BACK TO REALITY, THERE GOES GRAVITY!

So sad, too bad the party and an adventure of a lifetime is coming to an end....
It's Wednesday and I am back to work--without question, the people and this company make being in North Carolina a great place for me. Despite lauching to work in my mini van and taking 45 minutes to cover 15 miles it truly warms my heart to be back! There are so many great and thoughtful people here. I'm eating a salad at my desk as if I had not skipped a beat. Maybe I never left and this has all been a dream--please someone, send up black smoke if this is true or white smoke if I really did go!

I still have lots of pictures to post so if you are checking out this blog and want to see more of NZ and Australia, stay tuned.

Peace.

K.

THE DAY AFTER YESTERDAY....

That's today, and now I'm leaving--see you all on the other side of the globe!

If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I'm NOT drinking any Merlot!

Miles from Sideways--a movie that gets funnier the more you watch it.

1 Eisenhower Castaway, 2 Countries, 70 days, 28 flights, 48,000 miles covered, 350+ meetings, 150++ cappuccinos, 15 Bottles of Sauvignon Blanc...

...an one American Survivor!

I out met, out sipped, out toasted, outlasted...a great and in fact fantastic fellowship.

Good on me, well-done and now, I'm coming home.

CHEERS MATES!

Kathy

CANBERRA FOR THE DAY

Canberra is the national capitol territory, it's not a state.

I left Melbourne at 7 AM and flew to Canberra. I met with all federal government employees all day. I flew back at 7 PM.

The lunch was good.

The end.

Kathy

MELBOURNE AND FINALLY MEETING JULIE COMITO AND JERRY AND ANN ELLIS

I landed in Melbourne on Sunday night and was greeted at the gate by Julie Comito, my in-country coordinator and her husband Tony. Julie is a special person, as all the Australian bound Eisenhower Fellows will attest to. Beyond her impeccable organizational and follow through skills she is someone that makes your life better simply by knowing her. A true example of the impact she has on people is that I have been working with Julie mainly through email for the last 6 months and yet always had a feeling that she had been a long time friend. It was great to finally meet face to face and it was an extra bonus to get to know Tony as well.

We toured the streets of Melbourne, which is designed on a grid, like a mid-western city. People from Des Moines would feel right at home…I was a little out of kilter without having the equivalent to the Triangle inner/outer loop or the likes of the roads of downtown Durham. Melbourne navigation was enough proof to me that while two wrongs do not make a right, two rights do make a left.

More on Melbourne to follow:

TASMANIA--HOBART

Click here for pics.

TASMANIA

My meetings in Tasmania started as soon as my plane landed and I was taxied to the capital city of Hobart. In true Eisenhower Fellowship fashion, my one afternoon appointment turned into six meetings. This is not atypical and something that I would guess we all experience as well as appreciate. I was a little worried on this day because my meetings didn’t start until 2 PM and it was a rainy Friday afternoon—I had all day and in fact all night to meet, but I was a little concerned about how I would be welcomed as I stood between my hosts and the start of their weekend. Everyone was very kind with their information and their time. I was most impressed with the meetings I had on with the director of the domestic violence area for all of Tasmania. They have developed and are just implementing new comprehensive policies, programs and standard operating procedures that I felt were extremely innovative and progressive. The effort is a cooperative collaborative between Justice, Police and Health.

I also had a special connection with the director of the Breast Screen Tasmania. Gail Raw, the director invited me to have dinner with her and her family on Saturday night. This was such a thoughtful and welcomed opportunity to visit with a special Tasmanian family as well as have more professional quality time. Gail is a professional of distinction and has studied breast-screening schemes in the UK, USA and Canada. She is very pleased with the polices and infrastructure in her State and they strive to achieve a 70% screening rate with their primary target population of women between 50 and 70 years old. Gail was very interested to learn more about our Breast Health Project and the iconic Breast Cancer Button Chair. It was a pleasure to share with her some of our efforts in North Carolina on breast care health promotion and early detection efforts.

I want to travel back to Tasmania visit my new found friends and participate in the 10 day Tassie bike ride around the entire state....anyone wanting to join me, let me know--the ride is in Jan or Feb each year.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA VIA CAIRNS

More great meetings in Queensland and connecting with 1973 Eisenhower Fellow Sir Leo and wife Lady Mary.

I arrived in Brisbane after a mid afternoon of appointments in Cairns. In Cairns I met with professionals focused on nutrition policies and programs in Queensland. I have found it fascinating to observe Australians and see how physically different they look than the average sighting of Americans. I thought I had a trained eye on this subject and to me Australians looked to weigh significantly less than their western cultured cohorts from the US of A. But unfortunately, I found out, this is not supported by the science. Australians must really want to be like Americans as they are only 5-10 years behind our overweight or obesity statistics. Furthermore and sadly, the children of Australia stand toe to toe or rather pound to pound or kg to kg with our American youth. Driving factors seem to be very much the same--having one overweight or obese parent increases the chances of having an obese child by 25%, if both parents tip the scales the chances increase by 50 to 60 %. Other common factors include too many kids not playing and choosing video games over activity common to their parents generation such as kick the vegemite can, steal the kunekune bacon and red rover, red rover send capitan cook right over. The most startling statistic I found here is as follows--the impact of the increase of marketing by the food and beverage industry to effectively, strategically and thoughtlessly send our children key messages to drive their relentless request for fast and processed foods as standard fare for energy input is to put it mildly, significant. Generally, a 1 to 2 % average increase in energy input can lead to a 2 to 5 pound average annual weight gain. Hold on to your Krispy Kremes for this next critical piece--children in Australia are now eating 11% more than they were 10 years ago (remember, they are no better or worse than our all American kids). What I found even more alarming is it would take an additional 2 1/2 hours of energy output--each day--to balance this increase food and sugar consumption. We are having enough trouble convincing people in authority to help our children get 30 to 60 minutes of daily physical activity--how will we be successful in getting policies or people to find 3 to 4 hours of time each day to be active so they can continue at their current rate of stuffing their faces? Suggestions welcomed.

I am now convinced, more than ever, we need to have the courage to face the food and beverage industry to convince them to be a partner in finding effective solutions to help our children. We cannot risk an entire generation on a short term profit margin and greed. We cannot compete against their savey and effective marketing messages. It is well documented that mass media messages on healthy behaviors does not work and does not lead to behavior change. Enviromental and policies changes are the best hope we have--we must act on this information.

My Brisbane appointments focused on meeting with a variety of professional in cancer related programs, clinics or research centers. Melanoma, skin cancer, is almost a national entitlement--if you live here and you live long enough, it is almost certain you will face some type of skin cancer. The Australian boomers are much like us--raised on a must be tan mentality with a sunscreen mixture of baby oil and iodine. They are now showing the consequences of this risky behavior. Australia has created policies and public health education campaigns to assist with attitude and behavior change regarding sun exposure. There is a multi media campaign on use of SPF sunscreen lotion--encouraging all Australians to "Slip, Slap and Slop" it on. But more importantly there are some policies in place such as a policy targeting children includes a "no hat, no play" requirement in all schools and well shaded outdoor areas. You must have a hat on your head at all times walking to and from school and for any outdoor activity. I could not fine any research indicating this was making a difference--but it certainly seems like a great idea.

My other key focus area in Brisbane was in breast cancer. Mammagrams are a covered benefit of the public health system starting at age 50 and offered ever other year. Women can chose to have an annual screening or start at age 40 if they want to, they just have to pay for it out of pocket. If someone has a family history of breast cancer they can secure permission from their General Practitioner to have a screening prior to age 50. It is noteworthy to know that of all the breast cancers detected, only 5% are in women with a family history resulting in 95% being presented in women for the first time in their family medical background. I asked about the issue of breast self-exams and like in America--I got mixed feedback. For the most part, Australians are no longer recommending this as a tool for secondary or early detection. Most seem to have modified their statement to encourage women to know their breasts and to look for changes.

PICTURE POSTING

Click here for pictures of the Marae outside of Wellington. This is where I spent my first Wednesday and Thursday in New Zealand.

Click here for my first week in Wellington and hanging with the Fulbright NZ team.

Click here to view the pictures from the Sainsbury's hosting a cocktail party for New Zealand Eisenhower Fellows at their beautiful home overlooking Auckland. Thanks Mark and Lindy!

Click here for some pictures of the Great Barrier Reef. I still need to develop the pictures taken with my underwater camera.

Click here for pictures of Brisbane, the Gold Coast in Queensland and Sir Leo and Lady Mary.

Click here for some pictures of Tasmania--pay special attention to the little devil.

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT—A PIRATE SHIP APPEARED ON THE HORIZON, SUDDENLY A SHOT RANG OUT…

Okay fine, there was no shooting and the sound wasn't a shot but rather my alarm telling me it time to face this day.

Monday--April 4th--the sea was angry this day my friends and thankfully we had both a good captain and a marine biologist on our ship.

The full story follows--On Saturday and Sunday the weather was not great in the tropical northern Queensland. Winds were consistently at 25 knots or better and this makes for really rough seas. Monday was my day off to go to the Reef and now I had to pick which reef exploring company to put my money, life and trust in for this adventure of, I was hoping only, once in a lifetime. Thea, the owner of the pink hotel just kept laughing at me as she refused to give me an answer on which one ship would she go on if she were me--she did however help me tremendously by taking me down to the wharf to inspect all the ships and interview the staff. All the companies that charter out to the reef seem to be very good. The determining factor became the stronger the winds the wiser it is to select a larger craft. I was, as they say in the health care industry, in serious decisional distress and was wondering if I called our nurse line regarding my dilemma would they actually have an answer of would they just refer me to my doctor in the morning. Without group support, I settled on the Poseidon, certainly not for its movie namesake or that at times I feeling a little (or rather a lot) Shelly Winter-ish, but simple because this boat is huge.

