A message from Shane & Ana
"After 10 years of traveling around the world we have returned home to our roots and would like to share with you our heritage and the place we call home - Waitakere."
- Shane & Ana Hintz, Waitakere Tours
Shane is a third generation swanny boy who grew up in the small villiage of Swanson at the northern foothills of the Waitakere Ranges where his grandfather Paul cut various roads and tracks to install power throughout the Ranges. Shane's grandmother Linda ran a bakery at the Swanson shops called Mrs Hintz's home cookery in the 1930s and 40s. Although the bakery eventually burnt down, Linda's famous mince pies are still remembered today. Shane's father Peter followed in grandad's footsteps, working the powerboard for 36 years, teaching Shane along the way the importance of caring and respecting the place which Shane calls home - beautiful Waitakere.
Ana's forefathers Dick and Phillip Sunde immigrated to New Zealand from Croatia in the 1900s, working in Dargaville as a gumdigger before eventually purchasing land in the southern foothills of the Waitakere Ranges to grow fruit. Several generations later, Ana was born and raised on orchards in Oratia that her bubba and didda (grandparents) purchased during the 60s. Ana is proud of her Croatian heritage and the contribution Croatian immigrants have made to fine wine and fruit growing in New Zealand, notably the Babich, Selaks, Yokich (Montana), Nobilo, Vella, Marinovich, Nola and Sunde families, who through sheer hard work and determination transformed Waitakere from harshlands into beautiful fertile wineries and orchards.
