Resilience Response
Welcome to a coordinated, community-led response to a period of increasing global disruption.
Rising fuel prices, tightening supply chains, and ongoing geopolitical tensions are beginning to impact how we live, work, and operate here in Aotearoa. This page brings together locally relevant information, insights, and practical actions helping our community understand what’s happening globally.
Stay informed. Understand what’s changing. Know what to do next.
Latest Updates
Resilience starts with understanding and grows through community.
As pressure builds, impacts flow quickly into our daily lives. Expertly crafted by Wao Aotearoa General Manager Monique Kelly. Some of what you’ll find here may feel complex and at times, confronting. And if it ever feels overwhelming, step away, get outside, connect with others and come back when you’re ready.
These updates are designed to help you make sense of what’s happening, and most importantly, to highlight practical actions we can start to take as individuals, businesses, and as a community.
Understanding what’s changing is the first step toward responding well.
Updated regularly as global conditions evolve.
What you can do now.
Start here this week
Replace one car trip with a walk, bike, or shared ride
Check your weekly fuel use
Have one conversation about how to prepare
Sign up for local updates
At Home
Reduce your fuel use where you can (combine trips, walk, bike, carpool).
Improve energy efficiency (insulation, heating, electrification over time).
Start building a buffer (food, essentials, financial where possible).
Grow a small amount of food, support your local food producers and if possible buy only NZ foods.
At Work / Business
Reduce exposure to fuel and high-cost inputs.
Look for efficiencies (transport, materials, operations).
Build flexibility into planning and budgets.
Start conversations with your team about resilience and adaptation.
Where possible buy NZ made.
In Your Community
Connect with local groups and initiatives.
Support local producers and businesses.
Share resources (carpooling, tools, knowledge).
Check in on others. Especially those under pressure.
Go and talk to your neighbours - actually do it.
Upcoming events.
Resources & Community Support
Practical support, tools, and local connections to help you take the next step.
Building resilience isn’t something we do alone. Across our region, there are people, organisations, and initiatives working to support our community through change, from food, transport and energy to wellbeing and financial support.
This section brings together trusted, practical resources to help you take the next step, whether that’s preparing at home, adapting your business, or supporting others in your community.
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Carpooling - Community Ridesharing Platform
Connect with others travelling the same routes and reduce fuel use and costs.
→ Visit CarpoolinLocal carpool network
Join the Wānaka Carpool Facebook group (3,000+ members) to share rides and coordinate journeys locally.
→ Visit Facebook PageRide & Save calculator
See how much you could save by walking or biking instead of driving.
→ Learn MoreTransport for healthcare
Need to get to Dunstan Hospital, Cromwell specialists, Alexandra Eye Clinic, or even Dunedin or Queenstown? Check if Wheels to Dunstan can help.
→ Contact Community Link: 03 443 7799 -
Mental wellbeing services
Local support and services available through Aspiring Medical.
→ Learn MoreWednesday Wellbeing Walks
A welcoming weekly community walk (with optional coffee after). Open to all ages and a great way to connect with others. Every Wednesday
→ Wānaka Tree Car Park 7am -
This section brings together local support, practical tools, and ways to reduce pressure on your household budget.
Heating support
If you’re struggling with heating costs this winter, Community Link encourages you to get in touch for support. They provide support for individuals and whānau to ensure every family stays warm this winter.→ Heating Cost Support
→ Learn MoreFinancial guidance & support services
Presbyterian Support Otago / Family Works offers help with budgeting, debt management, IRD, Work & Income, KiwiSaver hardship applications, and more.
→ Learn MoreIf you’re finding it difficult to cover the cost of food, Community Link offers food parcel support for individuals and whānau in need. This service is here to ensure everyone in our community has access to essential food and support during challenging times.
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Open Letter: Fuel Allocation Planning
A call for New Zealand to develop an essential-use fuel allocation plan.
→ Read MoreWhen the Trucks Stop – Community Guide
A practical, evolving guide to navigating fuel constraints through community action.
→ Read MoreThe Limits to the Energy Transition
Exploring what physics and resource constraints mean for New Zealand’s future.
→ Read MoreNZ fuel stocks in real time → Take a Look
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Practical ways to strengthen local food systems, build skills, and support one another.
Learn to Grow Locally
Build skills and confidence with local experts:
Erin Allison — Homegrown Harvest (Hāwea Flat)
Vegetable growing courses designed for our climate
→ Learn More
→ Facebook PageAli Soper — Your Garden Coach (Lake Hāwea)
Practical tips for growing food locally (podcast)
→ Visit WebsiteCommunity Gardens
Great places to learn, connect, and get involved:
→ Grow Wānaka
→ Hāwea Food Forest
→ Queenstown Community GardenSupport Local Growers
Strengthen local food systems by choosing local where possible:
Visit farmers markets
Buy direct from growers
Choose NZ-grown food in stores
In Wānaka, FreshLink stocks a strong range of local produce:
→ Visit WebsiteFood Support & Sharing
Many organisations across our region are working to ensure people are supported through access to food, shared meals, and community care.
If you can, consider donating.
If you need support, please reach out — these services are here for you.→ Baskets of Blessing (Queenstown)
→ Community Link Food Bank (Wānaka)
→ Mana Tahuna Kai Bank (Frankton)
→ Happiness House (Queenstown)
Explore more local initiatives
Stay up to date with upcoming food resilience events and initiatives across the region:
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Electrify Queenstown 2026
A three-day event bringing together homeowners, businesses, policymakers, and innovators to explore practical solutions for electrification, energy resilience, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
→ Learn More -
Climate Club – Advocacy templates
Email templates to help you engage with political parties and advocate for greater energy resilience and local control.
→ Learn More -
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Wao Summit.
27th October - 1st November 2026
The conversations we need to be having now.
Our flagship week of kōrero, workshops, tours, and community events will focus on resilience in action - bringing this moment into sharp, practical focus.
As global disruption begins to impact energy, food, transport, and the cost of living here at home, the Wao Summit becomes a space to step out of the noise, understand what’s changing, and explore how we respond together.
Across the week, leaders, business owners, experts and the community will come together to share insights, challenge assumptions, and accelerate practical, local solutions strengthening our ability to adapt and thrive as we look towards the year 2126.
This is the event you never realised you needed, until now.
Growing food in the Southern Lakes just got easier. Fifteen local growers are teaming up with Wao each month to share what actually works in our climate, helping beginners get started with confidence. This month we discuss how to build a raised garden bed, using animal manures, propagating perennial plants and seed raising basics.