Meet the Team

The team below all live within a 10 minute drive of Raurimu and attend local church’s and home groups throughout the week. We are The Salvation Army’s hands and feet in the outdoors. We Love God, People and the Outdoors!

Our instructor qualifications include:

• NZOIA awards in rock climbing, abseiling, kayaking, mountaineering and bushcraft

• NZRA raft guiding qualifications

• Project Adventure facilitation qualifications

• a variety of NZQA outdoor recreation standards

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Staff profiles

Kyle Aitken - Manager

Kyle has come back to BMAC. He started here 2006 and worked as an instructor for 6 years. He left with his wife Hania to travel and see more of the world spending time in Aus, UK and the Czech Republic before hearing the call to come back to BMAC. He and Hania left with two kids and arrived back with four. Kyle is keen to see BMAC help ignite a fire in those that come, they can take away and pass on. He loves his rafting, pushing groups to the max, but is equally at home in the office pushing paper around. 

Gregg Beisly - Operations Manager

Gregg comes to us from a bit of everywhere Aus, India, Bolivia and England. Fair to say he has a wide range of experience with allsorts of cultures, people and places. He joins us with his wife Sal and six kids. Greggs passion is the mountains, wherever they might be, exploring all they have to offer is definitely Greggs happy place. That might be using skis, snowboard, crampons, trekking boots or climbing shoes. Gregg brings a wealth of experience from working and playing in a variety of places in the outdoors. He also has some amazing stories from adventures around the world….and a sense of humor honed in the Sahara desert.

Emma Smith- Office Manager 

 Emma moved over here in 2002 from North America, she brings  her unique accent and training as a chef. She has a love of the outdoors and a passion for horses. Taking 11 years to invest in her four kids she joined us in 2017  and has been honing her organizational skills and our filing systems. Being married to the local police officer gives her a unique insight into outdoor activities - and how important it is to get things right so you don’t require  the services of Search and Rescue. Having lived in the area over 13 years she has a lot of local knowledge and a great insight into the local community. It’s also great that she has lost none of her culinary expertise, so say all our staff.

 Instructing Staff 

Claire Wyatt - Instructor, Adventure Therapist

 Claire has trained and worked in several countries, Claire brings more than 20 years experience in the outdoors to BMAC. As well as her Outdoor experiences, Claire is a trained counsellor and adventure therapist, combining these skill sets to bring about the best outcomes for those she works with. While Claire loves the Outdoors and will happily engage in any and all activities, she also loves running in the mountains and can sometimes be heard singing her heart out too!

Stephen Ward - Instructor

 Stephen is our very own walking talking Soldier from The Salvation Army. He also brings his funny accent from the UK along with 10 yrs work experience in the outdoors over there. Not only does he love the outdoors he also teaches partnered dancing, loves gaming on pc or console and motorbiking round twisty roads!   He brings with him a relentless enthusiasm and optimism that the outdoors can have a positive impact on people’s lives if used well…….and a cookie monster onesie that he refuses to apologise for.

Layton Hockey - Instructor

 Originally from Gisborne Layton has settled into living here with our huge snowy volcanoes. Layton graduated polytech in 2017 and is now running camps like a boss. He brings youth, exuberance and adventure galore!  He loves all the outdoors has to offer and is usually found enjoying it in some form or another on his days off, learning fast where the best kayaking and adventure spots are. Layton is keen to learn more, and pass on the wealth of knowledge he has gained through study, work and life in general. He can also backflip…...just saying!

 Rosemarie Keen - Instructor

Rose was super keen to start at BMAC so she finished polytech on Friday and started working for us on Monday! Already settling in to life in Raurimu she has explored our local climbing spots, paddled her way down some of our picturesque rivers and summited some of the local peaks. She joins us from the deep DEEP south of Winton. She brings to the team her skills as an instructor, the ability to drive heavy plant machinery and speaks various languages. See you soon, до скорой встречи, à bientôt.

Tina Gargett - Instructor

 Tina has travelled and instructed around the world after training up and qualifying over in the UK. She has been living locally for a few years guiding on the Tongariro Crossing before joining our team at BMAC. Tina has a keen appetite for the outdoors, in her off hours she pursues kayaking and snow time on the mountain. When she needs a break from all the activity Tina enjoys writing.  Tina is currently away on maternity leave.

 See You Soon  - Team BMAC