers snowboarding.”Zoi is also a skateboarder, and in those first years in Wanaka the family owned the property with the ‘dream ramp’. "We were really lucky to have that in our backyard. In winter all the ski and snowboard pros would come out and we’d get to see them skate.”She has been dreaming about the Olympics since she was 10-years-old. "At school we made pictures of what we wanted to do in our lives, and mine had the Olympic rings on it.”Being selected for the Winter Olympics team in October was a thrill. "It was really exciting, then we realised we had to keep putting in the work. I guess it’s a waiting game until then.”Despite being a little nervous about getting injured before the event, she said, "I feel like I’m in a pretty good place. Just as long as I’m snowboarding, it will be fine. Just like any other comp.”A podium or a gold medal would be the best, she said, "but anything else: I’ll take it.”Zoi has been described as "snowboarding like a boy”, which she thinks may be because she mostly snowboards with boys. She also thinks she has a lower stance on the board than some female snowboarders. "I try to look like I’m putting in an effort to ride,” she explained."When I watch other people ride, I watch people whose style I like and try to adjust my style to be more like theirs.” She cited Cardrona’s Christy Prior as an example. "I’ve always liked her riding, she has her own style.”Zoi thinks living and training in Wanaka has given her a competitive edge in the sport. "When I first started properly competing I was only doing New Zealand winters, so I was putting all my effort into two or three months rather than nine months like other girls. I was trying to catch up to the girls I wanted to compete with, and asking myself, ‘am I doing what they’re doing’?”Her coach Mitch Brown helped, pushing her to do things she sometimes didn’t want to do, such as learning the dub-cat ("It’s just like a double flip”) about a year ago. "I didn’t want to do it, it was real scary. But I learnt it.”"If you commit, you’ll most likely land, and if you don’t, just get up and try again,” she said matter-of-factly.Wanaka’s weather has also been an advantage, she said. "In Wanaka we don’t get the best weather, it’s really on and off. But we still get up there and train.” So in overseas competitions, "you know you can snowboard in really bad weather”.Another advantage has been attending MAC, which allowed her to attend two or three days a week in the winter. "It’s been really, really good. They’re really cool about it.” Having friends at school who snowboard with her has helped too, she said. "It’s the life everyone ‘gets’.”Zoi will spend the next two weeks in Colorado, and compete in one or two World Cup events, then it’s on to Japan for a week before heading to South Korea for the Olympics, which take place from February 9 to 25."My family keep me really grounded. I’m really grateful for their support - and my coaches (Mitch Brown, Sean Thompson, Tom Willmott), and all my sponsors - Red Bull, Snow Sports NZ, and High Performance Sport NZ.”PHOTOS: Red Bull

Tim Zeestraten with his honey boxes.LIZ BRESLINLavender. It’s great for reducing anxiety and stress, improving sleep and maximising brain function.Still, it’s definitely not just surrounding themselves with hectares of lavender plants that accounts for the growing successes of the Wanaka Lavender Farm. Experience, hard work and meticulous planning are part of how they’ve built their business.It was six years ago that brothers Tim and Stef Zeestraten bought the land along Morris Road and State Highway 6. Lavender ran in the family before this purchase: their parents were owners of a lavender farm up in Kaikoura so the guys had plenty of prior knowledge. Still, it was a decision that Tim said "many friends found funny – two boys starting a lavender farm - but we always wanted to live in Wanaka and if we’re going to live here, then we’ve got to do something that sustains us living here, and this is it.”The Wanaka Lavender Farm is now open for its fourth summer and business is booming. Tim puts this down to ticking the small boxes on the way to the big vision – "making sure the rabbits can’t get through the fences, making sure we’ve worked out there’s a viable market and then cranking into it and thinking large scale. If you get the right numbers in and line them up then you can prepare for it and say, ‘OK, we can’t do it this year but maybe in a few years.’”The farm comprises twelve hectares in total, so they’ve got land to expand further on their vision, preparing, this summer, for another 20,000 plants and hoping to have 50% of these in by April/May and then the rest by spring. The family has expanded further as well, with Tim’s wife Jessica now an integral part of the business and the Zeestraaten parents, who can’t resist helping out almost every day, around the edges or right in the thick of things. "Dad’s the perfectionist – always in the garden, tidying and weeding,” Tim says.And there’s lots to do apart from the gardening and harvesting – making the oil, infusing the creams and the honey, and working on the business as well as in it. Planning is a crucial part of the business cycle. The gardens are mapped out on computers, creating the lines, squares and circles of lavender around existing trees, a very healthy veggie garden and the other complimentary plantings. The main lavender season is from November through to February and the gardens are looking stunningly purple just now with around thirty varieties in total. Some so tall, Tim said, that "you could lose your children around the corner in them.”He may be speaking from experience as Tim and Jessica’s two-year-old daughter Maple is now part of the Wanaka Lavender Farm clan. The lavender planted includes the well-known Grosso and Pacific Blue, the intriguingly-named Violet Intrigue and the sensitive Dentata that will only grow in the shelter of their buildings. As of 2018, the Wanaka Lavender Farm will be open officially in the winter so part of current planning is working out a way to continue the guest experience when there aren’t so many flowers flowering. They’re putting a fireplace in and thinking visually and interactively.Not all the planning is so fun. Consents are part of the process, Tim said. "Dealing with them, building and car parks, it just costs time and money and you’ve got to have thick skin, if you’re here for the long haul it’s not going to be an inexpensive exercise to get there but you can get through that, tick all the boxes and it is not impossible.” And, Tim points out, it’s good when the council has a strong plan for the area, because that helps everyone working in the area. Getting the coveted brown highway attraction signs signalling the Lavender Farm from State Highway 6 is another example that took "years worth of paperwork and a whole lot of money, with criteria like opening so many days a week, being an attraction with interactive experiences and an educational aspect … but the main one is road safety,” Tim explained. Plenty of people would stop or turn sharply on seeing the friendly purple tractor and the stunning fields of blooms anyway, so it made sense to have warning signs.And it’s not just passing travellers who visit. The farm is firmly on tourist itineraries now and locals bring out their friends. Tim calls everyone who visits "guests, not customers, or visitors. It’s important that they’re guests, because that’s how we want them to feel.” Listening closely to guests is a major part of deciding how the family will develop the business. "They tell you everything. What they like. So we give them the same, give them more.” A great example of this is with the veritable farm of fun animals on site. It started with a sheep, and lambs, and people loved them and now guests can also visit with Milly and Kristen the highland cows, Koko the pig, a bunch of alpacas, and of course the bees.The bees are a fairly recent venture and the home blend of lavender honey has proven to be one of the most popular purchases from the on-site shop. They also sell honey sourced from partners around the South Island and this has proven popular with guests, who have often read about it on Instagram, TripAdvisor or WeChat. Word of mouth is almost the only way they advertise, and it keeps the car park almost as busy as the bees.While many people may turn to lavender for a calming break, Tim says the only way for them to destress is to leave town completely, which is more possible now they are not working seven days a week. Either that or go for a bike ride or a surf or a fish. All part of living the Wanaka dream.