Enjoyable trip with family

Posted by on 1 September 2011 | 0 Comments

Arriving back from visiting family in the United States, it is always great to step off the plane and smell Southland's fresh clean air. California has lovely sunshine every day but I think it could get a bit boring. We have real weather here - a good variety.

It was lovely being with family and as I am involved in local government, the community and how it is run is always interesting to me. I had the opportunity to chat with a number of people connected with local government in San Diego, Las Vegas, California and believe it or not, Mexico.

Water is going to be or indeed is the real challenge, and as I have said before, will be the gold of the future. When you see millions of people relying on a source of water that comes from miles away, it really hits home. And yes, they do still talk in miles. It's funny as when metrics first came to New Zealand, I always converted it back to yards and miles and pounds. Now in America I found myself doing the opposite.

I took the opportunity to visit schools and talk to young people about New Zealand and I am impressed with the sense of community in schools. However, it is also disturbing to watch how education is first in line with budget cuts and longer holidays and bigger classes are examples of this.

The day after getting home, and yes a little jetlagged, I must admit, I was thrilled to meet representatives from the Prince Royal College in Chiang Mai, Thailand. About 6000 students attend this school and they are looking at sending a group of students to Southland, possibly even next year, to further their English skills. Each young person will be in a Southland school for a year, and this is very good news for all our communities.