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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sam StoutMADDY HARKERIf it seems like you run into Sam Stout at just about every community event in Wanaka, it’s probably because she’s involved in almost everything.This year alone, Sam’s been part of the Wanaka Artisan Market, the Wanaka Wedding Fair, Homespun Presentations, and Losing Faith - a play that has just toured the region. On top of all that, three months ago she launched her own wedding and events planning business, Tregold Productions.Sam is well-known about town. She has spent much of her life in Wanaka, but has also lived in the UK, Australia and other parts of New Zealand. Despite her English accent, she has spent more time "down under” than she has in her native UK.The name of her latest business venture, Tregold, has a lot of significance for Sam, signaling both her family heritage and her adopted home."Tregold is the name of my family farm in Cornwall", Sam said. "My grandparents left their home with their babies to move across the country and start a new life for themselves away from everything they knew.”"My grandparents were really pioneering, and I really admire that spirit of enterprise. People do that moving to Wanaka too, starting over in a new place."‘Tre’ is also cornish for hamlet or community, and the gold connection relates to the gold in the hills and the golden colours in this region. As the old saying goes in Otago: "blue sky, golden hills”."The name Tregold really is who I am and what has formed me as a person.”Sam spent her teens in Wanaka and lives here permanently now - although she could have ended up anywhere. When she emigrated from the UK with her family in the 1990s, they flipped a coin to choose between settling in New Zealand or Australia. And then it came to deciding on where to live in New Zealand, Sam closed her eyes and put a pin on a map of New Zealand.It landed on Wanaka. The family had been visiting friends in Nelson at the time, so they caught the night bus to Queenstown, rented a car and drove over the Crown Range."It was probably only a few days after that that I was enrolled in school. It was just like, ‘that’s that then, this is home now”.Sam finished school before studying acting and theatre craft in Sydney, spending two years working in Australia afterwards, then working in theatre and event management in the UK.As a way to help pay the bills in an unpredictable theatre industry, Sam became a chef, something she said has been really useful throughout her life."The lessons you learn in the kitchen take you through any aspect of your life. Because it’s so high pressure, when the pressure’s on you have to really trust yourself and you have to learn how to step back and break down what needs to be done and make it happen. With that kind of experience you can go into any situation and know you can handle it.”Cheffing has also taken Sam to some pretty amazing places: she and her boyfriend managed a ski lodge at Ruapehu for three winters and spent a season cooking in the Hollyford Valley. Earlier this year, Sam created a five-star menu for a group of people. She was helicoptered into the mountains to serve the meal al fresco - a pretty cool experience for a side job.Sam’s passions are community and education, so it makes sense that she has leaned towards acting, theatre and event management in her working life."I’ve always been really interested in education and community, and I think that giving back is really important. That’s why I always put my hand up for things. Say for example when it comes to the arts in Wanaka: if we want arts in Wanaka we have to make it happen for ourselves.”One of Sam’s jobs in the UK was working for the Eden Project, an educational charity for sustainability, in Cornwall. Its location: a huge crater; housing the largest rainforest in captivity; and stunning gardens, which become a location for exhibitions and concerts featuring some of the world’s biggest bands.At the Eden Project, Sam worked largely in venue planning, also working with bands and the circus. It gave her many of the skills that motivated her to start Tregold Productions here in Wanaka earlier this year, after moving back permanently two and a half years ago."Weddings feel like an extension of other things I’ve done,” Sam said. "I’m really loving it.”"There’s something really magical about helping people celebrate their love for each other. Because I’m super organised and really calm it helps them, and I offer quite a holistic service.”Her new business won’t stop Sam from being involved in other aspects of the community - her experience working on Losing Faith has made Sam keen to help develop the theatre scene in Wanaka."There are so many talented people in town that there is definitely scope for an official theatre group. How cool would it be to, once every three months, watch some comedy skits, or two productions a year or something. How awesome would that be for the town?”She’s got boundless enthusiasm, but it seems to come naturally."When you’re passionate about something it’s easy to be motivated,” Sam said. "I’m really motivated by other people and their excitement and passions too, so that really helps.”"I really feel as though I’ve returned home. I’ve gone off and had adventures and learnt some really amazing things, and now I’m home.”PHOTO: Supplied

