Adventure
Hero Profile
"If you don’t invest in finding the right support, you will likely ‘do what you’ve always done and get what you’ve always got’. Well, not me... "
Anna has followed her passion and now feels empowered to take on new challenges. Read Anna's story
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Coach Profiles
Who is my Adventure Coach and can I trust them?
All adventure coaches are trained and are experienced adventurers. They are closely supervised and must operate under a set of standards that protect you and them from harm while maximizing the benefits to you. Our initial contract will put all that in writing. See the adventure coach profiles on this website to get to know us.
Founder and Head Adventure Coach : Sarah Wilson
Adventure Highlights:
- Worked in Scotland as an outdoor instructor from 1987-89
- Extensive tramping and climbing in New Zealand
- Mountain climbing in Alaska, Colorado, Pakistan and China
- Passionate about working with
developing countries and assisting with environmental issues.
Five years in Solomon Islands, plus work in Lake Khanas, China; Happyland on the Island of Erromango in Vanuatu. - Led youth development expeditions in Alaska, providing mountaineering leadership on 18 day treks across Eklutna Glacier.
- Co-cordinator for Women Climbing in NZ in 90’s and worked with a team to organise ‘Summits for Suffrage’ where women all over NZ climbed peaks to celebrate 100 years of women having the vote! Also climbed Mount Cook via the East Ridge as part of that event. Awarded a Suffrage Centennial medal by the NZ Government.
- Was part of a team to Snow Lake in the Karakorams of Pakistan – six weeks of climbing, ski-touring and bartering with porters!
- Mad keen sea kayaker undertaking solo adventures in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington South Coast.
Facilitation, coaching and instruction:
- Trained facilitator with 10 years experience specialising in facilitating environmental groups and issues (Zenergy Stage 3 qualified)
- Many years experience in outdoor instruction – sailing, climbing, abseiling and mountaineering.
- Trained coach and certified by XL Foundation.
- Currently under coaching advice and direction from Gai Foskett, Professional Certified Coach awarded by the International Coach Federation (ICF).
Further Adventure Coach profiles coming soon…
Want to know more about our founder and her inspiration?...read on
By any measure, Sarah Wilson has led an adventurous life.
In 1993, she plugged steps along the East Ridge of Aoraki Mount Cook, just one of the ‘Summits for Suffrage’ events that she helped organise to celebrate the centenary of New Zealand’s universal Women’s Suffrage. Sarah gained both the summit and a Suffrage Centennial medal from the New Zealand Government.
Before then, in the late 1980s, Sarah was in Scotland eating haggis and working as an outdoor instructor, teaching sailing, climbing, abseiling and mountaineering. Since then, she has climbed mountains in expeditions to Alaska, Colorado, Pakistan and China.
The natural environment is not just something Sarah plays in; much of her professional career has been lived in developing countries, working with local people to find local solutions to environmental issues. For five years she was in the Solomon Islands with Conservation International. In 1996 she went to Lake Khanas in remote northwest China, to help develop a management plan for its fragile arborial environment. And in 1995 she was in Happyland on the Island of Erromango ( Vanuatu), working with the locals to protect their Kauri forest.
On New Zealand’s shores, in the early 2000s, Sarah was a key player in Action Bio-Community. ABC was a four-year project created under the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy to co-ordinate the efforts of local councils and the hundreds of communities that are helping protect the fast vanishing native biodiversity on private land.
Today, you are as likely to find Sarah in her bright yellow sea kayak, scything through the waves around Wellington or in the Marlborough Sounds, exploring their coast and harbours.
Sarah’s inspiration and vision
Growing up in small town Blenheim, Sarah was lucky to find herself in a family that made the most of New Zealand’s outdoor playgrounds – the Marlborough Sounds and Nelson Lakes National Park were on the doorstep – and she learned early on that expansive natural horizons broaden our personal ones.
Her time in Scotland as an outdoor instructor reinforced this, as did a stint leading youth development expeditions in Alaska, where she provided mountaineering leadership on 18-day treks across Eklutna Glacier.
It came to a head one sad day in 1995 when her best friend died. Janet and Sarah grew up together, enjoyed many adventures and planned many more. Her death, falling off a bluff while on a south-north traverse of the South Island’s mountain ranges, aged just 33, was a huge shock, and a time for taking stock.
The lyrics of a song played at Janet’s funeral stayed with Sarah through the years:
You've got to search for the hero inside yourself.
Search for the secrets you hide.
Search for the hero inside yourself, until you find the key to your life.
And now, they have inspired Sarah to her latest adventure – Adventure Coaching – in honour of her friend’s drive and spirit.
Lots of people know that the critical moments in their lives – the rubicons and watersheds – often arise when they push boundaries and step beyond their comfort zones. Lots of people have dreams and goals, but either don’t know where to begin, or are too scared to take the first step into the unknown.
Through Adventure Coaching, Sarah is helping people tap into the power of adventure to transform their own lives, one practical step at a time. And it’s not all rugged and sweatily outdoors. Her personal favourite urban adventure is hanging on as her high performance two-string kite battles with Wellington’s vigorous northerlies. And a recent travelling adventure in England’s Lake District involved more sticky toffee puddings and pubs, than peaks and climbing.
Her most recent endeavour has been hosting a series of virtual seminars with adventurers from around the world, called the Adventure Heroes Series. Some are outdoor gurus, such as Kiwi mountaineer, Guy Cotter, and an Australian mother and daughter climbing team who, in May, bagged their seventh summit on their seventh continent with their successful climb of Everest. Others are adventurers in other ways – such as Tony Christiansen, a double amputee at aged nine, who has gone on to achieve more physical and personal success than many of us with two legs – from gaining a second degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do, to completing Rotorua’s Fletcher marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
The idea is to let people hear how others have done it, to realise that dreams are achievable, and to gain practical tips on how to go about climbing their own metaphorical mountain.
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Adventure Profile?
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