Best of New Zealand - Top 3 Experiences: Olivia Rothwell

Locals Top Things To Do and See in New Zealand 

In this weekly blog series we chat with our friends across New Zealand to find out what they rate is their top 3 New Zealand experiences and attractions. Our friends span from the top to the bottom of the Long White Cloud giving us the low-down on what is the best of New Zealand and what is special to them.
I love seeing the differences between each person, it shows how diverse New Zealand is despite our small size.

For Kiwis, we may be spending a bit more time exploring our own backyard this year, domestic tourism is set to rise as off-shore travel is less likely, so, we hope this offers you some ideas on what to see and do. As Tim Alpe, the chief executive of Jucy told Stuff, "There used to be a saying, don't leave home until you've seen your country". Well now we may have to do just that.
For our overseas guests to New Zealand, we hope this can give you inspiration and a few ideas of the best New Zealand places to visit, for when you do next come visit us down here in the corner of the globe. Until then, take care and kia kaha!

This week we are talking with Olivia Rothwell - from afar of course because  'social-distancing'. Olivia is Chicago-born, was London-living, only to meet a Kiwi and join us here in Auckland. They have been living here for 5 years and in that time have gained a dog, a 3 year old boy and a girl on the way - despite its busyness, I know they adore getting out of the city and exploring parts of Aotearoa, the known and the not-so-known. 
We chose Olivia to kick-start this blog series as we feel she naturally aligns with Kapeka's ideas and movements. Olivia works in the Wildlife Conservation field for the Predator Free 2050 effort , with a focus on how they manage all the data collected across the country and how they engage community groups and volunteers in this effort by having them record information on what they see and do. The gathering of this biodiversity data from personal encounters across the country is incredibly valuable and helps them understand if New Zealand is on track to reaching our goal.

Kapeka uses carbon negative Merino wool and the use of possum fibre in our blends help protect New Zealand's native forests and the carbon negative benefits they create. You can read more about our sustainable efforts here.

So, Olivia, you have had 5 years living in New Zealand to explore, what is best of New Zealand?

While I couldn't choose only 3... In no particular order, here are 4: