SOCIAL, CULTURAL and ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

‘Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au’ ‘I am the river and the river is me’
These traditional words embody the sentiments of all in our community.
The Whanganui River is historically of deep spiritual and cultural significance to Whanganui iwi, Te Atihaunui o Paparangi, who are the tangata whenua, [Maori people of this area], and we respect and share their values.

The river communities are small and we are involved in many initiatives to encourage the development of small business opportunities to enable growth in a sustainable manner.
The health of our river is of paramount importance to us all and the legacy of former generations is being turned around by riparian plantings and changes in traditional land use.
As tourism operators we are active members of ‘Journeys on the Whanganui’ which is the combined marketing brand of the Whanganui Maori Regional Tourism Organisation and the tourism operators working on and alongside the river.

At The Flying Fox we endeavour to minimise our impact on our surroundings and are committed to the concept of environmentally responsible use of resources. Our home and guest cottages are built using recycled and natural materials sourced from our area, we have developed grey-water systems, avoid the use of detergent based cleaning products, and reduce, reuse and recycle waste products using traditional kiwi ingenuity to develop a variety of practical solutions.

We encourage our guests to be aware of their use of resources [water, power etc] and, in the interest of a sustainable firewood supply, to gather wood from the riverbank for evenings spent outside around the brazier. [We provide chopped wood for heating and outdoor cooking]. As we live surrounded by a National Park, care needs to be taken with outside fires, and cigarettes. [Our indoor environments are smoke-free] Occasionally in the summer a fire ban is in place, so we also provide a gas fired barbeque and wok for outdoor cooking

The area is surrounded by The Whanganui National Park, and our own native bush, avocado orchards, walnut trees, and organic gardens. We are involved in a project to preserve the original fruit and vegetable varieties of our historic valley, and use these to produce a range of organic pickles and preserves. These are available for sale at our place and at The River Traders Market each Saturday in Wanganui City.

We also sell other locally produced items, organic supplies and the range of chemical free and environmentally friendly cleaning products we use at our place.

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