Journeys in Deliciousness

By Brian Megaw | March 17, 2021

Over the last several years, an increasingly important part of the River Valley experience has been the quality, taste and freshness of the food offered from our Lodge kitchen. Or to sum it up, as our Chef, Miranda, would say, a story of deliciousness. There are several reasons for this evolution. In the past, our [...]

A Day on the Whanganui River in a Dory

By Brian Megaw | February 25, 2021

My warm sleeping bag and comfy sleeping pad feel like the place to stay this early in the morning. But it is 6.15 am, at this time of year still not quite light, but if we are to be underway on the river by 8.30, then I need to get going. Even this early, it [...]

Retreats – Some Reimagining

By Brian Megaw | February 13, 2021

You could say the original driving force in creating River Valley was a desire to share such a spectacular and beautiful location with others. We have been successful in this, and some might say too successful with too many people at times – at least pre-Covid. However, the last few months have certainly given plenty [...]

Is Regenerative Tourism a Thing?

By Brian Megaw | February 6, 2021

I recently watched a webinar where Anna Pollock, the founder of travel firm, Conscious Travel, outlined her thoughts on how tourism can be regenerative. I was so taken by what she had to say, as it resonated strongly with my thoughts, that I searched for and found a copy of her PowerPoint slides. While her [...]

Restore, Rejuvenate, Re-Create, Regenerate

By Brian Megaw | January 29, 2021

Is the glass half full or is the glass half empty? This is a very real question when you operate a tourism business in the world of Covid. It would be so effortless to spend all day lamenting the change in fortune that the pandemic has wrought. I know this having spent the occasional day [...]

Genuineness and Generosity

By Brian Megaw | January 22, 2021

The group on our latest 8 day River Valley Ride at Moawhango Marae Part of the River Valley Ride, an 8 day horse trek operated by River Valley Stables and run in conjunction with international horse riding holiday company, Globetrotting, is an overnight stay at a Marae. For those readers who do not know what [...]

Diversity, Diversity, Diversity

By Brian Megaw | January 15, 2021

A couple of days ago, I was the shuttle driver. Nicola and an old friend Daryll were scoping out a different route for the next 8 day River Valley Ride. Nicola has changed the route each departure – this will be the fourth such departure – as she attempts to find just the right mix [...]

Could Greenpeace Step Up for the Future of Wool?

By Brian Megaw | December 11, 2020

In the early 1980s, I was a sheep shearer. Over those few years in my early twenties, I shore about 30,000 sheep annually. It was a good time to be a shearer. There were plenty of sheep to shear, and mostly those sheep, due to the government of the days' subsidy to farmers called the [...]

It Has Been a Bit of a Wild Spring. How is Summer Looking?

By Brian Megaw | December 6, 2020

It has been a wild spring. While days of Spring in New Zealand can always contain four seasons in one day, this Spring regularly has really lurched right across the full gambit. We have had a handful of scorching days. We have had a bunch of damn cold days – especially for the time of [...]

Incomplete Ecosystems

By Brian Megaw | November 28, 2020

I have recently been reading “The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lakes District” by James Rebanks. An excellent read by the way. The book is the story of James growing up, and then farming on his own on the Lakes District of Northern England. What became clear to me while reading this book was [...]

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