Clair (nee Beamish) grew up at Whana Whana and went to the local school at Crownthorpe.  Peter comes from not far away, Raukawa, where he also went to the local small country school.  We first met at the age of 12 (that we both remember!).   After reuniting in 2004, and merging our two families, we revamped the original Whana Valley Walk as Whana Walk Hawkes Bay.

The Beamishs have been farming at Whana Whana for 5 generations.  It all started when a Beamish forbear discovered this beautiful area after a horse bolted on him and he went out to find the wayward nag.   After seeing the view from Brown's Hill, there was no turning back.   We are both keen riders and with so many tracks to check regularly its only natural we cheat a bit and ride out over them.

Our merged family had great fun marking out the new tracks.  With 6 children aged from 8 to 15 we hit the hills during school holidays with paint and paint brushes to mark out the tracks.   Everyone had their say about where the tracks should go to give the best views and most picturesque walking.   We discovered a great picnic spot while marking out the Blue Track.  Everyone wanted to have a sausage sizzle, so we picked a good winter’s day and stopped painting posts and tree branches for lunch- the group photo above.