Wairarapa - Lower North Island's conservation secret
One of my major tasks for 2008/09 was to develop a brochure for Wairarapa day visitors and families.
Over the years Wellington Conservancy has shifted the majority of its publications away from printed material. Some feedback I received early in 2008 was that there was demand from visitors for printed guides to look around the large amount of recreation and visitor opportunities that DOC Wairarapa manages. The boss agreed and my work began.
It was a great exercise as a new migrant to Wairarapa and to DOC. I gathered destination information from various sources including long-time ranger Joe Hansen’s head and started to pull it together into a booklet. Originally thinking it would be around 30 pages the final product has 72 pages and is full of useful stuff and beautiful photos (some shown here).
Hunting up Waiohine River
The normal stuff in a brochure are included like track and hut information but I decided to engage with our local iwi and got them to write a section on sites of importance on DOC land (and slightly beyond). I love to read about stories about the local area as it gives me a different perspective so figured others would too. I’m glad they’ve allowed us to capture this because conservation doesn’t stop with species and places and we must conserve our cultural history as well.
Other cool sections in the brochure includes a section on bird watching and other interesting fauna, botany and tonnes of awesome photos including our front cover shot of the Waiohine Valley with the suspension bridge taken by the designer Mikis van Geffen.
Rimutaka Rail Trail ends in historic Cross Creek
You can have a look at our brochure on our website or contact a few different places to buy a printed copy for the bargin price of $3 (it’s the perfect size to fit in the glovebox of your car). These include:
- DOC Wellington Visitor’s Centre
- Carterton Information Centre
- Masterton Information Centre
- DOC Wairarapa Area Office
Let me know what you think as I’m always looking to improve!
Yes the brochure is great…and it’s also available at the Martinborough i-SITE Visitor Cntre.