U3A Takapuna

If you are not born here or if English is not your first language, what would you think if someone (kindly) asked you to go for a ‘tramp in the bush’.  Mind boggling isn’t it?  How do we connect new New Zealanders safely to nature?  What does nature mean in a deeply urban environment?  How do we help city-dwellers value our green and blue spaces? Let’s chat about that.

After 14 years working and living in the UK, Julie returned home to discover she was a ‘latent conservationist’.  Seeking a complete change from their too-busy lives in England, she and her family settled in rural New Zealand where she lost her corporate high heels and gained a decent golf handicap. Nature called in the form of Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre and then the Wairarapa DOC office where she combined her newly discovered love of all things feathered with her professional skill set of marketing, partnerships, PR and communications.

Eventually the call of city life was too great and the family re-located to beautiful Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland.  Julie’s six or so years in the DOC Auckland office has focused on working with partners to engage urban residents with nature and conservation projects. It’s an action-packed, highly engaging space where no two days are the same.