Alan – The Gold Miner

Alan – The Gold Miner

Background

Alan is a volunteer at the gold mine in Thames, New Zealand. He dedicates his time to preserving history and educating tourists about New Zealand’s rich mining history. This is his story:

Volunteering

Alan’s background in mechanical engineering and early time as a miner himself, led him to his now retired past time as a guide in the gold mine in Thames. He gets fulfillment from meeting new people and helping maintain a history that has been so impactful for his life.

The entire gold mine is run by volunteers, mostly old retired men that used to work in the mines in their younger years. They love getting to teach tourists about the uniqueness of the mine in Thames. The gold mining process was manually finding quartz veins to then process the gold dust and eventually sift down to enough gold dust to be melted into heavy gold bricks for sale. Many of the miners came from Ireland and other parts of the UK and were known for their drinking and competitiveness. They lived hard lives in mines with long days in darkness and dust in their lungs, working by candle light in the essentially the pitch black.

His Perspective

Life is meant to be lived and to do what you know and love. For Alan, mining and mechanical engineering were his passions. He uses his knowledge to give of his time and energy to educate tour groups passing through his small coastal town. Although now most of the mine shafts are underwater and out of commission, he takes people through the active shafts in the mine used many years ago.

He believes preserving the past is a way to remember and honor the past and those who have gone before us. He loves seeing the new generation connect to the excitement of knowing how life was like for miners in Thames all the way back in 17th century.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Mei Mei – The Customer Service Expert

Mei Mei – The Customer Service Expert

Background

Mei Mei is originally from Guangzhou province in China. She and her family have since migrated to New Zealand and opened up Snapper Jack’s fast food restaurant in a little town called Whitianga. This is her story:

Family and Work Life

Mei Mei is known by all the local residents in the town as the woman who knows everyone’s name. She prides herself in her memory and even a brand new customer coming into her restaurant, she will commit their name to memory so when they come back for seconds, she’ll know them. She loves to laugh and enjoys every minute of interacting with her customers every day and providing them the best seafood, both native Chinese dishes and Kiwi favorites.

Her husband owns the restaurant while her son, she says, is the real boss and runs the day to day operations. They constantly have a line out the door with every customer talking about how much they love Mei Mei’s sass and wit. She leaves a positive interaction with every person and keeps them coming back.

Her Perspective

Mei Mei has a love of life and radiates happiness. She believes whole heartedly that the actions she takes directly come back to her to bring her happiness or misery. So she’s always smiling, always interacting with people and constantly improving her memory.

She believes that remembering a name is remembering a person and showing them that they matter. She works to know every name of anyone who comes into her restaurant so she can remind them of their worth and give them a smile to brighten their day. Working with family and loved ones, and making everyone feel important, give Mei Mei a perspective of life that radiates positivity. Even if and when struggles come, she is able to handle adversity with a much more positive outlook because of her outward focus on individuals. When she focuses on others, her own problems seem so small.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Ash – The Sea Cave Master

Ash – The Sea Cave

Background

Ash is a sea caves tour guide in the Whitianga Wharf. His down to earth focus on being one with nature makes him a thrilling guide for any and all who step into his boat. This is his story:

Daily Life

The Whitianga Wharf is Ash’s self proclaimed backyard. “The land and nature is sacred, we don’t think we’re above it. It’s above us,” he says. As a Maori, he feels connected to the land and the water and knows the traditions and the stories of his ancestors. As we approached Cathedral Cove, which he says is really only famous to tourists because Microsoft made it their default background in Windows, he instead focuses on the Maori ancient tribe leaders who would meet on this secluded beach for peace talks. It was the ancient equivalent of the UN Headquarters in Geneva.

Ash loves being away from it all, even if the nearest hospital is 2 and a half hours away, he loves the connection to water and to his people. Ash’s background is in monitoring and tracking whale migrations, specifically orcas in the area. He’s swam with the whales since he was a child and knows them intimately and personally. He’s currently working with a documentary film crew to study the whales off New Zealand and Tonga a bit more closely, and hopefully educate more on preserving their way of life.