Sean O’ConnellSUE WARDSA quote by Albert Einstein hangs in Sean O’Connell’s office: "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” It serves as a reminder to Sean and his staff to look at things a bit differently, helping Sean, an Irishman in Wanaka, live a creatively practical life.Sean is a busy man, running a design business, helping build his family home, and poking fun at Wanaka issues once a week as his cartooning alter-ego, Penbroke.He was born and raised on the Irish-speaking west coast of Ireland, in Connemara."Where I grew up was probably 99 percent Catholic. If you weren’t Catholic you probably wouldn’t admit it.” Ireland was "well shackled to the Catholic Church” in those days, Sean said."For hundreds of years the fight for independence and the fight for the church went hand in hand. Now the pendulum has swung the other way.” The exposure of years of sexual offending by Catholic priests has played a large part in people’s distrust of the church, Sean said.In his own boarding school, the students knew which priests to avoid. One of those priests was later imprisoned."The Bishop of Galway used to come and give us lectures on the evils of sex before marriage,” Sean said. It turned out the Bishop was having a relationship with his housekeeper, fathering her son."The rank hypocrisy annoyed Irish people the most,” Sean said.Sean studied industrial design in Dublin for two years and Limerick for a further two years before working for a design consultancy in Dublin. After a couple of years he moved to London to make enough money to travel. His work as a freelance industrial designer there covered everything from infrared sensors to beer taps.In 1988 he and a mate made it to Sydney, where Sean spent the next 16 years. He was joined by wife Claire (they had met at college), and they had two of their sons in Sydney, Oisín, 18, and Ferdia, 16. (Rory, 11, was born in Dunedin.)Sean’s design work led him to New Zealand. While in Sydney he worked mostly for General Electric, visiting New Zealand to work with Fisher & Paykel. He and Claire were thinking of moving to hinterland NSW, where they would have more space, but after a 10 day holiday in New Zealand they decided to move here instead, choosing Wanaka as their favourite place over Karitane, Clyde and Glenorchy.Sean’s first job in Wanaka was selling real estate. Commission-only sales meant an erratic income, and the experience was a crash course in how the Wanaka community operated."I was a bit naive thinking I could move into a small community and form those trusted relationships straight away,” he said.When Wanaka Signs came on the market, he and Claire thought it would be a good business in a growing town, and they were right. "We also thought it was one of the few creative businesses we could do in Wanaka.” That was 2007, and the O’Connells recently clocked up 10 years in the business."I enjoy it. No two days are the same.” One day it’s graphic design, the next he’s putting signs on cars, or climbing ladders to put them on a building. The business weathered the recession in 2008/9, and in the past 18 months, Sean said, "Wanaka has found its sixth gear.”While Sean’s training was in product design, he always liked drawing and illustrating. So when Nikki Heath, co-owner of the Wanaka Sun, approached him about seven years ago to ask if he would draw a weekly cartoon for the community newspaper, Sean was keen.They came up with the name ‘Penbroke’ - a play on Wanaka’s former name Pembroke - and Sean reckons he’s only missed five or six editions since then.There have been surprisingly few controversies about his weekly cartoons. A cartoon about tourists’ driving attracted hate mail from overseas (well, one letter from Australia), and his cartoons about the rowing club’s search for a home provoked comment (Sean acknowledges the rowing club’s proposed waterfront home is a controversial site, but is happy with the decision).His cartoons often feature a salty old bloke, partly inspired by Wal in Footrot Flats: the Speights-drinking, shorts-year-round, Southern Man. "Everybody knows people like that.” He has noticed a "southern uniform”, and Southern Man’s cartoon wife is usually wearing it.A Penbroke cartoon from 2014.Sean has a tight timeframe for the weekly cartoon: the editor lets him know the stories for the week on Wednesday afternoon and he has until early evening to deliver. Sometimes it takes him 15 minutes, sometimes 45. "Sometimes it will come straight to you.” The criteria: it has to be funny and not offensive.People sometimes ask him to do a cartoon about Trump, or women’s rights, he said. "But it has to be topical and funny - not necessarily related to Wanaka, but it has to be in that week’s newspaper.”He admires British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and Ireland’s Tom Mathews, but believes: "Down south there’s not an appetite for that sort of cutting political stuff. Gerald Scarfe was the ultimate cartoonist - the stuff he did of Maggie Thatcher was brutal. But withering is not on the menu down here.”Sean said he doesn’t see people with a cartoonist’s eye, but his observations suggest he does. ("I’ve always seen John Key, with his high forehead and long nose, as a vampire”, for example). He won’t be drawn on specific "eejits” around town, though. "I haven’t done any scathing cartoons. The ones that people will say something to you about, the ones people relate to more, are the jokey ones.”So he’s "not on any moral