Jet Boating

The Wilderness Safari then took us on a spectacular 1 1⁄2 hour Jet Boat ride further up the Dart River where we we were awed by more Lord of the Rings backdrops - breathtaking mountains, ancient native forest, plus jet spins!

Mt Aspiring National Park

A few of us joined Dart River Wilderness Safari which initially took us on a 4WD coach via the Mt Aspiring National Park, where we heard stories about the surrounding countryside and stopped to view scenery that served as the backdrop to many international films, including ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ I loved walking for 30 minutes or so through an ancient native beech forest at Paradise imagining hobbits jumping around and about!

Glenorchy

I have longed to go to Glenorchy for years!.. ever since we starting promoted the region as a film location for Lord of the Rings :) The sunset was stunning as we drove around Lake Whakatipu to Kinloch Lodge for a relaxing evening and hot tub.

Heli Biking!

I opted to go heli biking with Fat Tyre Adventures and WOW it was awesome!!! We took an amazing 12 minute flight over the remote Nevis Valley (where you can do the Nevis Highwire Bungy 134m above the rugged Nevis River!) to beyond the Remarkables Range and landed at 1700m on the rocky moonscape-like terrain of Old Woman Range. Our guide Greg did a fantastic job patiently teaching me the correct posture to survive the undulating, fast flowing trails which led to a more technical single track later on taking us over 30 kms altogether to Bannockburn at the bottom! 3 hours cycling up and down, up and down exhausted me - a lot more full on that my former commute cycling past the rice paddies at Kyotanabe to the local station :)

Queenstown - Green and Gold

I headed to Queenstown for a few days last week with a great team from TNZ to discover new hooks and angles to use when promoting the region to international media. We found Queenstown dressed in green and gold - stunning Autumn colours - that left me reminiscing about Kyoto during the same season.

Bible College of New Zealand Graduation

Last night I was awarded my Graduate Diploma in Theology from the Bible College of New Zealand. It was a fantastic night! Wayne, Mum, Dad, Grandma, Christine and Andrew were among my wonderful supporters there to witness my graduation after supporting me through my long hours of study :) Thank you xx We went out for a Japanese meal afterwards to celebrate - something Mum, Dad and I have done when I graduated from Kyoto University. It was quite emotional seeing people "capped" for the first time and thinking how far away from home and my culture I was for so long. I was also teary-eyed thinking of special special friends who were by my side as my studies were recognized in Japan xx Missing you!

Waiwhetu Marae

Last week I joined 11 others from the Auckland, Wellington, Tokyo, Mumbai, Bangkok, and London offices to be inducted (back) into Tourism New Zealand. We had an awesome three days learning about the different departments of the organization, and hearing from the Ministry of Tourism, a Regional Tourism Organization, and two tourism operators. On our first night we stayed on Waiwhetu Marae to experience traditional Maori culture first hand. I learnt how to introduce myself in Maori:

Tena kotou, tena kotou, tena kotou katoa. Ko Carly Mulqueen taku ingoa.
No Manaakitanga Aotearoa ki Tamaki Makau Rau taku tari. Ko Events Marketing Co-ordinator taku mahi. No reira, tena kotou, tena kotou, tena kotou katoa.

We also learnt a "waita" or song which sums up the two core values which Tourism New Zealand promotes:

Hutia te rito te harakeke
Kei hea te komako e ko
Ki mai ki ahau
He aha te mea nui o te Ao
Maku e ki atu
He tangata, he tangata, he TANGATA HI!

If we remove the centre of the flax where then will the Bellbird rest?
If I were to be asked what is the most important thing in the world?
I would say it is people, it is people, it is people!