Vintage 1930's City in New Zealand

You may think it unlikely and odd that in little ole NZ, the country sometimes forgotten off the world map, that there is a random as vintage 1930s city. Some think NZ is only full of sheep or grassy green meadows and hobbits...

Walking through Napier (in New Zealand) and overhearing Mexican and German accents I wonder how they managed to find themselves exploring just a small wee dot on the map. Considering we are well off the beaten track and lets face it a little frontier-ish (you will look out of place if you don't have jandals on, and ditch the blazer, you will not fit in at all). Cruise ships and NZ Tourism must be making some impact.

One thing that I really did notice when I came back from a Europe backpacking trip was how new New Zealand was. I was a bit of a classics nut at school so I always wanted to head to the more  history rich places of the world and soak it all in. It never occurred to me Kiwi's were still building our main infrastructure where other world cities are light years ahead. I was quite shocked about having to learn the metro system in just about every major city I went to in Europe - Wellington and Auckland are still developing a rail system. I guess we don't really have the population to really justify massive metro systems.

Imagine if New Zealand was populated and built at the Ancient Roman time! Ha imagine that! A Colosseum in Taupo and hippodrome in Christchurch. Oh dear! The mind is wandering :)

I guess what I am trying to make sense of, is that we do have interesting things happening in NZ and having a fully Art Deco city smack bang in the middle of it is pretty cool. The natural disaster of the 1931 earthquake was an awesome excuse to create a bit of a 'Phoenix from the ashes' and ensuring Hawkes Bay could rebuild in an even more modern and stylistic way. Because NZ is still so young and in comparison it occurred quite early in the history of making NZ, therefore had the opportunity to create a unique art capital of the world (exaggerating a bit?)! Although there are a few too many businesses or rest homes that are run/overrun by old fogies - it is fast becoming a awesome lifestyle to be in the bay.

Quite a unique place if I may say. Vintage baby!

Cheers,
Kiwi Dee xx

P.S. Kiwis are so frontier-ish that whenever I type in Jandals it keeps autocorrecting me to sandals, vandals or pandals!!

Extra PS. I realize New Zealand has the word 'new' in the word...

Greece - Chaotic.Historical.Beautiful

KiwiDee at the Acropolis

In 2011 I went on a 3 month solo Europe trip. Never been out of NZ but had always wanted to experience other countries and cultures. One of the best places I visited was Greece, and below is blog post from my old travel blog.

I went sailing for three days in the Ionian Sea, went to Mykonos and had a few days in Athens. Each place held its own enchanting feel.

Chaotic Athens. Amazing! Coming from such a small country, I found the riots to be fascinating, especially since democracy was born here. This was my account of times in Athens...

29th June 2011, Athens, Greece.

While we were in Mykonos, we heard reports of rioting in central Athens. On the morning coach going into Athens Aiofe (tour guide) told us that the government would be making the decision to take the IMF loan or not, that afternoon. The majority of Greece did not want the government to accept the loan as it would mean higher taxes and pretty much hinder the next few generations.

People were protesting, and some were rioting. We decided anyway to go to the Acropolis as we were told it was quite a way from the rioting. We metro-ed into central city - went underneath the main square where all the rioting was happening, the doors opened and people were covered in white and wearing gas masks - we ended up at the Acropolis station and went up the hill to see my mecca.

I have never felt such an atmosphere before. There were hardly any tourists or people up at a normally extremely busy tourist attraction. There was no people sounds or traffic sounds. All you could hear was tear gas canisters cracking and chants on the wind from in Syntagma Square in front of Parliament. We could see the white tear gas cloud and people standing on the roofs around the central square. The rest of the city was unmoving. They were probably inside watching the television with family and friends. There was a feeling of tension but calmness in the air. Everyone was aware and watchful but quite silent.

We walked down to the Plaka where we had been told there was good food, so we found ourselves at Hadrians Arch. Hearing a bit of a ruckus, we looked up the road and saw two massive lines of fully kitted out riot police heading towards Syntagma Square. I did NOT want to get any closer! We wandered into the Plaka to find some Moussaka and some ladies told us to watch out for the tear gas! We were extremely close to the rioting. Many people walked past us with white faces from the tear gas. These people ranged from young adults to 50 plus. It amazed me how serious and determined everyone looked. We sat down, had some food and it looked it like it was all starting to settle down.

We wandered into a souvenir shop and next minute there was a massive crowd down the road blocking our exit route! We got a bit scared because we thought they might start rioting. But they were just protesters standing in a big group. We single filed through them holding hands and got to the other side and walked back to the Acropolis Metro where we went back to the Hotel.

What a day. I must say that this was one of the amazing parts of my Europe journey. I am so glad I got to experience it. I went out the next few days in central Athens and the vast difference of the day before and the next few days was amazing. Everything seemed back to normal. Tourists and people were everywhere. I walked through the main square where people were cleaning up burnt things, cracked concrete and rubbish. I used the Syntagma square metro where there was remnants of tear gas in the air and I could feel it in the back of my throat and eyes. What a time to be in Athens!

The following days I took my time to really check out Athens. It grew on me and describing it would be ramshackle, chaotic, passionate, historic, cultural, friendly, Metro and Acropolis! I was quite sad to leave, it felt like I still had a lot to do there. I will go back to Greece.

Lean Canvas plus Sustainability

I have been doing a lot of reading on writing business cases and all that jazz. What I have found is that they are very word intensive and could be a potential put off if not careful. In my reading travels I stumbled across this idea of the Lean Canvas. Basically narrows down all your business thoughts into a concise easy to digest format. It follows along the idea of visual management and lean.

Why Lean Canvas? 

Its cool because you can write all your thoughts onto post-it notes, stick them in the relevant spaces and keep refining your business case. Finally a fluid document! (can that all be in the same statement!?).

I came across another version of the Lean Canvas that adds a sustainability element to it. After reading "Heart To Start" by Derek Handley, a large part of his journey was rethinking purpose and his idea of a successful business. Hence his current involvement with Virgins boss Richard Branson's The B Team. The below lean canvas I feel encompasses some of this people, planet and profit thinking.


Social Lean Canvas

Now the challenge is to develop a business case to fit in the parameters of a sustainable business. No easy feat - what businesses (big and small) are truly sustainable in their operations apart from NGOs?

As a Gen Y - I am finding I like to know what businesses contribute to the bigger picture. Not just to exist to take profit but to focus on things like Zero Harm, charity days, company creches or car pools, environmental awareness, giving back, building for the future, social teams.. bla bla bla. Ya know what I mean? Its important!

Over and Out!
Dee