crusade”, it’s just good clean fun. He has drawn more than 400 cartoons by now, and hopes to one day compile the best 100 or so in a book, maybe to mark 10 years of work.Sean hasn’t returned to Ireland for eight years (he misses it, but is always glad to leave after a few weeks, he said). He’s part of this community, he’s been on the Montessori board of trustees, coached soccer and rowing, and has watched the town dealing with growing pains."Everybody lives in Wanaka for a reason. We didn’t want to live in Queenstown, we thought it was too busy.” Wanaka is getting busier, but Sean said the development will continue whether we like it or not. "The challenge is affordable housing and infrastructure.”Retaining Wanaka’s town centre and a sense of community is important to him. "I like that you can go into town and you’re always going to meet people. That seems to be the thing most people talk about - wanting to retain a sense of community.”Sean’s mix of fantasy and abstract thinking are helping maintain that sense of community too, through his business - and his cartoons, which give us the opportunity to laugh at ourselves.PHOTO: Supplied

Brian and his wife Maureen.MADDY HARKERBrian Cleugh, one of the founding members of the Upper Clutha Tramping Club, was awarded the club’s first ever life membership at a club meeting this month.Brian had been with the club since its formation in 2002, serving 14 years on the committee, including two as president."Brian’s wealth of experience and local knowledge has been absolutely invaluable to the club,” former president Karen Marinkovic said."If you are up in the hills and want to know the name of some distant mountain, Brian will know. If you are planning a trip into unfamiliar country, and need advice as to the best route, Brian is the man to ask.”Brian has been a member of the New Zealand Alpine Club since 1956. He has climbed extensively in New Zealand, and has also made expeditions to the Himalayas and Andes mountains.Highlights of his time with the club include reconnoitring and then introducing other club members to new destinations, particularly Queens Drive on the Remarkables, and Mount Armstrong and Mount Cross above the Haast Pass.Noting that "behind every great man is a great woman”, Marinkoviç also expressed the club’s gratitude to Brian’s wife Maureen, who has accompanied him on many of his adventures.PHOTO: Supplied

Janelle and Pierre ChampagnatMADDY HARKERFor free spirits Pierre and Janelle Champagnat, a move from Auckland to Wanaka and a serendipitous business opportunity have enabled the couple to live a simpler life.Pierre and Janelle are the representatives for three European ski products here in New Zealand: the Yooner (a sit-ski), the Wingjump (the world's first pair of wings designed to enhance skiing), and the Skiddie (a pocket-sized wheel you can attach to your ski tips so they don’t have to be carried).The couple are bringing these "ski thrills” to New Zealand to offer something different, something quirky, to New Zealand snowsports lovers. Their business motto is "why zig when you can zag?”, pointing out there are "too many ziggers in this world”.Pierre and Janelle describe themselves as unconventional; they don’t strive for success in the traditional sense."Our top value is actually freedom - it’s important to us. We have the freedom of this beautiful place for a start,” Janelle said. "We don’t see success as what a lot of people see success as. To us freedom and not having an attachment to material things, that’s really important. We like the simplicity of our lives and having the choice to live our lives our way.”The couple moved to Wanaka in January without a plan for work, but the perfect opportunity presented itself in Yooner.For Pierre, moving to Wanaka felt like returning home: he grew up in Annecy, a town in southeast France which sits on the northern tip of Lake Annecy and is surrounded by mountains.Annecy’s resemblance to Wanaka is uncanny."It’s very similar to Wanaka in a lot of ways, and both places have something very majestic about them. It was the word that first came to mind when I came here: majestic,” Pierre said.Pierre and Janelle are already well integrated into the local community: They’re members of the Chamber of Commerce, Cube Entrepreneurship Series, Wanaka Ski Club, the "Newish to Wanaka” Facebook page and more."We felt incredibly welcomed by the community when we got here,” Janelle said. "We love new people and new things, so getting to know people hasn’t been hard for us.”Like many recent Wanaka arrivals, the pair moved from Auckland on a whim in search of a simpler life."Last year we didn’t intend on moving anywhere, but Wanaka came to mind,” Janelle said. "We came to visit and just knew in our gut that it was right.”The pair met on a blind date in Auckland in 2013. Pierre, who has two children, is trained as a chef, and ran Pyrenees Cafe in Auckland before moving South. Janelle, as well as being a mother of six, is a writer who has also worked as a life coach.Pierre grew up in the mountains, skiing, working as a ski instructor, and having all sorts of outdoor adventures, so the switch from running a cafe to spending every day on a skifield promoting ski products was pretty ideal."The mountain has always been a big part of my life. And now Cardrona skifield is my office every day.”Moving to Wanaka gave Janelle and Pierre the chance to slow down and reconnect with their values, they say."It’s a completely different rhythm here,” Janelle said.PHOTO: Wanaka App

