Lohnet Murray

Lohnet’s calming influence has placed her as the Chairperson of the Trust and she is often the voice of reason when the girls get excited.

Having gotten her first pony at the age of 5, horses have always held an important place in Lonnie’s life. Together, her and Rob have owned and operated Ahipara Horse Treks since 2006, running a herd of 15 horses and taking customers for beach treks on the renowned 90 Mile Beach all year round.

In 2014, due to the growth of their business Tai Tokerau Honey Ltd, Lonnie retired from primary school teaching in order to be able to dedicate her time to this venture. Now, they operate nearly 5000 hives, specialising in the production Mānuka Honey, employ 20 people and have an extraction and packing facility based in Kaitaia.

Previous experience has seen her serve on the Committee for the Wild Wild West trek events in the Far North, she was on the Herekino Primary School Board of Trustees while her two boys attended there, and was the Staff Rep for Pukepoto Primary School Board of Trustees while she worked as a teacher.

Lonnie participated in 10 stages of the Great NZ Trek, and looked forward to this event every year which inspired her to be part of this new Trek for Life journey.

Selena Anderson

The social butterfly of the Trustees, Selena is our Public Relations manager - you will find her keeping you updated on Social Media, replying to email enquiries and bouncing around to ensure you are enjoying yourself on Trek.

Selena started riding before she could walk. She lives and breathes horses and enjoys sharing her passion by teaching young children both at Pony Club and in private lessons. She runs an Equestrian Training service, Free Rein Equestrian and manages Ahipara Horse Treks.

Having started the Great NZ Trek when she was 12, she has done the last 12 stages - mostly without a saddle! She enjoyed this so much that she didn’t want to see this journey end and is committed to sharing this experience with others her age in an effort to get more people enjoying this outdoor activity.

Selena has been lucky enough to travel around the world, but still believes that this event is not one to miss and is one of the best ways to explore Aotearoa, socialise with a large group of amazing people from all walks of life, while supporting a great cause.

Rob Murray

A self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades and an active business owner of both Tai Tokerau Honey Ltd and Ahipara Horse Treks, Rob has completed all stages of the Great NZ Trek as one of the Tailing Charlies. He has found this week-long event a great way to decompress from the busy summer period, and when it looked like the adventure would finish at the Bluff, he stepped forward to kickstart the Trek for Life.

Tania Lloyd - Secretary, Admin and Services

In 2018 Tania joined the Great NZ Trek as a volunteer and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Now she plays a huge part in the background of Trek for Life.

She comes to the Trek for Life with strong administrative and organisational skills, having previously worked at WINZ and been on numerous committees such as her local Marae Committee and the local Playcentre Committee. She has been putting a lot of effort into securing funding and sponsorship for this event and helps with the process of all the applications needed for TFL to go ahead.

Brian and Joanne Parker - Route Development

Joanne and Brian Parker have become very essential people in this Trek having taken on the “route finders”.

This job is ongoing all year round - as soon as the trek finishes they are onto sussing out the next stage! I’m sure you’d all hate to know how many phone calls, emails, and thousands of kilometres they drive but to give you an idea each year we’ve been through about 50 farms! That’s a lot of phone calls!

It takes almost a whole year to make connections, find appropriate tracks and of course campsites to accommodate us all and then there’s the stress of making sure it all goes to plan on the actual trek with sometimes last minute route changes that can’t be helped, making sure gates are unlocked, tracks are safe, farmers remember that we’re coming - and they do all of this with a smile still on their faces and Brian never fails to have a joke up his sleeve.

They’ve organised amazing routes the last couple of years and we can’t wait to see what’s in stock next year!