Youth advocates have a right royal time
THREE Central Otago youth advocates who have rubbed shoulders with royalty say they have been empowered by the experience and will use it to continue their own work.
Sisters Ashleigh (21) and Courtney (18) Smith, formerly of Naseby, now tertiary students in Dunedin, and Max Hall (17), of Mount Aspiring College, in Wanaka, met the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Tuesday’s Auckland War Memorial Museum reception, where the guests were mainly aged 1725 and had been invited for their significant contributions to their communities.
The Central Otago trio had all been recognised for their work with Central Otago anticyber bullying group Sticks ’n Stones.
Courtney and Max were the first New Zealand recipients of the Diana Award, established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, to recognise ‘‘outstanding young people selflessly creating and sustaining positive social change’’.
Ashleigh was the 2017 winner of New Zealand’s Queen’s Young Leaders Award, and met Queen Elizabeth during a twoweek Queen’s Young Leader Award residential programme in the United Kingdom.
They said it was ‘‘wonderful’’ to meet the duke and duchess in Auckland, and that they had ‘‘a good chat’’ with the duchess about charity work and met Prince Harry ‘‘briefly’’.
Meeting all the other young people attending was inspirational, the sisters said.
‘‘It was amazing to meet a whole lot of incredible young people,’’ Ashleigh said.
‘‘The opportunity to mix and mingle with them was just exceptional, and we walked away saying we couldn’t believe the energy that comes from that.
‘‘When you see young people like that it leaves you with a huge amount of hope about the direction of our country.’’
ROTORUA: The highlight of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s final day in New Zealand was an amazing display of Maori culture that helped conclude a hugely successful royal tour.
Prince Harry and the duchess touched down in a sunny Rotorua wearing pounamu taonga pendants ahead of a visit to Te Papaiouru marae.
Draped in korowai (cloaks), they were welcomed on to the marae with a powhiri, a karanga and then a stirring haka involving up to 1000 children, women and men of all ages.
The traditional welcome was a stunning display and international media dubbed it ‘‘spectacular’’ and a ‘‘hell of a way to end the tour’’.
After a lunch prepared in a hangi, the Royals visited the National Kiwi Hatchery, at Rainbow Springs, to learn about its kiwi breeding programme.
Guided by Michelle Impey, of Kiwis for Kiwi, and Rainbow Springs husbandry manager Emma Bean, the couple saw a kiwi chick that had hatched just minutes earlier.
The couple named 3dayold chicks Koha (gift) and Tihei (sneeze).
Their last public walkabout attracted legions of royal fans to the Rotorua Government Gardens.
At one point, a toddler managed to get free of the barriers and made straight for Prince Harry.
Concerned, the prince helped him back towards the crowd to find his mum.
The Royals’ final stop on their 16day tour was a visit to the Redwoods Treewalk, a 700mlong walkway of suspension bridges, where they were greeted by a crowd of mountain bikers, dog walkers and children dressed in Halloween costumes.
The couple admired a 2000yearold trunk section of Californian redwood, there as a comparison with the much younger and slimmer 117yearold ones in this forest.
As the couple left, the prince said: ‘‘Bye, guys, enjoy this heaven.’’
The couple are due to leave Auckland for London today. — NZME