All our guides and walking ambassadors are volunteers and either live and work on Waiheke Island or they have a close affiliation to and love for the island.
To help them seem familiar when you meet them here is a little bit about each of them and a photo (photos will be posted as soon as we can persuade these shy people to hand them over!).
Chief Guides
Gary Wilton – Gary is the Parks Advisor for the Hauraki Gulf. He says it wasn’t the beaches or the vineyards that brought him to Waiheke, it was the opportunity to run on a different trail each morning! Brought up in an idyllic valley in England’s Peak District, he loves hills and if they lead to the sea, all the better. When he got the chance to manage Waiheke’s parks, reserves and walkways in 2005 he jumped at the chance and has relished the opportunity to improve, extend and enjoy Waiheke’s 75km of public walkways. After six years he still can’t believe he gets paid for what really is a ‘walk in the park’.
What he really likes about the Waiheke Walking Festival is the chance to be around satisfied customers. To pass on his enthusiasm and to see the joy that others get from walking the tracks, hearing the stories and seeing something special for the first time.
You will know Gary by his loud voice, his lanky gait and his keen eye for the special, the unique and the quirky. Ask him anything about Waiheke and he’ll do his best to tell a tale…
Janine James – Janine is our Dora the Explorer, she loves exploring the outdoor world and has been sharing her passsion with walkers for the past 20 years. She regularly leads walks on Waiheke throughout the summer months. Janine always knew she would be a park ranger so clocked up many hours hounding people about local history, native plants, their uses and identifying birdlife. After doing her degree in Parks and Recreation Management she worked as a wilderness guide in USA before heading home to work as a Park Ranger for Auckland Regional Council.
A major mountain biking accident in 2002 slowed her down a bit and, as she puts it, semi-retired to Waiheke, but this opened up the opportunity to develop her photography skills which she will share on one of her guided walks during the festival.
Janine is also a great storyteller and has a positive cornucopia of knowledge to call upon. From the quirky to the serious your walk will be a process of discovery, you won’t go home without taking a piece of Waiheke with you!
Guest Guides
Wetland and birdlife experts, Tony King-Turner and Janet Hunt will fascinate you on the Okahuiti Wetland Walk.
Tony King-Turner – Geologist, environmentalist, conservationist, philanthropist, Tony has a passion for restoring wetlands and native forest. He has been a guide on the Milford, Routeburn and Hollyford tracks and is responsible for creating many of the tracks you will be walking on during this festival. He generously gives his time and shares his expertise with many groups helping them develop tracks and walkways across the island. Most recently students from Auckland Grammar School and St Cuthbert’s College have spent about 1000 volunteer hours as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award Scheme creating tracks on Waiheke under Tony’s guidance. He has trekked the Himalayas, ridden a bike the length of New Zealand, been a prospector in the West Australian outback and even after all this can say he finds new things to discover on Waiheke daily!
Janet Hunt – Janet lived near the Okahuiti wetland for ten years during which there was scarcely a day when she didn’t walk around some part of it. When a group of Waihekeans came together to form the Waiheke Island Wetland Initiative (or WIWI) in 2005, this was one of the first wetlands they visited. Janet has always found it an area of great beauty, a place of forever-changing light and mood, bright with the green of spring, golden in summer and colourful in autumn, mysterious in mist, ethereal in frost and always an inspiration when she was working on her award-winning book, Wetlands of New Zealand: a bitter-sweet story
Andy Spence -An acknowledged environmentalist, Andy has 18 years experience of the island and its ecosystems. He has a science background but his most recent bid for fame has been as Tevye in the local production of Fiddler on the Roof (rave reviews!). He has detailed knowledge of native plants and weed problems and for 15 years managed the Whakanewha Regional Park developing it from scratch to the acknowledged beauty spot it is today.
Join Andy on the ‘Cross Island Walk’, a bush setting for most of the way from Rocky Bay to Onetangi. He will be able to answer your questions on all aspects of the natural environment as you go and give commentary on the history of much of what you see. You will need to be prepared for some short steep descents so wear your good walking shoes and take some refreshments as this is a 3 hour walk with a short break
Barnett Bond - A local GP, Barnett is also Miro Vineyard owner and wine-maker. His Madame-Rouge is justly award-winning and famous. Well-known locally as ‘that bloke who regularly swims (or used to) the length of Onetangi Beach and back, Barnett and his wife Cat Vosper have thrown their support behind the Walking Festival as they are keen to promote exercise for health and leisure. Who better than Barnett to guide you through Waiheke vineyard country on the ‘Madame-Rouge Walk’.
Paul Monin – ‘Bunkers, Submarines and Stealing the Beach – an Owhanake History Lesson’. Well-known historian, Paul Monin, lives on Waiheke Island and has a wealth of knowledge. Last year he shared his research of the History of the Southern Bays, this year be prepared to be surprised.
