My name is Kate and I am originally from Staffordshire in England. I've been here in Paihia for about two and a
h
alf years now.
My role here at 35 Degrees South and Alongside is sales manager. That's running shifts, doing some ordering, working the bar, running the floor. I love working here.
What brought me all the way to New Zealand from England is a bit of a funny story actually. It was completely by ac
cident. I didn't intend to come here. I was travelling around Australia, but I thought I might as well do New Zealand while I'm this far over the other side of the world. My plan was to come here for three months and then work for two months, save a bit of money, do a month's traveling and then go home.
Well - it didn't quite work out that way at all. Instead, I flew into New Zealand and came all the way up here to Paihia and I fell in love with the place straight away. That was two and a half years ago.
What I love the most about being here in Paihia is the people and the views. I'm originally from the midlands of England, and the closest beach is two and a half hours away, so to have the beach on my doorstep here in Paihia is such a luxury! I count myself lucky to be here. The summer's here are amazing. I'm quite the sun worshipper - so I lap up as much of the summer weather as I possibly can.
In my downtime I can be found at the beach, at home or socialising down Kings Road in Paihia. As I had mentioned before I love the people here in this community and I have formed some lifelong friendships with a range of awesome people.