Since 1982, when a white water rafting operation was started by Nicola's Megaw's parents, Brian and Robin Sage, we have taken many thousands of people down different sections of the Rangitikei River in the central North Island of New Zealand. From 1987 they have also been able to stay at River Valley Lodge. Shortly after the Lodge opened a horse trekking operation was also added to our variety of activities.

Nicola and I have now been directly involved with River Valley for 23 years. Our two oldest daughters, Janey and Melissa also have important roles within the company.

Our focus is on being able to provide guests with not only uplifting adventure experiences, but experiences that are also fun, and that does not have to mean a Grade 5 rafting trip. It could also have them enjoying a beautifully cooked country style meal, with much of the produce coming from our own gardens, a glass of wine overlooking the river, or picking up their camera or paint brush and taking part in one of our Art or Photography workshops. Our Sauna and Spa development is part of our desire to create a more holistic experience for our guests that incorporates adventure, local food and wine, deep relaxation and a degree of comfort.

We have also developed a business relationship with our local Maori Iwi (tribe). This has lead to the development of a guided walk on the sacred mountain, Aorangi. This walk, or hikoi in Maori, is not only rich in scenery and flora and fauna, but our Maori guides also give the participants an insight into Maori lore associated with the mountain, and its natural inhabitants.

Our future plans involve a greater emphasis on encouraging guests to stay longer and giving them more opportunity to immerse themselves in our unique environment, providing them with a more meaningful experience. With changes we are presently implementing in our overall operation, this will see us reducing the number of people who can stay overnight at River Valley Lodge itself.

To preserve and enhance our physical environment, making it better than the way we found it.

River Valley operates beside the Rangitikei River , one of the worlds' most beautiful places. Our visitors have a huge amount of appreciation of the unspoiled and unpolluted landscape. River Valley is committed to minimising and mitigating the impact of our operations on this environment.

We have introduced a comprehensive environmental plan, through our involvement with ebex21. We will also encourage our business partners and clients to embrace our environmental vision.

We have developed some, and will develop further systems to minimise our environmental footprint. These may extend beyond the recycling and tree planting programmes we already have in place.

To this end we are currently working through a participation programme with carboNZero. The carboNZero programme is either a participation or certification process to recognise organisations for reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and neutralising their remaining unavoidable emissions. The carboNZero programme is administered by Landcare Research and is the result of over 5 years of credible research.

Environmental results and achievements to date include:

* Commissioning of a state of the art sewage treatment plant that treats our water waste to an extremely high standard and then disperses it to our areas of native plant regeneration.
* Meeting of our goals to plant a minimum of 200 square metres of native trees and shrubs per annum - in addition most of these plants are transplanted seedlings grown at River Valley within our gardens and transplanted.
* Ongoing opossum control. While the results of this are anecdotal, there appears to be an explosion in the native bird population around the Lodge.

Social

To effectively communicate our values, to stakeholders and local community. To be a catalyst for positive change in our community.

We recognise that we have a profound social effect on the rural community in which we operate. We aim to ensure that we provide a positive interface to our local community that will enhance and improve the relationship between them and the tourism industry.

We aim to have staff that are motivated, happy in their work, and realising their potential. We will provide some of the means for this to be achieved.

Reservation Policy

To confirm a reservation we require customer credit card details (valid at time of stay)

Cancellation

If a confirmed booking is cancelled more than 21 days before the scheduled day of arrival no cancellation fee will be charged.

If a confirmed booking is cancelled less than 21 days, but more than 48 hours before the scheduled day of arrival, a charge of NZ$ 25.00 GST included per person will be charged to the credit card (cancellation fee).

After that, $25 or 50% of the room or activity rate will be charged, whichever is the greater. If the customer does not show
(no show), for a confirmed booking, the full rate of activity or accommodation will be charged to the credit card.

The exception to this is where the company has postponed or cancelled the activity because of weather or river conditions, where a full refund will be given.

All Adventure Activities

River Valley reserves the right to cancel or amend trip details if conditions are deemed to be unsafe, or clients unsuitable for the demands of the activity