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Jodie RainsfordLIZ BRESLINIt’s fair to say that Wanaka local Jodie Rainsford is busy. In fact, she’s probably the epitome of busy, what with her marketing consulting business, her two photography businesses, her volunteer work as a senior firefighter and the Daily Mole (aka The Mole Prince of Squigglepanthia, aka Benson) - her alarm clock, trainer and bedwarmer of a dog.Quite the life to juggle, and although Jodie wouldn’t leave mid-photoshoot to go to an emergency callout, many’s the time she’s raced to the fire station straight afterwards in her wedding outfit. She’s also had to cancel quite a few photoshoots with real estate agents because of fires and other emergencies.The recent fire on Mt Alpha was a case in point."Luckily we don’t have fires that big very often as it takes a lot of time and resources from a lot of different people,” Jodie says. "It definitely had me pretty wrecked the first week with three weddings in amongst the mix of staying up until 4am in case the fire spread. Thank goodness for lots of local people dropping off food to the station - that was very much appreciated.”Jodie is a senior firefighter in the Wanaka Volunteer Brigade and has done a range of week-long trainings and courses around the country to get experience of how to deal with a lot of different aspects of the role – motor vehicle accidents, first aid, driving, pump operating and live fire training.In 2016, one challenging day of coursework included entering a building that was 800 degrees, which she describes as "pretty toasty”.As to the nature of the fire brigade being run by volunteers, Jodie says, "I think it’s great that it is volunteer, however I didn’t realise how much time and energy it would actually take up - it’s like having another job some weeks.”"It has completely opened my eyes as to how much and how difficult some of the jobs that the emergency services do in our country - not only fire and ambulance but also the police. Many of the people have been doing it for the majority of their lives. There are a lot of very undesirable, upsetting, tough jobs that I don’t think anyone would want to do but unfortunately someone has to do it. Some weeks it has a pretty big toll on your personal life, especially living in a small town.”She’s very clear that photography and emergency assistance are two very different parts of her life. "I would never be a photojournalist of emergencies for the news. There are too many stories where people see their loved ones online before they hear about terrible accidents and I think it’s just not on.”She feels strongly about media outlets which intrude during an emergency. "All these other volunteers have dropped everything in order to help these people - and the media are swarming like hawks. I am pretty sure if it was their loved ones in that situation they wouldn’t want some stranger in there taking photos in order to exploit them for their own benefit. I just wish they would show some respect and give these people the dignity they deserve.”Growing up in small town Wanaka, Jodie didn’t have a burning desire to get into photography, but remembers her mum had "millions and millions of photo albums that I used to spend hours looking at”.After her schooling at "good old Mount Aspiring College”, Jodie took the not unknown local path of two degrees at Otago University followed by some quality ski bum time. Eventually she became marketing manager for a big outdoor clothing brand, but quit when the fun factor wasn’t high enough, to come home and concentrate on her photography.Her latest photography project, alongside her business Jodie Rainsford Photography, is The Good Wedding Company, which she describes as "an awesome collective of wedding professionals working together to make something cool to be a part of and an awesome product to offer our clients.” Their strapline: ‘Well, that’s bloody excellent news. You bring the love. We’ll supply the mountains.’Jodie’s enthusiasm for the business is obvious. And it’s not just in taking the photos that she gets a buzz, but in looking at the results. "There’s something about it when you get a feeling from a photo, it’s like a mental high five. That’s what makes me want to take them,” she says.In between all her businesses, the odd push bike and motorbike ride, the daily outings with Benson and the occasional beer, Jodie is planning to work more on her personal photographic projects. It’s exciting to see where all her hard work and enthusiasm might take her.PHOTO: Andy Brown

Chocolate confection from The Chocolate Workshop. PHOTO: Supplied"I’m a chocolatier not a chocolate maker. There’s a big difference. A chocolate maker can be likened to a music composer - a chocolatier to a musician.”Chocolatier and maker of delicate, confectionery creations, Tanja Schwindt, is proud of her work, so much so she has named her company The Chocolate Workshop.Chocolate has always been on her mind, she said. She trained for three years with a Master Pastry Chef at the MARITIM Parkhotel in her hometown of Mannheim, Germany and spent 15 years developing her skills in Europe.She had visited New Zealand a couple of times "just for a holiday” but was enticed to move here by a former colleague who emigrated and worked in Wanaka. "I didn’t pick Wanaka. Wanaka picked me.”Settling in small town Wanaka in 2005 meant adapting to part-time hospitality work; from the Purple Cow backpackers, to the internet cafe, then a stint at Tuatara Pizza and finally full-time employment as the food service manager at Elmslie House. The work paid the bills but she found it stifling. "You had to follow menus designed by dieticians… it wasn’t very creative.”"I never dreamt of owning my own business but I guess the New Zealand ‘can-do’ attitude rubbed off. If I was still in Germany I wouldn’t have done it. New Zealand encourages you to do things.”"I love working for myself. It’s a challenge. I’ve always had a secure income which I don’t have anymore,” she said. "But I have no regrets at all. It can be bloody hard but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”Tanja making chocolate cups. PHOTO: Wanaka App.She juggled her new business, established in 2012, with part time work for two years before a business opportunity allowed her to quit Elmslie House."The owner of Wanaka Chocolate invited me to buy her out,” Tanja said. Production of the well-established chocolate bars meant she had a regular source of income to balance the creative lines of confectionery.She admits to being a purist when it comes to chocolate and prefers European chocolate - "it’s creamier”."My chocolate has only cacao and cacao butter - none of this palm oil stuff. Some big producers put vegetable oils into their chocolate to cut the costs because cacao butter is so expensive. But I think you should get the best available product for your money.”"Chocolate confectionary though is made with other ingredients, like cream, alcohol and tea, and usually confection has a soft centre surrounded by chocolate, like a truffle.”She uses the highest quality chocolate (couverture), from all over the world, enriched with locally sourced, fresh New Zealand ingredients, including Central Otago walnuts and hazelnuts and pinot noir, Wanaka ales, local herbs, spices and fruits.Local beers and wines are her favourite - "I love to play with booze, quite frankly - it’s just a different flavour when combined with chocolate.”She said she likes to "challenge her palate” by trying different combinations. For example, she created a box of Japanese inspired chocolates for a festival which included flavours like apple wasabi, sake (sourced from Queenstown - NZ’s only sake producer) and yuzu (a fragrant Japanese citrus fruit)."Yuzu and chocolate is mmmm - one of my favourite combinations.”Lavender infused chocolate confectionary might be her next artistic challenge but, like anything new, it takes time to perfect the balance of ingredients and flavours, she said.Her handmade chocolates aren’t all weird and wonderful flavours. Even though those inspire her the most, she also makes standards like delicate peanut butter cups and soft salted caramels.Alone, she produces by hand around two tonnes of chocolate each year but her goal this year is to have another chocolatier regularly working with her so she can step back and be more creative.Christmas is her most demanding market - "I have no life between October and December” - but Mother’s Day also keeps her busy.Tanja’s handmade confectionery and chocolate bars can be purchased from local gift shops and speciality food stores, such as the Mediterranean Market and Florence’s, and at Cardrona skifield.Soon, however, when her website is completed, her products will also be available to order online. "I came up with the idea of producing a monthly chocolate box that people can order by subscription; each month would have a theme like Easter or autumn, and they would be delivered by electric bike!”Being a fan of leaving the car at home and biking/walking where possible, she dreams of "a cargo electric bike with insulated containers,” she said, "and I’ll pay some young kid, wanting a fundraising opportunity, to make the deliveries.”She has other dreams too - like regularly paddle boarding (her latest passion), and teaching the art of the chocolatier, perhaps starting with Wanaka’s annual Autumn art school - which will all have to wait until she finds the time.To sign up to the Chocolate Workshop newsletter touch on the link at the bottom of her website (click MORE below).

