I used to have a cool credit card that payed off my mortgage every time I bought something. I could spend $15,000 on a trip to New Zealand and think: "Hey, I'm being responsible. This trip will pay off my mortgage a month early." Unfortunately, thanks to new credit card regulations, this perk has disappeared. So I broke down and found a new card. It won't pay off my mortgage, but it does give me 1% cash back to do with as I please...and there are absolutely no transaction fees if I use it in New Zealand...and I got to upload a cool picture of Picton to put on the card.

Nico says we can't have flamingos...

I am probably too young to be worrying about the weather, but the thought of a real winter is starting to scare me a bit. With that in mind, we are scoping out warmer parts of the Long White Cloud.

One of these is Napier. That's right, the art deco capital of the southern hemisphere. Neither of our NZ trips this year brought us to Napier, so this would be a "sight unseen" relocation. Fortunately, Nico is used to those; and I've had a little practice, as well.

Here are some borrowed pictures:

Saturday morning @ The Laguna Coffee Co. The bike, the beach, and a jazz quintet.

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Interviewing, interviewing, and still more interviewing

Alternative Title #1: He who controls the drugs controls the country

Alternative Title #2: Take this job and shove it

If you are wondering why I have not posted anything in a month, it is because I have been tasked with hiring 10 pharmacists. "Ten pharmacists? Ten pharmacists doesn't sound so bad," thought I. I was mistaken; unless one is very good at picking which pharmacists to interview, one has to interview like, 30 pharmacists to find 10. I lost count, but I think I interviewed closer to 35...and it left me a little depressed about the state of the profession. I can understand that working at Walgreen's does not require a whole lot of brain activity (most pharmacy jobs do not), but at the very least, I expect all pharmacists to know what the drugs they are dispensing are being used for.

While I was not interviewing others, I spent my free time interviewing for my own next job. Two Skype interviews last week, though one became a phone interview after technical problems (which I'm pretty sure were not on my end) prevented us from having video. Interviewing 35 pharmacists prepared me well, and I was offered a job at PHARMAC. If you don't feel like clicking that link, Pharmac is the government agency that handles the drugs. Sort of a PBM with some functions of FDA thrown in. Without a doubt, the best offer I will be receiving, but I'm not exactly moving to New Zealand for career advancement. The two men in suits conducting the interview (you're not supposed to need a suit in NZ) who told me they had to wear said suits due to frequent meetings with Ministers and CEOs of drug companies, gave me a warning that I was in over my head. When I asked one of them to walk me through a normal day, he talked for twenty minutes. I am not sure how I convinced them I was qualified for this position, and it was quite difficult to turn down.

I am now thinking I want to work in a community pharmacy in a town of 1000. Maybe the townsfolk will call me Doc Mike.

I may have been a little rough on Dunedin.

Here's a picture I took from the Castle we stayed at a few kilometres outside the city.


I've been thinking Wellington the last few days. Although their cable car is more of an elevator-type thing, it still may have been the best $10 (NZ) we spent...we did, of course opt to walk back down through the botanical gardens (and a cemetery that now looks a little misplaced). I need a wider lens to capture a picture like this (or possibly just a little more time to sit and wait for the cable car to come and go, but Nico was getting impatient), so I had to steal somebody else's.


Here are a couple of photos I snapped in Eastbourne...unfortunately a suburb we would not be able to afford, but there are plenty of coastal areas within a short train ride of downtown that appear to be in the budget.

Quiet day in the Enhanced Safety Zone.

Alternative title was: Yes, that was Wonder Woman.



Even the Mona-Vie people were out.


Finally to the quiet side of Newport.

Dunedin looked perfect on paper...

Alternative title: If it's not Scottish, it's crap.

We knew it would be cold, but I had not counted on the complete lack of sun. Dark until after 8 AM, dark at 5 PM...even when the sun was up, it was so low in the sky, that it felt like it was 5PM all day. Every picture I took in Dunedin is filled with shadows. Here's Nico in front of the train station at midday.

Please stay tuned for more information on the: "Michael Passed the New Zealand Pharmacy Boards" party.


I must admit, I have never studied more for anything than I did for this exam. Not the California boards, and certainly not Hawaii. (At the time, one had to travel to NoCal to take the California test...Hawaii I took in Irvine). Something about the 12 hour flight to Auckland must have done something to motivate me.

Mount Maunganui and dinner in a castle with Aussies (not at Mount Maunganui)

Favorite thing we did on the last NZ trip: Climbing Mount Maunganui (in the rain). I'm using the term "climbing" loosely. It's really more of a walking thing. The top of the mountain was in a cloud, but the views from halfway up were incredible...even in the rain. The resident sheep were somewhere between disinterested and happy to pose for photos.


Nicole says I took too many pictures of sheep. Hopefully, the 8 Aussies we met while staying at Lanarch Castle (in Dunedin, not Mount Maunganui), will not be viewing my blog. Over dinner, one of them told us his favorite Kiwi joke:

An Australian farmer was visiting a New Zealand farm. In the back paddock, he comes across the New Zealand farmer screwing a sheep. The Aussie yells, "Hey Mate--in my country we sheer our sheep!" The NZ farmer yells back, "GET STUFFED!! I'm not sharing this sheep with anybody!!!"

PS: This joke is at least a little funnier if you are aware that Aussies and Kiwis claim they cannot understand each other (due to the different accents).

Te Reo Maori Lesson #1

Alternative title: If I bought the place, I would probably tell my mother it's pronounced as a "W".



Just back from New Zealand reconnaissance mission. If you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I have swine flu.

Although smaller in scope than the last trip , there is still too much to write about at once. And I'm sick, jet-lagged, and hungry. So let's start with Whakatane.

Yes indeed, "wh" is pronounced as "f" in Maori. Go ahead, say Whakatane...it's fun. It was raining, so we didn't do much while we were there. The town reminded me of something you'd see in Hawaii...and they have an active (offshore volcano). That's all I know.