I woke up around 5 AM to the same sounds I hear every morning in this part of the country--the loud shrill of, I hope, endemic and/or indigenous tropical birds--honestly, I'm not sure if they are birds, screeching monkeys or a cold blooded murder is happening right outside my balcony door each morning--but its like clockwork, I know that much and, in this case, I will trust and not verify.

I got up and got ready for this much anticipated and overly feared day--so with my new Australian Billabong board shorts and Moontide "no sting" surfer shirt--I headed to the boat ramp. If I was going to end up being a tragic story on SKY or CNN news, I wanted to look the part.

Fifty other divers and snorkelers chose the Poseidon this day. None of them apparently had the hot tip that Thea gave me, that once on board get your tea and head right to the cushy room where the captain sits. I guess everyone else thought this was for invited guests only or maybe he could tell I was an Admirals Club Member--but no one other than staff joined in and this made me very happy. The sea was very, very rough and I would guess at least 25% of the 50 travelers were getting seriously sick. The other significant tip Thea gave me was to ask for ginger tablets as soon as I got on board, I did and they gave them to me. So for an hour and ½ that it takes to travel 50 nautical miles off shore and through huge sea swells, many people were in serious pain and sickness. Sadly for the others sitting right next to all this madness surrounding them--they were stuck at their poorly chosen seats as the people around them were losing their stomachs. Life was good in the captain's quarters.

During the trip and in-between the passengers gagging their heads off, the staff offered the option to rent full body stinger suits and wet suits. To my surprised when I looked out on the deck--everyone opted for the blue singer suit. I cannot begin to describe how ridiculous and awful everyone looked in these very tight and clingy full body lycra outfits. It was horrible and it worried me even more that no one seemed to say--oh this is SO embarrassing. There was no way I was wearing a stinger suit--I opted for the sporty looking wet suit that covered most of my body except for my legs below my knees and forearms--I was willing to risk these limps for something equivalent to a bee sting versus a full bodysuit in the vicinity of a boat filled with cameras. I felt so bad for these blue-bodied people. They would not even qualify to be understudies for the SNL parody on the BLUEMAN show, they wouldn't even qualify for the Blue Zoo Review. I couldn't even make eye contact with them for the rest of the trip. Clearly, these people have not had risk, probability training. After 8 hours at sea, only two guys ended up getting stung--and you want to guess where?...on their face, the only exposed part of their entire body and only to prove, the humiliation via smurf costumes was not worth it.

Our boat made three stops out on the reef and each one was amazing. Prior to the first stop, we were issued our equipment and given our instructions for the day. The staff handed me their best guess at my fin size which were the Carolina blue flippers. I assured them I was a size smaller and not surprisingly fit perfectly into the App. State and Demon deacon yellow color fins, thank god. The next step was the instructor asking if anyone was traveling alone so he could pair individuals for a buddy system. No way I was raising my hand and getting stuck with a blue blob. I waited until the very end and when he asked for the last time, I raised my hand. He then asks the blue people would anyone be willing to be my buddy and to my good fortune, Jamie stepped forward. Jaime is a 10-year-old going on 30 from Yorkshire, UK. For starters--Jaime could have been a blue suit model--he was the only one on the entire boat that looked perfect in his snorkeling outfit. Jaime is a smart, interesting, kind and adventurous young man. In fact, he's a fish out of water. He was a great buddy in the water and a great conversationalist between snorkeling sites.

They serve a huge lunch buffet on the boat and to my amazement the sickies on the boat must also have short term memory problems as they seem to indulge heavily, forgetting that we had to cross the sea again to get back home. HELLO PEOPLE--work with us!

The snorkeling was absolutely fantastic. Many people commented and I agree that it was the best snorkeling they had ever done. The water was very warm, the Reef almost forms a shelf so the water is like calm lagoon and the fish were everywhere. I was snorkeling in my own living color NEMO movie. Yes, there were sharks and I was hardly scared. I did get a little nervous at one point when I felt I was way to far from the boat and once I headed in, I was in the middle of a large school of large fish, on this day, I was a very fast swimmer.

The Barrier Reef is Great and worth the special natural wonder of the world experience. I encourage everyone to go if you get anywhere near this part of the world. You can now take my expert advise and not worry about being attacked or worse, like the recent movie, being left behind. In fact, we all need to be more concerned about this little known issue of falling coke machines.

We returned to the Wharf around 5 PM and I was so happy about my day and the great experience. I walked home to my pink hotel and made sure I only picked roads that did not have any obvious street front vending machines--underscoring my commitment to primary prevention whenever possible.

Cheers from here!

PICTURE POSTING

Here are some links for some pictures:

Click here for some pictures of the Milford Sound.

Click here for some pictures of KeriKeri.

Click here for some pictures of Waiheke.

Click here for some pictures of the Marlborough Sounds.

Not the best views--but click here for a look a Mt. Cook.

Click here for some pics of the Pancake Rocks in Punakiki.

More to come at this posting.


Cheers!

SUNDAY IS MARKET DAY IN PORT DOUGLAS

We had tropical torrential rains throughout the night but by morning both the birds and the sun were out like clock work.

The television in my room gets 10 channels of which 9 seem to be dedicated to various forms of rugby. I was thankful that CNN accessed at least one of the stations to update this part of the world about the anticipated passing of the Pope, John Paul II. May he rest in peace.

I made it to market early this morning and walked the booths for hours making up my mind. On this market venture, my nephews scored.

Port Douglas is as alive today as it was last night--everything is open and the weather is trying its best. But locals say if it looks a little shoddy one moment you are encouraged to wait a second and more often than not, it will improve. The wind out on the sea is at least 25 knots and the boats went out to the Reef today. Tomorrow the winds should be more like 20 knots which is still too much in my book, but I will suck it up and will be heading out about 35-50 kilometers to the Great Reef....AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

LADITUDE 16.29 SOUTH, LONGITUDE 145.26 EAST

If you can locate these two points—you can find me…so come on down and when you do, give me a shout. The Tropic of Capricorn surrounds me as I sit less than 25 degrees away from the equator.

It’s Saturday here and I gathered all my clothes—casual and professional (smile) and taxied out to the airport. I am heading to Carins today. For starters I’d like to thank the person who invented the airport members club and more importantly, the person who pushed through the idea of club membership reciprocity or rather a “one-world” alliance. These places are the best. I enjoyed a flat white while a taped down all my taxi receipts. I got through two days of receipts during my one-hour wait.

A huge plane took all of us on the 3-hour flight from Sydney to Cairns—equivalent to about the distance from FL to Maine. I had a great seatmate and she works as a teacher on an island off the very northern tip of Queensland—where on a clear day she can see New Guinea. New Guinea is the kind of place, if given a choice, you’d rather see than ever visit.

I’m seriously in a rut. I have gotten into an old habit--when I’m afraid of something, I’m exhaustive at asking people about their opinion of what’s ailing me. For example, when I biked and hiked through Alberta, Canada—I stopped almost everyone that crossed my path and asked them if they had seen any bears? Most of the Canadian or European trampers didn’t appreciate this type of inquiry—but it didn’t slow me down. Well now the subject is the Barrier Reef and the question is of the same elk...do you think I’ll get attacked when I go out to the Reef? Thankfully everyone, up to this point, has laughed at me and I am starting to feel slightly reassured by that response. But I think my seatmate on this flight may have helped me the most when after initially laughing at me she said—you have a better chance of getting hit by a falling coke machine than being attacked while snorkeling at the Reef. I have never, ever worried about being in the unfortunate path of a falling coke machine—so I am truly starting to settle down a little.

I took a motor coach from the airport to Port Douglas and for the first time things are starting to look much different than I have ever seen before. It is very tropical here; the early stages of our trip were through sugar cane fields on both sides of the road for as far as you could see. About halfway through the trip we saw five kangaroos hanging out. Honestly, I missed actually seeing them because as more often than not, I was on the left side and the action was on the right. But everyone else seems to confirm the sighting.

I checked into the pink hotel called the Newport—it’s more Pepto-Bismol color than I would like but the lady owner/manager is very nice and remembers when Eisenhower Fellow Jean Davis was here last year. I went to the Court House Pub and Bistro for lunch and I’m guessing this is where they filmed Casablanca…or they should or could have. Jean Davis—if you’re reading this blog, how would you describe Port Douglas? I’m going to suggest it seems very much like a backwater provincial town that has a blend of people who grew out of the local mud, newbees looking for a piece of paradise and the regular Aussie traveler on holiday. Then there is me—the brash American, interviewing anyone who makes eye contact with me asking if they were out on the Reef and, if so, did they see any sharks? Then I ask—has a falling coke machine ever hit you? They’re going to ship me off to New Guinea if I don’t watch it.

I'VE MADE IT TO OZ AND NOW I NEED TO SEE A WIZARD

I arrived in Sydney on Monday afternoon, my work clothes did not...this is the story of the best laid plans gone awry.

Sydney is a VERY large and beautiful city. You may recall they hosted the 2000 Olympics and the ability and ease to get around as well as the overall beauty and safety of this city, I am sure, were all contributing factors to their success.

I jinx myself back on St. Patty's day and can now confirm, it is unlucky to not wear green on March 17th no matter where you are in the world. I (accidentally) did not wear even a pinch of green, and now I am suffering the consequences of my shortsightedness. To my family and Maureen O'Connor I apologize and promise I have learn my lesson about properly honoring the saint day of the leprechaun. You can bet your lucky charms, I won't let this happen again.

