SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

Lani Evans

We spent this week on the West Coast, traveling a thin ribbon of road between beautiful coastlines and majestic mountains. This place is total Moa country, the longest, thinnest, wildest region in Te Wai Pounamu.

The coast exudes a certain wildness that draws in the adventurous and the hardy, like Zane Smith. He’s an expansive, entrepreneurial coaster who
owns and operates a bunch of eco-tourism companies in Punakaiki. Zane was kind enough to spend a day with the roadtrip crew, talking about his
place, his passions and his plans for the future. He’s one of our documentary subjects for this week – check out the Splashroom film on Zane (and one
on Greymouth High School Deputy Principal Andy England) here http://www.regeneration.org.nz/in_your_region/west-coast

We also happened to be on the coast just in time for the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival. I’m a vegetarian, so the gross-out factor was pretty low
for me, but Will Watterson, who runs the Global Poverty Project in New Zealand was more than happy to down some decidedly dubious delicacies.
He recommends the huhu grub, but suggests you steer away from the sea cucumber.

Meeting Julia Bradshaw was also a highlight. She’s a historian at the Hokitika Museum who’s also an avid tramper. For the last couple of years
Julia and a crew of 35 other volunteers have spent their weekends building a community hut at the top of Mount Brown. With no money, no employees
and limited time, they pulled together a beautiful building in a tussock field on the top of the mountain, with spectacular views back across the
coast. When we asked her what her motivation was, she said she wanted to provide the Hokitika community with an easily accessible weekend tramp
that was safe in any sort of weather. That’s generosity in action.

We’re just about to launch into Southland for week three of the Roadtrip and we’d love to see you! Send us an email [email protected] or
check out our website www.regeneration.org.nz for info about upcoming events or if you’d like to catch up for a conversation. We’ll be running
events in Te Anau, Riverton and Invercargill.

Tags: regeneration, west coast, Youth