About Raukawa
Raukawa Adventure Centre (RAC) is owned and operated by the Wanganui YMCA.
The land for the YMCA Raukawa Adventure Centre was gifted to the Wanganui YMCA by the Phillips and Macintosh families of Aotea Station for a children’s adventure camp in about 1955 or 1956. The camp area was originally only about two acres, but in 1997 the Wanganui YMCA purchased an adjoining area and today owns more than 30 acres of bush, river flats and hillside in rural New Zealand.
The camp became operational in 1957, and celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2007. Prior to this the YMCA ran camps from Kai Iwi. One of the original accommodation huts used in Kai Iwi has been moved to Raukawa and is still operational today where it is affectionately known as the Orange hut, due to its bright orange paint.
One Wanganui family the Beavens, have played a major role in the camp for three generations. The first member, Jack Beaven, was associated with the camp from when it started. Jack Beaven’s three sons, Ian, Ray and Graham, were all involved with the camp from an early age. Today Craig, Ray’s son also have an affinity to the camp and recently held a workshop there for the Red Cross.
Jack’s father Fred’s involvement in the YMCA started in 1918 as a member of a Committee set up to start the Wanganui YMCA, which began in 1919 with a gymnasium. As part of a tree planting programme (still continued today to provide firewood and expanding the wetland area) that started in the 1960’s poplars, liquid ambers and a grove of walnut trees were planted.
Throughout the years volunteers and especially the Woman’s Auxiliary Services collected and sold the walnuts to raise funds for the Camp. Mary Kranenburg one of the lifelong members of the Woman’s Auxiliary Services who has been involved with YMCA Raukawa Adventure Centre from the beginning attended the official opening of the new climbing and abseil tower by Councillor Randhir Dahya with her husband Bram on the 16th of September 2006.
Raukawa is committed to the YMCA’s guiding values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility and Enjoyment for Life. We put these values into practice and through our programmes develop “healthy mind, body and spirit”.
Our motto is “To build strong kids, strong families and strong communities”.
Raukawa is “where the experience begins”. We offer the following:
- Outdoor pursuits (various levels),
- Adventure tourism,
- Adventure therapy,
- Environmental education,
- Teambuilding activities,
- Accommodation, and have
- Catered or self catering options available.
Our visitors come from a broad spectrum of the community. We host corporate groups interested in tranquil surroundings conducive to leadership, teambuilding and development training, schools seeking outdoor education and adventure experiences, special interest groups, and families wishing to enjoy a weekend escape.
Raukawa is the ideal place for:
We believe in “Challenge by Choice” and sequential base learning. Our instructors are trained in safety management principles and procedures. We place safety of participants at the highest paramount and integrate sound Risk Management principles (RAMS) into all our programmes. In short, we take the worry out of your Adventure experience.
Our highly trained instructors are always balancing the competency of the participants to the risk factor and the degree of perceived and real risk involved in each activity. All our instructors hold current First Aid qualifications.
Our professional trainers specialize in Hazard & Risk Management in the Outdoors and facility base management, Outdoor pursuit training and challenge ropes course technology.