Community Involvement

Real Journeys plays an active role in our local community, providing sponsorship for dozens of community groups and events every year. We believe it is important to support the local community in which we work, live and play.

With operational bases in Queenstown, Milford, Te Anau, Manapouri, Bluff and Stewart Island, both the company and individual staff members are involved in supporting community activities.

Some examples of our community involvement include:

	Real Journeys is donating $5,000 per year for three years to the Wakatipu Trails Trust to assist with the development of cycling and walking trails.
	Real Journeys and its wholly-owned subsidiary Stewart Island Experience donate over $100,000 worth of sponsorship annually to schools and community groups. The donations are mostly in the form of excursions to be used as prizes to organisations throughout Otago, Southland and Fiordland . These range from TSS Earnslaw Cruises, Te Anau Glowworm Caves and Walter Peak Farm tours to Milford and Doubtful Sound excursions. The sponsorship focus is on organisations that are raising funds to benefit local health, education or environmental projects.
	Real Journeys and Stewart Island Experience carry education groups on excursions to Walter Peak, Deep Cove (Doubtful Sound) and Stewart Island at heavily discounted rates.
	Real Journeys provides free of charge photocopying for Te Anau School, Te Anau Scouts, Kepler Challenge Committee and Queenstown Rotary.
	We have provided buildings free of charge for community activities such as the Bluff Oyster Festival.
	It is the company policy to buy locally and support local contractors where possible.
	Real Journeys takes a lead role in a number of industry organisations such as the Queenstown-Milford User Group (Flightseeing), Destination Fiordland, Stewart Island Promotion Association, Maritime Transport Association and Wilmot Pass User Group.
	When company uniforms are updated the good quality former uniforms which are surplus to requirements are sent to communities in need overseas rather than simply thrown away.
	Substantial sponsorship of Te Anau Community Events Centre which includes naming rights.
	The annual Dux prizes for Wakatipu High School and Fiordland College students are funded by the Hutchins family, owners of Real Journeys.

Conservation activities include:

	Working with the Stewart Island/ Rakiura Community Environmental Trust to eradicate rats and possums which pose a major threat to native birdlife on Stewart Island.
	For the last 15 years we have been associated with Department of Conservation's summer nature programmes, providing subsidised travel to and from the Murchison Mountains and for field trips to Lake Orbell and Aurora Caves.
	We support NZ Conservation Week by providing prizes and a Lake Te Anau Cruise for locals interested in conservation activities.
	We provide sponsorship for the Department of Conservation Southland Conservancy’s Conservation Awards and Environment Southland’s Conservation Awards.