Our story....

In July 2017 a hand shake between two mates, Matt Barnard and Nev Wilson marked the start of Paddle Board Rotorua. So in the 2017/2018 summer they proudly announced that they were open for business.

Experienced outdoorsmen, Nev and Matt, have a respect for their local lakes. Their goal for the future of their business is to give back to the lakes. Matt explains: “We have the goal to support conservation work because there is a lot of algae bloom and also catfish which have unfortunately made their way in to our beautiful lakes, there are heaps of invasive species so we want to help to get rid of them.”

Matt has always had a keen interest in conservation and has experience teaching others about our native landscape during his previous 2 years as a tour guide at Canopy Tours. Matt is a surfer, national white water rafter and works for himself as a musician performing gigs around Rotorua. Nev Wilson is an avid surfer too and white water kayaker, full time time dad to 3 and  he also works as an engineer and always dreamed of setting up his own business in the outdoors!

For both Nev and Matt starting Paddle Board Rotorua was a paddle in the right direction and they both hope that it will get more people out in nature and enjoying the lakes in a new way.

After being gifted with popular demand for the evening kayak and paddle board glow worm tours in the 2019/2020 summer, Matt was so stoked he wanted to buy a house and therefore sold his half share in the business to Nev. As of April 1 2020 Nev took over as the solo fearless leader of Paddle Board Rotorua. He immediately found himself in the midst of the Covid-19 shut-down and facing an uncertain future….. the mission now is to maintain Paddle Board Rotorua long into the future.