You get a buzz out of winning $2.00 on an instant kiwi, a meat pack in a raffle or quiz night at your local watering hole but imagine winning a mega Taupō getaway prize worth $14K, part of a grand total prize pool of $17K with seven runner up prizes.

St John Ambulance worker Dan Euinton from Tauranga has done exactly that and won the Taupō Essential Workers Mega Getaway Prize when wife Cayla-Faye Euinton nominated her husband on the Facebook campaign saying “As people become nervous to venture outside their houses, St John’s staff get busier and busier, ambulance workers have quietly being doing their job as normal, they haven’t asked for praise or any ‘extras’ but they turn up to work, help our most vulnerable and come home at the end of the day shattered.

Dan has done more overtime than I care to count during level 4 lockdown.”

New Zealand came to a standstill when the country went into lockdown on March 25. Many businesses took a detrimental nosedive including Tourism the country’s largest industry and since then everyone has been trying to find ways to recover, rebuild and reimagine. 

The idea of the campaign was created by Katie Jolly from Chris Jolly Outdoors and Elle Knight of Lakeside Accommodation, who had already been working on other collaborative initiatives. There was a common desire not to only help each other’s businesses but also to help promote Taupō as a preferred destination for Kiwi’s to vacation post lock-down. Together the duo became a whopping twenty-seven strong as local tourism operators and businesses rallied to pull out all the stops and roll out the red carpet for the essential workers campaign.

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Jolly said I’m proud of our business community they have rolled up their sleeves and got behind this initiative, it’s an opportunity for our region “the heart of NZ” to give back and say thank you to our new super heroes and showing what can be achieved when people work together for the greater cause and this is a great example of He waka eke noa.”

Elle Knight who had the pleasure along with two of the other business sponsors were responsible for randomly drawing the winners for both the mega prize and the seven runners up prizes sponsored by the Taupō Home Hosts Association. Knight said everyone felt really excited and when each name was drawn you got the warm fuzzies. When I contacted Dan and Cayla I got an immediate sense of excitement because they were both so thrilled to have won.

Dan’s response says it all . . . . “We were just sitting down for dinner when we got the message that I had won.

To be honest, we thought it might’ve been a joke to start with! “It felt so surreal – I’m about to start my intensive care paramedicine internship which a year of hard work, so this break is the perfect chance to get away and relax for a few days. “We both got a bit teary eyed and couldn’t believe it. “Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to the prize pool. We are so excited to get out there and explore the fantastic things Taupo has to offer.”

The Taupō Home Hosts Association said they were delighted that seven other Essential Worker entries won runner up prizes of two-night stays and breakfasts in a range of gorgeous Taupō luxury properties. To be able to reward these worthy recipients from across a range of services including medical, mental health, logistics, supermarkets and caregivers is really special. The home hosts look forward to having them to stay and pampering them.

The mega getaway prize includes accommodation, a courtesy car with chauffeur, a traditional powhiri welcome, a three-hour boat charter, rafting adventure, jet boat ride, passes to local tourist attractions, personalised video memory of the adventure, professional photo package, a treat hamper, one beauty treatment and massage, passes for the bungy swing, restaurant & café vouchers, designer clothing voucher, locally made gifts, art and merchandise.

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