His Perspective

In looking over his gulf and “backyard” Ash often laments some of the damage that was done by European invaders in the not so distant history. He feels that tourism is saving his country from poverty and getting back their land from imperialist who have stolen it without going into deforestation with lumber business and commercial fishing practices. Tourism is one of the only profitable industry that doesn’t hurt his land.

Ash is grateful, humble, personable and laid back. He works to make things better for the planet and his own life and family. He likes simple pleasures along with awesome adventures, from taking his boat out on the gulf right by his home, to traveling to Tonga and taking tourists to swim with whale sharks, Ash finds joy in being exactly where he is in the moment and not taking anything for granted.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Josh – The Shark Fisherman

Josh – The Shark Fisherman

Background

Josh is a fisherman off the Whitianga coast in Coromandel area of New Zealand. He spends most of his life at sea catching and selling fish to meet his needs. This is his story:

Daily Life

The life of a small business commercial fisherman is life constantly spent out on the open sea. Josh feels fortunate to do shifts and works for three days straight, day and night out on the open sea. His vessel mostly catches snapper fish to sell to Auckland and Australian, but is always look to catch anything he can. The more he can catch, the more he can sell. But the three days out the sea suite him just fine. He talks about how there’s never any traffic or much stress each day. They cast their nets for the snapper and then have 6 miles of lines for single casting. Sharks normally come in on the single lines and take a lot of strength to pull in.

He’s been a fisherman in the waters off New Zealand for over 10 years now and has never regretted his decision. He lives up to the fisherman stories of loving exaggeration and sarcasm and getting to talk to tourist who frequent his town. The scruffy look is really just a testament to focus on being who he is, instead of appealing to any societal norms. They normally come in with about 2 – 3 tons of fish each three days. They’re fortunate enough to be able to freeze anything they can’t sell fresh, and even though they don’t get top dollar for the frozen fish, nothing goes to waste.

His Perspective

Josh lives life one day at a time. He loves the time spent on the ocean and feeling connected to nature. It’s not about schedules, being busy or getting caught up in so many cares of the world. He just has his boat, crew, and his fish. That’s all he needs.

Living the simple life, he’s able to disconnect from many of the hustle and bustle most of the world gets wrapped up in. Josh loves his fish stories and loves connecting with people, but in person and showing them tangible proof of his adventures. Each day is a gift and he takes each one as they come.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Oden and Ingval

Oden and Ingval – The Traveling Family

Background

Oden and Ingval are a young family from outside of Oslo, Norway. They have chosen a life of travel and adventure for themselves and their two daugthers. This is their story:

Family Life

For the past 5 months, Oden, his wife Ingval and their two daughters have been traveling around South East Asia and Oceania. They’ve had to make quite a few adjustments to living in camper vans in different countries a month at a time. But they have no regrets. They spent a month in Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Oden feels it’s the best way to really experience the nature and culture of a foreign country. They spend most of their time climbing, biking and hiking and finding free spaces to park and be out in nature.

Ingval and Oden had to home school their children with such a long time away from home, which has had its ups and downs. The children are getting a great education about culture, history, and nature as well as science with their experience, but it still has to be supplemented with some real homework to make sure they don’t fall behind when they return home. It’s also a lot of time in much closer quarters than they are used to. The camper vans they’ve been renting have everything you need, but the space is small. The four of them sleep, eat, cook, shower and travel all in their van. But as Oden explains, “it really has everything you need.” They like to live a minimalist’s life and focus on nature and experiences, rather than positions and status.

Their Perspective

Although Oden had a difficult time convincing his employer, he works as a engineer, to give him so much time off, he still plans to do more 6 month vacations in the future with his family. He feels it’s worth the time off and away from home to experience more of the world. Ingval and Oden also believe it makes their family ties stronger. When you live in such a tight space for such a long period, you have to work things out and let things go.

The family’s focus is that life is meant to be lived and experienced, so take the time to do it. Their daughters, ages 9 and 13, are getting a better education and experience to set them up for success in life than anything else they could do. They love the travel and seeing the world, but especially the areas of nature where they can focus on their passions of hiking and climbing.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Sophie

Sophie – The Opera Singer

Background

Sophie is an renowned opera singer originally from Whangarei, New Zealand. She’s humble, but passionate about her music and career as a soprano opera performer. This is her story:

Career and Daily Life

Sophie grew up in New Zealand with lots of family in the area. Her passion for music and opera has led her career path to performances all over the country. Although she was raised in New Zealand, she now lives in Brighton, in the United Kingdom with her boyfriend, George, who is from Cyprus. Both are passionate travelers though and often spend time out of the UK and in Sophie’s native country of New Zealand.

