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Archives For 30/11/1999

Jobs at DOC: Bronwyn Aalders, Team Lead Graphic Design

Department of Conservation —  01/06/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Bronwyn Aalders, Team Lead Graphic Design…

Living in Canada for a few years made for many breathtaking moments

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I head up the design team that provides design and layout services for any DOC office around the country. We design a huge variety of different products including brochures, posters, banners, advertisements, interp, stickers… the list goes on! My job is to ensure DOC’s identity is strong, consistent, and recognisable. We also provide support and advice to staff.

The journey back home from Canada took me through Thailand where air conditioning isn’t really necessary when on the road

What is the best part about your job?

Working with all the wonderful imagery from around the country and actually being able to use the products we design when out and about. It’s also great working with so many people who are situated in stunning areas around the country. I always like to visualise the view from their window (compared with mine).

What is the hardest part about your job?

Aoraki/Mount Cook: I was a tourist in New Zealand when this photo was taken. Now I live here, which is heaps better!

Probably the pace of working across such a large variety of work and jumping between jobs in a split second.

What led you to your role in DOC?

A love of wildlife and the environment, and a need to produce meaningful design. Also, the lure of mountains across the Tasman.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Moving into the role of team lead within such a short space of time. Thrilled!

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Putting up a tent and not seeing a soul in any direction
  2. My 1969 baby blue Datsun 1600
  3. Seeing mountains from my window—very different to inner city Sydney

A favourite pastime during my last four years in Sydney was rock-climbing. This is in the Blue Mountains looking down over the aptly named ‘Megalong Valley’

Three pet peeves

  1. Animal mistreatment
  2. People mocking my love for Australian marsupials
  3. Aggressive drivers when cycling

Three foods

  1. Pad grapow gai sup
  2. A good, authentic, tart lemon tart
  3. My gran’s blow-your-head-off Malay curry

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Wellington
  2. Makara (still Wellington)
  3. Wanaka

Snowboarding at Treble Cone—the board has just come out for a dusting in preparation for this season

I haven’t lived here long enough yet but hope to extend this list a lot further soon!

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie: Lost in Translation
  2. Album: Paul’s Boutique, Beastie Boys
  3. Book: Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Get that zoology degree!

Who or what inspires you and why?

My dad and his stories of growing up in and around the Malay jungle—complete with tiger sightings, snakes on top of the fridge, and pet baby elephants.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A stint of fieldwork last year put me up close and personal with the beautiful fairy wren. I worked as a field assistant right around Australia studying about 10 different wren species. This is a male red-backed fairy wren up in Cairns, temp: about 40 degrees

An architect, but graphic design isn’t too far removed so didn’t do too badly there.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

A zoologist (so probably working for DOC).

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Rethink the ‘send to print’ button.

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year—at home? At work?

Cycle to work every day, not just every second day.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

Hmm I guess an albatross would be kind of cool.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

New Zealanders have a fresh start. They live in the newest place on Earth. Start as you mean to go on.

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Jobs at DOC: Mary-Anne Baxter

Department of Conservation —  25/05/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Mary-Anne Baxter, Permissions/Statutory Land Management (SLM) Supervisor, Canterbury

At work

Evening walks each day during my stint at the Arthur’s Pass Visitors Centre last year – the only time I’ve got to wear a proper DOC uniform

Position:Transitioning! Currently acting Permissions/Statutory Land Management (SLM) Supervisor Canterbury Conservancy since this February, high country tenure review officer for the previous seven years, and very shortly to become a Christchurch shared service SLM advisor.

What kind of things do you do in your role?

My tenure review role involved a lot of document drafting for proposals on high country pastoral leases, report and document editing, and implementing archaeological assessments on pastoral leases throughout Canterbury. My current role involves the day to day running of the Canterbury Permissions/SLM team while the newly appointed manager focuses on transitioning to Shared Services. My new role will involve all the statutory land management tasks involved with land disposals and acquisitions, land status investigation, and providing advice to others in the department on this.

What is the best part about your job?

Over recent years it has been the opportunities to research and discover potential historic/archaeological sites and then to actually get out in the high country with a 4WD and archaeologist and actually find them!

A mid 1800’s Mackenzie Basin fence still surviving today, complete with historic horse gateway through it

What is the hardest part about your job?

Convincing others of the processes involved and why things sometimes take a long time to happen.

What led you to your role in DOC?

Making the most of opportunities that become present along the road of life.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

The original 1880 iron trig marker below a mid 1900’s trig – surveying history combined with amazing Mackenzie Basin views, 4WD trip to get there, great company and amazing archaeological discoveries to find

The lack of any significant earthquakes happening!

