Barb Simpson - Going Bush With Barb
She started life on a farm near Whanganui but it was a rainy high school tramping trip to Mount Ruapehu that first drew one of the Wakatipu’s greatest outdoor legends into the hills.
Renowned locally for her tireless efforts to restore the basin’s native vegetation and her 22 years as home economics and outdoor recreation teacher at Wakatipu High School, Barb Simpson’s spent 33 years around the country teaching kids to cook, and to survive in the wilderness.
The youngest of five, Barb’s father died when she was six and her mum moved them to Whanganui where Barb saw what is now her own strong volunteer spirit demonstrated fully in her very capable mother.
Training for a Homecraft Certificate at Dunedin Teachers College, Barb taught in Upper Hutt and Whanganui where she eventually met husband of 54 years Neill Simpson – a Lands and Survey Department ranger.
Bringing up three sons, first in Turangi where Neill was ranger for Tongariro National Park, tramping and camping trips with the Wellington Botanical Society were part of Simpson life. “Our three boys did about 80 trips over 15 years,” recalls Barb. “I’d be washing nappies by the stream – no disposables back then, and trying to dry them over the campfire.” Ever the capable, get things done woman, she taught home economics at Tongariro High School. “I was the only one teaching with my one-year-old in a backpack,” she grins.
Camping in an old canvas tent, they’d be rained in, snowed in, camping with 20 or 30 people. “The kids would build their own little fire. There were no plastic fantastics.”
A job came up for Neill as ranger at Springs Junction on the Lewis Pass. Before the move in 1977 Barb and Neill headed south without the boys for a tramping trip with Whanganui friends in the Hopkins Valley. However, Neill was called to Springs Junction early so the Simpsons left the trip. It saved their lives. Tragically, four of their good friends died after they left them when Three Johns Hut, high on Barron Saddle, blew away in a massive storm. It was a difficult time then settling into a new job and area and coming to terms with that loss, says Barb.
Barb started a small pre-school with a friend and worked part-time as Springs Junction postmistress. She and Neill built a little Visitor Centre there for passing tourists.
In 1981 Neill was brought to Queenstown to oversee the installation of the Remarkables Ski Area and road – 10 years of controversy in the making. “We bought a crib in Peninsula Road which Michael Wyatt redesigned for us and we’re still here. We love it,” says Barb.
She was soon teaching at Wakatipu High School, first home economics, then food technology and hospitality.
The school’s legendary backcountry Branches Camps wouldn’t be the same without Barb helping the team in the elaborate outdoor, make-shift kitchen, which she’s been part of for 38 years. She still helps every year, even 23 years after retiring. Barb also established a wetland at Branches Station which she plants with groups of kids.
An efficient kitchen manager, Barb once left “the men” on camp in charge of the hangi. A male teacher mistakenly put the rocks on top of the three huge food baskets instead of beneath. “He should’ve known better. All the food was incinerated, including three large lambs cut up for us by Arthur Borrell (runholder). We had to run around pulling out old bread and trying to use what we could for sandwiches instead to feed about 100 kids.”
Good humour was a must - duty meal servers turning up wearing hats made from cabbage leaves and mischievous teenage boys planting possum poo in her scroggin.
Later handed the head of outdoor recreation role by past principal Derek Stubbs, Barb was instrumental in introducing some of the school’s iconic outdoor camps and expeditions.
During school terms she’d regularly take more than a dozen kids on weekend tramping trips into the Caples Valley, or into Routeburn Falls Hut during winter solstice, followed by a polar plunge back in the lake.
As if she wasn’t busy enough, Barb volunteered for 18 years for Victim Support. The tragedy of suicides was extremely hard, arriving home once after one at 3.30am then having to teach the following day.
A Mountain Safety Council volunteer, she was 12 years in the local Search and Rescue management team, five years on Queenstown Trails Trust, a Big Buddy and is now a Health Shuttle driver.
When fire devastated Lake Wakatipu’s Pigeon Island the Simpsons launched Wakatipu Islands Planting Programme to restore the bush, volunteers in tow. That led to them establishing the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust in 2012 and Jean Malpas Native Plant Nursery in Jardine Park. Since 2015 the trust has planted well over 70,000 native plants throughout the basin and Barb’s relinquished her botanical education role to the trust’s education and outreach person.
Barb and Neill have won national and local conservation, community contribution and New Zealander of the Year ‘Local Hero’ awards – well deserved honours for two passionate volunteer conservationists.