I should have known what I was in for. I worked too hard on my self created March 17th project and I crossed too many "t's"...with this commitment, I was destined for a train wreck or should I say project management scope creep. My efforts to be well organized, forward thinking and buttoned up are now, in hindsight, a recipe for more than a wardrobe malfunction but a wardrobe disaster.

On both March 16 and 17 I worked closely with the UPS staff in NZ and all the related companies they are associated with, like FLY AWAY. I needed to ship a box of documents and all my professional clothes as well as shoes to Sydney. They gave me the box, the waybill and I was relentless in confirming process with them. I also had all the staff at the Medina Hotel in early and often on this project and this team had a clear understanding of everyone's role and responsibly. As it turns out UPS can take the box or reservation--they just can't keep it!

On March 28th, I taxied out to my hotel near the Sydney Harbor. I check-in and got to my room expecting to see the box--and as you're guessing, it wasn't here--11 days after the 17th of March.

It's now April 1st in AUS and I'm no fool, but I can share, I still have NO professional clothes. I go to my appointments and think--maybe this is a pilot for a new reality show called, I Dare You to Humiliate Me. Sydney is a cosmopolitan town--it's not causal Friday for work attire here. When I arrived on Monday and did everything but rip the backrooms of the hotel offices apart, I finally accepted that at least for now, my box wasn't' here. I walked as fast as possible to a large department store and was greeted by a worker that said, sorry, we are closing. Of course you are, I responded. I went across the street to the Polo Ralph Lauren store and grabbed a pair of black pants, the price--$989.00. There is no way in the world I am paying a thousand dollars for a pair of black pants. I hung my "I'm not Irish worthy" head and walked back to the hotel. It was now 5 PM and all stores are closed on this Easter Monday.

In my hotel room I got busy and laid out all of my clothes to see what type of outfits I could put together. I came up with two--I can go to my meetings as sporty spice girl or southern casual spice chic. This is as good as it gets. To accessorize, I painted my toenails, made an extra effort in blow-drying my hair and picked out a lipstick to match my toes. Linda Barrow would be proud with my creativity with limited supplies--embarrassed, but definitely proud of the effort. Most people wouldn't have the courage to go to a professional meeting in a major international city dressed like they were off to a picnic or rugby match. But I drive a mini-van, so I am well prepared to stare embarrassment straight in the eye and face it head on. I'll admit, this is really testing me. Each day I come back to my hotel room and still no box. This humiliation game is becoming sport for me now--no way in heck, I'm buying new clothes.

Jill will roll her eyes at this one--but the UPS people never sent package as promised 3 weeks ago because they had a question about the Blue Cross billing number. UGH! Why didn't they just call me? By Wed. of this week, the box had made it to the Sydney airport and by Thursday it was held up in Customs. Fine with me--I am now in a comfortable rotation with my two outfits. Honestly, I am walking into major CEO offices and looking like I am about to ask--which way is the beach? I had to file 6 forms with Customs confirming there are not animals or plants stored in with my clothes and they have not been on a farm in the last 30 days. It's Friday now, and still, no box.

Friday at 3 PM--the box arrived and by its appearance, did a tour of duty in Iraq. My poor clothes had huge red stickers all over them with "quarantine inspection". Did they think I l had placed little Derby in one of the pockets? Oh well--the good news is I've got my goods. I head up to North Australia--Queensland area tomorrow. I am going to go out to the great barrier reef on Sunday. I'm scared to death, but I'm going to do it. I wonder if they'll be willing to put me in a cage and lower me down off the boat. I might just wear one of my business suits out on the reef....that'll be a sure fire way to divert attention away from the killer sharks. Oh, I'm so scared.

OFF TO THE LAND OF OZ

IT'S TRUE...WERE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE...

The in-flight movie is the Incredibles and they accidentally put in the Japanese version. Hopefully that was a mistake and I am still headed to Sydney. It is Easter back home so I am hoping everyone by this time is chock full of chocolate and marshmallow peeps. Save the black jellybeans for me—I’m coming back in 21 days. Oh goodness—I am witnessing the proof that AUS are more like Americans, than not—after 7 weeks of in country flights and amazing silver tea and coffee service on all the NZ flights…the Qantas Australian in-flight beverage service just started and it’s a huge silver clangy cart filled with every soda or fizzy drink you can imagine. My time in Xanadu is really over. Many have told me Australia would jump at the chance to be our 52nd state and now I really believe it. The giant soda cart is enough creditable proof for me. It's "Incredible!".

I certainly have gotten comfortable getting around areas that I know little or nothing about. I am so comfortable, I am now heading to AUS without any paperwork for my itinerary. I am lucky that I vaguely remember that I “think” I am suppose to be staying at the Medina Hotel at the Sydney Harbor—so with fingers crossed that is where I am going. I am certain as well as hoping, Julie—my in-country coordinator will have a packet for me when I arrive outlining every step I take for every appointment she made. Julie has been a dream to work with and I will get to meet her towards the end of my trip when I am in Melbourne.

I think the flight attendants are trying to kill me—they just came to my seat with their awful carts and offered me beef tips or fish—this is the worse anti-Americanism I’ve experienced so far. Beef or Fish?..are you kidding me?…I’ll have cheese, fruit and a cappuccino, thank you very much. They didn’t even respond and moved on to the next isle. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

I have three hours on this flight to get my diplomacy attitude adjusted and in-check. I really need to concentrate or this will be a long 3-4 weeks. It’s not my fault I am now addicted to all the great foods and sweets from New Zealand.

Although I did have one horrible culinary experience in NZ that I haven’t even had the stomach to write about. I’ll try now. I was in the South Island for the first time and a guest at someone’s home for dinner. I did start to panic as I was thinking, oh goodness, what if it’s lamb or worse yet, deer. It turned out to be pork—specifically pork chops—they were well done and I thankfully I got the one with more bone than anything else. As it turned out it was the least of my worst food experiences over the next 48 hours. The following night I was being treat to a fancy schmancy restaurant in ChristChurch—I quickly noticed they had absolutely nothing on the menu I recognized. All sorts of horrible fish and freaky meat dishes were featured, even brains and something called white bait. I settled on the appetizer version of the scallops. When they were served I noticed they were mixed with carrots so I made sure I had a carrot with each bite to hopefully mute or drown out the other flavors. No such luck—and you want to know why? Because the orange thing was no carrot but some gross part of the scallop call something like the protein sack. Ugh—it was a near death experience, honest. Okay—now, here is the worse…Bob G. gave me the great suggestion that I should really look into end of live care issues when on my fellowship and I agreed this was a good idea. I met with a nursing home and also spent time with the staff and management of an Alzheimer Care Home. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about the care of aging adults in this country. These kind people also had the nursing home cafeteria prepare our lunch. I was sitting there eating institutional soggy asparagus sandwiches and I’m sorry, I have a hard enough time going to my mother’s rest home and feeding her the mush they are served, let alone eat it myself. I was a woman on the edge. In the end, I managed—but this was proof enough for me that I could eat a can of worms on Survivor to advance or win an immunity or reward challenge. I have no doubt now and can confirm, I need no more practice.

The flight attendant just stop by and offered me a Muslim meal....why are they doing this to me? I said, no thank you...but if you locate some boiled irish potatoes, I'll take them.

WOMEN LEADERS IN NEW ZEALAND

LARGE AND IN CHARGE!

Don’t get me wrong—there are still plenty of gains women need to make in NZ. But for the most part—women hold many if not most of the highest positions in New Zealand. It is my understanding this is reason alone to make the Australians think the New Zealanders are a vegemite jar short of a full breakfast. From what I gather, Australia doesn’t have women leadership high on their priority list—but I will figure this out first hand and for now, will give them the benefit of the doubt.

I do know in New Zealand—girls rule and if you don’t like that, you should work on getting over it (or move to Australia). For example, here is a short list of some of their finest women leaders. I will start with the Queen of England herself as she is held in high regard with “heaps” of respect from New Zealanders. What I find most important are these same people have always had a deep respect for the Queen—ever since she succeeded to the role when she was only 21 years old. Others include: Prime Minister, Helen Clark, Governor General, Sylvia Cartwright, A Supreme Court Justice, Speaker of the House, Margaret Wilson, Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergas, Chancellor of Victoria University, Rosemary Barrington, CEO of Telestar Clear—Eisenhower Fellow Rosemary XXX and NZ golden girl, 2005 athlete of the year and Olympic Gold Medal Cyclist, Sarah Ulmer.

I think a recent quote in the New Zealand Herald sums up the positioning of women in critical roles: “Forget about women being able to do anything. The problem vexing some men is that women appear to be doing everything!”

CHRISTCHURCH TO PICTONE TO THE BACH ON THE MARLBOROUGH SOUND

I signed up for another special journey on one of New Zealand’s train transfers—this time the TranzCoastal train from ChristChurch to Pictone. The train led us out of ChristChurch across the braided Waimakariri River and through the farmlands of North Canterbury. We moved east and hugged the coast all the way to Kaikoura and if it was up to me—this would have been a one-hour stop to allow for viewing the fur seals and whales—two things this region is famous for. I was fortunate on one of my flights out of ChristChurch to Wellington to spot a huge whale from my window seat, as we were getting ready to land in Wellington.

In this coastal area on the eastside of the South Island there are spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean breaking onto rocky outcrops on one side and snow clad mountains on the other. We ventured through Dashboard Pass and across the Wairau Plainsand finally into Pictone. We had less than 45 minutes of wiggle room to recover our bags, walk about 200 kilometers and catch the last water taxi for the Sound. We are heading to the Endeavour Inlet. Named in honor of one if Captain Cook’s ships.

