> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://vaughan.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # You’re Invited to an Innovation Reboot - URL: https://vaughan.ai/blog/youre-invited-to-an-innovation-reboot/ - Published: 2023-11-09T21:17:50.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-07T23:03:15.000Z - Author: Vaughan Fergusson - Tags: Innovation, Education, New Zealand, #medium-import 5 years ago, [we bought a *zoo*](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/we-bought-a-zoo-vend-founder-vaughan-fergussons-new-gig-and-name/KVU7XIFX77Y4RHGK77AB275GB4/?ref=vaughan.ai) —well, by zoo I mean a camp. Zoe and I renamed it The Institute of Awesome, and then we set about to reboot the 50 year old outdoor education centre to be a place of innovation and inspiration for kids. Here we run innovation camps where kids can learn how to change the world with innovation and discover their own secret talents. It’s very cool and so much fun. This summer we are opening up the lodge exclusively for friends and family of the trust to book. We are inviting innovators, founders, educators and people doing interesting things in the ecosystem and we hope that hanging out with likeminded folk over summer might inspire and reenergise you. The camp is of course a family camp so will have fun things for your kids to do too. Also by staying with us over summer you are helping us fund camps for kids and right now we need your help. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/e4ccd14604.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/d6d58846b8.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/c870067dd7.jpeg) Camps in full swing The camp has been running via our charity [The Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust](http://pamfergusson.org.nz/?ref=vaughan.ai) which has been going for a decade now teaching kids and educators tech, creativity and innovation. The team at the charity is now a dozen awesomely talented folk. When we bought the camp we were all really excited about a big undertaking as we have never had a place to call home, nor run a camp before. As we all know in 2020 covid hit, just as we were opening. So we were forced to shutter the camp for a couple of years. We kept working in our communities where we could, working alongside educators and rangitahi virtually and in person teaching tech and innovation. We used the down-time to put up new roofs, relined and insulated all the rooms and generally upgraded things. We got ready for the start of school 2023\. We got re-excited. Then a cyclone hit and we had to cancel all our camps again. We kept going — as we do, renovating where we could, knowing that we would be able to open up eventually. We just needed to be patient. Then the post covid “recession” hit and gradually then suddenly all our funding stopped. Our corporate donations put on hold as orgs downsized. Our govt funding paused due to an election, a change in priorities and a shift in how education is potentially valued moving ahead. So to put it bluntly, it’s been a bit crap, and even tougher in the communities we work with. We have pretty much exhausted all our funding and are hanging on, we are not quitting but we do need help. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/1dc635f755.png) Join us this summer and you may even get this sticker. This summer we are reopening the camp again with your help. Our innovator community will have exclusive use over December and January to have a break so you can all reboot too as I know it’s been tough for everyone. So this is a personal invitation from Zoe and I to you, startup founders and teams, educators, innovators and supporters of our innovation ecosystem. Come book and hang with us and other likeminded folk over summer. Have a break, recharge and reboot, share your own stories of woe and challenges around our fire-pit. Surf or sail or swim. We will be running kids science and innovation workshops in our secret lab during the day most days. The wifi is really good too. The lodge is hidden on the side of the maunga in 110 acres of bush overlooking the Tasman Sea. We have 20 cabins each with a king-size bed and 2 bunks. The cabins can also be made up as 2 king singles with 2 bunks. Bookings are minimum 3 night stays to help minimise the turnover cleaning for our team. Rooms are $189 a night including 4 people. Let us know if you want your rooms made up as 4 single beds or a king and 2 bunks. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/8f4155c885.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/a59a2429a9.jpeg) Situated in the bush overlooking Whale Bay. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/cb213d2248.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/f547ace9d1.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/3893107ee8.jpeg) Rooms can be a king bed with bunks or 2 singles and bunks. We have a huge communal kitchen and dining hall, a secret lab and cinema, outdoor stage, sauna, fire pit, and acres of bush to disappear into. If you want you can also pick up a hammer or paintbrush and help us “edit” the camp. It’s rustic and if you were in real estate you’d say it “had character”. It’s not 5 star but it is cool, relaxed, very comfortable and my favourite place in the world. Raglan is 2 hours drive from Auckland, 45 mins from Hamilton. Bookings are first in first served. It’s a family camp, so bring the whole extended whanau. Please note the camp has many steps and isn’t currently great for those with mobility issues, something we are fixing! The password to book is “iwanttobeawesome”. [**https://inawe.nz/calendar**](https://inawe.nz/calendar?ref=vaughan.ai) We would love to see you here and who knows, perhaps we may inspire you to innovate and change the world too. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/1159b48182.jpg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/f81095b5cb.jpeg) Views down to the shore from 110 acres of bush. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/a54f5e5126.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/eb3816cc44.jpeg) Chill spaces and an old camp map ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/c282dc2f04.jpeg) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/c22006cff6.jpeg) Art and Shakespeare at our outdoor amphitheatre