Albert Town’s Josephine Frances Haines travelled the world by every means possible, packing hundreds of outdoor adventures into her memorable life as an alpine guide and adventurer.
Jo — or "Jojo" as many called her — died in Dunedin Hospital aged 61 early on September 20.
Members of her large family, and many in New Zealand’s closeknit outdoors community, have remembered Jo Haines as an alpine guide with an "outstanding pedigree" in New Zealand and overseas and a reliable climbing partner in the mountains.
She was described in eulogies as a sturdy, determined, committed, adventurous, role model with a strong community spirit.
She was able to strip things down and live with the bare essentials, yet always had the latest crosswords and a packet of gingernuts in her bag.
"If Jo’s goal had been to die leaving memories rather than dreams, then she achieved an A-plus," Jo’s sister Sara Paulin said.
Jo Haines was primarily an outdoors woman, pursuing everything from tramping, climbing, long-distance cycling, skiing, and kayaking.
She also trained and worked as an outdoor educator, a maths and physics teacher and as a web designer
Jo’s partner of 14 years, Alan Cutler, said her "life, her adventurous spirit, inquisitive mind and strong athleticism should be celebrated".
Jo was the sixth and second-youngest child of Claire and and the late Peter Haines’ seven children.
Born on September 17, 1963, in Wellington, she had Mary, Louise, Paula and Sara, and two brothers, Chris and Vince.
The family moved to Dunedin in 1964 so Peter Haines could take up a position at McSkimmings brickworks in Abbotsford.
Her first school was St Peter Chanel School in Green Island, where her mother taught.
She also went to St Bernadette’s for a short while, before going on to Moreau College where she became dux in 1981.
She took up tramping while at school, and also completed the Cobham Outward Bound course and sailed on the Spirit of Adventure training yacht in her final year at college.
At the University of Otago she gained an honours degree in maths and chemistry. She joined the university tramping club and began leading expeditions.
At times, she lived, worked and trained in the Mount Cook Village and community, and she had climbed Aoraki/Mt Cook.
She also worked, at various times, as a Department of Conservation hut warden, for the New Zealand Forest Service, a mountaineer and field guide in the Antarctic,a school teacher and in outdoor education.
After she moved to Wānaka, she taught outdoor education, maths and physics at Mount Aspiring College. After she stepped away from teaching, she launched a web design business.
Jo also worked as a trekking guide in Nepal, Bhutan and other countries.
Skate skiing at the Snow Farm, sharing adventures with her pet Jack Russell, Amor, and regular walks on Mount Iron or beside the Clutha River were also among her passions. Her interests extended to arts and photography, writing blogs and community singing and ukulele groups.
In 2012, she and Mr Cutler picked up long-distance cycling and devoted three months of each year to international bike packing adventures during Wānaka’s winters.
New Zealand Mountain Guides president Anna Keeling said "all who knew this vibrant and positive wāhine toa" had been shocked by her death.
World Expeditions chief executive Sue Badyari said Jo was inspirational and admired, "a lady of great integrity" and with an unwavering passion for travel in the remotest locations.
She led the Bhutan Snowman Trek, one of the hardest and longest treks in the Himalayas, five times between 2013 and 2019. She also led Mera Peak Expeditions in Nepal (2015 and 2017) and the Lhasa to Kathmandu Cycle Expedition in 2015
"Jo’s passing marks the loss of one of the great adventure women of our time," Badyari said.
Her brother Vince Haines said Jo defined the spirit of adventure.
"I’ve always been so proud to share her adventures with others as we have all been able to vicariously enjoy her trips through her amazing blogs and photo diaries," he said.
His sister’s community spirit and engagement had touched many and he was still learning of groups and people she had helped. There was "always more" with his sister, including her creative skills in design, sewing and art, he said.
Sara Paulin said her sister was "always the person who knew what to do when faced with a crisis" and had been an inspiration to young people, including her niece Summer Paulin and nephew Jackson Paulin.
Her Albert Town neighbour for 24 years, Sarah Macnab, said she was in awe when her neighbours began planning impressively long bike trips through Georgia and Armenia, the Great Divide, Peru and Ecuador, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and other places. This year, they travelled to South Africa and Namibia.
"The logistics involved for these trips are hours and hours. Jo was clearly very good at research and the trips they were planning were often places that I would have to look up on the world map," Ms Macnab said.
Many more details of Jo’s life and times are contained in a recently published New Zealand Alpine Journal by her friends and fellow adventurers Dave Campbell and Rachel Brown.
Paula Haines-Bellamy said her sister was adored and loved by many.
On behalf of the family, Paula Haines-Bellamy thanked emergency services, hospital staff and life-long friends who had "wrapped the korowai of aroha" around Jo and her family at the time of her death.
It was a fitting and meaningful tribute that one of Jo’s friends crafted her coffin from timber retrieved from the Mt Aspiring Hut, Paula said. — Marjorie Cook.