Wattie Thompson pictured in a newspaper during his cross-country solo walk.LAURA WILLIAMSONEvery Sunday in the Wanaka App, we run a profile of an interesting local, and we are always struck that, despite living somewhere with a small population, we never run out of people to write about. Turns out this is not a new thing - the region’s past is full of fascinating characters too, like Wattie Thompson. When we heard his story, we knew we had to share it.Wattie Thompson spent his last days quietly in Luggate, a much-loved member of the community known for his joviality and skill with a pool cue. After he died, his photo hung on a wall in the Luggate Hotel for years.Many of the pub patrons who glanced up from their pints to look at it would have had little idea that not only was the man in the photograph the last alluvial gold miner in the region, he played a part in one of New Zealand’s greatest tragedies.Born in England in 1909, Wattie immigrated to New Zealand as a baby with his parents, who settled at Huntly. He moved as a young man to the Ardgour Valley, near Tarras, and spent time working both there and up the Lindis until, at the age of 30, he volunteered to serve in the New Zealand Army at the start of World War II. He was captured in North Africa spent three years as a POW in Italy - wartime experiences that some say left him a committed pacifist for the rest of his life.Upon his return to Central Otago, he turned to gold prospecting almost full-time. In the Lindis Valley, he worked a claim at Camp Creek, located in the area off of SH8 now designated as Nine Mile Historic Reserve; his old two-room concrete hut is still there, near the remains of the Lindis Pass Hotel and a huge creekside pile of tailings, testament to the work done by Wattie, and the miners who came before him.He later prospected at Bendigo Gully, near Tarras, where he worked away sieving gravel and hunting for flecks of gold; he became well-known both for his hermetic lifestyle and for being the the Bendigo Goldfields’ last miner. As interest in Wattie grew, curious visitors started to stop in, and were sometimes handed a pan and a pile of gravel so they could have a go themselves.Wattie "retired” to Luggate in the late seventies, though he didn’t really stop work, continuing to look for, and find, gold in Luggate Creek.His first brush with notoriety, though, came not due to his mining endeavours, but to his religious beliefs. At the age of 56, in December 1964, Wattie set off on foot on a journey from Bluff to Cape Reinga wearing a sandwich board calling on New Zealanders to "repent” and to "remember the saboth [sic]”. He said at the time he had had a life-changing vision while alone in his hut, one which left him both deeply religious and sceptical of what he saw as the commercialisation of the mainstream churches.His trek got a bit of media attention, attracting coverage in the ‘New Zealand Truth’ tabloid newspaper; later, once he’d returned to prospecting, a writer from ‘New Zealand Woman’s Weekly’ even visited him to do a profile. She described "a slight figure with a lined, brown face, bright blue eyes … snowy hair, a white growth on the chin, body tanned through holes in his short, patched trousers, bare feet”, and praised his "simple, contented life”.His second foray into the public eye was more tragic.A humble man who needed little, Wattie owned few material possessions. People who met him commented on how he seemed happy with nothing more than his mining kit, his Bible, a radio, a tractor or two (one ended up upside down in Luggate Creek), and a jar filled with gold flakes. The jar has become a bit legendary - local rumour suggests Wattie buried it, but despite extensive searching, it has never been found.Wattie, however, was fascinated - possibly because he was so interested in geology - by Antarctica, and when he was 70-years-old, he took some of what he had amassed from his veteran’s benefit and the proceeds of gold mining and bought an uncharacteristically extravagant ticket for an 11-hour Antarctic flightseeing trip, scheduled for November 1978.He went on the flight, but, thanks to low cloud, saw nothing of the frozen continent he had dreamed of viewing; so he decided to go back.Wattie boarded Air New Zealand flight TE901 for a second time on November 28, 1979. He lost his life, along with the other 256 people on board, when the flight crashed into Mount Erebus.A memorial service was held in Luggate and Wattie was laid to rest under a quartz rock headstone at the Tarras cemetery, where it remains today, a reminder that extraordinary people are everywhere, even in the smallest of places.The Luggate Community Association is currently undertaking a project to write and publish a comprehensive history of the Luggate township and its community. To help cover costs, the LCA is seeking local businesses to come on board as sponsors. If you’d like to help make this community project happen, contact [email protected]: Supplied

