We moved to a new house last November. It has a 1-mi long beach (called "Long Bay Beach", go figure!) at the end of our street.
We are After almost 3 years with Motorola NZ as their "Dealer Sales & Support Rep", I quit last November. Was not interested in commuting an hour each way from the new house (which is North of Auckland in a place called Torbay). As you know, working for a big corporation has its advantages and disadvantages. 1-2 weeks a month I was away, mostly Australia and Asia. It was interesting and exciting at times (was in Malaysia last year during a major encephalitis outbreak!). But Cheryl wanted me home more, so I asked for a job where I wouldn't travel so much, but to no avail, so I resigned. A life-style decision I don't regret though. I'm now self-employed, contracting my time out to an IT company, a friend owns it. I'm working with his customer's PC's, setting up programs, installing memory, swapping hard drives, that sort of thing. I pick my own hours & days off. Sweet, mate.
I continued to pursue my flying hobby after moving here. Converted my Cdn Private Pilots Licence to a NZ PPL, then got a twin rating, aerobatics -
learned on a Am involved with the ham radio club here in NZ as a member only. Auckland (Pop. 1.3mil) has about 8 different clubs, all affiliated with the national group, NZART. With so many clubs, the enrolment is spread so thin that its barely enough to keep them going (a personal observation). However with a baby on the way, my time for hobby enjoyment will shortly take a dramatic dive, thus I'm not spearheading any amalgamation ideas...! If any of "the old gang" find their way to NZ, have them give us a call. We have a guest bedroom and would be happy to host a
KWARC member for a day or so while they learn to cope with driving on the left side of the road and watching water swirl down a drain backwards!!
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100' above it; on a cliff, with views to the north east of the South Pacific Ocean. The Americas Cup yacht racing series can be viewed from
across the street on the edge of the cliff. I have a 100' Australian Gum Tree in my back yard which supports one end of my multi-band dipole, and the
back yard is big enough to stretch the dipole to full length without any bends. JA/VK is no longer rare DX to me, Africa and Europe is. How weird!
Our house is on the northern edge of a ridge, with views of empty fields to the west and the ocean to the east. Xena (the TV show) is filmed to the
west of us. You can go watch the filming any day you want. Its very beautiful country. We're planning on applying for NZ citizenship later this
year. I predict that we will not be moving from here any time soon.
Cheryl is expecting our first child, a girl, on June 9th. We've wanted a baby for a couple years, so we're very happy! Since Cheryl (being a doctor)
is the breadwinner, she will take minimal time off, and I will gladly take on the full-time role of father this June until our baby is 6 months old.
After that, its off to the daycare! I'm planning on either continuing in the IT industry, or else going back to school and taking a 1 year TV & Film
Production course. I enrolled this year and got accepted however with the impending baby, I withdrew and they said they'd hold a spot for me next year
(our school year is Feb-Dec, opposite of yours). I've decided to pursue a career I wanted at age 20 but couldn't afford to take the course at
Sheridan. I'm interested in editing mostly.
Have included a photo of me and my new shack here in NZ. A Yaesu FT-920. Great radio, I just love the RX audio. It's the first radio I've used
where I've found the DSP to be useful and not so "mechanical sounding". As you can see I am now sporting a beard too. Cheryl said, "there's
nothing sexier than a bald man with a beard" so I grew one! Several months later, she's pregnant. Hi, Hi!
Cessna 152 Aerobat, then flew dual in a Harvard. (photo attached, just taken as we passed through the vertical in a formation loop).
The most exciting is mountain flying down to Queenstown on the South Island. Sure beats flying from KW to Toronto Island for excitement when you are
flying in a valley at 6,000' and the mountains around you are several thousand higher... and the valley is too narrow to turn around in. What an
adrenaline rush! Have enclosed a shot of me in my biggest conquest.. a Partenavia P68C. Its a 6-seater twin, cruises about 165kts, and is the
plane the club takes to go "island hopping" to Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, etc. I don't fly it much though, except for big trips. At
$325/hr, who would! You'll see me waving at the left seat in this photo. Cheryl took the picture just before we went to a small island about 50mi NE
from Auckland called "Great Barrier Island". We take a lunch and cold 
drinks and our bathing suit (called "toggs' here), land at the grass airstrip, walk
to the end of the runway where the beach is. A great way to spend a day, on a semi-deserted beach in the middle of the South Pacific.. At the end of
the day, we hop back in the plane, and 30 min later, we're back on the mainland. Its so idyllic.