New Zealand Recreation Association held their annual Outdoors Forum at the stunning waterfront Sir Peter Blake's Marine Education and Recreation Center (MERC) in Auckland earlier this week. 

One of the highlights of the conference was that the delegates paddled by waka to arrive at the venue, how cool is that?!?

And there were some fascinating speakers, including:

• Brando Yelavich, explorer, who circumnavigated the entire coast of New Zealand on foot over 600 days! 
• David Williams from Sea2Summit7, whose on-going mission is to hike/run from the coast of each of the 7 continents to their highest peak, including Denali and Everest, to raise money and awareness for mental health
• Nikki Kaye, National Party spokesperson for Education, and Sport and Recreation

The atmosphere of the group was great, lots of laughing and mingling and sharing.

And there was an awards evening to recognise the amazing work taking place in the outdoor recreation industry. Congrats to all the awards recipients, including Adventure Specialties and Less is More: Re Wild Your Child.

For more info about New Zealand Recreation Association and their conferences, visit their website (www.nzrecreation.org.nz).