June 2023 Newsletter - Waiheke Walking Festival

by Kate Michell | July 3, 2023

The 2023 Waiheke Walking Festival

Thursday 26 October – Sunday 5 November 2023

11 fabulous days at the ‘world’s friendliest walking festival’

This month…

Key Festival dates for booking and planning
New Presenting Partner announced
Waiheke Local Board provides funding outside of the Festival
Pictures from our June volunteer’s walk
Behind the scenes at Festival HQ

Festival walking dates:

This year we’re doing things a little differently, and we’re starting the Te Ara Hura 5 day walk a few days before the Festival programme. This is because some of our walkers and volunteers have told us that they’d love to be able to sign up for the 5 day walk – AND participate in more of the Festival programme.

The key walk dates are:

23rd October: Community Walking Event – a little pre-Festival excitement, more details coming soon!
23rd – 27th October: Te Ara Hura 5-day walk (bookings open 10am, 3rd July)
26th October – 5th November: Full Festival walk programme!
27th – 29th October: 3 day 2 night Walk and Accommodation Package – details coming in July

Key dates for bookings and planning:

3rd July, 10am: Te Ara Hura 5 day-walk available to book online
1st August 10am: Walking and Accommodation package available to book online
1st September, 10am: Full Festival programme available online
15th September, 10am: Early access booking period for Friends and Patrons
29th September 10am: Bookings live and open for all.

Become a Friend here: https://www.waihekewalkingfestival.org/walks-events/become-a-friend-of-the-festival/

Or please email patrons@waihekewalkingfestival.org if you are interested in hearing more about our Patrons Programme.

We’re planning a special event for the Monday of Labour Day weekend, to give everyone the opportunity to participate in a community walking event – so watch this space for more information about that!

Photo credit: Nydia Bean

Say Hello to our incredible, new Presenting Partner – Waiheke Wine Centre

Exciting news everyone! We are thrilled to announce Waiheke Wine Centre as the new Presenting Partner of the Waiheke Walking Festival. Waiheke and wine go together like … Waiheke and walking! Thank you so very much Waiheke Wine Centre.

Of course Charlotte Lockhart and Andrew Barnes have been supporters of the Festival for some years through Postage Stamp Wines, and with this new partnership, we can continue to provide more opportunities for everyone to explore the beautiful landscapes, enjoy the rich culture and engage with the friendly community of Waiheke Island.

“This partnership signifies our commitment to delivering unique walking experiences for all visitors and locals who will join us in enjoying the beauty of Waiheke Island” Tessa Shaw – Trustee WWT.

Feel free to pop into the Wine Centre in Oneroa to let them know you’ve seen this news … and watch this space for more details about what this partnership means for our festival whānau.
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Exciting news for walkers on Waiheke year round – the Waiheke Walking Trust has secured funding from the Waiheke Local Board to extend and develop our Waiheke Walking app.

The Waiheke Walking app currently has a handful of self-guided walks with step-by-step ‘live’ directions. This funding through the sustainable community and tourism initiative, will allow us to increase the number of walks, add some more storytelling content and build a resource that delivers unique walking experiences all year round.

Ngā mihi nui to our fabulous Local Board for their support of the Waiheke Walking Festival and the Walk Waiheke App and also to the teams who look after the island’s walking tracks for us all to enjoy.

Volunteer Walk during Volunteer Week

How timely!

The world’s friendliest festival volunteers kicked-off in style for a beautiful and very social walk from Palm Beach to Onetangi on Sunday morning. A lovely walk connecting two of Waiheke’s finest beaches, along the tracks and back roads of the north coast, traversing pockets of dense bush, to high roads with sweeping views over the stunning coast and vineyards.

We love our wonderful team and thank you all for being shining examples of what it means to be true volunteers…. and talking of celebrating, there may have been a wee birthday celebration too in the crew! Hope you had a great day.

Thinking of becoming a volunteer? Join us for our next volunteer walk on 15th July. If you would like to know more please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you! info@waihekewalkingfestival.org or to simply register sign up here:

https://app.betterimpact.com/Application?OrganizationGuid=2082cd3b-6880-49e9-a689-87c943298569&ApplicationFormNumber=1

This amazing 90 min ‘Walk Waiheke’ featured walk can be a self guided walk. It’s dog friendly too. See details here: https://walkwaiheke.co.nz/walks/palm-beach-to-onetangi/

Photo credit: Kate Michell

A day at the office and behind the scenes at Festival HQ…

Today was a busy day in the office! Curating the walks that will make up the Festival programme and showcase the very best of what Waiheke Island has to offer is a fun but challenging job. We spent the morning planning and organising some amazing new walks. Bringing new walks from concept to reality is a complex process of idea sharing, influence, and logistics…. How do we make this easy to get to and from? What are the tides doing? Will we be able to walk across this piece of land? Would it work better in reverse? There’s lots of planning involved before we feel ready to add them to the programme.

In addition, we already have an amazing line up of some returning favourites locked in, such as the Photography walk with our local royalty Peter Rees – you have to admit he’s pretty talented and fabulous!

The full festival programme will be released on 1st September!

Later in the day, we took to social media to celebrate our volunteers and share some of the finest walks Waiheke Island has to offer. We love how much interest social media has already generated and how passionately people feel about joining us this year for the world’s friendliest walking festival. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and tag us in to your amazing Waiheke Walks. We’d love to see your pics!

Happy walking!

Photo credit: Peter Rees Photography