_Interviewed by Marijke Dunselman of Smartourism with Pete Hitchman
- from http://smartourism.blogspot.com/

Marijke: "Could you tell me a bit about Guided Walks New Zealand?"

Pete: "Sure, We are the oldest guiding business in New Zealand, dating back to 1868.
We pride ourselves on being flexible, and offering our clients the guiding experiences that they want and not trying to sell them something along the lines of  mass tourism."

Marijke: What do your customers particularly enjoy about the experience?

Pete: "Our clients really enjoy the one on one experience we offer. By joining our trips of one guide to six guests max, or taking our privately guided option.
Our clients have given us great feedback on Trip Advisor, and we have learnt that they really love the the fact that our guides are so knowledgeable."

Marijke: "What’s new this season?"

Pete: "Well! We're really excited about our new product YOU vs WILD (Interactive Survival Experience), based on the ever popular T.V. series MAN vs WILD staring Bear Grylls. This has been and still is great success, with C&I groups, FIT's. And now childrens birthday parties which we never even thought of. 

With the runaway success of our new product and after listening to our clients and concierges in and around Queenstown, the feedback we received was, "I'd love to do it again, where else can you take me".  We  needed to think and act quickly. So after talks with a local helicopter company, Karyn and I spent the day today, flying by chopper deep into a valley on the other side of Lake Wakatipu (the Breathing Lake), where we dropped in on wilderness for a reconnaissance trip, and found an amazing valley that's perfect for another take on this trip. I think that we'll call it YOU vs WILD/ Drop Zone. We'd really like you to be involved yet again, by giving us a few ideas for the name of this  new version, by writing to us on this blog."

Contact details: Name business: Guided Nature Walks
Website address: http://www.nzwalks.com/ & http://www.snowshoeing.co.nz/
Email: info@nzwalks.com
Contact person: Pete & Karyn

“You Vs Wild Experience”Reviewed on TripAdvisor November 28, 2011

This was a fantastic trip, based on the Bear Grills tv series. Pete was our guide, the amount of knowledge he had about the local area and the wilderness was unbelievable. He knew about every tree, bush, leaf, plant. You name it he knew about it, had a use for it and had a story behind it. 

We learnt how to create fires from things found in the environment and learned so much about what grows around us.

 If you want an incredibly interesting half day trip through some amazing countryside with a very knowledgeable guide, then this is the trip for you. I highly recommend this.

• Visited November 2011

_A backcountry expert is teaching people how to survive in the wild like British adventurer Bear Grylls. 

Pete Hitchman, 50, demonstrates essential and quirky survival skills on his new You vs. Wild wilderness experience.
These include how to make a fire using just toothpaste and a Coke can, survive falling into a frozen lake and navigate by the stars.
Operated through Queenstown’s Guided Nature Walks – the oldest guiding firm in the country – the walks are inspired by the hugely-popular TV show Man vs. Wild.
The series follows Grylls as he demonstrates extreme survival techniques after being stranded miles from civilisation.
Hitchman says: “We teach skills that can help keep people alive.
“Such as how to make a bivouac shelter, or filter water using a plastic bottle and moss.
“People get caught out round here. There are a huge number of search and rescue operations on Ben Lomond.
“It looks like a nice walk but if the weather changes it’s easy to get in trouble.”
A 1980s bodyguard for pop group Duran Duran, Hitchman came to New Zealand 15 years ago.
He trained at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Turangi, completing courses in leadership, risk management and search and rescue.
“When I worked as a bodyguard I used to go up into the hills and play survival games with two ex-SAS soldiers.
“My interest stemmed from there.”
In a world of supermarkets and GPS mobiles, Hitchman says people still yearn to learn how to live off the land.
“There’s a fascination with self-sufficiency. It gives people a sense of empowerment.
“There’s been great interest from tourism agents.”
The half-day walks in groups cost $140 per person, while a privately-guided experience is $240.
Longer walks with Hitchman can also be arranged through the firm.
And how do you make a fire from toothpaste and a can?
“You rub the toothpaste on the concave surface at the bottom.
“It takes off the top layer of aluminum.
“You can then use it like a refractor and bounce the sun off it.”

_The founding family of Guided Nature Walks, started guiding the gold miners through the mountains & to the West Coast of New Zealand in 1864, this lead to the next stage of their business, which of course was a natural progression, Guided Nature Walks. With letters from Thomas Cook & Son dating back to 1889 congratulating the company on a wonderful tourism product, Now YOU can become part of our history by writing in to Trip Advisor, with your thoughts on what you liked about our Famous Routeburn Track.