About Activity Hanmer
Activity Hanmer strives to provide top quality activities in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner that will stimulate and educate its customers and staff.
Activity Hanmer has been run by Steve and Lynne Brodie since 2003. Initially a school activity business, Activity Hanmer has grown to offer activities to Corporate Events and other groups. We pride ourselves in providing great quality and exceptional service. This is all due to the great team of instructors that we have working with us
.
In 2011, Activity Hanmer has been taken over by Ross Carter who owns the Hanmer Adventure Centre. Ross has been involved in Adventure Tourism and the outdoors for the last 17 years and hopes to build on the solid foundation set up by us over the last 8 years. Ross will be expanding the business by offering more activity choices, including Archery, greater availability and also operating throughout the year providing winter programmes including ski packages at the local ski-field.
Lynne and Steve Brodie will be part of this new partnership approach to school camps as they have moved sideways and are still based at the Forest Camp as the managers.
Our Environmental Policy
Activity Hanmer is committed to running a sustainable business. We have sound environmental principals underlying all aspects of our operation. We strive to make a positive contribution to the environment and enhance it and to promote this environmental care through education.
Our policy is simple – that all business decisions that involve resource use are reviewed against the underlying principal of "first reduce, then reuse and then recycle".
We are committed to continual improvement of our environmental performance through implementation, monitoring and reviewing of this policy.
We are inaugural members of the STAR programme (Sustainable Tourism Advisers in Regions) and so have undertaken an environmental audit, itemised areas to improve practice and have set up an action plan with time frames and milestones.
Reduce
- Car pooling and staff using bikes for transport to and from work
- Onsite activities developed therefore no transport required
- Emailing all communications with clients including online banking to minimise paper use
- We have audited our energy input and use minimal energy, which comes from a sustainable source
Reuse
- All scrap paper is reused in photocopying
- Old towels from thermal pools re-used as rags
- Climbing ropes re-used for games, storage etc
Recycle
- All plastic, glass, cardboard and packaging sent to recycling centre
- All food scraps to compost
- We have installed recycling bins for school use at the Forest Camp Activity Base and hope to have a demonstration wormery for school groups.
- Computer components sent to recycling project
- We recycle all waste paper, packaging and refill our cartridges.
Enhance
- We have set up a Weedbusters scheme, that is facilitating visiting schools to take part in local Conservation projects such as broom eradication and native planting scheme.
- Donations to the Hanmer Heritage Forest Trust for track maintenance
Educate
- We strive to share our vision with our clients through our website, posters and directly by staff conversation and instruction during activity sessions
- Training is provided to promote the environmental policy among staff and to ensure all staff understand their responsibility to consider and promote environmental aspects in their work.
- Regular staff meetings to discuss ongoing sustainability issues
- We are working with DOC to provide Weedbusters information to conservation groups
Procurement
- We have adopted a buying policy for all goods and services that questions the environmental supply chain of each product.
- We purchase recycled paper, environmentally friendly office products and enjo cloths (to reduce water use and avoid use of chemical cleaning agents).
- Outdoor equipment, which is mainly made abroad, is bought from local companies who support sustainable practices wherever possible.
Outdoors Mark Accredited
Activity Hanmer achieved the Safety Audit Certificate "Outdoors Mark" in March 2008. This is a national Health and Safety benchmarking scheme run by Outdoors New Zealand.
This will hopefully give our customers peace of mind when it comes to Health and Safety matters.
We try all the time to encourage a culture of safe practice. This should involve us all from the owners of the company, the instructors, teachers, parents, camp staff and the children.
Ideally all our staff hold New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Awards. Bush 1 and Rock 1 are entry level qualifications. All our Senior staff will hold one of these awards and be working towards the other. Our younger staff will be working towards one of these awards. As well as these land based qualifications most of our staff are also working towards rafting and kayaking qualifications to compliment their land based awards.
Every season we employ an overseas instructor from the UK and these staff bring similar UK qualifications with them such as Single Pitch Award and Summer Mountain Leadership Certificate.
We also take on one cadet each year who come to us from the Boyle River Outdoor Education centre for their first job in the industry. They have had 12 months training, hold Outdoor Leader 1 and Outdoor First Aid.
All staff have a minimum of an Outdoor First Aid qualification.
Our casual/contracted staff tend to be more highly qualified or very experienced in one particular discipline such as Mountain Biking. If at any stage you are have any health and safety concerns please bring it to our attention. Its great having fresh pairs of eyes looking at your business all the time.
If you have any suggestions for improving what we do then tell us either by the evaluation form given out at the end of the week or face to face. We strive to improve all the time.
About Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is situated in the Hurunui District of North Canterbury, New Zealand. One and a half hours drive from Christchurch and 65 kilometers south west of Kaikoura. Hanmer Springs is an awesome alpine village world famous for its Thermal Pools and Spa.
Discover the beautiful heritage forest and explore the spectacular high country either on foot, on a mountain bike, on horseback or by 4-wheel drive. Hanmer Springs is the gateway to the Molesworth Station, Lake Tennyson, the Rainbow station and the St James walkway.
The village has a variety of adventure activities such as mountain biking, team building, orienteering, bungy jumping, golf and quad biking.
There are also many tracks and paths through the beautiful forests - listen to the bird song and get away from it all.
Hanmer Springs is a destination for all seasons. Enjoy the unique alpine climate of dry hot summers and cold dry winters. Visit in the winter and enjoy skiing at the Hanmer Springs ski field and Mount Lyford Ski area.
The thermal pools were discovered in the late 19th century and have been developed to provide an award winning tourist attraction. Relax and unwind in the thermal pools.