Source: New Zealand’s Woman’s Weekly. By Kasia De Vydt-Jillings.
When Kiwi mountaineer Sir Graeme Dingle first asked Lady Jo-anne Wilkinson to join him in circumnavigating the Arctic in a tiny boat in 1993, her response was clear.
“I can’t possibly do that, I play sport, but I don’t do adventure,” she told him.
But Jo-anne, then 34 and a successful lawyer, kept coming back to the idea and realised, “I was being self-limiting, so I agreed and went to join him in the high Arctic of Canada.
The challenge changed the course of Jo-anne’s life, revealing just how resilient she is and inspiring her to help young people discover the same about themselves.
“The highlight was I proved I could do more than I believed I could,” smiles Jo-anne, now 67.
“And that’s something we apply in programmes teaching kids they are capable of way more than they think they are too.”
She and Graeme – now her husband – came home from the Arctic feeling so grateful to be Kiwi, but also concerned about local youth statistics on mental wellbeing, offending and unemployment.
In the Arctic with Graeme in 1993.
Choosing action over apathy
“We decided we could build a wall and get on with our lives or get involved,” she says.
And so, upon their return, the impressive pair kayaked, tramped and cycled from Nelson to Auckland in 1994, talking to police, teachers and communities to better understand what kids needed to thrive.
The result is the Graeme Dingle Foundation, which they co-founded to deliver a range of programmes for children and youth that encourage resilience through both classroom-based activities and connection with the outdoors.
Celebrating excellence and impact
“It’s been going 30 years now and every year we hold Excellence Awards for kids graduating – the ones who have excelled and given back,” explains Jo-anne, who in 2005 led a group of Project K graduates on a trip to Antarctica.
“We’re not at the coalface any more, but hearing kids speak about their experience still makes me cry.”
Sometimes, Jo-anne can see a little of herself in the graduates. Growing up in the Wairarapa as one of five children, she jokes she was always “a bit of a handful”.
(Credit: Toby Longbottom.)
Breaking the rules early
She shares, “I left school halfway through what’s now year 12. The nuns decided that would be quite good for all of us!”
Unlike some of her peers at the time, Jo-anne had no interest in settling down to domestic life.
“I wanted to be an individual first,” she reflects. “When you grow up in a big family, I think you want to spend time figuring out who you are outside of that.”
A career of challenges
Law studies and an interesting career followed for Jo-anne, who has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
Remembering the Arctic circumnavigation, Jo-anne explains, “We went from the western part of Canada in the Yukon to the Bering Sea, up the coast of Alaska, across to Siberia and back.”
All in a nine-metre inflatable rubber boat with outboard engines. On the leg to Siberia, Graeme discovered the keel, which keeps the boat stable, had ripped. But with a good weather window, Jo-anne decided they should continue onwards.
On the water in Auckland, seeing where their dream would take them.
Rising to the challenge
“I said, ‘We’re not going to get another fine day. You drive and I’ll pump air into the keel to keep it solid enough.’”
And she did for around six hours straight.
“By then, we’d had horrible seas and I had been thrown into the Yukon River,” she explains.
“I’d been very wet and cold, and I’d got over my seasickness, so crossing a flat bit of ocean, pumping there and back, was manageable.”
A 6,000km adventure
In total, Jo-anne covered 6000km over 63 days on that journey. It solidified that she and Graeme made a formidable team, although Jo-anne admits her first impression of him when introduced by mutual friends was less than favourable.
“I thought he was a show-off!” she laughs.
“I didn’t know who he was, but he had all this mountaineering fame that I knew nothing about. He’s an entertainer and I’m probably the opposite. I came to see that he’s much more than a show-off.”
Jo-anne received the NZ Order of Merit for her services to youth in 2019
Indeed, Graeme, now 80, has achieved some incredible feats and was recently awarded the prestigious Order of Magellan, joining the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary and Jacques Cousteau. Bringing her own skills to the partnership, Jo-anne is making just as much impact.
Apart from co-founding the Foundation, she’s held important governance roles with the Families Commission, the Ministry of Social Development, Auckland Museum and Oranga Tamariki. At the heart of it all is a desire to see Kiwi children thrive.
Jo-anne concludes, “There’s always more to do and I think that’s one of the things that’s driven us – how much more we need to do to embed a positive future for our children.”