Jason Watkins outside The Cube headquarters at the Cell, on Helwick Street.CAROLINE HARKERWhen Jason Watkins was interviewed for the position of Business Development Manager at the Cube, not one of the interviewers recognised him, although he had been living and working in Wanaka for five years.He must have impressed them because they gave him the job, and one of the first things he started working on was doing something about the isolation of like-minded people in the local business community.The Cube (Centre of Unique Business Evolution) was set up to maintain the momentum generated by the Wanaka Gigatown campaign. Jason’s job is to help develop opportunities for existing local businesses, attract new businesses to the area and help the local economy grow.Initiatives include a business mentors scheme and presentations, seminars and workshops for anyone who is interested. Both have done a lot to bring self-employed small business owners together, Jason said. He estimates the population of Wanaka is now around 11,000, and with 2,200 GST registered businesses in town, there’s a very high proportion of self-employed people here.When he started the Cube’s Business Mentors Initiative in April, more than 50 people applied for mentoring in the first two weeks."We had to pull our advertising. The demand was huge.” Jason has a pool of 26 mentors available and is always looking for more. They are all volunteers and between them have a huge range of experience.Some people are completely new to business when they apply for a mentor, others are quite experienced. For example, a businesswoman who produces skincare products which she sells around the country wanted to move into the international market. Jason has teamed her up with a mentor who has experience in marketing around the world. He says the breadth and depth of experience and talent in Wanaka is extraordinary."If the Cube model wouldn’t work in Wanaka it wouldn’t work anywhere,” he said. "The town is full of people who excel in all sorts of areas - from intellectual and business acumen to sporting talent.”Jason himself has had a broad and varied career. He works half-time at the Cube and the rest of the time he runs own sports management consultancy business which takes him all over the country. He has also worked in tourism, education, and science and technology.Jason and his wife Irenie decided to move to Wanaka from Christchurch about a year after the earthquakes. "The aftershocks seemed to go on and on and caused us so much stress and anxiety. Luckily I could be flexible with my work and we moved here in 2011.”They and their three children, aged two, seven and 11, are loving living in Wanaka and Jason has no regrets about the move. He’s been his own boss for most of his working life, and the combination of running the Cube and his own consultancy business suits him well.The Cube provides him with lots of contact with local people, and the challenge of providing ongoing business support and advocacy is keeping him busy.Jason is half-way through running an entrepreneur speakers series (with more sessions coming up in October and November) and is developing a Wanaka investment network. He’s also working with Peter Harris, QLDC’s newly appointed economic development manager.An important goal is to help Wanaka develop a diverse and resilient economy, extending far beyond tourism, hospitality and farming."Wanaka’s an exciting place to be,” Jason said.PHOTO: Caroline Harker

Raymond Tiddy will shave off his beard next month to raise money for his uncle Bruce, who is recovering from a life-changing cancer surgery.MADDY HARKERWanaka man Raymond Tiddy plans to shave off his impressive beard - which has been growing for two years - at the conclusion of a fundraising campaign for his uncle Bruce, who is recovering from major cancer surgery.Raymond has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for his uncle."It’s the least I can do to help him out,” Raymond said. "Growing up I had a few uncles but he was the one that was really special to me.”"He is one of those model citizens that has never smoked, lived an active lifestyle, worked to help people, and he’s been hit pretty hard with some really bad luck.”Raymond said his uncle had dedicated his life to working with some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society. He is well known and respected for his development of alcohol and drug and mental health programmes in prisons and communities across New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.Bruce has had several operations since 2013 to treat aggressive and invasive skin cancer. The operations involved removal of areas of bone and tissue and have required follow-up chemotherapy and radiation. Remarkably, all surgeries were successful and after each period of recovery he was able to return to his work and live a very full life.Earlier this year however, Bruce was diagnosed with further tumors at the base of his tongue and glands on the right side of his neck. Bruce had to have surgery which involved total removal of his tongue, voice box and the glands in his neck. He now breathes from a stoma in his neck and takes food from a feed tube.Any funds raised by Raymond would go towards Bruce’s recovery and to help him return to leading a full and active life. Because he has previously had radiation therapy, his recovery will be slow and he will have to adjust to a new way of life.Even without the use of his voice, Bruce continues his work in mental health and addiction. He is enormously positive, Raymond said, and is determined to make the most of his situation.This is the second time Raymond has shaved his beard for charity. Two and a half years ago he raised $2,500 for international aid organisation Doctors Without Borders.PHOTO: Supplied