Jason and the motorbike used in the Louis Vuitton shoot at Poolburn.His family has owned and operated Wanaka’s National Transport and Toy Museum for decades. He’s been involved in the museum since before it was constructed and opened in 1995 - most of his adult life. Branching into the movie business though, that was all his idea.For Jason Rhodes, 49-year-old businessman and company director, the museum "is what I do for a real job,” he said, "but the film industry, that’s what I like to do on the side.”His commitment to the museum is as a parent to a child - it’s 24/7. But his involvement in the film industry "gets me out of my little space and switches my brain over to something else. I find it’s a lot of fun,” he said.Studio South, as he has named it, is Jason’s ambitious dream to build a permanent film studio. The finished multipurpose building will spread across eight acres behind the current museum complex. It will encompass a multitude of indoor filming options, including a wet tank the size of an olympic swimming pool, as well as being suitable for aircraft displays, trade shows, events or even indoor sports training. The roofline will stand around five stories high and the basement will extend nine metres underground.It’s been a frustrating project though, he said. "There’s a whole lot of little things which aren’t allowing us to move forward,” he said. "I’m more or less just stalled at this stage on the whole project.”Even without the studio in action, Jason’s regularly fielding requests from the advertising world and film industry.The museum houses 650 vehicles, 16 aircraft and more than 60,000 toys and collectible items and every week there’s another industry request."Mostly, it’s just supplying bits and pieces,” Jason said. "Often it’s for advertisements or movies we will never see here. Sometimes I’ll have no idea how the props we provide will actually feature in the end. We’ll just get someone approaching us saying ‘this is what we need - can you supply it’.”The museum’s Louis Vuitton display is extensive.For instance, the museum was involved in Disney’s "A Wrinkle in Time” production filmed at Hawea last year, but in a manner that will never appear in the credits."We supplied the space for calibrating the cameras. When their equipment was flown into New Zealand, it all had to be recalibrated for our light stream. So we had half of hangar one rented out to them for a few days.”Sometimes his involvement is so slight it barely registers as a business transaction."They’ll want small, very random, off-the-shelf stuff like cameras, bottles, stuff you see in the background, but it’s got be authentic,” he said.Other times… "With Pete’s Dragon (filmed in Tapanui in 2016) we were involved for about six months; we had two to three staff working on it permanently; and then there were all the vehicles we provided as well.”The film industry, whether it’s movies, television or advertising, is huge and covers so much from accommodation to catering - "it touches everyone and it leaves money in its wake, and we just clip the ticket along the way.”His involvement in the film industry is not yet at the stage where it’s providing a reliable income, he said, but that’s the purpose of the permanent studio. He said this region is popular for filming but we don’t have enough infrastructure to make a viable permanent industry.About 80 percent of the industry work Jason does is with overseas advertising companies, often shooting clothing catalogues requiring props. While film production is proportionally smaller, it usually takes more time, he said.Jason said he never advertises with the film industry - it’s mostly word-of-mouth which keeps him connected. "I talk to art directors and people like that. I have spent a bit of time in the States to just keep in the picture, to be aware of things coming up, to see if it’s something we want to get involved in, and just keep our name there.”Jason admits he’s not passionate about movies but he’s fascinated by the historic settings and attention to detail employed in filmmaking. He likes the documentaries best and has been roped into "being an extra” on set on more than one occasion.The delayed momentum of Studio South is actually to the benefit of the museum, Jason said. He’s been able to focus on "getting the museum up to where we want it”. This means improving display lighting, wheelchair access and displays.One of the museum’s smartest new displays originated with the shoot for a Louis Vuitton advertisement. The shoot required a range of historic props, from suitcases to a vintage motorbike and sidecar, and was filmed in Central Otago.Seeing an opportunity to blend his film industry "fun on the side” with a permanent feature at the Museum resulted in a very classy display. "This is an example of how we want to change the museum and we’ll quietly work back through the museum and develop other displays,” he said.It’s a symbiotic relationship - the film industry and the museum - and one that Jason clearly enjoys.PHOTOS: Wanaka App

Jimmy with one of his waka on the shores of the Clutha River.MADDY HARKERIf you pass through Albert Town often, you’ve likely noticed two long hulls slowly being transformed near the river’s edge. They arrived in Wanaka as second-hand dragon boats, but the painstaking work of Jimmy Brennan is turning the craft into traditional Māori waka.When the Wanaka App visited on Wednesday, Jimmy had begun the process of adding traditional Māori painting to the waka, which he had already remodelled and refitted. Two elaborate taurapa (stern-piece) have recently been hand-carved by a master carver, which will be added to the waka in the near future.Jimmy decided early last year that he would build the waka in Wanaka. He parked up at the camping ground with his housebus and two hulls, and has been working away on the project ever since.His location, along the shores of Clutha (Mata-Au) River just above the Albert Town Bridge, has been good for many reasons."I meet people all the time,” Jimmy said. "People are very curious. And the further it goes, the more curious people get.”Being just metres from the river has its perks too, and affordable accommodation is a plus - Jimmy is working a 40-hour week as well as transforming the waka, a juggling act which Jimmy said can be "full on”.But the waka are much more than a hobby: Jimmy has a vision for an ‘eco-cultural tourism’ venture incorporating the waka. Drawing on his background in tourism, he wants to incorporate the traditional Māori waka with a water trip (either on the Clutha or the lake), indigenous music performance and education on the history of Māori waka.He’s got the right background for all aspects of the project: Jimmy has had extensive careers in tourism and joinery. He’s also a professional musician, and seven of his 12 guitars live with him in his housebus.Jimmy has two ideas for what he might do with the boats on the water. The first is to paddle out to a floating pontoon/catamaran on the lake, within 200m of the shoreline, on a war canoe which takes 18 people. They would reach a double hulled boat (decorated in traditional Māori style) where an indigenous instrument concert would be hosted.The second option is similar but on the river: clients could paddle to a yet-to-be-determined destination and have a concert there."Those are the two options I’m floating. I’m still information gathering and networking and figuring it out. I’m looking for advice for what people would like to see.”He’s eager to get onto water: "There’s nothing I’d like more than going down the river with the boats fully laden,” Jimmy said.If Jimmy was to choose the first option, the two hulls would be connected to form a catamaran-style boat where he could hold the indigenous music performances. The process of turning the waka, or war canoes, into a double hull craft, is likely to be laborious. "That’ll be the interesting bit,” Jimmy said.But it won’t be Jimmy’s first boat building venture, and his other boats in Rotorua will eventually join him down here too.While war canoes are the most commonly seen traditional Maori boat these days, double hulls hold an important place in Māori history, Jimmy said."It was a double hull that got us here [to Aotearoa/New Zealand]. But then we went to the war canoe to protect it. The depth is in the double hull. There’s a whole history there: it tells the story of the great migration.”"The canoe you came in represents your tribe. It’s the first thing you learn at primary school: your waka, then your mountain, then your ancestors.”As well as - and possibly before - the boat trips, Jimmy is interested in conducting educational visits to the waka on land. "I can start showing them soon - what they are, what the components are and what they signify.”For Jimmy to get his on-water venture off the ground, he will have to jump through a few hoops. The project will need approval from the harbourmaster, local iwi and the council, he said.It’s a project Jimmy hopes the community will get behind. "I think the idea could go really well here. In New Zealand, and especially here, people are environmentally conscious because of how nice the environment is.”In the short time he’s been here, Jimmy’s become part of the local community. Some of the curious people who have shown up to ask what he’s doing have turned out to be experts in the trade, and have become both friends and what he calls his "technical advisors”.His love for music has also been a way to connect with people, and he’s helping to organise a fortnightly open mic night at the Luggate Hotel (the first one is to be held on February 18, with special guests for the grand opening).PHOTO: Wanaka App

