WellingtonWestover

Photo is not from New Zealand I readily admit that my perception is probably skewed because: a.) I live in the middle of the city, b.) I have relocated from a much larger city, c.) it is the beginning of winter, and, d.) I’ve only been here one month. Still, these are things I notice about Wellington… 1.) If you are a woman heading to work here you are wearing black tights / leggings and black half boots. Everyone might be a stretch, but 90% seems about right. Wear them as pants, under a skirt of dress… they are everywhere. 2.) Young children are really rare. In the month I’ve been here I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 children in a pram, more than 50 children total. 3.) Dogs are even rarer than children. I’ve never seen a cat. 4.) Negative signs. There are street signs, signs for businesses, informational signs… There are not signs with “WARNING” or “DO NOT DO XXXX” or even “NO” plastered everywhere.   The only exception would be...

The traditional greeting of the Maori people I borrowed heavily from online resources to present this brief capsule about the Maori people of New Zealand. It’s a good story to read about a quality nation respecting all of the ancestry of all of the people. Hope you enjoy. The Pacific was the first ocean to be explored and settled. New Zealand, isolated far to the south, was the last substantial land mass to be reached.   Outrigger Canoes of Maori descendents It was 25,000 to 50,000 years ago when explorers first set out from Southeast-Asia on simple rafts relying on the currents (drift) to reach new destinations. These people were largely foragers and the destinations (Polynesia) they reached were settled. Thousands of years later, canoes were used to extend their reach as both their ocean vessels and navigational skills improved. Finally, outrigger canoes, some with sails, were used to reach ever further into the unknown using stars, wave patterns and ocean ...

I will never be accused of being quiet on things I feel passionately about.... this should be no exception. Did you know that 1 out of every 3 sea turtles found dead on a New Zealand beach died from eating plastic?  It seems that the bags resemble one of their favourite foods, jellyfish, and they chomp away eventually suffocating on the plastic. Did you know there are over 100 million sea animals killed each year in the ocean from plastic? Did you know that there are over 100 million tons of plastic in the ocean? I'm not telling anyone how to live their life -- do what you want, however, I think it's important for people to know the true story about plastic. Note: Plastic straws and chewing gum are two other things you can give up to help save planet earth. Great Magazine cover As long as I'm on a semi-environmental jag let's talk about cows. Cows get a bad rap for methane gas emissions, and to be clear, they burp (it isn't farting) methane gas a...

Not being shy (historically) about cheering on our teams we dove right in and embraced the All Blacks -- New Zealand's International Rugby team. Now, we are the first to admit that becoming All Blacks fans is far from a dangerous position. They are currently the first place team in the world, and arguably, the most feared and revered team there is.  I have always been an AB fan right down to insisting Brandon pick up an All Blacks jersey on his trip to NZ years ago. Julie has been slower on the uptake, understanding little about Rugby, but she is making great strides in understanding the nuances of the game and everything All Black she can google -- and let's just agree, that girl can google and google and google. All rugged and geared up for the match Step One in our All Blacks adventure was landing some tickets -- which we did, although more on that later.  We got Section 1, Row MM, seats 10 and 11 through some site called viagogo.  More on that later, howe...

Bolton Street Cemetery When Julie and I first visited Wellington (as part of our "should we move, or should we not" tour) we decided to test our physical health ( fail ) by walking the Botanic Gardens. So, that adventure begins with the cable car up to Kelburn and then a very steep descent into Wellington proper.  At the end of the "painful" tramp is the Bolton Street cemetery. Little did we know then that the cemetery is located across the street from our temporary lodging here at the Bolton Hotel. Julie and I both have always shared a fascination with old cemeteries. They are special places loaded with so much history, beauty, reverence and peacefulness.... hard to describe exactly -- suffice to say we think they are pretty cool. You can imagine the lives of the people buried; reflect on how fragile the lives of so many young children were back in harder times; marvel at the longevity of others... again cool -- makes you feel small and strangely humble. ...

There's been a lot of non-interesting things going on since the last blog entry.  Generally, we have settled in to a normal work routine.  For Julie that is a lot of phone work, travel to and from the office, a trip this week back to Sydney, and of course, time spent on the computer. She is also getting the farewell dinner and drinks treatment from all the people she has touched in Australia.  Well earned and fitting. Her transition to a new EY location has been pretty breezy since she is still committed 80% of the time to her Australian client.  That means she gets the benefit of knowing the local office and all of the people there, without having to participate in driving any local sales and delivery.  We have been impacted to a small degree by normal relocation headaches -- expense reports, communication/connectivity challenges, the normal sort of thing. I have been looking for a job managing people or driving a sales team.  I have also been exam...

"Paddy the Wanderer" was a Ginger and Down Airedale Terrier . Paddy had been given to a young girl named Elsie, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Gardner, by a horse trainer from Christchurch. Mr. Gardner was a seaman operating out of the wharfs in Wellington. Sadly, Elsie died of pneumonia at a young age  causing Paddy to grow broken- h earted.  He left home and wandered Well i ngton ostensibly looking for Elsie. Elsie and her Dad Paddy was a friend of cabbies, workers, and seamen, who took turns paying his dog licence fees every year. He was an exceptionally intelligent dog that learnt to cross streets only when the "wal k " signal was green. He was known for greeting sailors in the Wellington Harbour and accompanying them, as a stowaway, on their coastal steamers. Legend has it that Paddy flew in an open cockpit (Gypsy Moth) plane, and, steamed to San Francisco and back. The Wellington H a rbour Board adopted him under the formal title of "Assista...