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Historic research and site discovery!
  2. Taking the Toyota Hilux 4WD out in the high country associated with the above.
  3. Family (most of the time—teenagers are rather hit and miss at times!) and following their sports and music successes.

Three pet peeves

  1. People leaving the television on when no-one is in the room.
  2. Empty containers being left in the fridge/pantry (can’t you tell I have teenagers!)
  3. Cyclists running red lights.

Three foods

  1. Mum’s home baking—worth watching the rugby at Mum’s just for the baking!
  2. Pasta.
  3. Roast potatoes, my daughters favourite.

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. St James Station. High country/historic/scenery (and 4WDing for work trips) all mixed in together.
  2. West Coast walks. Charming Creek, Lyell Walkway and Denniston Plateau area in particular. Again the mix of really neat historic things, fantastic scenery and really interesting walks.
  3. Arthur’s Pass. After my couple of months working there last year the enthusiasm of the terrific visitor centre staff there have me sold on the area!

    Overlooking the magical Lake Benmore – a family picnic at the type of spot everyone should get out to

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Book. Usually whatever I happen to be reading at the time—presently “Caught Mapping” which has wonderful stories of the early surveyors in the 1800’s who mapped our country. I also enjoy a good Jodi Picoult or Lee Child as well though.
  2. Movie. The Lake House has been a favourite, but also Avatar and Inception have been a few that rated highly (in the days when the kids would let us go to the movies with them!).
  3. Album. 30ish years ago it would have definitely been Abba or Bee Gees—these days normally whatever someone else has playing.

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Make the most of any opportunities that come along (though I probably knew that by then) and to take life as it comes—you never know what will come along next!

Preparations to venture through the cave at Cave Stream, Craigeburn

Who or what inspires you and why?

Probably my parents, for all the community activities they have always been involved with. It’s not until you are there yourself, trying to keep up with your own family and community activities that you really appreciate all your parents really did and are still doing.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A primary school teacher, then later in high school, a surveyor.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Surveying would actually still be a good alternative, although historic/archaeological work would be really high on the list, plus legal work would also be attractive (I’m currently studying for a Legal Executive Diploma).

Real life gold panning on the West Coast—I’m glad the objective was a quiet picnic by the river than actually making our fortune in gold!

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Turning off lights and appliances if they are not being used.

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year—at home? At work?

Training the rest of the family to turn off lights and appliances if they are not being used! Work is actually pretty good with green behaviour.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

A NZ falcon appeals, soaring above the high country tussocks.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

Go out and enjoy the wonderful walks/scenery/tramps/activities available on conservation land so you can learn to appreciate the value in looking after it for future generations.

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Jobs at DOC: Business Accountant, Andrew Reese-Jones

Department of Conservation —  18/05/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Andrew Reese-Jones, Business Accountant, Canterbury.

At work…

It’s important for an accountant to have a sense of humour (unfortunately, Andrew wears this outfit to work most days!)

What kind of things do you do in your role?

Provide accounting advice to our Area Offices and Senior Management Team, coordinate and monitor the Canterbury Conservancy budget, help prepare large capital business cases and get involved in national projects that require accounting support.

Business accountants are based in the various Conservancies, but report to a business accounting manager in Wellington. In a nutshell our role is to use our accounting skills and business experience to add value at both a Conservancy and national level.

What is the best part about your job?

The feeling that I am making a difference to support a team of awesome people who are passionate about conservation. Being an effective accountant at DOC is all about relating to the people on the ground, so I also love getting out to the Areas whenever I can.

It’s a beautiful day for a run, as Andrew approaches the Luxmore Hut
during the 2010 Kepler Challenge

What is the hardest part about your job?

The constant feeling that I can never quite get to ALL the worthy projects on the ‘value-add’ list. I guess it’s human nature that we tend to focus on what we haven’t got to, rather than all the great successes we do achieve.

What led you to your role in DOC?

I’ve always been active in the outdoors—trail running, mountain biking, tramping, kayaking and so on. After gaining my accounting qualifications with one of the large chartered accounting firms, I took on the role as accountant and then financial controller for the New Zealand outdoor equipment company Macpac. Joining DOC in 2008 was a natural progression to an organisation that has continued the outdoor connection, but also provided the prized opportunity to contribute to conservation.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Going for an awe inspiring daybreak run with my boss up the Hooker Valley track in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. It’s just a magic place for anyone that hasn’t been there.