Tom JamiesonSUE WARDSEvery community has at least one member who lives on the fringe. Thomas (Tom) Jamieson - a familiar sight to locals as he wobbled between Hawea and Wanaka on his bike - was one of those people.On the hot, windy day Tom died (when his hut was destroyed by fire on January 23), everyone knew who he was, but few people actually knew him. Apart from the many times I passed Tom (who was dubbed ‘Major Tom’ by some locals) teetering along SH6 on his bike, the only interaction I had with him was late last year. Walking along the roadside, I watched Tom cycling towards me, leaning precariously to one side. "Morning,” I said as he drew near. "Precious little good about it!” he snarled, and continued on his way.That was characteristic of Tom, one of his friends told the Wanaka App.Tom used to live at the Lake Hawea Motor Camp, which Michele Cotter and her family ran, about 20 years ago. "When Tom first came to the camp, our kids were little, and when they saw Tom, they would all wave from the car,” Michele said. "One day he came to the door to say, ‘There is to be no more waving. I want to be incognito.’”"Tom chose to live how he did. He just wanted to be let be,” she said. He was a "suffering soul”, Michele said, who had endured some bad treatment in his early years.Tom was a Scotsman who came to New Zealand as a "ten pound Pom” (one of 76,000 British citizens who migrated here after the Second World War. The migrants only had to pay £10 to migrate and the government paid the rest). He had been in the British Army and served in Northern Ireland and the Emirates. After moving to New Zealand he worked on orchards in Cromwell before locating to Hawea, where he loved to chop down trees and cut up firewood - which he supplied to a select group of people.Tom lived at the motor camp for about nine years, and had been settled in his hut (which was a converted house truck) just off Domain Road for about 12 years. The small group of people who watched over him included his good friend Don Meyer, the Cotters, and his neighbours Peter and Dawn Ward.Tom always wore boiler suits. He had a box on the back of his bike and he would ride to Wanaka three or four times a week for exercise, groceries, books, and a gas bottle, strapping items on with a bungy.Tom would take morning tea to the ladies at the bank, go into the Sally’s, and visit the library. He enjoyed his life, Michele believed."Tom was a tremendous reader. He also was very sold on TV evangelist Benny Hinn. He had a strong faith, and a mean sense of humour. He kept abreast with current affairs, and knew more about Parliament than Parliament.”"He had a head for dates and would always acknowledge birthdays - mine, my mother’s, and mother in law’s,” she said.Tom was also very kind, Michele said. "He had nothing, but what he had he would share. We could never give without receiving back. Be it half a jar of jam, and a bit of fruit cake left in the letterbox, after we had taken him a meal, or something. He was never beholden to anyone.”"Tom was a person who liked to remain on the fringe,” Michele said. "Unless he was a little (or a lot) tipsy. He would then take a wobbly bike trip, that always ended badly.”Things had recently started to slide for the 75-year-old, with health problems making his regular bike rides difficult.Peter Ward had visited with Tom just before he died, and told the Wanaka App Tom had mentioned this might be his last summer in this place. He was considering moving into a cared facility. He was quite nostalgic about the thought of moving on, Peter said.Tom liked his dealings with others to be on his terms, and it’s unlikely he would have wanted a story written about him. But, far from being incognito, he was a well-recognised part of our landscape, and many people wanted to know more about his life."Tom has been through harsh winters and searing summers. He has had so little,” Michele said. "What if we all just looked after one person who lived on the fringe? What a difference we’d make.”Tom’s friends are planning a memorial service for him soon, after his remains have been returned to them. Rest in peace, Thomas Jamieson.PHOTO: Angelo Georgalli/Facebook

Bob McLachlan PHOTO: SuppliedCAT PATTISONAs a baby, Bob McLachlan had big hands and correspondingly big feet. You could say he was born to grip a paddle, and as an adult his Hobbit-sized hooves gave him stability in the mountains and the ability to pedal a bike along at speed.Paddling some form of boat formed the cornerstone of Bob’s life as he grew up kayaking, before embarking on a career as a professional raft guide. Living the endless summer dream he worked on some of the world’s most beautiful rivers. It was around this time he earned himself the nickname Big Water Bob.Bob also rafted competitively, winning New Zealand, Australasian and world championship titles in teams. His down-time was spent on pioneering kayak missions descending remote and difficult stretches of water. He later took up waka ama (outrigger canoe paddling) and pursued it to world championship level. He holds numerous national waka ama titles.Bob has also worked as a guide for trekking, mountain biking, sea kayaking and canyoning companies internationally and in New Zealand over the past 27 years.A move from Motueka to Wanaka in 2008 meant his other loves - mountain running and biking - could be integrated into his active life. It was here Bob began adventure racing. The vast talent pool meant there was always an abundance of strong athletes heading somewhere overseas to race.Highlights included winning the China-based Wenzhou Outdoor Challenge with Team NZ Adventure in 2014, racing with top Kiwi athletes Braden Currie, Dougal Allan and Jess Simson.In 2015, Bob also enjoyed racing with Simone Maier, Marcel Hagener and Hamish Fleming in China’s Baise Outdoor Quest, where they placed second.Bob also developed a love of rogaining (a navigational checkpoint-finding race) and has teamed up successfully with five-time adventure racing world champion Nathan Fa’avae. He also took his navigational skills to the snow and won the National Cross Country Ski Rogaining Championships. A little more time on cross country skis saw Bob claim two national age group titles.Conditioned to sleepless nights courtesy of his two young children, in 2013 Bob decided to compete in New Zealand’s gruelling, multi-day, non-stop Godzone Adventure Race. It started in Mount Cook and the teams of four mountaineered, hiked, mountain biked, canoed and kayaked their way over a 500km course to finish in Queenstown. During their five days of racing, Bob’s team operated on a total of about six hours sleep and finished fifth out of 50 teams.The team returned the following year as Torpedo 7 Adventure Race team and finished second behind Adventure Racing World Championship-winning Team Seagate.Bob continued to race with Torpedo 7 Adventure Race team in the Godzone event the following two years, finishing third (but unranked due to missing a checkpoint in 2015) and then third in 2016.Aged 44, Bob decided to have a crack at the World Multisport Championships Coast to Coast Longest Day. He achieved second overall and convincingly won the veteran category.Heading overseas later that year, Bob raced with United States-based team Adventure Medical Kits in China’s X-Trail adventure race, where they won silver.A change in focus for the first part of 2017 saw Bob captain and navigate a team of three novices – including his partner Cat Pattison – to second place in the Godzone Adventure Pursuit Race.Last year, Bob was called up to the dream team of adventure racing, joining defending World Championship-winning Team Seagate (Chris Forne, Stu Lynch and Joanna Williams) to compete in China’s X-Trail race in June. They won comfortably then set their sights on racing the Cowboy Tough World Adventure Racing Championships in Wyoming, United States in August 2017 - which they also won.Bob’s adventure racing retirement plans were put on hold when he was asked to race with Richie McCaw in the GODZone adventure race in March this year.The PWC-backed team for the Fiordland race also includes experienced Wanaka adventure racer Sarah Fairmaid and New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association boss Rob Nichol.Bob after the recent Red Bull Defiance event. PHOTO: Graeme Murray/Red Bull NZThe team split up into twos to do the Red Bull Defiance race in Wanaka, in January. Bob and Richie were stoked to win their sport category in the gruelling two-day multisport race and finished an impressive sixth overall.They banded together as a foursome for the ARC 24-hour race in the Coromandel in February - battling their way through the mud and rain to come away with a win.Not one to rest on his laurels, Bob and his team are racing this weekend as team PWC #7 (Richie McCaw’s rugby playing number) in the GODZone adventure race in Fiordland.

Bella Fraser and Max HallSUE WARDSMount Aspiring College keeps turning out impressive students for the roles of Head Girl and Boy, and this year’s pair is no exception, providing between them a balance of arts, science, sport, performance and service.Bella Fraser and Max Hall (both 17-years-old) are poles apart in some ways: Bella’s the approachable one, Max says, and the organised one - she brought her diary to the interview. A question about the number of Year 13 students leads her straight to her phone and the correct answer (it’s 146). Max - not so much. He has no idea how many Year 13 students there are, and hasn’t used his phone for a few months ("Where is my phone?” he wonders). But Max is super-approachable too, and clearly the talker of the two.Bella admits to being the sporty one. She loves running (she completed The Challenge with team member Sam Copeland, running the 21km in 1.56 and meeting her goal of completing in under two hours). She’s been in the First XI girls’ football team since Year 9, and is keen on orienteering, rogaine, adventure racing and mountain biking."I love just getting outdoors - I love the freedom of the outdoors,” she says.Bella is studying Spanish, Photography, Geography, Statistics and English, and plans to go to teachers’ college next year to become a primary school teacher. She’d also like to travel at some stage, and perhaps be a nanny overseas.Max is the arts student, he says (he is known for his dance and performance skills). But as well as studying English, Drama, and Design, he is also studying Physics, Maths, and Outdoor Pursuits. He hopes to study astrophysics in London (but points out he may change his mind about this). He likes to mix up the ‘right brain/left brain’ dichotomy, he says.It’s no surprise that in this year’s school musical (Catch Me As You Can - on stage next year), Max will be on stage (in one of the lead roles) and Bella is looking forward to organising things backstage.For all their differences, Max and Bella agree their mission this year is to contribute to improving communication and interaction between year groups in the growing college.Bella talks about bringing ideas to fruition across the age groups. "We want to improve that interaction between all the year levels, so they know we’re here for them - we’re the student voice for them - so if they have an idea for something that’s happening in their part of the school, we can try to help them get it done.”Max agrees, and adds: "We’re there as role models. It’s our job to set the tone for the school, making a positive appearance, and influencing the students to do their best.”They plan to visit the different year levels every now and then to let students know they are there, and they care.Both Bella and Max are founding members of the anti-bullying group Stick ‘n’ Stones, and both believe that MAC has built - and continues to reinforce - positive behaviour in this area. That happens through reminding students about the right thing to do with events such as Pink Shirt Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day, and the ‘take a free compliment’ initiative - "to keep the positive behaviour going”, Max says.When asked what they’d like to achieve by the end of the year, Max is quick to say he would like to make a positive impact "from the perspective of the arts”, as possibly the first Head Boy who isn’t also captain of the First XV. Bella is determined to take up all the opportunities she’s given this year, as well as work towards making relationships within the school year groups more connected.Max and Bella have started as they mean to go on, visiting different year groups within the college, and they will also play a role in our community. Bella’s first community event is to read the roll of honour at the Lake Hawea dawn service on ANZAC day. Max has already started - he spoke at the Wanaka Primary School graduation late last year.Expect to see more of this well balanced duo.