Sacha Paddy – Sacha is a keen walker and has always found a sense of meditation in the rhythm of walking, where the mind can settle into an expansive state and open to the beauty of the environment around us. Her ultimate walking meditation was a 6 week walk across northern Spain, on the Camino de Santiago, an incredible and often very challenging experience, she says. Sacha is a 5Rhythms dance and a yoga teacher, both practices of moving meditation, she leads ‘Walking Meditation‘.
June Stevenson – June is INWA® certified Nordic Walking national coach (NZ), a Master Instructor and REPs Personal Trainer. Although she lives in Auckland she finds herself drawn back to Waiheke over and over. Poles in hand she can be seen striding along Waiheke’s walkways all through the year, she has generously volunteered her time to lead all five trial sessions and the expert session Nordic Walking.
Lorraine Thomson – Lorraine leads ‘Walk to Fitness’. She is an advocate of fitness and not just on paper. This year she has run the Paris Marathon, previous marathons include London, Auckland and Rotorua. She has cycled the 160km ‘Round Lake Taupo’ cycle race as well as the Otago Rail Trail. Her treks include the length of Hadrian’s Wall from one side of England to the other and the Milford and Hollyford Tracks. On Waiheke Lorraine has run the Wharf to Wharf 25km event for the past 11 years and is frequently seen along Waiheke walkways. She really walks and runs the talk however, her favourite sport is tennis.
Forest & Bird Guides
Brian Griffiths – Brian has been Ranger for the Onetangi Reserve since 2000 and is currently engaged in a major upgrade of the reserve track network. He has also been the F&B Hauraki Islands Branch Chairman since 2006. Brian is a strong supporter of the Waiheke Walking Tracks initiatives and advocates the strengthening of the ecological corridors on the island. Back by popular demand is our walk ‘Making Tracks in Onetangi Reserve’
Lincoln Jackson – Lincoln is Ranger for Te Haahi Goodwin Reserve at the Orapiu end of Waiheke Island. He started his involvement with F&B in 2005, working in the Atawhai Whenua Reserve with the late Don Chapple. Since that time he has worked in all three Waiheke reserves and has a special talent for growing young native trees. He says his favourite food is shepherds pie and he can eat vast amounts of it!
Whakanewha Regional Park Guides – the Tarata Track
Whakanewha Regional Park is managed by Auckland Council’s Regional and Specialist Park Unit and its park rangers Dan Beauchamp and Beatty Wiggenhauser work together, along with a multitude of dedicated volunteers and contractors in maintaining and developing this unique piece of Waiheke Island. Beatty and Dan are keen to share their enthusiasm of the park, showcasing the newly upgraded Tarata Track with its fine collection of mature native broadleaf trees and great views of the park and inner gulf.
Dan has lived on Waiheke and worked at Whakanewha since 2000 and is responsible for track maintenance, weed control and revegetation. He loves the diversity that Whakanewha offers to islanders and visitors, from meandering bush trails and sweeping beaches to the way emerging native trees are slowly succeeding the scarring of weeds.Dan will offer the visitor experiences that they will find nowhere else on Waiheke, and inform you of the dramatic changes in the park following its purchase, the removal of cattle and the parks ability to regenerate itself following intensive weed control programmes, which are still occurring today.
With a background in environmental management, Beatty is responsible for pest control and providing a safe habitat for the endangered New Zealand dotterel breeding on the Whakanewha foreshore. She is excited that recent surveys show large numbers of forest and green geckos in the park. Beatty is also in responsible for the Poukaraka Flats Campground, which has previously been acknowledged as one of New Zealand’s Top 10 camping locations. Beatty enjoys seeing people walking, cycling or kayaking to Poukaraka Flats and has been active in getting more schools involved in the park.
Barbara Wilkinson – Barbara and Elvis, her four-legged friend, will be overseeing the ‘Doggy Delights‘ guided walks for dogs. Barbara and the Waiheke Dog Owners Group were instrumental in getting agreement from Auckland Council that certain beaches on Waiheke be dog-friendly all year round and currently she is working on ‘Dogs are Okay’ – a safety around dogs guide. That is Onetangi beach in the background.
Tanya Batt – Regarded as one of New Zealand’s top storytellers she is based on the enchanted island of Waiheke when she is not travelling around the world sharing her work. She believes that delight and curiosity form the basis for enjoyable and effective life long learning. There is so much to say about Tanya it might be best if you just visit Imagined Worlds.
Tanya established a charitable trust, the Once Upon an Island Trust, which encompasses a Story Centre on Waiheke and the international bi-annual Storytelling Festival . Whenever she is seen around the island, usually wearing red and pedalling a bicycle, you can hear children excitedly say, ‘there’s Tanya Batt’.
The Walking Ambassadors
Ably led by Onetangi resident Sue Pharo, our ambasadors are a wonderful bunch of volunteers who will ‘meet and greet’ our visitors, act as ‘tail-end-charlies’ on the walks, answer your questions, hold the First Aid Kit (supplied by St John) and be on hand at i-SITE in Oneroa to sell Festival postcards ($2 each and 3 for $5) and Treasure Quest entry forms ($20 each).
Ambassadors will be wearing green t shirts, black caps and sporting the ‘Ask Me About the Walking Festival’ badge.