The rule of three…

Three loves

Successful dad and daughter night’s fishing at Lake Alexandrina

  1. My family
  2. Trail running
  3. Time in the hills

Three pet peeves

  1. Sweating the small stuff
  2. Running injuries
  3. Hut snorers

Three foods

  1. Bluff oysters
  2. Pasta
  3. Peanut slabs (the more you run the more you can eat!)

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Christchurch (earthquake capital!)
  2. Aoraki Mount Cook National Park
  3. Stewart Island

A day trip from Christchurch to the Mahaanui Area’s
historic Packhorse Hut

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie: The Castle
  2. Album: The Pogues
  3. Book: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Robin Sharma)

Andrew, Jake and Anna about to start the St James Walkway
from the Lewis Pass end

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Find and follow your passion and learn to laugh at yourself. But most of all … always buy your wife a birthday present even when she says she doesn’t want one (took me years to learn this one!).

Who or what inspires you and why?

Humble people who achieve great things through persistence and hard work. And even more those people who then give so much back to others, e.g. Sir Ed Hillary and Murray Halberg.

All safely through one of the avalanche zones on the St James Walkway

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A jockey (Dad trained race horses and fortunately said I was too heavy. Really he was just scared what mum would say).

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Something connected to the outdoors that paid the bills.

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

The relief is evident, finishing the 2010 Kepler Challenge


Nothing in particular, but if we all do the small things, together it can make a massive impact—recycling, composting, energy efficient bulbs and so on.

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year—at home? At work?

I’d like to see how paperless we can be. The earthquake has shown us in Canterbury that we don’t need anywhere near the paper files we thought that we couldn’t do without.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

Whio (blue duck)—no still pond for these guys, they love life in the rapids.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

If you think about the number of people in the world, we have all struck Lotto to live in New Zealand. So I say appreciate your good fortune by getting out there and enjoying it, sharing it and respecting it.

Taking part in the National 10 km Road Championships
on Wellington waterfront in August 2011

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Jobs at DOC: Negotiations Policy Advisor, Amber Duncalfe

Department of Conservation —  11/05/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Amber Duncalfe, Negotiations Policy Advisor/Kaiwhakatakoto Kaupapa, National Office.

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I’m happy because this is the first day of the tramp and I had a shower this morning – Routeburn Track, 2010

I provide policy advice to assist the Department in its role in Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations, and more generally to support positive relationships with iwi/Māori.

Policy is a set of decisions about what to do on a given issue, so policy advice is just work that helps people identify what the issues are, analyse risks and opportunities, set objectives, and work out what course of action is likely to help achieve those objectives. The work I do helps the Department to navigate tricky issues in this area, and to capture opportunities for positive change. Policy is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I am a complete nerd and I love it.

On a day to day basis, my job involves a lot of research, writing, discussion and lots and lots and lots of thinking about different Treaty and settlement-related issues.

What is the best part about your job?

I get to learn, think, and write about some of the most interesting and important things happening in New Zealand right now. Treaty settlements are helping to build a strong and positive future for our country and I think we should be proud to be playing a part in that process.

With my Mum on the Routeburn Track. The thought of five days of dehydrated food made us seriously consider jumping.

What is the hardest part about your job?

Sitting at a desk most of the day is really hard. Treaty settlements are difficult, but important and worthwhile. Sometimes my brain hurts.  

What led you to your role in DOC?

I always wanted to work for DOC. I’m very interested in environmental policy and I just follow what interests me. I did a Masters of Environmental Studies in 2005, then worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Te Puni Kōkiri as a policy advisor on natural resource policy issues, before starting with DOC in 2009.

Annual Duncalfe family tramp 2011: The Duncalfes take on the Milford Track

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Getting confirmation that I’m doing Pukenga Atawhai (a training programme covering the skills needed to build and maintain effective relationships with tangata whenua) in June.

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. My family
  2. A good soy flat white
  3. My friends

Three pet peeves

  1. Overripe feijoas (so disappointing)
  2. Retail shopping (The lighting! The piped music! The inane small talk! Being given unsolicited fashion advice by 19 year olds! GAH!)
  3. People who write letters to the editor saying that New Zealand is becoming a third world country (I would like to drop these people in the middle of Angola with $10 in their pocket and a great opportunity to develop some perspective)

    Working at an orphanage in Benin, West Africa, 2011

Three foods

  1. Coffee
  2. Barbecued halloumi
  3. Spicy Asian dishes of any kind

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Newtown, Wellington
  2. My parents’ house in Auckland (my tūrangawaewae)
  3. Aōtea/Great Barrier Island
  4. Fiordland (OK, that is four, but this question was hard)

Scenery was spectacular, the food not so much: lunchtime on the Milford Track

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique-Bauby
  2. Album: High Violet by The National
  3. Movie: Favourite movie is too hard

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Dad overseeing an advanced tramping manoeuvre: Matemateaonga Track, 2012

I would start with ‘don’t wear petticoats over pants’, also ‘don’t move out of home yet, you’ll regret it when you’re 33 and still flatting’, moving on to ‘stop borrowing so much student loan’, then ‘take geography as well as history’, ‘study languages’, and finally ‘set your sights higher’. But the petticoat thing is the most important!

