Students on the Civil Defence Emergency Response (CDER) Programme with Whenua Iti Outdoors have just had an amazing experience on Te Tai Poutini/West Coast where they have spent the week connecting in with volunteers, LandSAR & Buller Civil Defence to learn first-hand about the huge coordinated response that is underway to the devastating flooding that […]

Whenua Iti Outdoors have just had the busiest summer holiday ever, with a total of 137 children through on 11 different holiday programmes that catered for ages from 7 right through to 18, all with a focus on adventure-based activities that provide positive learning experiences in the outdoors.  The same experienced staff who deliver our core education programmes throughout the school […]

Tamariki had a blast during the Tasman Mission event held on site at Whenua Iti Outdoors. Primary Schools from around the district arrived on a sunny Friday morning to take part in a fun event organised by the Tasman District Council that coordinated various ‘stations’ where teams faced fun environmentally-themed challenges to tackle together. This is the second time the […]

Get Outdoors Week runs from 14th – 22nd November, and to celebrate getting outdoors, Whenua Iti are giving away a Macpac pack for your next adventure. From the 14th of November we will be hiding 3 caches around some of our favourite outdoors spots in the Motueka area that can be accessed by families so […]

WIO are thrilled to be among the finalists in the NZ Sustainable Business Awards! Whenua Iti have been named as finalists in 2 categories. The Social Impactor Category, which recognises businesses that bring about positive change for their environment & communities; and a new award for Resilience in Crisis that acknowledges the ability for businesses to pivot in […]

Next time you visit Whenua Iti there’s a new Obstacle Course to tackle! We are excited to have our new Obstacle Course open for action. With thanks to funding from the Tasman District Council and the generosity of locals who donated materials for construction, we now have a fantastic course for programme participants to tackle […]

Our future leaders were brought together in the school holidays from across Nelson and Tasman to attend an Inspiring Leaders programme at Whenua Iti Outdoors.  This was the first time the programme has been run, thanks to the funding from Tasman District & Nelson Councils who gave Year 12 students from around the region the opportunity to develop their leadership skills. The students were identified by their schools as having the potential to […]

Whenua Iti Outdoors has designed the new ‘Predator Control & Conservation’ programme for secondary students to teach the importance of biodiversity management in which students will get to participate in practical, field-based community conservation projects.  The first Predator Control & Conservation Programme is set to kick off in Term 3 as part of the funded Trades Academy […]

> View all the Go Wild at Home Challenges Friday’s Challenge: Knot Skills Learn how to tie some knots for using in the outdoors, or around home too. Have fun with this – it’s your last challenge for the week!To register and send your photos please email [email protected]. We look forward to seeing the photos! […]

Our site is open, and programmes are running again with some changes to adapt to current restrictions. Trades Academy programmes will recommence on 25th May. Enrolments are open for our mid year Trades Academy programmes. We will continue to keep you informed about any changes to our programmes – see below. FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION […]

Shantel Thilman fell in love with New Zealand when she first came here 10 years ago. Now she has returned to ride the length of our country as part of Tour Aotearoa 2020 and avoid winter back home in Oregon! As part of her best winter-avoidance tactic yet, Shantel is aiming to raise money along […]

Kia Ora Whānau Joni Here.  I’m back again with my yearly blog post! You may remember that I wrote a blog about ‘The things that I’ve learnt from students as an instructor’ where I reflected on the work of 2018. I wrote about how lucky I was to help facilitate growth in our amazing young […]

It’s fair to say we were a little bit chuffed to be the recipients of the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Mediaworks NZ Medium Business Award for 2019. As a charitable trust in the field of education, we are not often perceived as a ‘business’, yet we need to run effectively as one to achieve positive change in […]

I have been privileged enough over the last three years to have graduated from the Manaaki Tāpoi Level 2, Level 3, and Level 3 Extension programmes. The Mānaaki Tāpoi programme is a 4-week block course run by Whenua Iti Outdoors for senior kura tuarua students from Te Tai o Poutini and Te Tau Ihu o […]

As of November 2019, WIO will be running the first Motueka Vocational Pathways (MVP) Programme on behalf of Vision Motueka, as part of their initiative to create a more youth-friendly Motueka. MVP has been established in recognition of the challenges of transitioning into the workforce that face a number of young people once they leave […]

Fun day of learning on Moturoa For many years, our local councils have been running a fun day of learning on Moturoa (Rabbit Island) with a huge range of activities offered by inspiring Environmental Educators. This year, the event was organised by TDC, hosted at WIO and renamed the Tasman Mission. During the day, students […]

For many years Whenua Iti Outdoors has been held in high regard by the people who participate in our programmes or maybe their families and others in the community who for some reason come across our work. We have heard many tales of how “my son turned a corner doing a WIO programme” or “WIO […]

If you come on a Whenua Iti Outdoors programmes you will find yourself facing all sorts of challenges and each person on the same programme faces a different set of challenges – some physical, some mental, some emotional – sometimes all 3! One of our tutors, Kathryn, has written a letter to everyone facing a […]

I’m sure you’ve all heard us wax lyrical about all the wonderful things the students have learned in their programmes – but what if you flick that round and look at that from a different perspective? Our super woman instructor, Joni Tomsett, shows us it’s not all one way traffic on the learning front! The […]

Earlier this year two of our Whenua Iti staff (Pip Rees and Kieran McKay) spent 6 and 12 days underground on an expedition to try to extend the known length of the 76km long Bulmer Cavern, NZs longest cave. Kieran made a 36 minute movie about this expedition entitled ‘Once Again Beneath the Mountains’ It […]