We took the water taxi out to the Sound to the Bach, a picture perfect get-away in any country and in New Zealand considered a traditional vacation home. What is interesting is this home is only 35 miles the from point to point to the Tramposch’s home in Wellington, but takes more than 5 hours to access due to the Ferry and water taxi that is necessary to reach this property. The convergence of two mighty oceans—the Pacific and Tasman—come together in the Cook Straight and together produce some of the most difficult waters in the world to maneuver through. In the Marlborough Sound, there are no cars and thank goodness no golf carts--the only way to get around is by your own two feet. This area also allows for mountain biking. The Bach sits right on the Queen Charlotte Track with international trampers coming by frequently. There was lots of rain on Friday night so it made being inside the tin roof Bach even more relaxing. Peggy cooked an amazing meal, Bill christened the new cast-iron fire stove by lighting a fire and the wine, as always, was great. There are seven of us enjoying this experience. In the morning the sun came up early indicating blue skys and a beautiful day. The water on the Inlet looks crystal clear with all shades of blue and the mountains across the way are brilliantly green. After we downed 3 or maybe it was 5 plungers of coffee we headed out to the Furneaux Lodge. They said if we arrived by 10 AM they would still serve us breakfast—they are famous for their french toast and I would add to that list, their omelets. After a hearty breakfast we headed out on the trail to visit other Baches in what is called the Pines Community.

We met up with some sheep, cows and then a butt ugly pig. We thought it was a “captain cooker”—pigs that are the descendents of the lil pigs that Captain Cook brought over with him. But this pig was a kunekune and we were told that despite its extreme need for an extreme makeover, it is a nice and gentle pig and if you can get past his looks, he likes it when you scratch his head—unfortunately, I couldn’t manage to get past his looks.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to lazy loafing on the Bach porch soaking up the sun and surrounding beauty. Some brave souls went down to the dock and jumped into the freezing salt water that is full of stingrays and jellyfish—these silly people were all encouraging me to join them. Without a wager on the table, I didn’t budge. Besides—it’s high time we had our afternoon tea.

Life moves kind of slow out at the Bach on the Sound and that seems to be just perfect to me. By early evening, we went up the road to a Bach that has been in a NZ family for a long time to have a drink and some nibbles. Two Fulbright fellows, Allison and Brenna had volunteered to cook tonight’s meal and they packed in all the food and preparations from Wellington. When we returned to our Bach the table was set, the candles were lit and the room smelled great—they created a fantastic Mexican meal including fresh guacamole and chips, corn tortillas with chicken, a fresh corn salad, home made sangria and a Mexican chocolate cake with white icing for desert. I don’t make this stuff up, I just report the facts. If you find yourself starting to worry about my frequent and abundant food intake, I appreciate your concern. I need it.

It is now Easter Sunday and the fun of the week travel is about to end. We drank lots of coffee on this rainy morning and exchanged a wee bit of candy to celebrate the holiday. We swept out the Bach, gave it a good cleaning and went down to the dock to stand in the rain for about 40 minutes to catch the water taxi back to Pictone. We made it to the Ferry with just enough time to drop our bags off, pick up our boarding passes and take the two little doggies, Ruby and Olive to the Ferry Kennel. We secured the same great seats in the “CLUB LEVEL” room an immediately began to enjoy the free cappuccinos. This trip was different than the smooth ride over last week and gave us a command performance on what it is like to sail in rough, turbulent waters. I felt a little nauseous but it didn’t develop into anything worse and I was happy all other attendees in the CLUB were keeping their cookies down. My last taxi trip to the Wellington airport and I ended up with a driver that had taken me out there once before—a very nice gentleman from Wellington. New Zealand Air couldn’t see fit to put us on the earlier flight at 5:30 PM and made us wait for the seat we have confirmed on the 7:00 PM flight. That’s all right!

I’ll miss New Zealand greatly, the people, the places, all the plenty and all the bounty throughout this clean, green, beautiful country! I’ve learned so much about their health care issues, health promotion and prevention programs, innovative programs and ideas, areas of strength and areas huge opportunity in philanthropy throughout the country—particularly, the business sector giving back and making a difference. I met so many wonderful people that have made a tremendous difference in making this an enriching and amazing experience. I’ll miss New Zealand, for sure. I learned heaps and I hope I left behind as much as I received. I’m all snapped up now and ready to go off to Australia.

I need to make certain I don’t let too much time slip by before I return.

Check out these pictures of the surrounding area and confirmation of the ugly piggy. (TOO BE POSTED ASAP).

MILFORD SOUND

SO REMOTE EVEN CAPTAIN COOK MISSED THIS PLACE ON SOME OF HIS EARLIER VISITS!

I have good news to report—as of this very second and this writing, I am still alive. This is despite my daredevil adventure for four hours this morning. It seems impossible or a least absurd to travel all the way to Queenstown, NZ and not go to Milford Sound. I don’t mind being a nut but I certainly don’t want to be labeled as crazy so even before we picked up the luggage and rental car at the Q’town airport, we were meeting with the Milford Sound fly-in, cruise-around, fly-out staff. Day one flights were already booked and as it turned out our luck didn’t improve as day two weather conditions kept all fights grounded. Our last and final chance was on day three and expecting a no-go 7:10 AM inbound call, the prompt caller said we will pick you up by 7:20 AM. In hindsight, I like this tactic as it gave us no time to think, process or second-guess the day-one adventure enthusiasm or decision-making. In a flurry we were jamming our suitcases and running around getting ready for simultaneous hotel checkout and taxi pick-up. At the airport we were put into a group with orange boarding pass people—these orange pass people were all from Australia and very nice. The pilot instructed us to board with big people towards the front with the smallest of our group in the back. I rushed to the back but was redirected to the middle. I liked our pilot, Rob, from the moment we all met him. Young—but not too young, handsome, professional and nice to all of us selected to be orange pass people on his plane. When we were departing I noticed the yellow boarding pass people were boarding a twin-engine plane—that’s when I noticed we only had one engine. This is also when I started to get religious and began to think WWBGD…”What Would Bob G. Do?” He knows everything about planes and I was wondering—a bit too late—would he be on this kind of craft? As it turns out, the take off was great; I felt as if we were floating, the sights from the plane were so beautiful and so close. My nerves were working me over as they were trying hard to get the best of me, trying to stop me from enjoying the splendor and fantastic mountain scenery, trying to get my mind to give in and waste time worrying—what if? What if our little single engine starts to have “issues”? What if a gust of wind moves us an inch off course and we kiss the side of these mountains? What if, as they say here, the weather changes in a snap from glorious to crap? Excreta, excreta.

I hate to write this as I hated even more that I was starting to think…maybe Dan Quayle was right when he said something like…”it’s terrible to have a mind when it’s wasted”. There I was with so much to enjoy but my mind was in overdrive thinking of all the scary possibilities and even all the people that had been in planes nicer than this one and had not been too lucky--JFK, JR, Payne Stewart, The Big Bopper (who is the bog bopper?…I don’t even know, but I was thinking he died in a plane crash), Leonard Skynard—who is not even a person but a fake name for a bad band that I know little to nothing about. Anyway, despite these initial moments of mind overtaking brain matter fear—I pulled myself together and settled in to absolutely enjoy this incredible trip that was breathtaking, beautiful and worth any small amount of trepidation. And really—don’t you agree, its more frightful to be thinking about Dan Quayle than the impact of any small plane turbulence or near death experience?

Here are the pictures to, in and from the Milford Sound…enjoy and make this is a must see when planning your trip to NZ. SORRY...I WILL POST THESE AND OTHER PICTURES AS SOON AS I CAN! CHEERS!

QUEENSTOWN

This town is the most beautiful to me, so far!

When you arrive in Queenstown the landing is much like an adventure ride. First the plane makes it over the mountain range and begins flying low through the gorge with the mountains on both sides of the plane and through the double pained plastic window appears to be within arms reach. You circle lower and lower until you finally land. Queenstown is beautiful and just has to be a slice from heaven. The mountains are the southern part of the New Zealand Alps, the lakes and rivers are crystal clear blue and aqua, the town is more than you would expect plus a bag of chips. This town seems very wealthy and well versed on how to leverage its natural resources and amenities for the many visitors it welcomes to their paradise. Day one was pristine, picture perfect, blue sky's, puffy white clouds, incredible majestic mountains and amazing waters. Have I mentioned the food, wine and coffees are all great here as well?! Please BOB G., I beg of you can't we find a business here to buy, acquire, turn-around, re-invenent--anything you suggest and I am happy to relocate for the good of our business growth and expansion.

CHRISTCHURCH TO QUEENSTOWN

Today is a religous day, as I think I found a part of heaven!

Today I awoke to great news on CNN international—DUKE has made it to the sweet sixteen and I am not sure about any of the others teams, which is perfectly find for me.

For the first time I am seated on the correct and in fact the right side of the plane. For those on the left there is nothing but cloud cover but for us special righties, the view of Mt. Cook is right outside our window. Many people have asked if I am going there and others have insisted, that "I must"…but truth be known, this is as close as I am going to get to the mighty mountain. Probably a good thing as the mountain has not been kind to natives or tourist over the past few weeks. A famous New Zealand female climber and two of her climbing mates fell to their death several weeks ago. The weather had turned so bad, many thought the mountain wasn’t ready to release her body and as such kept the rescue turned recovery personnel at bay from accessing the mountain for days. I’ve heard or read of additional deaths since that one and just yesterday someone visiting from the UK literally became the accidental tourist as he tripped at the very end of his guided glacier walk and fell only a short distance but was killed by the ice on the way down. Not having a great track record with heights and falling—I am choosing to explore this part of NZ with my eyes and camera.

