Gold Coast on high

Garry and I recently enjoyed a weekend in Surfers Paradise. We had to travel to Brisbane for business before Easter. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we ended up with meetings scheduled on either side of the weekend.  We made the most of a frustrating situation by basing ourselves on the Gold Coast. 

I used my Platinum status with Accor to book us into a serviced apartment at Peppers Soul. The hotel delighted us with an unexpected upgrade. We spent the weekend enjoying a Skyview Apartment Suite. The spectacular Gold Coast vista from every window was a real highlight. If only every business trip unfolded this way!

Once in a lifetime

I’ve just returned from an extended weekend in New Zealand. Regular readers will recall that I joined the Entrepreneur’s Organisation (EO) in February last year. EO is a global business networking organization offering a range of benefits including access to talented business speakers, training content, and other invaluable resources.

The organization has chapters operating in major cities worldwide. The Sydney chapter has almost 200 members. Each local chapter is also divided into smaller groups of 6-8 members (called forums). Each forum meets monthly and organizes an annual offsite retreat to bond while sharing life and business experiences.

After some cajoling last October, I agreed to organize my forum’s annual retreat. I settled on Wellington as our chosen destination, in part because I was familiar with the city and in part because I could tap into a diverse personal network of potential speakers.

The brief for this event was challenging, to say the least. EO is big on developing the “whole person”. As a result, the group wanted to hear from people presenting on commercial topics, as well as speakers offering unique, or eclectic, perspectives on life. The group also wanted to include a “once in a lifetime” experience that elevated the event beyond that of another bulk-standard business conference.

 

After months of planning and preparation, I’m delighted to report that I successfully delivered an event that met the brief. Our retreat began on Thursday with breakfast in the Qantas Lounge (I took one lucky person for breakfast in the First Class Lounge). We then flew to Wellington and checked into QT hotel on the harbourfront. It sits opposite the national Te Papa Museum.

The forum kicked off our time in New Zealand by hosting a networking event with EO Wellington members before dining in a private room at Jano Bistro.  As the evening unfolded, we heard from my cousin Jennifer Parker. She spoke about New Zealand’s restorative justice program and how the program’s principles can be applied to business.

On Friday the forum came together for its monthly networking meeting. We then heard from two impressive business speakers including a local multi-millionaire who invited us to join him for drinks in his stunning penthouse overlooking the harbour. As the weather cleared, we finished the afternoon riding the Wellington cable car to Kelburn and walking back into town through the Botanic Gardens. 

Dinner that night was in a private room at Dockside where we heard from two speakers; Gary Scott, a New Zealand documentary filmmaker (whom I went to University with), and his defacto partner, Tracey Bridges a prominent Government lobbyist and entrepreneur. Tracey spoke on people's need for a sense of place and the challenge of integrating equity partners into a business. Gary reinforced her message about seeking a sense of place and shared how it often shapes his storytelling.

 

The weather on Friday morning was abysmal. Torrential rain and gale-force winds lashed the city for hours before finally clearing mid-afternoon. Our “once in a lifetime” experience was completely weather dependent. Hence I was relieved when we woke on Saturday morning to blue skies and calm weather.

The group was met by helicopter at Queens Wharf in the central city. We then set a course across Cook Strait, making our way to the Bay of Many Coves Resort. This exclusive boutique lodge is nestled on the shores of a picturesque bay in the Marlborough Sounds. You can only access it by boat – or helicopter. Our group was given a private dining room with expansive views across the water, including exclusive access to a shaded balcony. After a superb lunch, we flew back to Wellington in time to enjoy the sights and sounds of Homegrown, the city’s annual waterfront music festival.

 
The flights across Cook Strait were truly breathtaking. However, the highlight for me was seeing the notorious Cook Strait ferry sail through the Tory Channel headlands on its way to Wellington. I also got to sit in the co-pilot seat on return to Wellington. This gave me an enviable view of everything. A once in a lifetime experience for sure.