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Shona and Hilary Johnstone. PHOTO: Daniel Allen DIANA COCKS The local A&P Show produces some remarkable sights but coming across woollen tartan bonnets, scarves, bonny wee bowties, rugs and cushions - the creations of one extraordinary 92-year-old weaver and artist Shona Johnstone - was unexpected.Ably representing her mum at the show was her daughter Hilary Johnstone. She admitted her first trades display at the show was "overwhelming” but then the product she was exhibiting is not run-of-the-mill (pun intended). Rather it’s imbued with history, creativity and a life-long love affair with Otago.Many who reside in the South can trace their heritage to their Scots ancestors so it’s not surprising that someone should produce a unique tartan which is synonymous with the Southern Lakes district.Shona Johnstone, now aged 92, has a photo of herself, then aged two-years-old, in a boat with her mother on Lake Wanaka. Her family had a crib here and she has many fond memories of days spent outdoors.  Shona (an inaugural member of Otago Spinners and Weavers Guild), now based permanently in Wanaka, was inspired by her environment to do something creative which reflected her love of the snow-capped mountains, the tussocks and the soft blue waters of the lake.She designed and made a tartan."She did that for our family and gave us all a throw for Christmas,” Hilary said. But when the family got such positive feedback about the tartan, Shona decided to do more with it.A chance encounter with Bonnie Dewhurst, who’s married to a local upholsterer, led to Bonnie encouraging Shona to officially register her tartan in Scotland. All officially recognised tartans must be registered by The Scottish Register of Tartans - a repository of all tartans, with an online database maintained by the National Records of Scotland.The thread count (described as the DNA of each tartan), colour, an authorised name for the tartan, all had to create "a unique package” appropriate for registration.Hilary said Bonnie discovered that the tartan must be approved by the clan chief so the then QLDC mayor, Vanessa van Uden, was briefed on the concept and official name. "She gave us her blessing to put the name forward to be registered,” Hilary said. With approval from Scotland, the Southern Lakes tartan was born.The name "is really a gift to the people of the region,” she said. "Most tartans reflect family history but this is an identity for everybody; it’s a legacy forever now.”Hilary said many locals at the show expressed their affinity to the tartan. "It takes the colours of our environment and puts them into their homes, so everyone feels comfortable with it.”Hilary displays the Southern Lakes tartan at the Upper Clutha A&P Show last weekend. PHOTO: Wanaka AppMost of the tartan items are individually crafted by Stansborough, a weaving mill in Petone, Wellington, known for its award winning fabric design for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its quality, sustainable textiles."We went to Petone because we loved that they still used their old 1890s loom, which has a very similar look to Mum’s weaving,” Hilary said.The company’s skilled artisans use traditional methods, employing worsted looms which hark back to the industrial revolution of the late 19th century - the only looms of their kind in the world still in commercial use. Hilary said Stansborough breeds a rare sheep flock, the Stansborough Grey, and weaves its own wool into small product runs of fabric.The rugs and upholstery fabrics are produced by Interweave in Auckland, one of the few large commercial weavers left in New Zealand. But when it came to the kilts, Shona was forced to look offshore."Mum’s ultimate dream was to see kilts but we could not find anyone in New Zealand capable of producing the specialised kilt fabric,” Hilary said. "So we went to the House of Edgar in Perth, Scotland, for a 100 percent woollen, traditional weave. And a Mosgiel based company, Just Kilts, hand-stitches the kilts to order.”During the show, three of the kilts were on display for the first time, worn by members of the Queenstown and Southern Lakes Highland Pipe band. Eventually enough kilts will be made to outfit the entire band."I am the most incredibly proud daughter,” Hilary said. "What woman at 92 is starting a business? What a role model for all of us. We get to 60 and we think we should start to slow down. She got to 85 and thought she’d better speed up.”"Mum’s the spearhead of all of it. She came up with the name, the colours, the product designs. We will discuss ideas but all the final decisions are hers.”"She and I have the best time. I’m passionate about what we’re doing but it’s also a really cool thing to be able to hang out with my mum.”

Michael and Barbara Beable. PHOTO: Wanaka AppDIANA COCKSBarbara and Michael Beable alighted in Wanaka 16 months ago and have already made a significant contribution to the success of Wanaka’s young athletes.Mount Aspiring College (MAC) track and field athletes took the Otago Secondary Schools Athletics (OSSA) championships by storm last month setting new records in no less than three disciplines.Abby Fisher’s mum, Tania, said Abby’s wild success smashing sprint records at OSSA was largely due to the impact the Beables have had upon her 14-year old daughter’s training regime. "They’re amazing,” Tania said.For the Beables this remarkable success is taken in stride. As coaches, who have never been paid a cent, they are professionals in everything but name. Between the two of them they’ve been coaching track and field athletes for 85 years at an elite national and international level.Michael coaching at MAC’s athletics fields. PHOTO: SuppliedBarbara’s association with athletics began in her early teens when, at the age of 13 years, she was being trained in track and field by some of New Zealand’s best coaches. By age 16 she had won her first New Zealand title in pentathlon and was competing on an international stage. She has represented New Zealand at three Commonwealth Games winning silver in shot put at Edinburgh in 1970. She made the "dream team” in Peter Heidenstrom’s top 100 New Zealand track and field legends.Before making the permanent move to Wanaka, Barbara (nee Poulsen) spent 26 years at Queen Margaret College in Wellington as head of department for physical education. She was also a conditioning coach for the Wellington Shakers netball team. During that time, this Cantabrian renewed her long-time association with Wanaka with regular family ski-trips south at every opportunity."Barbara had a full training background from the age of 13; while I have never had a coach - which is ironic given how much coaching I’ve done,” Michael said.Michael, on the other hand, was focussed on his rugby career before he started taking track and field seriously in his early 20s. He spent 11 years competing at a national and international level and held the provincial Wellington record for long jump for 16 years.Barbara in action PHOTO: SuppliedAt age 31, he was selected as an athlete and coach for the New Zealand team in a trans-Tasman clash with Australia and has gained international qualifications in coaching at an elite level, as well as serving New Zealand as a head coach and ancillary coach. With a Ph.D in civil engineering he currently commutes between NZ and Australia on a weekly basis as a regional director for a global management consultancy.  Between them they have coached around 150 athletes, 40 of whom have gone on to represent New Zealand in athletics."Our goal is to take somebody who’s got a talent, but more importantly the desire and enthusiasm, the fire in the belly so to speak, and nurture and develop them so that they can represent New Zealand within two or three years,” Mike said.As with many occurrences in small towns, the Beables introduction to Wanaka athletes was by chance. A local carpenter building wardrobes in their house mentioned his son "did a bit of running” and would the Beables be willing to chat with him before he went off to the Otago champs.Barbara said "I went down to the Aspiring Athletes’ Club on the last night of their season and I told the president we were happy to help.” This offer evolved into indoor training sessions last winter at the school gym and from there word of mouth ensured their coaching influence grew.  Michael estimated they would spend 10-15 hours each week coaching young Wanaka athletes. Compared with the athletes they coached from multiple Wellington high schools, the promise shown by this current crop of young MAC athletes is extraordinary, Michael said. "These kids in Wanaka learn quickly; far more quickly than I’ve seen in other places.”Barbara elaborated: "I think they’re accustomed to doing so much all the time [many are into dance and gymnastics], you don’t have to get them motivated.”"The nice thing is we’ve had some successes already. Abby Fisher is the standout from the sprinting track and field point of view,” Michael said. "She could even be the best girl sprinter of her age I’ve ever coached,” he added.With several decades of coaching behind them they are witnessing a new crop of sports and athletics coaches coming through, many of whom were coached as juniors by Michael and Barbara. "They’re using the same coaching methods we taught them, modified by their own ideas, and they’re getting top results,” Michael said.Looking for that commitment in young athletes can be daunting, Michael said. So one of the things we say is "It’s a long time sitting in the stands and saying ‘if only’.”