QUEENSTOWN

When you arrive in Queenstown the landing is much like an adventure ride. First the plane makes it over the mountain range and begins flying low through the gully with the mountains on both sides of the plane and through the double paned plasic window appears to be within arms reach. You circle lower and lower until you finally land. Queenstown is beautiful and just has to be a slice from heaven. The mountains are the southern part of the New Zealand Alps, the lakes and rivers are crystal clear blue and aqua, the town is more than you would expect plus a bag of chips. This town seems very wealthy and well versus on how to leverage its natural resources and amenities for the many visitors it welcomes to their paradise. Day one was pristine, picture perfect, blue skys, puffy white clouds, incredible majestic mountains and amazing waters. Have I mentioned the food, wine and coffees are all great here as well?! Please BOB G., I beg of you can’t we find a business here to buy, acquire, turn-around, re-invent…anything you suggest and I am happy to relocate for the good of our business growth and expansion.

More to come--my internet access time is up....cheers for now.

PUNAKIKI TO GREYMOUTH

Coastal New Zealand and then tracking across the entire south island from west to east.

It only took 50 kilometers of coastline travel to reach Greymouth. This is a good size small town with a definite past; I just don’t know exactly what made up the past. I’d guess the gold mining that followed the end of the California gold rush in the 1800s would be one marker in its history book. Nowadays they are working hard to leverage their natural resources and market themselves to the holiday traveler looking for outdoor activities and adventure. The Tranz Scenic train brochure promises they will do everything possible to make ones journey as worry-free as possible. The train staff was nice when I approached them for early check-in, but everything they started to tell me immediately made me start to worry. The train that I was suppose to catch at 1:45 PM cannot make it to Greymouth as a coal train has derailed on the same or adjacent track just above Arthur’s Pass. They let us pre-purchased ticket holding worried-warts know they would transport us by bus to the Atria station where the train coming in from ChristChurch had to stop because of the morning track accident. Normally that would be an easy solution but about a week ago a major tornado hit Greymouth like it was a town in Eastern NC and it so happened that without any trailer parks to attack it went straight after the next best thing, a fleet, the only fleet, of area buses.

I immediately ripped into my box of good-n-plenty I had been saving for emergency use. It made sense to me, as choochoo Charlie was an engineer and as you probably well know, choochoo Charlie didn’t have any fear. Dr. Bob should add black licorice to our formulary or at minimum as a part of our mental health coverage benefit. I find it has the most calming effect on what is normally my unflappable personality (smile). As a sidebar: the licorice is beyond great in New Zealand and reason enough for anyone interested in coming here to book a ticket now.

We all made it to Atria Station on our bus with mostly broken windows and boarded the Train. Right now we a being pulled by three engines through a tunnel that took 15 years to build. We’ll end up or near Arthur’s Pass, a national park covering more than 230,000 acres of rugged wilderness. The national bird, the Kiwi, can be found here, but only at night, as among it other strange characteristics, it is a nocturnal bird. It's all good--we made it to ChristChurch and my cheapy hotel for the night is, thank goodness, pretty decent. I was sweating the location. No worries.

NELSON TO PUNAKIKI

LUSH HUGE MOUNTAINS TO PANCAKE ROCK FORMATIONS AND AS FAR AS ONE CAN GO TO LOOK OUT AT THE TASMAN SEA AND VIEW THE END OF THE EARTH--ANTARTICA.

This was the longest stretch of driving I will be doing in New Zealand. It is about 300 kilometers on a Blue Ridge Parkway kind of road, with one significant addition—this road is filled with one-lane bridges that pop up around any unsuspecting corner. This ride was pure mountain country and it’s the kind of trip that must start with a full tank of gas as you only get one shot at refueling in a one-horse town called Murchison. If you pick up any piece of travel or tourism literature, you’ll find this town consistently boasts of its fuel capacity as well as having the cleanest public toilets one could hope for on a trans coastal trip. I participated in all their town assets and can confirm Murchison is a town that says what it means and means what is says. The petrol was AMAZING and the restrooms ABSOLUTELY worth the trip. Honestly though, I good PR person could find a few more things to position the town of Murchison beyond gas and toilets. This drive was different than others—these mountains are very big, very special and honestly, take you in. Have you ever been to Zion in Utah? I would compare this experience to the time I biked to and through Zion—you felt as one with the mountains. I’m not going Zen on you—it is just the truth. The mountains in this part of NZ look much different than Zion—more like Zion with compete ground cover—a mixture of evergreen pines and dense tropical trees and ferns.

As I traveled, I had only one goal in mind—to reach the coast with a bit of daylight left…so my competition on this trip was the sinking sun. Daylight savings time ended here on Sunday morning and now, on Sunday night, I was trying to make it to the coast before sunset. I stared it down and bet that I would win—I was going to have to take all one lane bridges on with a vengeance—everyone driving east must, I prayed, yield or as they say here “give-way” to my red Toyota Corolla, nothing less will do. I arrived in Punakiki by 6:15 PM and just a few feet before the registration desk at the “Rocks” hotel the huge clock reported the best viewing time of the Pancake Rocks would be at 7 PM….”YES”! I calmly checked in and then hoofed it the 400 kilometers up hill to the viewing trail and decks. The Pancake formation is a natural phenomenon that is for our viewing pleasure in this lifetime, century or maybe the next millennium. But it’s all in mother natures hands how long they stay. The rocks, the blowholes and the sunset were all incredible.

The next morning I walked along the coast at the Tasman Sea and went near but never in the ocean waters. I was walking and looking out towards the end of the earth and also thinking about everyone back home. How can I be so far away yet not feel like I am really very far at all? It was a cloudy, misty morning and I enjoyed walking the beach and finding special heart shaped rocks for people back home. If I’ve lost my marbles during this trip, at least I have my heart shaped rocks….and of course, my good n plenty.

BLENHIEM TO NELSON

Sheep, Lambs and other fuzzy creatures:

Baa, ram ewe, baa, ram ewe…leaving the wine country of Marbarough and heading West to Nelson the mountains and valleys are beautiful and everyone seems to own lots of land, a farm, lots of animals—specifically, sheep, cow and deer. All these animals, live off the land, sleep on the land and start the same routine day in and day out—regardless of the weather. There are no barn kept animals like in the movie BABE. I too was shocked.

Nealson is a very cool, hip town with lots of artist, glassblowers, pottery-people and woodworkers. Great cafes, restaurants, bars and outdoors live music. Nealson has a sunshine town weather consistency. Some nice size, but not too big mountains surround it. It also boast the ownership of being the geographical center of New Zealand and if you tramp up a nearby mountain for about 30 minutes you reach the mounument dedicated to this land position and for no charge at all you are treated to panaromic views of Nealson, the bay area and the surrounding communities.

I made one huge mistake in Nealson that I will live to regret and if you are someone reading this blog then you'll be upset too. I didn't plan well enough for Sat. morning in Nealson. I got up early alright, drank my normal plunger of coffee...got way too focused on the net checking emails and before I knew it I had to make a decision--go to the AMAZING ART AND CRAFT MARKET in town OR as planned---head to the Abel Tasman National Park for real kiwi tramping. I'm sorry, I chose the tramping and have the pictures to prove that this too was amazing. I hate that I missed the market--you all would have gotten such cool stuff--I am so sorry, it's so sad. But lets remember--in the end, stuff is stuff and doesn't hold a candle to tramping in the mountains and along the most beautiful coastline...that is after being boated out to a point and dropped off and told make it to your pick-up point in 3 hours. It was a fantastic experience--Abel Tasman, if you don't know, could have been credited for finding NZ after the Maoris, but he only stayed 3 days and then boated off to....you guessed it--what is now known as Tasmania. So, in NZ he is only recognized as an early visitor. Cap. Cook gets all the credit for aligning NZ with the UK.

WELLINGTON TO PICTONE TO BLENHEIM

South Island where the beauty is in the eyes of every beholder!

We boarded the Ferry on St. Patty’s day and upgraded to the “CLUB ROOM”. This room has nice comfortable seats, is considered much quieter and the best part is you get all the cappuccinos you want during your three hour ride through the Cooks Strait out to the Ocean and into the Marlborough Sounds. In honor of St. Patty, we were surrounded on each side with emerald green mountains for most of the ride. At one point during the trip a school of dolphins entertained us as they swam in formation alongside of the Ferry. The countryside between the two Islands is beautiful and arguably some of the best fishing in the world is found in these parts. Vavrina, McKelvy and Bennington--what in god's name are you waiting for--get down here NOW--this is your kinda land, your kinda country and the trout, I swear are calling your names. You must come here--I promise it will leave you with stories to tell until all our eyes roll out of our heads after listening to you all for the years that follow your return--IF, you return.

Pictone to Blenheim is only about an hour drive and allowed for more opportunity to get comfortable driving on the left side. This is wine country through and through—I’m not even sure much else happens here other than growing grapes, making and drinking wine. Fine, I'll admit it here--I am a true Sov Blac convert. Try Kim Crawford, Alan Scott or Goldwater to get started--no worries as there are many, many more great ones to speak about at another time.

BACK TO WELLINGTON

This city deserves an award for transforming itself--Mayor Meeker, head this way for a site visit...we need to put the welly in raleigh!