Both are also passionate about music. Sophie has seen a lot of humble success in her career as an opera singer. She doesn’t like to be recognized, but has had high profile performances all over New Zealand. She talks about how opera is “meant to be heard live,” so she doesn’t record her music. Instead she performs in churches and cathedrals with great acoustics to really feel her passion for opera.

Her Perspective

Yet Sophie has a significant life outside of the world of opera and performance. She, along with her boyfriend George, are strong advocates for immigrants passing through the Mediterranean Sea. George is part of a project documenting these events to really bring awareness to the world of what these immigrants go through and the chances they take in order to make it to a new life. For some people George met it was their “eighth attempt to get to Europe, across the sea. They pay smugglers to help them get in a vessel that is barely seaworthy, and then most still get caught by kidnappers and sent back.”

Although Sophie and George’s experience with seeing the immigration crisis has taken a toll on their outlook on humanity, they remain hopefully optimistic in the power of change. Both through advocacy, documentaries, and even music and performances, Sophie’s passion for life shines through. She strongly holds the belief that whether someone is rich and famous, or destitute and desperate, people are people and deserve to be treated with respect and kindness and just a bit more benefit of the doubt.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Dave

Dave – The Whale Watcher

Background

Dave is a marine biologist focused on conservation in the Hauraki Gulf. He gathers data daily on the plant and animal life to monitor the health and well being of the marine life off the coast of Auckland. This is his story:

Work and Daily Life

Dave’s passionate about the nature in his native land of New Zealand and specifically the marine life in Hauraki bay. His daily life focuses on giving dolphin and whale watching tours and working with tourists to help fund his conservation efforts. His sarcasm and wit help him connect with people as he makes daily tracking of water temperature, color, phytoplankton and zooplankton levels and getting estimations on dolphin and whale populations in the area.

One of his greatest accomplishments was in helping move forward with an congressional act that provided guidelines for large shipping vessels passing through the gulf. Before 2013, on average 2 bryde whales were rammed and killed by the heavy container ships passing through the busy port. With a population of just over 100 whales in the bay, they could be wiped out in a few decades by the ships. In 2013, Dave and his team worked to pass legislation that would allow for an alert system for when whales are spotted and tracked. Container ships in the area would then optionally slow down, which decreases the likely of hitting and killing a whale by 70%. Since 2013, there has not been a single whale killed in the bay by a container ship.

His Perspective

Because the land and the environment are so important to the Mauri people, Dave has this same focus and connection with nature. He feels we’re a part of this world and have a responsibility to look after and care for what we hold dear. The resources we have are limited, and he believes we can have an incredible time here on the earth without destroying what we have.

The laid back, “yeah, nah all good” mentality is deeply ingrained in Dave’s perspective. That as we casually do good and do daily acts to make the world better, we change everything for the better. He loves being out in nature and having the freedom of being on the ocean and learning from his environment. He makes an impact on all those who come on his tour, teaching them with humor and real facts to show the importance of maintaining and preserving his home in the Hauraki Gulf.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Jesai

Jesai – The Tourist Shop Owner

Background

Jesai is a shop owner at the less visited ancient city of Coba. He is very satisfied with his life, his family, his work and the people he gets to talk to each day. This is his story:

Work and Family Life

Living in Coba, Jesai and his entire family are centered on the tourism trade. His father is an artists and creates many of the items his store then sells to tourists, although with other Mayan descendant families. Jesai both works and lives with his family and are there in all aspects of his life. He talks about how family is the support, refuge and protection again the world. The people you can rely on and his family is always the people he can go to for anything, despite some occasionally fights.

Family is central to Jesai’s happiness, but he also sees a lot of fulfillment in his work. He gets to meet people all over the world who come to see the ancient Mayan ruins in Coba. His goal is just to continue his life in tourism. He couldn’t think of anything he would change in how his life is going right now and is very content with business and family life, even with the COVID slowdown.

