natureconnectionsnz

At last – the Children’s Garden, a living classroom, will soon begin to grow in the Wellington Botanic Garden. The Children’s Garden will tell the story to children and families of our dependence on plants. Around the world, people directly or indirectly depend on plants for food, medicines, fibre and construction. The Garden will encourage exploration of … More Children’s Garden, Wellington Botanic Garden – David Sole

Ko te kaituku, ko ia te kaiwhiwhi – the person who gives, will be the recipient. As Neavin so aptly puts it, “You can’t have kiwi without iwi”. This neatly expresses exactly how we felt at Wellington Zoo. We always knew we wanted to offer the opportunity for an iwi voice throughout our New Zealand precinct, … More Meet the Locals He Tuku Aroha – Oli du Bern

Kaizen – the practice of improving Charles Darwin is often quoted as touting the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’. Whether or not he was the first person to use this phrase is in debate, but as the grand-daddy in the field of evolution I believe he was the one who inspired its use as a … More My Kaizen – John Pastorelli

Little kids are interesting specimens. One morning they’re the angels of perfection, by lunchtime they’re running around naked and screaming while their parents hide in the nearest cupboard. Parents’ best intentions are often sidelined by sickness, tantrums, broken naps or the dreaded nappy disaster. So to get us all out of the house to pay … More Getting the Little Things Right for Little People – Renee Carter

Valuing what you love, and loving what you know – reflections on the World Parks Congress, Sydney 2014. ‘Value’ is a word with layered meaning. Many of us are familiar with the adage ‘people can only value what they love and can only love what they know’, and in one respect I believe New Zealanders … More World Parks Congress, Sydney – Amber Bill

When I started as Nature Connections project leader, I naively thought: “Here’s a chance to drag out my science communication credentials and dust off my interp-planning hat”. Imagine my surprise when, six months later, rather than messing around with signage and scripts, I find that I’d stumbled into the world of “multi-stakeholder collaborations”. Management-speak aside, … More The World of Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations – Sarah Rusholme, Nature Connections

If we are serious about enriching and enhancing our visitor experience, we’d do well to adopt a culture of continuous improvement and go beyond the goal of best practice to better practice. Setting our goals at best practice hints of a destination. Better practice reflects a journey of striving to be better, and this is … More Musings on Better Practice and its Relevance to Interpretation – John Pastorelli

We all have an arsenal of exciting, interesting and engaging stories we can share with our visitors about nature, wildlife, and conservation…but we can only wheel out these ‘weapons’ once we get our visitors to connect. I bet you’ve tried finger snapping, clapping and whistling to grab a school group’s attention. And what about the … More May I Have Your Attention Please – Ali Mulford, Wellington Zoo

Wellington. Packed with creators, thinkers, dreamers, doers and lovers of life – we live here and we love it! But how do we tell the Wellington Story to those that don’t? It’s the role of Positively Wellington Tourism to do just that and it starts with our city’s brand essence: The place of possible. So how did … More How to Sell Our Biggest Asset: Wellington – David Perks, CEO, Positively Wellington Tourism