I am nearly a frequent flyer on the flights to and from Aukland and Wellington. The New Zealand pilots are considered some of the best in the world as they have so many extreme weather conditions they fly in each day. The are very cheeky as well, for example, recently when one pilot, after seeing my passport, said to me, this flight is going to Guantanamo Bay for you. Anyway, back to their real talent--not humor, but hard core piloting--take offs can really be rough, bumpy and enough to make my face go milk toast white. However, the standard in-flight service is enough to making any thoughts of scary turbulence seem minimal and worth the price of admission. The flight attendants on these types of flights do not have to serve as back-up pilots. They get to walk the isles and hand out two items, one a sealed cup of water and the other, a cup that inside you will find a small napkin, a container of milk, a sweetener, and an individually wrapped Macadamia nut cookie to die for. The next sweep of the plane is when the flight attendants walk around with a tray and silver tea or coffee service. This is all so civilized, simple and SO much better than the clanging carts of every fizzy drink to can imagine on a US domestic flight. Lets get “W” to change the constitution for this kind of behavior—I am certain it would lead us to be a more kinder, gentler nation...com'on DubYA, as daddy would say--we've got a window of opportunity, gotta move through it! This move alone should be enough to save the airline industry.

The trip to Wellington was an opportunity to catch up on lots of work emails at the Fulbright office, process through some of my fantastic meetings and enjoy some of the sights and foods of Welly-Wood, New Zealands movie capital as well as the country’s capital city. Peter Jackson walks on water here as many credit him and the success of his movies as putting NZ on the front-page of every major newspaper in the world. I have a favorite restaurant in the Thrornburg district of Wellington—I’ve had more dinners at Ford’s café than anywhere else. It is an older building with a cozy feel inside and I think great art. Most people do not know, what I know and that is Ford’s is located right across the street from Peter Jackson’s mother’s house.

OFF TO KERIKERI

Planes, no trains-yet and automobiles:

Check out these great pics: CLICK HERE!

Auckland harbor to Auckland airport and before I could finish a flat white I was traveling by small plane to almost the most Northern part of the North Island. The plane was so small the flight attendant has the double-duty role as the copilot—or maybe that’s the other way around. For most in–country flights there is very little security and for these types of flights they only request you show up before they close the plane door and while it is not a posted rule, they seem to appreciate if you will make eye contact as confirmation you are a safe passenger and you belong on the flight (so civil!). I made it to KeriKeri airport and picked up my first rental car—here the driver sits in our passenger side and also drives on the left (this double negative does not guarantee an automatic positive). This takes an extra amount of concentration but overall I was very pleased with my confidence and actual performance. I drove north to Takou Bay area and in case you choose to travel this way—you hang right for 5 kilometers on a gravel road through absolutely beautiful countryside and views of the ocean beyond the low mountain range. This road less traveled literally ended at the Takou Bay Lodge and Magic Cottage located in an equally beautiful setting surrounded by the mountains, gardens, a historic river and bordering the ocean where hundreds of years ago some of the first Maori landed their canoes to call Aotearoa home. Anna and Ian Sizer own this amazing oasis on something like 165 acres. They are a lovely couple and have two precious young children, Harry age 2 and Lucy age 1. This home-stay was picture perfect. They have put a lot of effort and thought into creating the guest living quarters. The nearby boathouse is equipped with all the watercrafts and safety gear one needs to get out and about. Day one took us upstream to find a historic marker. In a book on KeriKeri, Lorelei Hayes writes Takou Bay as holding particular significance for Maori as this was where the “Mataatua”—one of seven migration canoes—finally came to rest. An impressive memorial and plaque beside a bend in the river marks the site where legend has it the symbolic remains of the ancestral Maori waka of the Ngatiawa, part of the Great Migration to New Zealand around 1350 AD, can been seen beneath the water. Access to this plaque is through private land and permission must be sought from the owner. We were traveling to a very special historic area where very few are privileged to enter or view. Day two took us in the other direction on the river that eventually led to the very active and roaring ocean. Prior to entering the ocean waters we beached the kayaks on the riverbank along a row of mango trees and on foot walked through very tall grass over small hills, through fields and finally reached shore. This river ride and walk confirmed for me that I want to give the show Survivor another shot. Of course this was all a lot less scary with the knowledge and understanding that New Zealand is an extremely benign island. There are no snakes, leaches, lions, tiger or bears… it has more species of birds (although I have already written about the freaky bird activities) than anything else as the government has made a very concerted effort to remove any mice, possums or other types of pesky rodents from the island. This was important knowledge to have and as important to trust as we tramped through marsh country, which anywhere else in the world would have been a land mine for snake nests and evil-doing creatures.

The ocean was rough, loud and in control—I wasn’t going anywhere near it. It was ire to stand back and think about the tsunami victims and the power of this huge body of water. The beach was isolated with only a variety of birds hanging around. The shell hunting was pretty good and I did find a bottle sans any message. A little more than an hour of beach roaming was enough sun exposure to call it a day. The sun is extremely strong here and locals seem to think the hole in the ozone layer is actually directly above New Zealand. I’m not sure about this fact versus fiction comment, but it seems logical to me the closer you are to the equator, the more intense the rays become. Or, as my dermatologist at home tells me—sun exposure is not a sport, you don’t have to be good at it.

Through the fields and over the hills to the beached kayaks we roamed. Once we located the kayaks, I was breathing a sigh of relief that high water levels had not slipped in and to my fear slipped out to sea our only transportation. The evening was spent on the porch at the Magic Cottage with James and Shelia, another wonderful couple from the UK who were spending their first of many post retirement holidays traveling abroad. New Zealand was their first choice to explore for about ten weeks. They hosted a fantastic and relaxing cocktail party with all the right nibbles that turned from appetizers to dinner. Anna, Ian and family arrived and once again I was in awe over how amazing this entire experience has been. Day three led to the Rainbow Falls. We rushed, sort of, to the airport and arrived 10 minutes before airport departure to literally toss the rental car keys to the Budget Car Rental lady and board the plane with eye contact and a smile.

AUCKLAND TO WAIHEKE

Yes, the weather is beautiful and my wish for you is that someday you will too be here!

Click here for great pics and great homes!

The last four days have been dedicated to travel to new destinations in the North Island. The weather continues to cooperate with my on the go schedule and I am grateful for this extended or late summer with limited rain or rainy days. I flew to Auckland and traveled by Ferry to Waiheke, which other than Shania Twain's or Nicole Kiddman's helicopter transports--this is the only way to arrive on this special island. Surrounded by simple, yet beautiful homes overlooking breathtaking views everywhere you look which places most of them in the seven figure category thanks to location, location, location. Waiheke is one of the 41+ volcanoes that make up the landmass in this area. I believe this formation of land and water area is called an ibises but I need to check both my vocabulary and spelling on that one. The volcanoes are inactive but not officially extinct--lets just hope they remain in hibernation during my visit. I traveled the island by foot and also for the first time hopped on a bus to explore one closed winery after another. This was a perfect scenario as I enjoyed walking the vineyard grounds more than I need to taste more incredible wine. I stayed at a great location found on the internet called Le Chateau, a very nice and nicely appointed apartment rental with a deck view of Little Onerora Bay and many sail boats in the near and far distance.

By Sunday morning there was just enough time to walk along some of Waiheke's back roads and take pictures of some of the great homes before catching the 10 AM return ferry to Auckland. My photography skills as well as the position of the sun do not really do the contemporary and extremely cool looking houses justice. I would love to have a house someday with this much style, this much glass, this much stainless steel and this much creativity in function and design. Note to Shane: get ready for my return--we've got to add the corrugated metal design to the near-the-beach house.

FOR THE RECORD

NO WORRIES--REGARDING THE ACC OUTCOME INFORMATION MAKING IT MY WAY

I want everyone to know the value of 24 hour internet cafes...sure I pretended to be looking up the local Rugby score but switched to the ticker giving the final and beautifully blue outcome of the ACC Tournament. Way to go, Dukies, way to go!

100% KIWI

MY OBSERVATIONS ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A NEW ZEALANDER OR LIVE HERE AS A VISITOR:

Being in New Zealand you realize they have many special, quirky, different, uniquely New Zealand style, sayings and mannerisms. They don’t mind being an odd lot and in fact, I think, aspire to this type of recognition. I will dedicate this section to regular updates by color-coding information that will make this notion come to life:

When they are really happy with you they say “good on you!”.

They LOVE to say the word “schedule” or scheduling” but insist on pronouncing it as shed-ual or shed-ualing…I can’t help it, every time they do this, I bust a gut….they have yet to laugh with me.

The “kiwi” they are referred to, is not the fruit we are familiar with but rather a bird. What concerns me is this bird is for starters, a bird, secondly it is nearly extinct, thirdly—I’m not sure it knows how to fly or fly very well and lastly, it’s not too pretty. The fruit would be a step up.

They have this great beer: Tui and better yet, Tui has this great ad campaign…”yeah right”…so the billboards all over town are: Camilla for Queen, yeah right!

This teatime thing twice a day is really sweet and for me, has become addictive. But seriously what a tremendous opportunity it presents to take time out to pause and connect with your co-workers twice a day over tea and food.

I know I’ve mentioned the food here—but it deserves another mention. Everything is so fresh, so plentiful, made daily from scratch and displayed in every other café window you walk by which is as frequent as every other window, period. Somebody, please line up a person trainer for me upon my return.

I should also mention the wine. I have yet to turn down a glass. New Zealand wines are fantastic and that’s an understatement. Clearly, I have lost my mind, what use to be my unbending willpower and any ability to consider “no thank you” as an appropriate response to anything food or drink related. “Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”.

