About Us

Simply Wild is Nelson owned and operated and was formed in 2004. We have a wide background in business, travel, tourism, finance, management, property and even veterinary science. You will generally encounter Rob or Tim on the phone, email or guiding, with Craig, Andrew and Jeff involved in varying amounts quietly working away in the background.
Read about who we are, our company and who we work with

Who are We
Guest Comments
Articles
Our Partners
Company Affiliations

Who we are

Rob Douglas grew up on a farm in Mid Canterbury in the South Island. He worked in export and marketing roles in NZ and Australia before running his own exporting company. Rob is one of the “originals” who competed in the first ever Coast to Coast multi sport event which gave him the initial inspiration for our Journeys at the Edge trips. Rob is a regular guide and manages Simply Wild along with Tim. Rob spends part of his time working in the company he co founded 17 years ago Teamworks which specialises in corporate training and development consultant. Rob’s wife Sue owns the local café Broccoli Row who provide Simply Wild with everything from picnic lunches to silver service dinners.

“I love being active in the outdoors and meeting people so guiding for Simply Wild is like have a day out with friends. Just as much fun is being able to tailor individual trips so that we ensure that our guests get to see what they want and we try to make the experiencing inspiring in some way"

Tim Wanklyn has been directly involved in the running to Simply Wild since it’s formation. He grew up on a farm in Gisborne in the North Island of NZ, but with changes in the farming economy in the mid 1980’s he retrained in accounting and finance in Wellington and moved to Nelson in 1991 to work for Apple exporter ENZA in a various finance, logistics and management roles.He spent 2 ½ years with his family working in Rarotonga providing training in finance and accounting. Since returning to Nelson he splits his time between Simply Wild and contracting to various organisations both in Nelson and overseas.

"I have always had a passion for the outdoors and the sea so get great enjoyment in guiding our guests around the Nelson region and meeting different people from all over the world. I’ve had some wonderful travel times overseas with my family like travelling down a river in Thailand on a bamboo raft or sitting on the crater edge of a volcano watching it erupt 150m away. But, I get as much pleasure with what we have here in Nelson."

Craig Wilson has worked in tourism for over 15 years and is passionate about providing visitors with the best experiences possible while travelling in New Zealand. He manages his own tourism consulting company advising other tourism operators around New Zealand but loves to spend his summers in Nelson hosting visitors in the Nelson wilderness or around the wineries and art galleries of the region. Hosting visitors during the summer is a welcome change from writing strategies and making presentations to tourism businesses during other times of the year. It’s really refreshing to get out and enjoy a real interaction with visitors after writing a strategy for a region or talking to other businesses about how they can improve the quality of their visitor experience.

"I grew up in the South Island and have lived in Nelson for the last 3 years after living in the North Island and overseas for 14 years. Being back in the South Island has inspired me to get out of the city and mountain bike or hike in the mountains or go sailing in the Abel Tasman. Nelson has so much wilderness to explore. I’ve also discovered some fantastic local produce and wine so the Saturday market is a must-do along with keeping tabs on the new release wines (something to relax with after a day out exploring!). I’ve been on some amazing expeditions/experiences including rafting the Nahanni River in Canada, driving through Australia’s outback, cycling around Denmark and attempting an Olympic bob sled run. Now I’m very happy to be discovering new parts of New Zealand and getting ready to start cycle touring on the new cycleways when they’re developed."

Andrew Conway is a veterinarian and owns his practice in Richmond. He is a deer farmer as well as being very involved with New Zealand Deer Industry. Andrew is a very experienced photographer and worked for a time as a photo journalist both in New Zealand and overseas. Most of the photos on this website are taken by Andrew and if you would like to see more of his photos have a look at his website www.photoimagesnz.com. He competed three times in the original multi sport event the “Coast to Coast” in it’s early days and remains involved in sport with coaching rowing.

“The outdoors, sport and photography have always been part of my life and I’ve seen and done a lot of things all around the world. I am always amazed though at what is on offer in Nelson with the variety of activities and the stunning and varied landscapes in the region.”

Jeff Hulme is Nelson born and bred. He has been working in real estate and property for a number of years and currently managers a branch of a local real estate agency. Jeff works behind the scenes in Simply Wild and with his current commitments he doesn’t get out mountain bike guiding as much as he would like.

“I played a lot of sport and have always been very active so really appreciate the recreational value and enjoyment of activities we offer at Simply Wild. The Dun Mountain Trail is at my back doorstep so I’ve got to know it well over the last few years. “

Guest Comments

We really appreciate feedback from guests and are very responsive to suggestions. However many of our guests prefer anonymity and in many cases we do not seek testimonial comments and use discretion when it comes to publishing their comments.
Click here for a a selection of comments from our guests.

Articles about Simply Wild

Click here to read the recent Inspire magazine feature on our 2 day Journey.

Partners

To be confident of supplying the very best service we work very closely with a limited number of the regions top operators who are specialist in their fields.
Tasman Helicopters
The Sea Kayak Company
HeliPro
Eco-Rafting Adventures
Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco
Edenhouse
Bronte Country Estate
Consulate Apartments
Split Apple Retreat

Company Affiliations

Tourism Industry Association New Zealand
Simply Wild is a full member of TIANZ which is the largest representative body of tourism operators in New Zealand. It is a membership-based and private sector trade organisation with about 1700 members who collectively make up 85% of the country's tourism turnover. We have exhibited at the TIANZ run tourism trade shows TRENZ and Pure Luxury.

Nelson Tasman Tourism
Nelson Tasman Tourism is our regional tourism organisation representing our region. Simply Wild is a member of it’s International Marketing Group and are actively involved in familiarisation trips for visiting agents.

Qualmark
Simply Wild is a Qualmark accredited activity provider. Qualmark New Zealand Limited is New Zealand tourism's official quality agency. Qualmark licenses professional and trustworthy New Zealand tourism businesses to use the Qualmark 'tourism's official quality mark' to help international and domestic travellers select places to stay, things to do and ways to get around.

Whenua iti Outdoors
Whenua iti has been instrumental in training of many people in the outdoors for around 30 years and Rob has had a close association with them in many different capacities. Craig has also been a member of the governing Board.

Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce
We are members of our local Chamber of Commerce which has been in the business of encouraging regional development and representing since 1858.

Department of Conservation
DoC, as they are known, are the caretakers of huge area of New Zealand and in particular our National Parks. Simply Wild has a very good working relationship with DoC and hold concessions to operate all the trips we offer.