Award
Extraordinary Walkers Award
Winner
Kiwi Seniors Active Walkers, Southland
In brief
The group started in 1992 as a Hillary Commission programme called Active in Age which was designed to encourage people aged over 50 to exercise more.
They have walked weekly since then and have a membership of more than 100. Walking is the main activity, but the social side is also very important.
The details
The group started in 1992 as a Hilary Commision programme called Active in Age which was designed to encourage people over 50 to exercise more. At that time research showed that more than 50 percent of New Zealanders did not enjoy an active lifestyle, so a number of programmes aimed at providing options for currently inactive Southlanders to enjoy the healthy benefits of regular physical activity were developed. The Commission adopted Sport Southland (now known as Active Southland) as its delivery agent for a number of programmes and so the Kiwi Senior Walkers (now known as Kiwi Seniors Active Walkers) group began. They meet regularly on a Thursday morning. Walking is their main activity but they also focus on the social side as well.
“Walking with the group gets you out among people and that is good for any person” said one of the members. “We go to many lovely places I didn’t know existed” said another.
Throughout the year they plan walks that are interesting and varied. They cater for three levels of fitness – short walkers, medium walkers and long walkers. The short walkers walk up to 2km, the medium walkers up to 5km and the long walkers up to 8km on walk day. They also encourage people who cannot walk the short 2km distance to come and walk as far as they wish. When planning the walks they try to keep a nice balance of town and country walks, some by bus and others by car pooling. The members enjoy taking the bus and their lunch on walk day. Both these activities encourage the social side of the walks along with chatting as they walk.
With going to a variety of places they enjoy seeing and learning about different things such as:
Wind Turbines near Bluff and at White Hill- Robotic Dairy Farm at Dacre
- Museums at Thornbury, Riverton and Gorge Hill
- Daffodil Farm at Lawrence
- Flax Mill at Riverton
- Awarua Tracking Station
- Other interesting places include:
- Glenham Tunnel
- Dunsdale Reserve
- Dolamore Park
- Moores Reserve
- Public gardens and function centres
- Waipapa Point Lighthouse and Catlins Area
- Whitebait stands on the Mataura River
Day trips include:
- Roxburgh
- Te Anau
- Tautuku
- Lake Hayes
- Arrowtown
- Garston
The group has also done some or all of the following walks:
- Milford Track
- Kepler Track
- Central Otago Rail Trail
- Clutha Gold Trail
- Hump Ridge Track
- Queenstown Trails
- Millenium Track from Beaumont to the Lonely Graves
They have also been away on retreats with 2 to 3 days of walking and fun.
Of the 100+ members they regularly get 40 to 50 per walk day. As Southlanders walking in the rain is no problem, just dress warmly and don wet weather gear. Very few walks are cancelled because of the weather.