Penny and John Wilson accept the award for their support of St John from Ian Rae, a Knight of the Order of St John.In a simple ceremony at St John Wanaka yesterday (March 20), an award for conspicuous and exceptional services rendered to St John was bestowed on a Wanaka couple, and two St John Wanaka youth cadets also received recognition for their efforts.Penny and John Wilson received a Priory Vote of Thanks (PVOT) for their remarkable fundraising efforts for St John Wanaka over the last decade. During that time, Penny and John not only sourced over half the auction items and donations for the annual Wanaka Charity Golf Tournament which raised in excess of $80,000 for St John Wanaka, they also were actively engaged in running the raffles over the three days of each tournament.A Knight of the Order of St John, Ian Rae, presented the citation to the Wilsons. Formerly based in Wanaka, he said organisations in Wanaka had received a coveted PVOT in the past but this was the first occasion in this district it had been awarded to individuals. A PVOT has to be approved by the supreme governing body of the Order of St John in New Zealand and the citation is signed by New Zealand’s Governor General.John said he and Penny were humbled by the honour of the award. "I think we’re blessed in Wanaka with a fantastic community spirit,” he said. "We’re but a small cog in the wheel. We encouraged private individuals and businesses to donate and without their generosity we wouldn’t have been able to raise the funds.”A Grand Prior Badge and Certificate was also awarded to St John Wanaka youth cadet Eva Wilson (15), and youth cadet Maddi Frazer (14) received a community service certificate representing 500 hours of public service.The Grand Prior Award, presented in the form of a badge, is the highest youth award that can be gained within St John Youth. It takes several years for the cadets to obtain the 12 gold level proficiency badges required to achieve the award. The skills Eva learned included first aid, communications, community awareness, civil defence, leadership and child care.St John youth cadets Maddi Frazer (left) and Eva Wilson with Ian Rae at St John in Wanaka.Eva said she was proud of what she had accomplished and she would encourage others to follow in her footsteps.Maddi Frazer, who joined St John Wanaka nine years ago, said when she started her community service to gain her certificate she "never thought I’d get to 500 hours”. Now she’s well on her way to her next goal of 800 hours of service to the community.St John district youth manager Felicity McCrone drove up from Invercargill to witness the badge and certificates being awarded. "We’re really proud of the accomplishments of our young ladies in Wanaka. They’ve really put the effort in, particularly their hours of community service where they’ve given back time to the benefit of all of Wanaka,” she said.PHOTOS: Wanaka App

Nina PowellSUE WARDSNina Powell is often bombarded with questions after she tells people she "works with sexuality” for a living.The Wanaka-based somatic sex coach works with couples and women (single or in relationships), mostly aged from their mid-20s to 60s. Thanks to Skype, she has clients from around the world, and said people are "pretty much the same” no matter where they come from."It always comes down to a desire to connect with another person. I think that’s the core of what people are saying.”Common issues she deals with include loss of (or lack of) sexual desire, women who find their mind is too busy to be in the moment during sex, women with anxiety in their daily living, women who feel they don’t know their own bodies and find sex unfulfilling, and people who can’t communicate with their partner. Also: "People who really want their sex life to be something more: more interesting, more fulfilling, more playful, more exciting.”Women can feel it is an unexplored part of self, Nina said, and changing that can change how they feel every day, making them more confident.Her clients from a religious background have an added challenge, she said. "That is the biggest challenge that I’ve come across, and that is the one I’ve found the most problems transforming with people.” Shame around sexuality can cause "a big hangover” in people’s bodies, she said.Perhaps not surprisingly, Nina comes from a "hippy background”: she grew up in a Coromandel community."I’ve always had an ease and curiosity and exploratory nature with sex,” she said. The subject never shocked her or made her uncomfortable. "When I was 18 my closest friend said to me, ‘you should be a sex therapist’.”Nina and her two younger sisters went to the local primary school, then Nina boarded at Epsom Girls in Auckland. She left New Zealand at the age of 16, flying to London to meet a boyfriend.Always good with numbers, she soon found a job doing accounts. This led to her training to become an accountant, and eventually working at an investment bank.She then studied business and psychology before completing a Masters degree in Human Factors - essentially ergonomics. What she thought would be an interesting design job working directly with people, turned out to be more of an office job.Despite her hippy background, Nina said she "always had this idea of being a professional”, but after seven years working in safety critical industries, the voice in her head whispering ‘I don’t belong here’ became too loud to ignore.She had also embarked on a "massive self-exploration journey” after leaving her partner of nine years. Googling ‘meditation and community’ led her to a conscious clubbing weekend in Dorset, and her first tantric workshop.Nina felt right at home. "It was this really amazing opening, it was like melting something frozen.”She became a workshop junkie, leading something of a double life alongside her be-suited day job. A female Taoist sexuality workshop was another key experience, where Nina learnt ancient practices which she says science is now catching up with.After a couple of years of workshops, Nina studied a programme called ‘Sexological Bodywork’.The more ‘embodied’ she became (through workshops and yoga) the more she realised she didn’t want her manager’s job. She started seeing clients in the UK, and sex coaching became her full-time work. She’s studied other modalities along the way (such as Holistic Pelvic Care ™, Tibetan Buddhist somatic meditation) to support her work.Nina (she had a UK friend who called her ‘Sex Nina’) has a practical approach to these subjects. "They are practical skills about experiencing your body.”"I feel really passionately that we all should have a life with sexual pleasure. And it’s possible for everyone, and I know that so many are not. I’m passionate about it because I’ve chosen it as my work. I feel it’s a very unspoken-about area.”Most people have a sense of longing for something more, Nina believes. "There are these spectacular, exquisite states, that the body is capable of - it can happen standing on top of a mountain. Sex is one route to those states of bliss.”Nina moved to Wanaka two years ago with her partner Sam ("He chose Wanaka, I chose New Zealand”), and she has felt very accepted here.She usually works with clients for three months. "We set an intention for what we want to transform. That’s what I love about this job; it’s coaching, not therapy.”Issues get stuck in our bodies, Nina said. "We can work with the thinking and that can be useful, but unless we work with the body we’re not really changing anything.” Women, in particular, she said, cannot override their bodies.When people come to her there’s an element of "I want what she’s having”, Nina said. "I have such an ease with the body - I can inspire and call people into that space.”While she works with sex, Nina says in a lot of ways "we could just take sex out of the picture”, as many of the tools she teaches are about being in the moment and having your body feel open, relaxed and joyful instead of anxious and fearful."It’s more about relationships and relationship with self. It’s like having this relationship with self that’s truly aligned with who you are. I feel like I’m a guide to people for transforming their life.”But ‘Sex Nina’ is never far away: "I think that everyone should have a really great sex life on their own, and then they should come together to celebrate.”PHOTO: Wanaka App

Rachel Brown at Bikevember PHOTO: SuppliedSUE WARDSRachel Brown credits her standard three teacher Mrs Gamble with the inspiration to be an engaged citizen, but it’s likely Rachel’s strong ethics date back much earlier - she’s been sticking to them for more than 50 years.Rachel, 54, resigned as chair of the Wanaka Community Board (WCB) on Thursday (April 12), after almost five years in the role. She will stay on as a board member for the remainder of this term.She has already packed in enough for several lifetimes, and she’s looking forward to a new phase. The Wanaka App usually sits down to interview people - but had to catch up with Rachel on a roadside at Timaru Creek this weekend, where she was marshalling for the Contact Epic (yes, of course, Rachel - a passionate active transport advocate - biked the 25kms to get there).Born in Upper Hutt and schooled in Auckland, Rachel has strong memories of Mrs Gamble, her standard three teacher at Maungawhau Primary, who taught her how to debate, look at an issue from all angles, and "be an engaged citizen”.After school Rachel studied veterinary science at Massey. In an early show of her "strong ethical stance”, Rachel boycotted physiology labs, concerned they were teaching a disregard for animal life. Summoned by her physiology professor to explain her absences, she explained her position and he thanked her - it was the first feedback he’d had on that part of the course. Some of the labs were later dropped.Rachel won a gold stethoscope for being top of her class - but she decided the veterinary world wasn’t for her. She took the summer off; went to Mt Cook with a boyfriend who introduced her to mountaineering, and went "Wow! No-one told me I could have a lifestyle like this!”It was the beginning of a period of nomadic adventures, including years of mountaineering at Mt Cook; teaching nature programmes on Stewart Island; and scoring an internship at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) in the Central North Island - which led to a full time job, with plenty of climbing, tramping, kayaking, ski-touring, caving, and more.In between all the adventures she fitted in a post-graduate diploma in education and a science degree at Canterbury - including geology, Maori language, and ecology. "I loved learning about the environment and sharing our place within it with other people.” During her degree she went to Antarctica for the first time, counting penguins. She struggled with the existence of tourism - and even human habitation - on that continent.In 1995 Rachel decided Wanaka was "the next place I’d like to live”. She moved here to help Steve Henry set up the Otago Polytechnic certificate of mountain recreation - and she also trained to become a mountain guide. In 2000 she and partner Al Wood bought 10 acres of land at Hawea Flat and began designing and building their unconventional straw bale home. But a few years later, everything changed.On August 1 2002 the pair went ice climbing with friends. Al was climbing and Rachel belaying when a large slab of ice fell - Rachel felt it brush her hair as it passed her. Al was fatally injured."I actually felt that day I got shunted into a parallel universe,” Rachel said. "There wasn’t really a lot of point in anything for a while.” Life hasn’t been the same since.Her community rallied around - friends helped by working on the house and she lived with a friend and some flatmates."For me it ripped the passion out of climbing,” Rachel said. She did no more serious climbing or mountain guiding.After a year she applied for a job as camp manager at Cape Hallett in Antarctica - for "escapism”. Rachel had already done three other seasons in Antarctica, and despite believing the continent would be a better place without humans, she was drawn by the "sheer, unsullied beauty, the starkness and rawness”.She got the job: three and a half months on the ice working with one other staff member - the camp mechanic, Gus McAllister, who is now her partner. "We just worked together easily from the beginning,” Rachel said.At the end of the season Gus came to Hawea to help out with the house. They lived in a caravan and worked together, spending the next two summers at Cape Hellett. With a house and garden - the nomadic lifestyle over - Rachel spent a period enjoying "peasant farming” and finding her place in the community.A self-confessed workhorse, Rachel also studied information design, worked for DOC designing interpretation panels, wrote for the Wanaka Sun, joined the choir (Wanakapella) and a women’s theatre group (Flat Out Productions), got into yoga, chaired Wastebusters, and studied Te Reo - earning a diploma.She told then-mayor Clive Geddes she was interested in getting into local politics, and he advised her to get on a council advisory panel, and get involved with her local community association. It was good advice, she said. She joined the Hawea Community Association (HCA) and in 2006 was part of a representative review panel.Giving birth to daughter Winifred in 2009 (on her 46th birthday) began another phase of life, and "opened up a whole other part of the community”.Rachel’s community roles are many - community board member, Upper Clutha Tracks Trustee, Wanaka Alcohol Group chair, Responsible Camping Forum facilitator, Friends of Wastebusters chair, HCA member, active school parent - but when she was elected to the WCB in 2013, she decided to do only two terms. "Then it would be someone else’s turn.”Last year she was mulling over what to do in the "next phase of life”, and decided on teaching. Education has been a lifelong interest, and she has been accepted onto a postgraduate programme for primary school teaching. Again, it’s about making a difference in the community. "And I like to feel I have a bit of wisdom and life experience in me.”Now feels a good time to do it, she said. And she may be going full circle: "I could be the Mrs Gamble who teaches my kids how to debate, and be engaged citizens.”