Who or what inspires you and why?

My friends and family because they are totally amazing, the people and landscapes of Aotearoa/New Zealand because they are beautiful, and travelling because the world is a vast, fascinating and wonderful place. And old people who are full of life and doing great things as this gives me lots to look forward to.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An acrobat, a ventriloquist, or one of Paula Abdul’s backup dancers.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

I still want to be one of Paula Abdul’s backup dancers, but back in the 80s when she was cool.

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Eat less meat. You and the planet will be much healthier!

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year—at home? At work?

One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to be less materialistic. I have to say it’s mostly going quite well, except that I have a major weakness for great dresses that I can’t seem to curb.

Aotea/Great Barrier Island AKA “Heaven”

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

A godwit, so I could travel and fly.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

Conservation is essential to what makes New Zealand great, so let’s not get complacent about it. Also, we have great opportunities to make conservation even more special by working with tangata whenua, but we need to be open minded and flexible in order to make that happen. Also, don’t go overseas if you haven’t seen Fiordland yet—it’s New Zealand’s Taj Mahal!

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This is your life—Dave Murray

Department of Conservation —  04/05/2012

After 39 years working in conservation, Dave Murray retired at the end of February from the Te Manahuna Area Office in Twizel. A sociable character, you always knew when Dave was in the room! His lively presence will be missed in the office.

Dave spent the last 30 years working with critically endangered kakī in the Mackenzie Basin. Over this time he developed a huge depth of knowledge on New Zealand’s unique braided rivers, having worked within all major riverbeds from Godley river in the north, to Ahuriri river in the south.

Dave on his honeymoon. In Seaforth Valley, Fiordland

Name: Dave Murray.

Job position: Ranger – Assets-biodiversity, Te Manahuna Area office, Twizel.

How did you get into conservation work?

I started off working for the New Zealand Wildlife Service. The job was very diverse and I was one of the last people to get a job without a degree or the internal traineeship. There were only 200 employees in the Wildlife Service working in the field so you knew everyone—you could ring anybody for advice. It was far less formal, and more relaxed than DOC. There was not much money and you had to do everything on a shoestring.

I spent some time in Rotorua doing law enforcement work and then moved to the West Coast. I spent several years carrying out bird and vegetation counts in the beech forest. We worked from Westport through to Okarito, concentrating on areas that were likely to be involved in logging.

Early days looking after kakī in Mackenzie Basin for the New Zealand Wildlife Service

What was your role with DOC?

After a stint as the sole Wildlife Service officer in Hokitika, I was asked to come and look after the kakī/black stilts in Twizel in 1981. Since that time I have seen the kakī numbers slowly increase. Kakī would have been extinct by now if we hadn’t been doing what we have been doing.

How did the Kakī Recovery Programme get started?

In 1981 there were only 23 kakī left. Ron Neilson was working for the New Zealand Wildlife Service in Dunedin and he came up and realised there were not many kakī. Also, Ray Pierce was doing a thesis at Otago University on black stilts and pied stilts and he figured out that between the two species, there were not many left.

Dave on a kakī release near Lake Tekapo in winter

Have you any thoughts on preservation of our braided rivers and wildlife?

How do people use riverbeds without stuffing them up? It would be good to fence off riverbeds and allow people to walk around them and not be able to drive. I‘ve seen a huge increase in the number of 4WDs in riverbeds over the years. I have also seen people park in the middle of black-fronted tern colonies to go fishing and wonder why the birds are annoying them.

Most winters Dave would run away from the office… here, in Nepal on Chhukung Ri, 5830 metres

What was the best part of your job?

Walking the river deltas on calm, clear days in winter… then spotting banded kakī that I knew and seeing them survive in winter—it’s pretty encouraging.

What is your favourite place?

Okarito on the West Coastis a place that is special to me.

Dave in South Westland

What are your plans now?

I’ve got a lot of images to categorise. I’d also like to photograph new stuff—I have just been photographing saddlebacks and stitchbirds. I take pictures of birds doing things, I don’t like posed pictures.

Dave’s wife Liz, daughter Tara, and Dave after finishing the Kepler Challenge

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