When Did I Become a Consumer? I am like almost everybody else in the western world, and probably also in many developing nations. Every day I come in contact with thousands of advertising messages that seek to influence me to make a purchase. As you may know, we do not live in [...]
The County Roadman The 1970s in rural New Zealand marked the final passing of an era. The era that passed was the end of the long tradition of the County Roadman. Who Were the Roadmen? The roadmen were exactly as their name implies, men or groups of men who worked on both [...]
Scary, or is the Scent of a Multi-Day trip in the Air? We are just seeing the last of the sunshine of what has been ten incredible days of July weather. A little bit of snow in the forecast now, and certainly cooler temperatures for the next few days, but nothing too [...]
Somewhere Far Away – a beguiling place where everything is available all the time Have you ever heard of this place? That “Somewhere Far Away” place. You know, the place where tomatoes and cucumbers come from in the middle of winter. The place where pineapples and exotic off-season fruits come from [...]
Thoughts from Visiting Portugal Recently I was fortunate enough to visit Portugal. Nicola was taking part in an 8-day horse trek, and I was along for the duration and as part of the “support” crew. I must admit I did not know what to expect. Having always been a bit of a [...]
Winter, and the Flow of Months at River Valley April is the month towards the end of our busy season, where we first really notice the flow of customers slowing down. Going into May, the weather starts turning bringing with it cooler temperatures and often more rain, (not this year though, where May was [...]
Connection is Real Chickens, Horses, Cows, Guinea fowl, Sheep, vegetable gardens and finally people. Does that make River Valley a farm as well a tourist operator? Many would say, especially in our part of the world where most land holdings are hundreds or even thousands of hectares, that the relatively small area of land, [...]
A River Dance Come to the end of autumn all our summer seasonal guides have left for other, normally warmer climes. This departure means the rafting guide crew is predominately family and local guides. This time of year is also when I seem to do most of my raft guiding. Being winter, I am [...]
The Elephant In The Sky Tourism Industry experts love trotting out forecasts. Forecasts of visitor arrivals. Forecasts of how much they are going to spend. Forecasts of the, always positive, impacts all these people will have on New Zealand. More employment. Economic growth in the regions and so on. And yet the elephant in [...]
Does Tourism Bring People Together? It is often said that tourism has the power or maybe the possibility to bring people together. Amongst its supposed positive attributes are visitors learning about and learning to accept, even embrace, other cultures. Tourism often prides itself, at least in New Zealand, in showcasing indigenous culture, in our [...]
