A walk along the beach might sound tempting on a hot day...

However, if you are not looking to get soaked, do not attempt your walk in the area between the water and the unusual 5 foot high sand wall.

I always thought I had wasted an extra year (and two summers) in Indiana...

New Zealand uses (what appears to be) a very streamlined system for determining who is allowed to immigrate. They don't care where you're from (as long as you speak English); they don't care what you look like. They do care how old you are (sorry to my readers over the age of 55), and they do care about your education/profession. If you're bored, give the NZ Immigration Points calculator a try. If you score over >100, you are eligible for entry (but if you don't have a job lined up, you really need more points, or they won't let you in). If you score >140, you are automatically allowed in...after they confirm you are not lying.

I claimed a conservative 145 points. I was feeling pretty good for four weeks, until someone at a desk in London decided my Doctor of Pharmacy degree did not allow me to 1) claim points for having a pharmacy degree (NZ issues only Bachelors of Pharmacy) and 2) claim any points for being a pharmacist (since a Bachelors of Pharmacy is required to be a pharmacist) and 3) claim any points for a profession on the Long Term Skills Shortage List (since as above, I am not a pharmacist). This brought me down to 60 points. It was recommended that I find a job as a pharmacist, then I can claim points for having a job as a pharmacist...

So I've sent this back to NZ Immigration (copied from their website). As my qualifications have been assessed by the NZ Pharmacy Council, and they have issued me a provisional license, I'm hoping another 4 week wait will take care of things.

If your qualification is not on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment, or the List of Qualifications Recognised as an Exception you will need to get your qualification assessed by the NZQA (unless you have full or provisional registration and your qualification has been assessed by a New Zealand organisation as comparable with a New Zealand qualification on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment).

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.