Isaac Walker on top of Sentinel Peak, Lake Hawea.Running can be for those with a competitive streak; or as a healthy, relaxing pursuit; or a short term desire to get from point A to point B. Not many are passionate about running up mountains - but Isaac Walker is.Isaac has turned his passion for running up and down hills into a Wanaka-based business touring the region’s high country. His company RunAways NZ creates "mountain inspired, trail running holidays” and each summer he guides like-minded Australians and Kiwis, and even the occasional North American or Israeli, on journeys through some of New Zealand’s most spectacular, undisturbed back-country.Limited to 10 runners at a time, each of his five tours takes the better part of a week. Four of the five explore high country trails in this region and the fifth follows an 85km tour of the old Ghost Road, near Greymouth.  "I like to make an adventure out of the activity and create an amazing experience that they can’t do easily by themselves,” he said. "Our tours are stripped back, so it’s just them and the mountain. We often get comments that, at the start, they’re apprehensive they might hold back the group, or be too slow, but we’re not about that. The running has to be for pleasure - it’s a holiday tour not a training camp.”The pilot tour began in November 2016. "As far as I knew no-one was doing running tours in New Zealand and the eight spots sold out quickly,” he said. The six night tour featured two nights each in Lauder, Wanaka and Queenstown, running trails on Department of Conservation high country land."We lucked out with one of the best groups of people. Despite the weather it just all worked perfectly. Our first run was in white-out blizzard conditions, literally minus-7 with wind chill, but we got them to the top and down and everyone survived with smiles from ear to ear.”In fact, the group was so happy with the adventure that six of the eight have already returned for one or more further tours.Ironically, Isaac hasn’t always been a runner. The 35-year-old Kiwi grew up in Dunedin and holidays often included visits to his grandmother in Alexandra. But he didn’t get into running until he moved to Australia where he competed for six years and got involved in off-road trail running.He went from a 10km race to a 100km. "That’s when my eyes were opened to long distance running I never knew existed. I discovered I love the hills, the steep stuff - I’m a little bit nutty in that way.”He gave away competition to rediscover "the thrill of running without a watch; I forgot about pace - just running for the pure enjoyment”.Isaac was in Australia for 12 years, initially working in the tourism industry as a bus driver and tour guide. He’d started out in the industry as a young adult on the boats in Milford and working as a porter in a Dunedin hotel, but his progression into tour guiding came about because of a desire to conquer a personal phobia - public speaking."I sort of jumped in the deep end and I found I loved it. Tour guiding was brilliant. Seeing their enjoyment, their reactions to the environment was gold to me.” It also helped with the motivation to start his own business.It was during a month long holiday back home visiting friends and family Isaac had an epiphany."I got out on the trails and realised what had been in my backyard all this time was amazing. Australia introduced me to running but I never really appreciated how amazing our country was until I returned to the mountains back here.”"I was overwhelmed. Something had changed in me and I felt there was this big attraction to move back home.”"My mum and dad had bought a Bed and Breakfast in Lauder (in the Maniototo) and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great to bring people here and take them up the mountains’.”The daydream became a business case and he talked a close Australian friend and personal trainer, Will Lind, into joining him as a tour guide. Both are accredited running coaches.The longer tours attract mostly Australians, 80 percent of whom are women aged between 35-50 years. "I didn’t anticipate that,” Isaac said. "But I think the women who sign up are a little bit more courageous, more ballsy, and they like the group situation where they feel comfortable and secure and are not afraid to put themselves out there.”The original company, RunAways NZ has spawned RunAways Wanaka which caters for a wider range of individual fitness levels by providing day trips hiking, running and family tours.Isaac and his son Josh on Josh’s first overnight hike to the Fern Burn hut.These individually crafted day trips might include a hike up Mt Isthmus or across the Skyline trail (up Roys Peak, across Mt Alpha, and down to the Cardrona Valley). "We’ll go up early to catch the sunrise, getting them up before the crowds,” Isaac said. "It’s a good opportunity to educate and inform visitors about the high country, to talk about conservation and enjoying the environment, packing everything out that we brought in.”The Wanaka-based business means Isaac can stay involved with his family, wife Sue, son Josh (who starts at Hawea Flat school next term) and young Scarlett.When not running guided tours, Isaac is currently working as a operational maintenance jack-of-all-trades at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. But he hopes to return to rostered employment as a firefighter. A qualified and experienced firefighter, Isaac has applied for a position as a Rescue Fire Fighter at Queenstown Airport."Firefighting is in my blood a little bit,” Isaac said. "And that would be my dream; to be employed as a fireman and work my business around that.”PHOTOS: Supplied

Lizzie with one of her pieces, ‘Smoked Chicken’. PHOTO: Wanaka AppMADDY HARKERLizzie Carruthers wanted to be a farmer for as long as she can remember.Born and raised on a farm in South Otago, she was helping her Dad on his farm from a very young age."I was the youngest of four girls and my father still calls me ‘Jim’. I was a total tomboy and wore a lot of brown corduroy.”Lizzie still farms full-time, now on a farm she owns with husband Phill Hunt in Maungawera Valley, but the brown cords are long gone.She’s still involved in her parents’ farm too, as are her parents. "Dad’s still there doing it at 87,” she said. "This year he was ridging the swedes still.”Lizzie and Phill’s daughters (Hilary,18, and Fiona, 13) like farming too, Lizzie said, and Fiona even learned to negotiate her wage when she was employed by her parents to help on the farm last summer. "She was very good at it. Doing her bit for lessening the wage gap and equal opportunities,” Lizzie said.While it could have been seen as unusual to have a young girl so keen on farming in a rural Otago community 40-plus years ago, it was never an issue for Lizzie."My father never thought I couldn’t do it.”After completing school, Lizzie headed straight to Lincoln, where she completed a Diploma in Agriculture. As one of ten or so girls in the course, Lizzie stuck with it when many didn’t: the course had a 50 percent drop-out rate for the women in the course.And after university, when many people go on a regular OE, Lizzie did hers farming style, taking an "agriculture exchange” to Britain.A man called Tony Hawkins, whose farm Lizzie had worked on during her exchange in 1987, rang her just a couple of weeks ago as he was visiting New Zealand.Wondering how he remembered her - from a three-day stint so long ago - Lizzie said it might have been that she drove a tractor during her stint on his farm."It must have been quite unusual to see a girl driving a tractor then,” Lizzie said.Lizzie met Phill long before they became an item - she’d had a summer job in Wanaka pumping petrol at the gas station and had met him during that time. They went on to flat together, travelled overseas at "virtually the same time” but didn’t cross paths, and it was when Lizzie returned to New Zealand and resumed farming with her father while Phill was in Wanaka, that the two eventually got together."There was quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing,” Lizzie said, laughing. "We’d meet in Roxburgh at the halfway point.”The pair eventually got hitched in 1993, and Lizzie moved to Maungawera to Phill’s farm, which has been owned by his family since April Fool’s Day 1929.Lizzie has enjoyed art for as long as farming, although it wasn’t something that ran in the blood - she’s the only artist in her family.If she had her time again, she might just have gone to art school, she said, but luckily the arts scene in Wanaka keeps her busy and engaged."When I came to the Upper Clutha there were so many opportunities to learn and so many courses.”Lizzie’s just finished an annual art exhibition with friends - "it went really well” and tried her hand at etching with Ron McBurnie at an Autumn Arts School course.She started with life drawing, and now finds herself painting mostly farm animals, a hybrid of her two interests.She’s always reliable for an amusing caption: a recent series called ‘No Animals Harmed’ features a hatted duck (‘Tall Duck and Handsome’) a donkey (‘Don Key’) and a concerned looking dog in a shirt and tie (‘Worrying About the Sheep’).