Speaking of the “mmmmmmmm” sound…I now find I ask the New Zealanders as often as possible, what does all this “mmmmmmmming” mean. I also ask them as frequently—how do you spell this sound and the repeating “m’s” is their most common response. I find this “mmmmmming” is both highly annoying as well as highly contagious. As troublesome as I find this—I also find I am “mmmmmming” as often as everyone else. I’ll need a decompression chamber, shock treatment or a third tier medicine to stop this before my return. I must stop.

Without exception every time someone finds out I am from North Carolina, they respond by saying…”you have good oranges there, don’t you”….what do you think they mean by this?

50% NEW ZEALAND

FIVE GREAT WEEKS DOWN, FIVE GREAT WEEKS AHEAD

It is hard for me to believe five weeks have blown by like the winds of Wellington. Have I mentioned how windy it is in this city? For starters, Chicago has nothing over Wellington and for that matter neither does our North Carolina hurricanes. Just this week Wellington had the equivalent to 80 mph winds and no one blinked an eye. This would be reason enough for us to close the Triangle area schools (and notify the working parents an hour or more later :-)). Not here—they just keep trucking as if all is normal. And, in fact, all is normal to them except for me as I am holding onto dear life to any permanent structure as the rest of the world just moves or at times blows on by. I can’t figure out how they do it, they must all be part of an aerodynamically developed nation or have leaded issued boots. Just to underscore my point, I noticed along the streets and along the waterfronts, posts in the ground with rope hanging from the posts. When I inquired about this I was told, in case it gets really windy (yeah right) and you need something to hold to keep from blowing into traffic or into the harbor. Can you imagine that?…wind so common and yet so random you are at risk of being blown out to sea or as an occupational hazard on your way to work. Most people won’t notice until the second teatime of the day that perhaps you’re not absent but rather missing. Of course, when they did realize they were permanently down one coworker they would respond to this in the classic understate anything and everything kiwi sort of way by saying “I wonder what happened to Mary?”…everyone chimes in “mmmmmmm”, next person “she may well have bloody blown away”, everyone “mmmmmmm”, I guess that means we have an extra wedge of quiche to share over tea”, everyone, “mmmmmm”. I report this to you with compete accuracy—I’m not worried or even questioning if the kiwis have a heart, I’m most intrigued by and wondering if they have a pulse. Honestly, more often than not, no matter what I say in a meeting the frequent and standard response is “mmmmmmm”. Sometimes I get a double or triple “mmmmmmm” and then I know, I’ve got them in the palm of my hand.

So I asked the post with the rope historian, if I blow away in this town, will I really only be, at best, a one-day news story? I had always hoped for so much more. “mmmmmmmmm”, was the response. That’s it, I’m buying lead boots.

CHRISTCHURCH AND AKAROA

I flew to the South Island to ChristChurch on March 4th and in many ways landed in a different country. ChristChurch appeared to be distinctly different from the other towns I had visited in the North Island. Many say CHCH has a more British influence and I agree, yet I would also say it doesn't look exactly like the towns I have seen in England. The South Island has about a million of the 4 million total New Zealand population. ChristChurch has about 400,000 of the one million living in the South Island. By comparison, I think there are about 40 million sheep here and perhaps as many as 20 million cows.

Click here to view some pictures of Christchurch and Akaroa.

Akaroa is a town about an hour drive from CHCH and located in a beautiful setting on the water. It is tucked away in a cove created when the local volcano blew its lid many, many years ago. It has a strong French feel and appeal. Word has it the French occupied the area with the Maori people and were having such a good time, they forgot to post a flag. When the English arrived to this paradise, they proudly placed their flag in the soil and immediately explained to all the area residents that this was now Crown-country and ordered them to stop their painting, collect their baguettes and move on as it was high time we had tea and scones to replace the crusty old french bread and moldy brie.

My trip to ChristChurch and Akaroa was thoroughly and thoughtfully coordinated by Graeme and Jenny Robinson. Graeme was a NZ Eisenhower Fellow and traveled to the United States in 1984. They could not have been more kind or helpful to me during my four day visit.

LYNNE LAMBERT NZ ARTIST AND BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR PRESENTS: LIVLIF PROJECT

An Art Show Celebrates Breast Cancer Survivors


My timing in ChristChurch could not have been better or more rewarding as I met with artist Lynne Lambert and viewed her exhibition in a tribute to breast cancer survivors that is as remarkable as it is unusual.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICTURES OF THE ARTIST AND EXHIBIT.

The solo show features works created entirely from bras donated by breast cancer survivors and supporters. The major work is a stunning walled installation of 668 survivors' bras. Lynne has also painstakingly hand-sewn hundreds of supporters' bras into sculptural forms that celebrate strength, courage and new beginnings.

Lynne celebrated her tenth anniversary as a breast cancer survivor in November 2004. It was this milestone that prompted her to plan LIVLIF. Lynne says "I wanted the show to be a life affirming celebration".

Cancer Society Centres throughout the country enthusiastically collected bras on Lynne's behalf. Breast Cancer Network (NZ) helped her reach the wider community, as did articles in numerous local newspapers and the New Zealand Woman's Weekly. There followed a spot on the TV evening news. Lynne also set up a website. The support snowballed as word spread wider and wider.

Between February and June 2004 Lynne traveled throughout the country to speak to breast cancer support groups. "I met many wonderful women," she recalled, "All with a very positive attitude and a desire to make the most of life. Those visits were a special part of the project."

In all, 1480 bras have been donated, many accompanied by letters from survivors who wanted to share their stories and offer words of love and encouragement.

Lynne has exhibited regularly in solo and group exhibitions since 1996. This will be her third solo exhibition at CoCA. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of the Christchurch Art Gallery. Lynne won a merit award in the 2002 NCC Recycled Art Awards and was a finalist in the Wallace Art Awards the same year.

Born in south London, England, Lynne emigrated to New Zealand in 1973. She graduated with honors from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1999. She currently teaches Practical Art and Art History courses at Risingholme Community Centre and Burnside High School under their Adult Education Programme.

Of the LIVLIF project, Lynne adds "It has taken me on a wonderful journey into the unknown and I have been privileged to participate, for a short time, in a sense of comradeship born of shared experience. I look forward to sharing that positive energy in the finished works."

I was also able to share with Lynne information and history of the breast cancer button chair and the Breast Health Project. I gave Lynne a box of blank note cards featuring the breast cancer button chair. Lynne said something to me that I am not sure I had considered or thought about before. She loved the button chair and said that a chair is such a strong symbol to a breast cancer survivor as so much time is spent sitting, waiting, thinking, praying, crying, worrying, visioning...etc. as you move though the stages of treatment. She confirmed the chair is a powerful symbol and a powerful part of the process.

KAPITI ISLAND

Kapiti Island was our final day in the Fulbright program and the pre-program materials described this as a day dedicated to a kiwi style tramp. The wise among us learned early on that kiwis are sports people and outdoors people and as such they are well trained for rigorous anything including hiking. Lets not forget, the first man to successfully climb Mt. Everest, Edmund Hillary, is a New Zealander. It's in their history, their heritage and therefore it's in their blood.

Note to self: consider it words of warning when the kiwi park ranger tells you--this will be a nice tramp, a lovely day, get about yourself, good on you and give it a go, no worries. Trust me, there was nothing easy about our two-hour hike up the mountain and it was harder on anyone who was brave or hungry enough to want to eat something. Kapiti Island is a bird sanctuary--it sounds so nice, bird sanctuary, but I am now convinced "Kapiti" must be New Zealand for vulture or birds of prey. Or better yet, hungry birds of prey that will come out of nowhere at the slightest exposure of food and will swoop down, land on you, grab at you, peck at you and the second before the moment that your food reaches your mouth, these birds have snatched it out of your hands and shazam, the food is gone. I have no use for food in an environment like this but unfortunately I forgot my good governance skills and did not call for the consensus vote with my tramping mates on the pack that we'd rather starve than encourage a bird attack. I don't think we were 30 minutes into this walk when someone thought it would be a good time to pull out an unwrap a huge wedge of quiche from her backpack. You know I love the food here, but honestly, where is the line in the world when trail mix, m&ms, fig newtons and apple slices are no longer acceptable backpack food and triple cheese, spinach and sun dried tomato quiche becomes standard fare for human fuel when out in the bush? This lady takes out her quiche and in seconds we're staring in the remake of the "Birds". The fat man never showed up but it was a great opportunity for Alfred Hitchcock to walk on by.

We all survived the near bird attack and made our way to the half way mark...actually there was never any mark or posting of distance covered versus distance to go--but every single time someone walked past us we yelled or gasped--"how much further?". Finally we settled into a good pace and reach the summit--even Edmund Hillary would have been proud of us...well, maybe not. But it was a jolly good ole jaunt if I must say so myself and we even made it back down the mountain in time to catch the ferry back...we had to or somebody was going down if I had to live with those birds all night.

CONNECTING WITH THE MAORI CULTURE AND PEOPLE:

A significant and special part of our indoctrination into the Maori culture was our visit to the Waiwhetu Marae outside of Wellington in the Hutt Valley. If you're already confused as to what's a Marae, pause here and go to Blockbuster and rent Whale Rider.

