The transition to Great Barrier Island involves a few “leaps of faith” – one such leap involved saying goodbye to the “job” and its regular paycheque. Friday 7th March marked a big change in lifestyle – the end of a 12 year career at St John, and the beginning of several months of renovating to complete the “extreme makeover” at Waiwera. At least I won’t have to fight the traffic to get to my new place of employment!

St John put on a marvellous farewell. I relabelled it as being my birthday (which isn’t until August) because everyone was being nice to me and giving me presents, and it didn’t feel like I was leaving. I guess that feeling will hit home when I next look at the bank account!

Thank you to all my friends and colleagues who gave me such a wonderful sendoff. It was amazing. To top it all off, I was presented with a fantastic album of memories and good wishes that I will treasure.

There were some lovely and touching speeches made by Keven Tate, Gary Salmon, Ian Dunn, and Charlotte Guscott. Clearly I was overwhelmed and felt the need to gabble.

I was doused with gifts, including some new “island attire”. Yes, I will need to ditch the suit and tie when I get to the island.

Thank you once again everyone, not only for the farewell, but for the great memories over the past 23 years while at St John (12 on the payroll).