On Sunday I rose early to catch a flight to Tauranga. This allowed me to visit Mum on Sunday morning and again on Monday before catching a flight back to Sydney. On Sunday Mum and I enjoyed an alfresco lunch on the waterfront near the city’s renowned Hairy McCleary statue.

An inflight story

The Australian toy industry came together last weekend for the Australian Toy Association's Toy & Hobby Licensing Fair. It’s been three long years since the industry’s last trade show, thanks to COVID.

However, my favourite highlight from the show had nothing to do with the event. This month, Qantas published a two-page profile about Artiwood in its in-flight magazine. The airline sent out a request for submissions in September last year. As a former PR exec, I knew I could draft a compelling pitch.  

I was delighted when Qantas made contact in November. It selected six companies to profile between March and August this year.  I pushed for the March edition so that people attending Toy Fair would read our story. A freelance journalist interviewed me in early December, and a photographer spent half a day conducting a photo shoot in our showroom on 12 January. We finally saw a pre-press proof in late January while visiting suppliers in London.

It was a proud moment seeing the profile in print for the first time in the airport lounge last week. It’s hard to believe that passengers and crew on every Qantas flight worldwide are reading our story. How cool is that? As you can see above, the photo that opens this post fills half a page in the magazine. Here’s a link to the published article.

The story captures Artiwood's eco-friendly journey through four flights that our hard-working staff, Garry, and I have taken in recent years. If I'm honest, it's a little too PR-centric for my liking, but as the saying goes, "all publicity is good publicity." I'm still flattered Australia's national carrier wanted to share our story with the world. 

Aside from giving our business a tremendous profile, the story has reconnected me with a surprising array of people I've met and worked with over the years. Several people I haven't seen or heard from in decades have contacted me to say they’d seen the story. Each of these “out of the blue” connections is a special moment.

Renewing these relationships brings to mind some sage advice I once received. Put simply, I'm reminded that we should never say "no" to any opportunity. It may not align perfectly with what we're striving to achieve. However, the simple act of saying “yes” can pave the way for a life-changing sliding door moment.

I once said "yes" to restocking photocopiers and delivering internal mail at IBM. That nine-month contract opened the door for a role with IDC, which in turn kicked off a 20-year career in tech-driven public relations. It would be fair to say that replenishing photocopiers was never aligned with any of my career goals.

It's show time

Whenever we’re in London on business Garry and I always try to squeeze in a West End show. This year we were lucky enough to make it to two live events.

The first was Moulin Rouge. We booked our tickets at the last minute after a business dinner was canceled. By chance, we secured seats a dozen rows back from the stage. The preshow tease of gender-bending performers wandering the stage set the scene for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Our second live event was ABBA Voyage. I’d booked our tickets months ago to ensure we secured a prime position in the event’s purpose-built theatre. The show was simply extraordinary. We often found ourselves struggling to believe the entire performance was being delivered by CGI-generated avatars. The live band, backup singers, synchronized light show, and photorealistic cinematography were choreographed seamlessly into an authentic immersive concert experience.

Back in Nuremberg

Finally! After a three-year, COVID-induced hiatus we’re back in Nuremberg. Once again, our days were filled with back-to-back meetings, dinner engagements, and long, daily circuits of the trade show floor. However, it was all worth the effort. We’re returning home with three new brands and plenty of new products to share in 2023.

Oh yes - and here's a couple of images to prove we really were working hard at the British Toy Fair in London before we headed for Germany.

York for the weekend

The city of York was one place we never saw while living in London. Our only attempt to visit in the winter of 2008 was thwarted by a storm bringing icy Arctic conditions to the northeast. At the time we’d been on vacation in Scotland and Edinburgh and had planned to return home via York and the eastern seaboard. However, as the weather deteriorated, Garry and I didn’t fancy wandering York in a blizzard or driving through drifting snow and black ice.

I’m delighted to report that 15 years later we’ve finally made it to York. After spending a week in London on business we had a weekend to fill before flying to Germany for another week of work. We decided to catch an express train from Kings Cross to York and spend a couple of days exploring this historic city. We were also swayed by the fact that the train journey from London took less than two hours, making it easy to maximise our time on the ground.

