Sandy & Robin Toy

Sandy's first experience of translocation was a leopard caught in the garden of her childhood home on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. She moved to the UK in her teens and had to abandon her ambition to research zebra. Robin's childhood adventures centred on cycling and the Brighton Youth Orchestra. They met at the University of York where they did ecology degrees and roamed North Yorkshire as Conservation Volunteers. They lived in a rainforest in Malaysia collecting data for Robin's PhD. Sandy went on to work for the UK statutory nature conservation agency, while Robin reinvented himself as an ecotoxicologist. Seventeen years later they moved to Aotearoa. Within weeks they joined the Remutaka Conservation Trust and became accredited kiwi handlers during the translocation of kiwi-nui. In 2010 they moved to Motueka, attracted by the mountains, a more sustainable lifestyle and a strawbale house. They work as ecological contractors and volunteers with Friends of Flora.Ruedi Mosimann grew up on a small farm in Switzerland. After an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner, he worked as an engineer specialising in precision mechanics. In 2002 he moved to the Motueka Valley and since 2012 Ruedi has been a member of Friends of Flora where he enjoys the company of great volunteers and the unique flora and fauna of the project area. Over the years his interest in photography grew, leading him to join the newly formed Motueka Camera Club in 2009. Later he joined the Photographic Society of New Zealand and received multiple regional awards.