Travelling to Dargaville, the fog was layered in the distance. The early morning light gave a magic glow to the scene. Photo / Denis Orme
He is a prolific poster of photos to Facebook and his shots receive a lot of favourable comments. Denis Orme says sharing them makes him feel as though he is making a small difference in the world.
He grew up in Hamilton and lived next door to a wedding photographer, and over the years he has been on numerous photography courses.
He has had an eclectic career. He was the youngest inspector in the New Zealand police before he moved to Houston, Texas, where he was involved for 20 years restructuring organisations internationally.
He then moved to Kauai in Hawaii to follow his passion for photography and where he opened a gallery. From there he conducted what he called “photo safaris”.
“I used to take people hiking and teach them how to use the functions of their camera with the challenge never to use the auto button again.”
He operated the gallery for eight years before returning to New Zealand four years ago. When he first arrived back he was a paid first aid trainer for New Zealand Red Cross. But he felt he could benefit the community more by training as a volunteer ambulance officer for St John.
“I was volunteering from Paihia but have since moved to Omapere and now I volunteer from Rawene station, covering the Hokianga.”
He has travelled to a great many countries. Last year he went hiking on the Amalfi Coast in Italy and in May he is going to Scotland. His real photography passion, he says, is in reflections, sunsets and sunrises.
He thinks there is much negativity in the world, especially since Covid, and he believes his images sent regularly to Facebook have helped many people.
“My lifelong search is to find the shot of the day but I can go days or weeks without ever finding a strong story to tell that doesn’t use Photoshop or Lightroom.
“My style is to ensure other people can go to the same location and see what I see,” he says.
The west coast of the Far North is his chosen canvas now. He says each viewer forms their own story from his work, and everyone sees different things.
A fundraiser called Cocktails for a Cause was organised by Ben Thrippleton, who runs a custom-built mobile bar for weddings and other events called Kindred Spirits.
It was in aid of Kelly Fogden who needs Keytruda chemotherapy treatment for triple negative breast cancer. It is not funded by Pharmac. After expenses, the amount raised at the Old Packhouse market event was $8000, which is what’s required for the treatment.
Ben says he had help from a large circle of friends and acquaintances including Salt & Seed, which provided the canapes, from Adam Young Catering, which made the grazing platter, BBQ BOI was on site, and Coco Vintage Caravan provided beer and wines.
“The night was a great success and around 130 people attended throughout the evening,” said Ben.
“We had donations and products from all over the country as well as direct donations from all around the world, it was truly remarkable and has brought a lot of people closer together.”
Haylee Hoani played acoustic music in the afternoon and the Dog Father band played later.
“We are all very grateful that Judy Hyland let us use the Old Packhouse market, it was the perfect location for the event.”
He tried to get an extension to the liquor licence for two more hours in order to sell more beer and wine.
“I got turned down for resource consent reasons and my inquiries seemed not to have reached the right person despite the kind help from the liquor licensing department in the Far North District Council,” he said.
A retreat with a difference will be held at Taupo Bay from March 24-26. It’s a retreat for women and horses where you can learn “seven sacred ways to practise horse-themed wellness”.
It is run by American Courtney Brown. She has been a dual New Zealand citizen for 20 years and lived for seven years with her homeschool children and family in southeast Queensland where she learned horse-facilitated programmes.
The first retreat she ran was in Queensland. She and her teenage daughter co-facilitated a programme for a group of mothers and daughters on a “ranchero” with 11 horses.
“I have facilitated these retreats before, plus I have offered day and weekend respite programmes for foster families, particularly for young girls and teenagers,” she said.
She grew up in the US where her mother used to lead spiritual-religious women’s retreats in southwest Florida.
“Both my parents were ministers and my mother was a smart lady with a big heart for service in the community.
“She held one retreat for women in the Everglades National Swamp at a hotel where alligators were all over the place in the water.”
She has numerous certificates as a counsellor, she is a holistic life coach, an equine psychotherapist and an animal learning facilitator.
She met her Kiwi husband and lived in Opua before moving to Haruru where they live in an old historic cottage.
For horse meditations, energy movement (tai chi and qi gong), beach walks and shared meals from Friday, March 24, to Sunday, March 26, contact Courtney Brown on 021 457 421.
On August 3, 1823, Henry Williams arrived with his wife, Marianne, to the Bay of Islands on board the Brampton. This year, from April 13-16, there is a Williams family reunion celebrating 200 years since the first Williams arrived to Paihia.
Henry was fully involved in mission work and constantly travelling, and that left Marianne alone with their children. She had an exceptional capacity to deal with challenges, she was indefatigable and spirited, and endlessly active in numerous roles.
Their first home was a raupō hut with no kitchen. She progressed to two mud cottages and, finally, a wooden house that had several adjacent buildings and served as refuge, hospital, hostel, church, school and the official Williams residence.
Marianne’s sister-in-law, Jane Williams, married to Henry’s brother William, arrived on the Sir George Osborne to Paihia on March 25, 1826. She shared the mission responsibilities with Marianne, the two women rearing and educating their children. It is from these two original families that the extended Williams whānau is derived.
Today, there is a Williams House near the Paihia waterfront. It was constructed in 1920 as the family home of the Rev Percy Temple Williams and his wife Mary, and replaced an earlier house on the site. It was occupied until the death of the daughter, Mary Williams, in 1993.
As of mid-March, nearly 800 had registered to attend the reunion with more expected. The opening ceremony starts with a hikoi across the Waitangi Bridge to Te Tii marae where they will be welcomed with a pōwhiri. One of the organising committee, Jane Fletcher, said the intention of the reunion is to reaffirm the connections with tangata whenua.
The programme includes a visit to The Retreat, the Henry-and-Marianne home in Pakaraka now owned by the Williams family, and there are visits to various other places of Williams interest in Paihia, Waitangi.