The Bay of Islands Walking Weekend takes place over four days from October 12-15. The guided walks include a large variety of tracks on islands and remote spots on the peninsular which are often hard
to access as individuals.

Before then, it’s the poster that attracts almost as much attention. In fact, the posters are being sold as a fundraiser three months out from the start date of the Walking Weekend.

They are designed by Troy Packer of Kawakawa. He grew up in Kawiti, 10 minutes’ drive from Otiria, and went to Bay of Islands College. His full-time job is not as a graphic designer but as a construction supervisor for Ventia.

Over the past several years he has completed “a few” e-book illustrations for Kiwa Digital, he has done 3D product design for Cobra Labs, designed a poster for the Russell Bowling Club centenary celebrations, one for Omata Estate and for many years has designed the Bay of Islands Walking Weekend posters.

The brief this year was to work from a photo taken by William Fuller, one of the organisers of the Walking Weekend, who said he was on Moturua Island at the lookout above Army Bay.

“I kayaked out to walk the island, captured the shot and we asked Troy to add the birds and a person looking at the view.”

Packer designs purely digitally because he declares it’s easier and quicker to rough out ideas.

“You can change the elements, colours, positions and scale of the subject matter on the fly, it is a much more flexible and fluid way of doing things.”

When it comes to the Bay of Islands Walking Weekend posters he says we are lucky in the Far North to have amazing and varied locations and landscapes.

“Along with our history it’s not hard to find something that gives the posters the right look and feel and I just illustrate them in the style required,” he says.

He has had positive feedback, which he says is “awesome” from the people the posters are aimed at and for the events they represent.

New CEO for Waitangi Trust

The Waitangi Trust has announced the appointment of Ben Dalton as chief executive of Waitangi Limited.

He is currently deputy chief executive – place, with Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. He starts his new role on September 1, 2023.

His whakapapa is Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Scottish, Irish and Danish.

He has had a diverse career path with various Government Ministries. These include as chief operating officer of the Provincial Growth Fund Unit, deputy chief executive roles with the Ministry of Primary Industries and the Ministry of Fisheries and chief executive of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

He is no stranger to the Treaty Grounds. In 1990 he was a protester who was eventually restrained by police and the flag he was holding was seized. The moment was captured by Evening Post photographer, Ross Giblin, and the photo is now in the National Library in Wellington.

It was the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and Queen Elizabeth II was present. Henearoahuaea Tepou threw a wet T-shirt at the Queen and although it didn’t hit the mark the Queen was nonetheless startled.

The protesters’ edict that year was that the Crown had failed to honour the precepts of the Treaty.

In 2009 Dalton was awarded a Safety in the City certificate for bravery by the then Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast.

One report said he “wielded a restaurant chair like a lion tamer” to tackle an armed man threatening children in downtown Wellington.

He was one of three people who confronted the man who was smashing windows and damaging goods in a shop in Manners Mall. Dalton challenged him to drop the bar. The other two men tackled the man and were able to restrain him until the police arrived.

Waitangi Ltd chairman Eru Lyndon says that Ben is known for delivering.

“He joins us at a time when we’re looking out to 2040 which is 200 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We have exciting plans to enhance our visitor experience, enhance local, regional, domestic and international relationships.”

KOAST growing in stature

The popular KOAST art trail is back this year for the first time since 2019.

Building on the success of KOAST since its inception in 2014, this year’s event has expanded to include artists from Doubtless Bay to the Hokianga and from around Northland.

The event will be open for an extra day, from October 20-23, and is being run under a slightly different model.

KOAST spokesman Bruce MacGregor said it’s an opportunity for artists to take advantage of the reputation KOAST has built up over the years and to share their work with other art-loving visitors.

“Participating artists can exhibit either in their own studio or in a collective art hub, plus they get publicity on the KOAST website and an eight-week advertising campaign, event studio signage, and the ongoing option to exhibit at the Packhouse Market KOAST space,” he said.

KOAST is being held under the auspices of Bay of Islands Creative Charitable Trust, BOICCT. McGregor says with over 70 artists in the last trail, its organization needed more time and management than volunteers can provide so it was decided to employ an events coordinator.

The event will retain the brand name KOAST, but to reflect the geographic growth of the trail, it will become known as KOAST, The Tai Tokerau Art Trail, rather than KOAST, Kerikeri Open Art Studios Trail.

Top Energy Grant winner and Energy Excellence Awards finalist

Top Energy recently announced the winner of their sponsored Business Development Fund and are also a finalist in the New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards.

Business Development Fund winners

Areion Sports Coaches, the manufacturer of custom-built horse floats, caravans and 4×4 motor homes in the Bay of Islands, is the latest recipient of Top Energy’s $30k Business Development Fund.

Horse riding duo Sean Hallowes and Tanya Bijl set up the company in 2019 after seeing a gap in the New Zealand equestrian market for lightweight, comfortable and fuel-efficient trailers.

With Sean’s background in building luxury motorhomes and his experience with composite fibreglass materials and specialist moulds, Areion replaced the heavy steel frames traditionally used in horse floats.

Areion’s innovative designs have garnered considerable popularity, attracting inquiries from as far away as Invercargill, and not just for horse floats. They’ve had to expand their product stable to include retrofitting caravans and more recently manufacturing 4×4 motorhomes.

Excellence in Energy Awards

Hitting carbon zero at the Ngāwhā Geothermal Power Station has placed the station and lead engineer Fabian Hanik as finalists in this year’s New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards. The winners are announced at an awards night on August 30 at Te Pae, Christchurch.

Fabian Hanik has been named a finalist in the Young Energy Professional of Year category and Ngāwhā Generation Limited is a finalist in the Low Carbon Future Award category.

Until recently, the stations at Ngāwhā were the highest greenhouse gas emitting geothermal power stations in New Zealand. The increasing cost of emissions tax under New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme would make their operation uneconomical.

With the station facing an uncertain future, Fabian led an in-house team to develop an innovative and low-cost solution that would capture and reinject 100 per cent of carbon emissions from the power stations back into the geothermal reservoir.