August Newsletter - Waiheke Walking Festival

by Vicki Angland | August 15, 2022

The 2022 Waiheke Walking Festival – presented by Ray White

10th – 20th November 2022

11 fabulous days at ‘the world’s friendliest walking festival’

This month …

Check out our wonderful sponsors, including two new Festival sponsors – we welcome Postage Stamp Wines and Go Media to the Festival sponsorship team
Glowing Sky returns to the sponsorship family
Check out the website for some sneak peeks of Festival walks coming up
Dates for programme release and booking are here!
A local play with a fun walking theme

We are delighted to have our sponsor team confirmed for 2022. We’re excited to welcome Postage Stamp Wines as our newest Major Sponsor, and we will tell you a little more about them next month.

Welcome also to Waiheke locals Andrea and Mike from Go Media. We are thrilled to have you part of the Festival sponsor team.

After losing their home in the Ōtautahi earthquake in 2011, Go Media co-founder Mike Gray and his wife Andrea Rongonui relocated to Waiheke with their children and have called it their home ever since. As a company that firmly believes in the principle of Manaakitanga (the uplifting of all) and keeping things Aotearoa Tūturu (Forever Aotearoa), sponsoring the Waiheke Walking Festival is a no brainer as Mike said: “We love supporting our local community and promoting the motu, so are looking forward to inviting you all to be kaitiaki of the land.”

Here’s a pic of Mike and Andrea whilst walking the Routeburn track in Queenstown.

The Festival welcomes back Glowing Sky as a Named Walk Sponsor – we love their Waiheke story …

The Glowing Sky story began at the very edge of the human world on Rakiura / Stewart Island, New Zealand.

Since 2008, they have made all their incredible merino garments in Timaru – within view of The Southern Alps where the Merino Wool is grown.

How fantastic this family run company use only premium renewable, biodegradable, sustainable ZQ Merino Wool.

This funny story is from Dil and Cath Belworthy, the owners of Glowing Sky. “Waiheke is our only North Island store, and was in fact the second shop we ever opened. That came about when a former employee at our Rakiura store shifted there and contacted us suggesting it would be a good place for us to branch out. We thought ‘Stewart Island – Waiheke Island, they are bound to be the same thing? On his initial visit Dil thought he had confirmed this view when he visited a local shop and there were gumboots lined up outside the store and a car parked outside with doors left open. All very Stewart Island Dil was thinking!
And then as he left the shop a Maserati convertible drove past. Ah, not so Stewart Island!

This is Glowing Sky’s longest serving staff member, Annie in the Waiheke Glowing Sky store, wearing the classic merino swing jumper.

SNEAK PEAKS of 2022 walks

Did you know we have 14 walks already up to view on the our website. You can’t book the walks yet, and not all the details are there, but this gives our early searchers a few ideas of what is in the wings for November! Have a look HERE

IMPORTANT DATES

September 1st – Programme release date – all the walks will be viewable on the website. Also, you will be able to download (and print) the A4 brochure at this time. We know you love to pour over the walks and choose your favourites.

September 15th – 10am Early booking opens for Friends and Patrons.

October 3rd – 10am BOOKINGS OPEN for everyone

November 10 – 20 Waiheke Walking Festival

This pic is an old favourite, taken a few years back by Gareth James.

We’d like to help support the Waiheke Theatre Company. Their upcoming play has a relevant and fun walking theme, click the link below to buy tickets.

Six Women, a DOC hut, a storm, a ghost and a game of musical chairs.

Roger Hall’s ‘Social Climbers’ has it all. Playing from Aug 18th to 26th.

A group of female teachers, plus one reluctant accompanying daughter, embark on a weekend of walking in the mountains to get away from it all!

Torrential rains and a washed out bridge traps them in a DOC hut together for three days. Two days in everything’s chummy – sort of like high school camp. Three days in, they’re definitely not happy campers.

Will the rain ever stop? Will the resident hut ghost get them in the middle of the night? Or will they find out what true friendship really means?

An insightful situation comedy about truth, consequences, and unexpected revelations.

Book your tickets – https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2022/aug/social-climbers

Happy walking everyone,
Your Festival Team
Vicki, Nicky, Tess, Linda, Mandy, Judy, Sarah and Anna

To email us CLICK HERE

A BIG thank you to our Presenting Partner

Ray White Waiheke, and our Principal Funders – Patrons of the Waiheke Walking Trust and the Waiheke Local Board, to our Major Sponsors Make Tracks and Postage Stamp Wines, and our supporting sponsors, Fullers360, Go Media and NSPR for your support of the Festival in 2022.

We are proudly Kauri Dieback free on Waiheke Island, and the Waiheke Walking Festival is committed to keeping it that way. Always brush and disinfect your shoes on arrival at the Kauri Dieback station at the Matiatia ferry terminal.

We are proudly Kauri Dieback free on Waiheke Island, and the Waiheke Walking Festival is committed to keeping it that way. Always brush and disinfect your shoes on arrival at the Kauri Dieback station at the Matiatia ferry terminal.

All walkers will also do the same at the start and end of each walk.