His Perspective

As a child, Jesai always wanted to be a hero and thought about going into the military to help save people. Although his aspirations have since changed, his perspective remains that saving people is still his priority. He looks to save and preserve the memory of his ancestors and tell their stories.

Saving people happens in many different ways. Sometimes it’s physically saving them from danger, but sometimes it’s preserving their story, sometimes it’s a smile or a connection in a time of need. The Coba performance used to be flooded with guests, now there are only a few people who attend. Although not really seeing the need for much change in his life, Jesai hopes more and more people continue to come back to Coba to learn more about both the ruins and the culture of the Mayans.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Susana

Susana – The Sea Turtle Rescuer

Background

Susana works nights on the beaches in Cancun where hundreds of sea turtles come ashore to popular beach sites to lay their eggs. Her job is to find the eggs and rebury them in safe spots to increase the chances of their survival. This is her story:

Sea Turtles

Each night after the hundreds of tourists leave the sandy beaches in Cancun, they are replaced by hundreds of sea turtle mothers looking for spots to bury their eggs. Susana’s job is to find the eggs and dig out, by hand, each of the hundreds of eggs laid by each turtle every night. Using red light to avoid disturbing the turtle mothers, Susana waits on the beach watching for the flipping sand from massive sea turtle fins.

After finding the turtle nests, and observing the mothers laying the eggs, Susana will move in, often while the mothers are laying the eggs, to move them to a secure location, increasing the likelihood of survival. Sea turtle hatchlings often only survive at one percent rate, these efforts to relocate the eggs help maintain and improve those survival rates.

The process is tough work. Susana is often working from 11pm until 7am each night. When she’s not there to see the turtles laying their eggs, she’ll look for the soft sand and dig carefully with a shovel and small stick, finding the softest sand that indicates where the eggs have recently been buried.

Susana has been involved in relocating the turtle eggs for 6 years. She finds the work rewarding and feels she’s making a real difference in the lives of these majestic creatures.

Sea Turtle Eggs – often almost 200 from one turtle

Her Perspective

As a very quiet and reserved person, Susana silently goes about her work each night. She brings out individual eggs which look like sand covered ping pong balls, gently and carefully. The tasks is a lot of work, with 5 – 20 buckets of 150 – 200 eggs, each night. It’s one by one work, all in an effort to just allow one percent to survive. It’s about major efforts to make a major difference for only a select few turtles. Her job gives her the perspective of doing what you can and giving your all, to make that life saving difference, even if it’s only for a few lucky hatchlings.

Eggs reburied in secure spots where they will likely hatch in November each year.

As she applies that to her life, she puts her all into giving those around her a chance for improvement, a chance for life. She quietly goes about making the world a better place.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Saul

Saul – The Salesman

Background

Saul is a young boy living nearby the heavily tourist centered city of Cancun, Mexico. He travels daily by bus out to the hotel zone to sell his mother’s products to tourists on the street. This is his story:

Life in Sales

Saul is just nine years old, but he works full time along with going to the school to help provide for his family. He’s a shy boy, who speaks only Spanish to the mainly American tourist who flood into Cancun’s hotel zone strip. He’s the oldest of three children and lives with both his parents and grandparents in a city a few hours’ bus ride away from Cancun.

However every night, and even into the early morning hours, Saul comes with his aunt to sell small trinkets to tourists in order to get by. His main focus is small woven bracelets his mom hand makes, which he holds tightly onto until he makes his sell and pulls them individually off their sewn on strands.

His Perspective

Despite being very independent at such a young age, Saul is not too aware of where he is or where he comes from. He knows he likes working a lot more than being in school and that each sold bracelet means more food and security for his family. He doesn’t think much about the future or other opportunities, he’s so quiet and so used to people speaking to him in a language he doesn’t understand that he’s become solely focus on exchanging money for bracelets.

He likes what he does, likes convincing people to buy and presenting beautiful bracelets to his customers. He loves Spiderman and other super heroes, but despite being a child, he doesn’t wish for a nonexistent reality. He’s grounded in the here and now, with a concentration that rivals the best sales people in the world.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.