Hard graft, risk-taking and adventure seekers are words that apply to the people over the following pages. They have set up business in a hugely competitive environment to offer a unique and exciting outdoors experience. Often, they have tried their hand at other businesses and realised their skills or assets could be put to better use. Whatever their story, there’s no denying that the people over the following pages, along with the hundreds of others we haven’t mentioned, are the backbone of a tourism industry that attracts more than two-million people to New Zealand each year: an industry that gives locals and visitors the chance to explore and enjoy the country’s wilderness areas and activities. Their ‘can-do’ attitude, willingness to take risks and their unswerving belief in their product and themselves is reminiscent of the qualities that the people of New Zealand – both Maori and European – have brought to this country over the centuries: independence, courage and innovation.