‘Don Key’, from Lizzie’s recent exhibition.Ideas come from her husband, friends and family, and a bit of brainstorming, she said.Always ready for a laugh, Lizzie (a keen shooter) spent ANZAC Day at the local gun club with a group of female friends, dressed to the nines in period dress. "Practise for duck shooting,” Lizzie said.With two daughters and a farm to run, it can sometimes be hard to find time to paint but Phill is reliable in telling her when he thinks it’s time for her to do some painting, and take a break.Farming has changed over the years, Lizzie said, with productivity going up significantly between 1990/1 and 2011/12. In this period, dairy increased by 163 percent, beef and veal by 22 percent and lamb dropped 9 percent (but with 45 percent fewer sheep).The increased productivity can be put down to a couple of things. One of them is more sophisticated technology and techniques. "Simple things like having a conveyor, we can now inoculate [process] all our lambs in one day when before it might have taken us three.”The second reason is need, Lizzie said. "Because of the prices, people are farming smarter. It’s price driven too.”Lizzie and friends dressed up at the gun range on ANZAC Day. From left: Lizzie, Vicki Cusick, Vicky Sanford, Rosa Stackhouse-Miller and Sharlene Nyhon. PHOTO: SuppliedWith winter arriving there is more time for art for Lizzie, and it’s something she can spend hour upon hour doing."I think you go some other place, and you look up and the day is somehow gone.”"I hope everyone can find the time to do stuff like that - it’s important for mental health. Or even better, have a job they love. Life is just too short to not do what you love.”PHOTOS: Supplied

Liz Breslin PHOTO: SuppliedSUE WARDS"I don’t think I’m particularly high-output,” says Liz Breslin: writer, poet, playwright, columnist, editor, MC, performer, coordinator of Mount Aspiring College’s Students in the Community programme, and author of one of New Zealand’s recently chosen best 25 poems of the year."I’ve always thought ‘if you want something done: do it’,” Liz told the Wanaka App. "I just find the time. If I get an idea I have to work on it or I lose it - and I lose way more ideas than I work on.”It helps that her family are "very kind” to her, and she meditates when she remembers - something she learned from fellow poet and rapper Dominic Hoey.Her work isn’t all zen though. Liz reckons it’s cool to use art as a response to issues. "It’s the opposite to having trolling as a response to things,” she said. Case in point would be her "Dear Val” poem, published in response to a popular online poem addressed to Jacinda Ardern in the lead-up to last year’s election. It was pointed, political, and entertaining.It’s fair to say Liz’s writing covers a wide gamut. It has appeared in Landfall, Cafe Reader, the Listener, the New Zealand Herald, the Press, the Dominion Post, Takahē, OH baby!, on magazine, Kiwi Diary, Blackmail Press and Bravado. She’s had short stories developed for Radio New Zealand National. Her regular column, Thinking Allowed, runs every second Saturday in the Weekend Mix section of the Otago Daily Times.She performed a spoken word piece and a collated-audience-response poem at the 2016 TEDx Queenstown, came second-runner-up in the 2014 New Zealand National Poetry Slam, and came third in the 2016 Charles Causley Trust International Poetry Prize. Her plays The Last Call Centre EVER in New Zealand, It’s Your Shit, and Losing Faith, have been staged in Wanaka, and her first pantomime, Cindy and the Villanelles, was performed here last December.Her first collection of poems, Alzheimer’s and a spoon, was published by Otago University Press last year, and one of the book’s poems, The Lifestyle Creed, has just been selected as one of the best 25 poems in the country this year, appearing in the annual Best New Zealand Poems published by the International Institute of Modern Letters. The 25 poems were selected by poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh to show the vitality and range of current writing.Born in the UK, "up north - rugbyville”, Liz spent her childhood in Liverpool and Bedfordshire, but "always knew I was going to get the heck out of there”.Her background was a little bit conservative, she said, and the University of Sussex in Brighton, which she attended after school, felt like "the whole world”. She studied English, with a focus on American studies, but - characteristically - the best part was she was able to study a bit of everything: opera, Japanese theatre, Greek tragedy, and more.Her world expanded further when she went to Japan on a JET teaching scheme for recent graduates, and even further when she trained as an educational tour guide and began touring the world (mostly Europe). Tours usually comprised "London, Paris - and somewhere else”, Liz said.She was "a bit of an itinerant”, and even had a stint in the Antipodes when her firm opened an office in Australia, post 9/11. She also taught English as a foreign language there, and met a well-travelled friend who told her the only place he would consider raising kids was New Zealand. Liz noted it, and also noted the "the very attractive new guy” in the office back in London where she was planning and running tours in Europe and the middle East.That guy - Kiwi Jimmy Rimmer (now Liz’s husband) - returned to New Zealand a few years later. Liz went too. They set off from Auckland on a road trip of the country. Liz remembers driving towards Wanaka and coming to a road sign (no longer there) which announced Wanaka and Hawea. "I had this sense of coming home,” she said.They’ve been here ever since. She got a job at Cinema Paradiso and soaked up Wanaka. They tried to move to Auckland when Liz became pregnant (twins Lauren and Dylan are now 14), but Liz insisted they return to see Woolly Man (Paradiso owner Calum MacLeod and Simon Rasmussen’s superhero spoof film).She has spent time as a quality assurance assessor for Tourism NZ, and as a Lord of the Rings tour guide in this region. "It’s all stories - isn’t it? Whether you’re in a tour bus or writing a poem - it’s all stories.”Liz, Laura Williamson and Annabel Wilson onstage at Good Rotations on Friday evening. PHOTO: SuppliedLiz joins fellow Wanaka poets Laura Williamson and Annabel Wilson on stage this weekend for a whistle-stop tour of some of their favourite southern haunts: Wanaka (Friday night at Good Rotations - described by one audience member as "inspiring and world-class”), Dunedin (last night at Inch Bar), and Lyttleton (tonight at the Hellfire Club). The three met when Liz and Laura ran Poetic Justice Wanaka.Liz reckons she’s always been a poet. She loves it. "Every word matters, so you can’t be sloppy with it. It’s such a great vehicle because everything you do with it matters. It’s the tightest feat of engineering with words.”She was "super happy” to be chosen in the Best Poems list. "Here, we don’t come from anywhere big. That I even got noticed was like, wow.” Some of the other poems in the list were "next level”, she said. "To think I stack up against them: that’s huge.”Click the website below to read The Lifestyle Creed - one of New Zealand’s best poems, a cut-and-paste of the Catholic Nicene Creed and nutritional advice found on a blog about Alzheimer’s. That mash up seems so apt for Liz - a well-travelled polymath, right at home in Hawea Flat.