Bay of Plenty Te Moana-a-Toi
Check out these "90 second" portraits of great changemakers we connected with during our time in this region. We'll be adding to these in the months ahead so watch this space.
Hori Haweti Barsdell - Student and native tree grower
"Tena koutou katoa, Ko Hori Barsdell toku ingoa, He uri ahau no Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Te Whakatohea, Ngati Awa me Nga i Te Rangi. Ko Mataatua te waka. We need to better the environmental health of Aotearoa. I realise the economy is important but at the end of the day you can't eat money and you can't drink oil."
Our week in the Bay of Plenty began with a visit to an organic farm near Thames in the Waikato. We had a great night visiting the parents of one of the Roadtrip crew, eating homefired pizza and meeting some of the Kauaeranga Valley locals.
On Wednesday half the crew travelled through to Tauranga for an Inspiring Stories film making workshop and the rest of us drove down to Rotorua for the Bay of Plenty Youth Jam. This was another innovative youth event that we hosted with the Regional Council. Like the Northland event this was a great opportunity for 50 young leaders from around the Bay of Plenty to have their voices heard in the Council's ten year planning process. Big ups to the 'Team Awesome' crew of young facilitators that ran the event.
We had a chance to film some great stories this week, with Hori Haweti-Barsdell sharing his passion for the giants of the forest in the film above.
On Saturday we had a great day with the team at Manna Support Services in Kawerau. We were totally inspired by the work being done to help heal the complex and challenging issues facing that community.
After a busy and rewarding week we started the long and winding journey around the East Cape.
Raukokore Church - Waihau Bay
