Incredible New Zealanders In Auckland

Incredible New Zealanders In Auckland

Feb 19-23, 2018

I have just completed 3 days of training in Auckland with 24 Incredible Years (IY) basic parent trained group leaders and 2 days with 20 Incredible Years teacher classroom management trained group leaders.  They were a wonderful group of psychologists, teachers and social workers many of whom I have met on prior trips who have made a commitment to deliver my new IY parent and teacher autism programs in New Zealand. Most of them had 5-10 years’ experience delivering IY programs and working with children on the autism spectrum plus more clinical experience in their respective fields.  I am thrilled with their energy and enthusiasm and look forward to hearing about their delivery experiences using this autism program with families and teachers.

From Auckland to Queenstown to Arrow Town

Feb 24-28

John arrived in Auckland on Saturday and the next day we fly to the southern island to Queenstown to stay at a lovely 5 room hotel just outside of Arrow Town, called The Arrow. 

To my surprise when we enter the reception area there was on the wall a large, very well done painting of Trump drinking some wine. I shrieked that we couldn’t possibly stay in this place as we are trying to take a break from all his craziness.  The lovely hotel manager explained the picture was done as a kind of joke to stimulate conversation. I thought she should put a bed sheet over the picture while we are staying there.  Looking more closely at the painting you can see a small fly in Trump’s wine glass and we remind the manager that Trump doesn’t drink. 

Aside from the painting we loved this peaceful place with its beautiful, floor to ceiling window views of the trees which could be seen from the bedroom, deck and the bathtub. A full breakfast was delivered to us in the mornings for a breakfast in bed experience.  We wandered around Arrow town, a small quirky village once a gold mining town on the Arrow River and had 2 dinners there. 

We also visited Queenstown, 20 minutes away for lunch sitting outside on a Warf next to Lake Wakatipu surrounded by mountain peaks. This city of 15,000 people was busy with tourists coming for adventure sports such as hiking, biking, bungee jumping and jet boarding. I wonder if we are up for bungee jumping. John seems happy to be removed from the tourist scene although I did remind John that we too are tourists.  Traffic jams in Queenstown remind us of Seattle. We are eager to get going on our bike trip the next day.