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Sentinel
Freedom camping ban illegal? page 2
to watch over school A teacher who loved her time at Mount Aspiring College, and was adored by her students, has come up with a special way to honour the school. Janet Malloch taught hospitality for 15 years, retiring at the end of 2010. “It’s been on my agenda to do something since I left,” Janet said. “I’m very excited about it.” Janet has always been involved in the arts and when she saw a forged steel sculpture called Sentinel at an exhibition at Rippon Vineyard she decided it would be ideal for the school. “I thought it would be the perfect guardian,” she said. The sculpture, by Arrowtown artist Mark Hill, is being moved this week and will be formally unveiled by MAC’s first principal Mike Allison at 10am on Saturday October 20, during the opening ceremony of the school’s 25th anniversary celebrations. Janet is approaching past members of staff and families of ex-students for donations towards the sculpture, and said people have been very generous. She is also keen current students feel some ownership of the statue and hopes the school will have a fundraising mufti-day next week. Before coming to Wanaka in 1995, Janet was a guidance counsellor at Southland Girls High. When former MAC principal Mike Allison heard she had a home science degree he offered her a job teaching hospitality: a subject she had never considered. “I loved it,” she said. “The kids were so creative. It was a special part of my life which I didn’t really expect.” - Caroline Harker
Best ever book sale page 4
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days to go... Gourmet pleasures at festival page 5
PHOTO: wanaka.tv
Commission hike queried Tim Brewster
Lean start, strong finish page 12
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A proposal by Lake Wanaka Tourism to raise commission rates by 25 percent at the Wanaka i-Site visitor’s centre has raised the ire of some of the area’s most established operators with some saying they will refuse to pay the increased rate. At a recent public meeting a proposaltoraisethecommission
rate from 10 to 12.5 percent was presented by LWT general manager James Helmore. The meeting was attended by an estimated 120 people with the majority strongly opposed to the hike and asking LWT to look at alternatives. LWT provided an outline of the reasons why an increase was proposed including an example of selling a $100 product with a ten percent or $10 commission:
“after paying for rent, staff wages and other overheads it is left with 45c to reinvest in the business … that’s 0.45%... so performs right on a knife edge.” Another reason was a recent 14 percent rent increase which was a price increase outside of its control. It was also stated the i-Site is run as a commercial business with no backstop or council funding available should it fail to perform. According
to LWT the i-Site returns a dividend of $40,000 to $50,000 annually to LWT to re-invest in marketing Lake Wanaka which represents up to 12 percent of its marketing budget. “I think the i-Site in Wanaka is a very valuable resource not just for tourism operators but for the whole town. However times are tough, and increasing commissions by 25 percent for only a few of Wanaka’s many
tourism businesses - and some that are clearly struggling in times of reduced numbers - is a very tough way of doing business,” Jools Hall from Skydive Wanaka said. Skydive Wanaka is waiting to see what the final decision will be and will “negotiate their way to a resolution based on volume,” she said. Continued page 3...