The Trust is delighted that Inger Perkins has agreed to become a Trustee, replacing Rebecca Gibson who has moved to Great Barrier Island. Inger works at DOC in Hokitika and has been a long-time supporter of the Trust and its work.
She grew up in Kent, the garden of England, and says she became interested in conservation when locals attempted to dig up the fields that surrounded her town and turn them into gravel pits.
After completing a joint honours degree in Geography and Geology at Bristol University then a Leisure Management Diploma, via various sports management roles, she managed a 220 acre estate and golf club, where she re-discovered a love for nature and sustainability, introducing and implementing an ecology policy. But she wanted to travel and lost her heart to New Zealand when she visited in 2002.
“I volunteered for three months for DOC at three offices including Fox Glacier and just loved it. I went back to England and worked for a renewable energy agency but when I was offered a job back on the West Coast a year and a half later, I jumped at the chance,” she says.
Until she moved to New Zealand, Inger always thought penguins only lived in Antarctica. Now she lives on Hokitika Beach and it still amazes her that they live at her back door.
“I still can’t believe how lucky I am to live on the West Coast between the ocean and the mountains. The scenery is so stunning and to have penguins and other wildlife so close is great.”
Inger has spent much of her time at DOC as a Community Relations Ranger but recently begun working for the mining division. Her many skills will be extremely valuable to the Trust.
