Sir Peter Blake MERC hosted our NZRA Outdoors Forum at Long Bay, Auckland last month. With their partners Tamaki Herenga Waka Trust, attendees arrived by waka on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The weather gods played fair and all promises of stormy winds passed overnight to provide a serene setting for the beach landing which was followed with hakiri and some fun and frolics.

Programme highlights were many, leading off with an inviting speech and conversation with Nikki Kaye, National Party Spokesperson for Education & Sport and Recreation. The high level of open and honest responses to some of the tough questions offered, set the tone for the rest of the forum.

Each day was kicked off with entertaining and inspiring speakers who touched the souls of the adventurers in us. Dave Williams and Brando Yelavich rated highest in all feedback for the simple reminder of getting out there and doing it – as Dave’s title suggested – ‘the awesomeness of naivety’.

Workshops and other speakers continued to motivate and add to the climate set each day. General thoughts and feedback across the breakout sessions was high with almost all comments in the good to excellent category. For NZRA members, you have access to all available presentations.

Key messages were centred around a sense of a collaborative sector walking forward together with an open door to influence government. Comments such as, ‘Sector has very capable people, there is huge potential to increase the impact of the outdoors on peoples' lives’ and ‘Keeping up to date with the industry is key...for safety, for partnerships and for business!’. And hopeful statements such as ‘We have opportunity to have a government impact’.

Overall a great networking event with positive results.