TWIZEL UPDATE

Know YourNeighbour- Please meet …... Joy Paterson& James LeslieWe are sitting in the morningsunshine as we writethis; gently murmuringsounds of the Frazer Riverand birdsong in the backgroundand looking forwardto another 30° plus, day.People ask us why wemoved to Twizel – but if wetell them won‟t everyonewant to move here? However,our story is a littlemore complicated thanthat.James is first: My sister inlaw and her family havehad a holiday home herefor 30 years. It has beenenjoyed by the families ofthe Paterson clan so muchthat the often-discusseddream was that all 3 sisterswould retire here – oneday! We even plannedwhere we would live. Well,that time has finally arrived.One day in October 05,when Joy and I were at aconference in Queenstown,we heard that „our section‟was on the market. Weimmediately hired a car,drove to Twizel and boughtit. And so it began!The other 2 sisters, JanCowan and Gay Compton,then purchased nearbysections – which happenedto be on either side of theBusbridge‟s, so now Pamhas been adopted as aPaterson sister.And so the process of extractionfrom city life began.Joy and I were first tosell up and build here, arrivingin August 07; soon tobe followed by Gay and herhusband David later thisyear. After that, Jan andBruce will move north fromInvercargill (Jan has moreor less moved here already!).Auckland is where Joy andI most recently lived, wherewe owned a hotel and livedin an attached apartment. Imanaged the hotel and Joydid business consultingwork. Prior to that, we bothworked in various managementroles. One of my jobswas to manage the clinicaltraining budgets for 250house surgeons, registrarsand specialists at AucklandHealthcare plus nurses onclinical training and all staffinduction at all 4 hospitalsin the DHB. Then, at EnvironmentalScience & ResearchI was responsiblefor all resources (including120 scientists) needed forthe Police Forensic Sciencecontract and humanresources for EnvironmentalScience in Auckland.I met Joy on a blind date inChristchurch 25 years agowhen I was an instructor inthe RNZAF officer trainingschool and Joy was a DeputyPrincipal at CashmereHigh School. Other thingsI did in the Air Force includedcold weather, jungleand sea survival instructionand I was a member of theCombined Services marathonteam. On one memorableoccasion whilespending 3 weeks on aFijian Minesweeper I wasafflicted by ciguatera poisoningfrom infected fish(not something you wanton a small ship with limitedtoilet facilities and beingparalysed from the waistdown!)After we married, Joy becamePrincipal at NorthcoteCollege in Auckland,so I left the Air Force andentered the corporateworld.Joy now - I started out as aPrincipal just when DavidLange threw out the ac-14cepted wisdom of howschools should be managed.So there I was doingthe time-honoured traditionof learning my job on thejob with no training and nosupport, but thank goodnesseveryone else was inthe same position. After anexhilarating seven years,with an ailing school becominga very successfulone, I was a lot wiser andwith a whole lot of newskills. Out of the bluecame an offer to leave educationand join NZ ForestryCorporation. That was afun two years but my introdu c t i o n t o q u a s i -commercial life wasstopped when the Governmentsold the company toFletchers. I had an exhaustingrole in the mergerand when it was over, tookredundancy and wenthome to garden but soonfell on my feet again when Iwas offered a GeneralManager position at IndustrialResearch.This meant commuting toWellington and Christchurchevery week andworking with several hundredbrilliant scientists,which was like herding Siamesecats. My final rolethere was running an ITBusiness Unit but thew e e k l yt r a v e lp a l l e da f t e rm a n yy e a r sand Imoved toa positionatC h a p -m a nTripp, alaw firmin Auckla n d ,b e f o r edecidingto workfor myselfas aConsultant.James again -Neither of us started out asbig city folk. Joy was bornin Tapanui (smaller thanTwizel!) and went to schooland university in Dunedin.My well-kept secret is that Iwas born in Australia; but Isaw the light and grew upin the Bay of Plenty. Myfather emigrated to startNew Zealand‟s first fishingrod manufacturing businessand my brother is stillin a senior position in KilwellSports in Rotorua. Ialso went to university inDunedin but somehownever crossed paths withJoy at the time – she majoredin Mathematics and Iwas in Phys Ed.Joy and I have tried to enterthe community spirithere as much as possibleand we have taken on variousroles to get to knowpeople.Your children may haveseen us doing relief teachingand Joy is on the TPDAand has been driving theHistory of Twizel DVD productionalong.My primary interest is inaviation (Mackenzie Basinis ideal for this) and I ambuilding a 2-seater microlightin my garage.Joy‟s major interest is in