Food festival for the future
The income of an upcoming wine and food festival will go toward ‘‘saving and preserving’’ the west coast of New Zealand.
The South Taranaki Underwater Club is holding a wine and food festival to raise money for its collaborative ‘‘, among other causes.
The Reef Project involves an underwater camera that captures footage of an unknown West Coast reef.
Club member Peter Gulliver said the camera was set on a ‘‘semi-unexplored reef which is in the line of fire’’ by Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) iron sand mining plans.
Gulliver said the sea enthusiasts run events like this festival semi-regularly, ’’especially when we’re passionate about a project’’.
‘‘Essentially our desire is to not see the sea bed mining out here go ahead,’’ he said. ’’We are just passionate right now about keeping our coastline the way it is. We shouldn’t be the last generation to see the beauty out there.’’
Club secretary Richard Guy said the Reef Project was something that was important for the future of the West Coast.
‘‘It’s important for us to know what’s out there, and how we can protect it in the future. It’s not just about sea bed mining, it’s about exploitation off the coast of all forms really,’’ he said.
The event, which isn’t like your usual Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, will see food and entertainment rolling throughout the evening with beverages on sale.
The ticketed festival is a R18 event that has been highly successful in the past.
Gulliver said although the Reef Project was still in it’s trial stages, has bought great results to light.
He said the aim of the project was to show what it’s like out there. ’’It’s to show that we have got a coast line worth protecting,’’ he said.
Gulliver said the Reef Project camera had already captured some brilliant things.
‘‘We’ve seen fish out there we didn’t think were out there,’’ he said.
Guy agreed.
‘‘Since we’ve had the Reef Project going, we’ve just learnt so much and I think it’s important to keep it going,’’ he said.
This year’s wine and food festival tickets are available from Andrew Purser Panelbeating or i-Site Hawera.