Welcome back, as you now know, the traditional carved marae, in this case, the Te Ati Awa serves as a special meeting place for the Maori. Our evening included a miki (greeting), a powhori (welcoming), a hui (meeting) a hakari (feast) and an after dinner discussion from the respected elder, Terry. We all slept overnight at the Marae. Twin mattresses are a generous description of our beds that were lovingly placed on the Marae floor and lined up side by side for about fifty people. If you are someone with a must need for personal space, let me recommend here, this is not your idea of a Holiday Inn. Don't get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I don't care all that must about my personal space and appreciated this as being a very special experience. Most people started settling into to their ramdomly selected bunk around 11:00 PM. It became really interesting around 3:00 AM when you had the harmonizing of snoring, snorting, breathing, wheezing, whistling, tossing and talking. Lets just say if Snow White were being remade by the emerging New Zealand film industry, they would have had a perfect opportunity to audition an interesting cast of sleeping characters.

I’ve found that some traditions in New Zealand are common across all cultures. For example, eating seems to know no boundaries whether you identify with being Maori, Pakeha, or anything in between. So it was understandable that food would also be and integral part of our visit to the Marae including dinner, tea, pausing for five hours of breathing noises to start up again with breakfast followed by tea. It is important to know that “tea time” has less to do with sipping and more to do with indulging and typically in an assortment of goodies, sweeties and delicious desserts. I have somehow lost all willpower during these moments and foods that I would normally never considering having before I know it I have happily piled onto my plate. I think it’s my hands that are failing me—they seem to know no boundaries during the 30 minutes that are dedicated to tea-time twice each day.

I spent the second day visiting the community based Primary Health Organization (PHO). The PHO model is fairly new in New Zealand but already has a particiaption rate of about 95% of the general practitioners. The vision for the PHO is to have a holistic approach to treating people for their well-being and health care needs. This type of model has very strong parralle to how the Maori iwis (tribes) have been caring for their people throughout history. The PHO, Te Runanganui O Taranaki Whanui of Waiwhetu in Lower Hutt, is adjacent to the marae, made a decision in 2000 to expand a previously existing part time marae health clinic service. A new medical centre was opened in 2000 and has continued to increase in size since then. The good relationship between the local community and medical centre has created an excellent working environment for medical centre staff, all of whom are employed by the Runanga.

The practice has a large proportion of Maori patients, most from the local Waiwhetu area. As well as this original group of patients, the expansion of the practice has meant that it has become a significant community health centre for patients from Wainuiomata, Waiwhetu and Lower Hutt, now numbering over 5000. The medical centre forms an integral part of the Waiwhetu Marae/Runanga community operations with the meeting house, kohanga reo, Atiawa Toa FM radio station, Tamaiti Whangai centre of learning and gymnasium in close proximity.

The doctors have access to both Tamariki Ora nurses and Maori disease management specialist nurses. They walked us through their various initiatives and also shared with us their tools for data collection and monitoring participation and outcomes.

CONNECTICUT FAMILY BUSINESS FOUND IN NZ

I should have guessed there was more to the LaBonne Family "foodie" business than just a long standing reputation as being the best meat cutters and grocery stores in the whole world.

To the delight of kiwis around-- it looks as if the LaBonnes have gone international with their food service enterprise. Click here for proof of product and retail space. Check out this link for the epicure market http://www.labonnes.com/

Note to anyone who hasn't shopped for food in the CT market--Jean Higgins sister, Peg, married Hy LaBonne and also into the history of generations of family market proprietors. The Higgins family members have always loved the LaBonnes and have always been grateful for their support and numerous kindnesses to everyone in our family. The only dark side is they do not love my Dukies as much as I do! Who let the dogs out!?

ROTORUA, NZ FOR THE WEEKEND

When I arrived at the Rotorua Airport on Friday night and took the taxi into town, my first (and only) thought for about five minutes was, oh god...my second was, maybe I can catch a supersaver flight out of here tonight and finally my third and most creative thought was chat it up with the taxi and man and see what possible things I can do this weekend. Tom, (smile), the taxi man was very helpful.

I'll write more later, but CLICK HERE to get a flavor of good old smelly (hot sulfur springs everywhere) Rotorua and lets see if a picture can paint a 1000 words.

Peace, love and cheers from here!

WEEK ONE IN NZ--FULBRIGHT PROGRAM

The Fulbright program was established in 1946 as an initiative of U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright. He believed the program could play an important role in building a lasting world peace in the aftermath of World War II. In Senator Fulbright's words, "the program aims ... to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship". At Fulbright New Zealand, they administer a range of awards for New Zealanders and Americans wanting to study in each other's country.

This addition to my Fellowship was an extremely valuable experience for so many reasons. The Fulbright program provided a general framework for understanding some critical issues regarding New Zealand's history, culture and issues that are current being discussed and debated at multiple levels throughout out the country. Another beneficial aspect to starting with the Fulbright Orientation is it covered issues that I had no idea existed and has allowed me to have a better framework to operate in as I travel through the country meeting with health care, government, business, philanthropy, community and opinion leaders.

That being said--while the one week was very helpful from an education, information and awareness raising stand point, the timing only allowed us to cover a lot of history and details at a high-level. Some of the issues covered in our first week are very complicated, impacting all New Zealanders and are central to the current social debate. It truly had me thinking the more I learned, the more I realized the less I knew or understood. Without debate I thought this was a perfect launch pad to the Eisenhower Fellowship and my one-on-one meetings.

There are a lot of amazing accomplishments regarding New Zealand people, policies and culture. In many ways they are not afraid of leadership, change, action in response to world events despite being in this remote, very remote, island with more sheep than people. For example, in 1893 they were the first country in the world to allow a woman to vote, it seems to be they were much kinder, much earlier to African visitors than America has even yet to consider, they don't ask you if you are married or have a husband or wife but rather they ask you if you have a partner because they don't really care if it is male or female and from a pop culture perspective I am oftened asked--why can Americans be comfortable with the war and at the same time be outraged over Janet Jackson's stunt with the wardrobe malfunction (it makes you wonder, doesn't it?)? They believe the people, all the people, in New Zealand deserve a "fair go", meaning a fair chance in life. Some have said that in the early years the vision was to construct a better Britain, but went from a better Britain to a non-Britain to now New Zealand.

A complicating factor and major issue in New Zealand is the re-indigenizing of the Maori. These are the founding people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). The Maori people in the most recent census made up 15% of the current population. They most currently have recognition, a platform, a voice to be heard to address the injustices that occurred in and since 1840 with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. It is undisputed that the Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document. Like all treaties, it is an exchange of promises. The Fulbright program allowed for a concise account of the Treaty of Waitangi itself and the issues surrounding it, which generally are not well understood. The Maori culture use to be a curiosity and even it's language was on the brink on extinction and now it is a true part of a changing culture in New Zealand.

CONNECTING WITH THE MAORI CULTURE AND PEOPLE:

A significant and special part of our indoctrination into the Maori culture was our visit to the Waiwhetu Marae outside of Wellington in the Hutt Valley. If you're already confused as to what's a Marae, pause here and go to Blockbuster and rent Whale Rider.

Welcome back, as you now know, the traditional carved marae, in this case, the Te Ati Awa serves as a special meeting place for the Maori. Our evening included a hui a powhori and an after dinner discussion from the chief, Terry who also serves in Parliament. We all slept overnight at the Marae. Twin mattresses are a generous description of our beds lovingly placed on the Marae floor and lined up side by side for about fifty people. If you are someone with a must need for personal space, let me recommend here, this is not your idea of a Holdiay Inn. Don't get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I don't care all that about my personal space and appreciated this as being a very special experience. Most people started settling into to there ramdomly selected bunk around 11:00 PM. It became really interesting around 3:00 AM when you had the harmonizing of snoring, snorting, breathing, wheezing, whistling, tossing and talking. Lets just say if Snow White were being remade by the emerging New Zealand film industry, they would have had a perfect opportunity to audition an interesting cast of sleeping characters.

I’ve found that some traditions in New Zealand are common across all cultures. For example, eating seems to know no boundaries whether you identify with being Maori, Pakeha, or anything in between. So it was understandable that food would also be and integral part of our visit to the XXXXX including dinner, tea, pausing for five hours of breathing noises to start up again with breakfast followed by tea. It is important to know that “tea time” has less to do with sipping and more to do with indulging and typically in an assortment of goodies, sweeties and delicious desserts. I have somehow lost all willpower during these moments and foods that I would normally never considering having before I know it happily piled onto my plate. I think it’s my hands that are failing me—they seem to know no boundaries during the 30 minutes that are dedicated to teatime twice each day.

I spent the second day visiting the community based Primary Health Organization (PHO). The PHO model is fairly new in New Zealand but already has a particiaption rate of about 95% of the general practitioners. The vision for the PHO is to have a holistic approach to treating people for their well-being and health care needs. This type of model has very strong parralle to how the way the Maori iwis (tribes) have been caring for their people throughout history. The PHO, Te Runanganui O Taranaki Whanui of Waiwhetu in Lower Hutt, is adjacent to the marae, made a decision in 2000 to expand a previously existing part time marae health clinic service. A new medical centre was opened in 2000 and has continued to increase in size since then. The good relationship between the local community and medical centre has created an excellent working environment for medical centre staff, all of whom are employed by the Runanga.
The practice has a large proportion of Maori patients, most from the local Waiwhetu area. As well as this original group of patients, the expansion of the practice has meant that it has become a significant community health centre for patients from Wainuiomata, Waiwhetu and Lower Hutt, now numbering over 5000. The medical centre forms an integral part of the Waiwhetu Marae/Runanga community operations with the meeting house, kohanga reo, Atiawa Toa FM radio station, Tamaiti Whangai centre of learning and gymnasium in close proximity.

The doctors have access to both Tamariki Ora nurses and Maori disease management specialist nurses. They walked us through their various initiatives and also shared with us their tools for data collection and monitoring participation and outcomes.