Meet your #1 Expert Local New Zealand Guide
University trained storyteller, historian, ecologist
Seventh Generation Akaroa local
Marie Haley
Marie Haley, the seventh generation, Akaroa
"I am passionate about these tours, as these stories inspire me with hope every time I tell them. When I finish a tour with a tingle up my spine and hugs all around I know that I have made that connection for my guests."
Marie Haley is the seventh generation in akaroa
Marie Haley is recognised widely as THE #1 EXPERT LOCAL GUIDE for Akaroa and New Zealand History.
Marie Haley is university trained as an ecologist and historian and is a natural orator, weaving together storytelling with referenced research so that tours are factual and correct.
There is simply no other tour like this in New Zealand. Marie can answer all of your questions with decades of research.
Based upon excellent TripAdvisor reviews. Marie Haley is one of the best private guides in New Zealand.
Storyteller
Manaakitanga
Marie Haley was trained in storytelling at the University of Idaho, Moscow Idaho, USA. In American Indian studies, with the Nez Pearce and Coeur d’Alene tribes.
Her special ability is to connect seemingly disparate historical events to help people from anywhere in the world understand New Zealand’s history through an international context.
Marie’s understanding of ecology woven together with history and storytelling allows Marie to present her tours as a complete story with a beginning and end and leave people feeling inspired based upon referenced fact and real life case studies.
Historian
Tūrangawaewae
Marie has completed a dissertation at Canterbury University in the British French Imperial Rivalry and the Britomart Monument in Akaroa.
Marie has spent decades researching New Zealand’s history and is incredibly widely read with the ability to reference historical research in her oral storytelling.
Marie Haley has also researched her family land ownership which is one of the longest continuous farms in New Zealand beginning in 1838 to today.
Ecologist
Kaitiakitanga
Trained as a conservation ecologist with a BSc Environmental Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, and a certificate of conservation as a trainee ranger with the Department of Conservation.
Marie Haley lived on the remote and wild sub-Antarctic Campbell Island for three summers undertaking royal albatross and sea lion research.
Marie Haley was the manager of the Wildside Project, taking out the national 2017 Green Ribbon Community Leadership Award and national 2017 Community Bio-security Awards.
Leadership Roles in Regenerative Tourism
Chair
Akaroa Civic Trust
Marie Haley is the Chair of the Akaroa Civic Trust. Akaroa Civic Trust was founded in 1969.
Akaroa is recognised today as an exceptionally well preserved example of a New Zealand colonial town. Recognition that this special character of Akaroa was under threat prompted the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1999 to register the older parts of the town as an historic area.
The historic character of Akaroa remains under threat. Akaroa is recognised as having a nationally important but fragile historic character that could still be eroded and damaged.
Marie Haley became the Chair in 2025 and is proud to work to preserve the character of Akaroa, and her ancestral sites.
Chair
Friends of Britomart
Marie Haley is the Chair of the Friends of the Britomart Monument, a Nationally Significant Historic Reserve and Monument.
Once recognised as the Premier South Island historic site, its history has been eroded over time. While the reserve has not been preserved appropriately.
Friends of Britomart aim to advocate for appropriate protection and recognition.
The Britomart Monument sits on the site where British Sovereignty was first demonstrated in the South Island to quell the French threat.
Marie Haley became the Chair of the Friends of Britomart in 2024. Proudly protecting a site of direct connection for her ancestors.
Founder
The Seventh Generation Project
Marie Haley is the founder of The Seventh Generation Project, which aims to collect natural history stories of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula to create a baseline ecological standard from the past, to project forward as a visionary ecological baseline for the future.
Marie Haley began this project in 2024 as part of her History Dissertation at Canterbury University and in alignment with the values of The Seventh Generation Tours.
The project aligns with The Seventh Generation Principle to protect and enhance for generations coming after us, while being informed by the past and what is possible.
National Awards For Marie Haley
New Zealand Tourism Awards
Finalist Business Excellence
Marie Haley and the Seventh Generation Tours Akaroa was selected as a finalist in the New Zealand Tourism Awards 2024 in Tourism Excellence.
A highly competitive and sought after award, this is a major achievement for a one woman owner-operator, perhaps the smallest tourism company in New Zealand!
Green Ribbon Award 2017
and National Biosecurity Award
Winner
As the leader of the Wildside Project, Marie Haley won both the national Green Ribbon AND National Biosecurity Awards in 2017.
With a highly community centred approach to conservation management, Marie lifted the Wildside to national recognition.
Rebecca L Lynch Memorial Scholarship
Marie Haley studied at the University of Idaho in Moscow Idaho, USA in 2009-2010, under the Rebecca L Lynch Memorial Scholarship.
A $20,000 USD scholarship sending high-achieving female students for one year of study in America. Marie used the opportunity to understand indigenous resource management with the Nez Pearce and Coeur d’Alene Tribes
Best New Zealand guide
To make the most of your experience in Akaroa take a private tour with the expert local guide. You will be supporting a family owned and operated local business. You are guaranteed to have a completely authentic experience.
What customers say
We had an incredible tour with Marie. She was very knowledgeable of Akaroa and Maori history and she provided unique insights to the land that you can't get on any other tour. I can't recommend this highly enough, this tour is a must-do in Akaroa!!!