We checked out of our serviced apartment in Kensington shortly after 7:00am. By 10:30am we were disembarking in York. Our hotel, The Grand York, kindly checked us in early. This establishment certainly lived up to its name. This Edwardian building originally opened in 1906, as the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway (then one of the richest organisations in Britain), before being converted to a luxury boutique hotel in 2010.

Once we’d settled in, we made our way into town walking along the crest of the city’s lovingly restored medieval stone walls. Our first tourist destination for the day was the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey. Construction of this impressive complex began in 1089. 

In its heyday, the grounds featured stables, granaries, a bakery, and a brewery. However, it was a magnificent abbey church, cloister, and chapter house that dominated the York landscape here until it was forcibly closed by Henry VIII as part of the Reformation.

Nearby lie the remnants of a Roman-era defensive wall. We were quickly learning that York’s history stretches back almost two millennia. At various times, the Romans, the Vikings, and the Saxons have all made their home here. I had no idea York had such a rich and varied heritage.

Our next stop was York Minister. Without a doubt, this is the “modern” city’s claim to fame. This imposing cathedral dominates the city skyline. The Minster is 160 metres long with a central tower soaring 72 metres. It took more than two centuries to build, before being completed and consecrated in 1472. We joined an informative guided tour that brought to life many of the building’s extraordinary features. 

We were surprised to learn that sections of the Nave's dramatic stained glass window are original, dating back to the Middle Ages. Apparently the older the glass, the more lead trim it contains. Stained glass windows are under constant repair. These are often made by slicing existing glass segments into smaller pieces. As a result, over time, the same window progressively accumulates more and more lead framing.  Our guides pointed out the darkest sections of the window, an indication of their advanced age.  You can see some of these sections in the image above.

The Minster's Undercroft Museum built underneath the Nave floor was equally impressive. A survey in 1967 survey revealed that the building's central tower was close to collapse. Repairs were undertaken over five years to reinforce and strengthen its foundations. These works uncovered the remains of the Roman Principia (headquarters of the Roman fort of Eboracum) under the south transept, along with remains of an earlier Norman cathedral. Today you can tour a series of underfloor caverns where these foundations and artifacts have been carefully preserved.

You can also climb the central tower to enjoy some stirling views of York.  However, tickets were sold out by the time we arrived. We weren't too upset as the tower climb involved 275 steps.

The remainder of our day was spent wandering The Shambles, a series of medieval laneways in the heart of the old city. It’s said that these cobblestone streets were the inspiration for some of the defining scenes in the Harry Potter series of books. We finished our wandering at the foot of Clifford’s Tower, the restored keep of a former Norman castle.

Dinner on Saturday was a lavish affair. Months earlier I’d reserved a table in the hotel's formal restaurant. The Legacy seats less than 30 people and offers an impressive tasting menu focused on produce from the local area. The chef even came out of the kitchen to personally greet us. We only saw him do this one other table.

Garry and I enjoyed a memorable meal that included delicacies like hand-dived Orkney scallops, Venison with blackberry and lapsang smoked haunch, and Spice Plum with Gingerbread and Earl Grey syrup. We retired for the evening feeling well and truly wined and dined.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we made our way back into town to explore more of the city’s sights. We booked tickets for two popular tourist attractions: the Jovik Viking Centre and the York Dungeons. Without a doubt, the Jovik Centre was a real highlight.

It sits on the site of one of the most astounding discoveries of modern archaeology. In 1976, during excavations for a new shopping centre, archaeologists unexpectedly uncovered artifacts and building foundations from the Viking city of Jorvik. An interactive museum was built to preserve its ruins. It now exhibits what was uncovered, alongside a clever reconstruction of the daily world its people inhabited almost 1,000 years ago.

We’d started our day walking the southern wall of the old city. Hence, we decided to finish our time in York by walking the remaining perimeter as it wound its way past York Minister back towards our hotel. Then, as the sun began setting, we collected our luggage and caught the 4:30pm train to London. We were back in our Covent Garden hotel shortly after 7:00pm. Martin, a local friend, then joined us for dinner at Balans in Soho.