Each has a share in a medium sized fishing boat called Chaos which is moored at Sovereign Pier. All four enjoy fishing. Tom and Bill are the most keen. Tom first enjoyed New Zealand fishing at Lake Taupo fly fishing for Rainbow Trout. Now he is a Mercury Bay fisher and to confirm the depth of his love for fishing, he bought Fraka a fishing rod for their wedding anniversary. Tom’s wardrobe of special brand comic fishing T-shirts is very distinctive. Fraka and Tom have been fishing in British Columbia and along the West Coast of USA from Alaska to California. Carol is clear she doesn’t love fishing as much as Bill. However, the four enjoy fishing in the beautiful Mercury Bay aboard Chaos and share their catch with their neighbours.
The Informer had opportunity to meet with them after dinner at Mercury Bay Club following a line dancing class. They don’t all line dance but enjoying a meal afterwards with friends they have made at Sovereign Pier.
I want readers to know them a little through this article – thoughtful, hardworking, professional people who immerse themselves in Kiwi life for a period every year. None of the subjects we discussed were political, but their concern at the nature of the leadership and the economy of their home country was tangible. Those subjects were left alone as we could do nothing about it.
Tom and Fraka enjoying the music at Mercury Bay Club. Tom is wearing one of his distinctive Ray Troll fishing T-shirts.
Tom and Fraka
Tom is the oldest of this group of four friends. He will be 86 in July. He is a Professor of Botany at the University of California State specialising in plant structures and plant development with a focus on how roots function. Teaching at university was his life for over forty years and his great love was interacting with students, enjoying their youthfulness and their different ideas. Tom takes a great interest in the trees and plant life on The Coromandel and is an avid reader of newspapers – from the New York Times to the NZ Herald and The Informer.
Fraka is actually a kiwi more than an American. Born in Amsterdam, her family immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1962. Fraka was two.
“I read a book on plate tectonics, when I was nine years old. It was fascinating and gripping for me and set the direction for what I would do with my life. I would watch Jacques Cousteau and dream of what I might do. When I finished my study at Victoria University, I left New Zealand to do a Post -Doctorate in Geology at the University of Montana. As part of my field work, I went to Peru and Alaska and studied ancient coral reefs.
Then followed two expeditions to the Antarctic for Fraka. This meant three months in a tent in the Antarctic weather. “I worked for the NZ Oceanographic Institute which is now called NIWA. Of course, I wasn’t by myself in the tent. There were two scientists, plus an expedition leader and a survival expert. We had to do survival training at Tekapo before going. My field gear from the time in the Antarctic was displayed in the Christchurch Antarctic exhibition for quite some time.”
The expeditions were funded by New Zealand Antarctic Society and the United States Air Force provided support taking Fraka and her team to the Antarctic in a C- 40 which is like a ski plane.
“In 1989, I got a job as Professor at that same University in Montana. From there Tom and Fraka initiated and organised what became known as the South Pacific Semesters. Students studying geology, biology, anthropology or business were offered a semester abroad working with universities in New Zealand. “The idea was to be out in the field a lot, gaining experience in a different country where there was a lot of geological and botanical significance,” said Tom. “This was very different to what the students were used to. We were a sleeping bag group.”
I can remember over at Sovereign Pier, the man cleaning the rentals would say every day, “Another day in Paradise,” and I would say, “Yes”.
The students also stayed for some of the time in University Halls of Residence as they came in New Zealand’s Summer and the halls were empty.
“We brought students who had never been out of their hometown,” says Fraka. The two organised at least four such trips. It meant three months of travelling, the students seeing a great deal of New Zealand – 5,000 to 6,000 kms each visit. “It was a success story,” says Fraka. “The students built up all kinds of connections; one or two even married Kiwis.”
In addition to science pursuits, Fraka has pursued music and theatre as a past time and this has included roles in movies and a few brief cameos in Shortland Street. She had been a host of the television show, ‘That Jack’ in Northern California so she was no stranger to the industry. In her musical theatre experience, she is a singer of light opera as well as rock and blues and a saxophone and keyboard player.
Carol and Bill – sweethearts since college, share a night out with Kiwi friends at Mercury Bay Club.
Bill and Carol
Bill and Carol are the same age – late sixties -and they met in college when they were 18. They have a daughter in Germany and a daughter in Illinois, USA.
Bill is a mining engineer and his focus has been production – running mines for mining companies. His training and experience started with construction and underground coal, then industrial minerals such as aggregates, heavy mineral sands, salt, and specialty clays.
It was this business that brought them both to New Zealand. Bill was recruited from the USA to help build the West 2 coal mine in Huntly. “These were some of our best years. The company brought in many new people – two other Americans and engineers from England and Canada. They eventually switched the Huntly power station to natural gas and unfortunately, that was the end of the Huntly underground mines.
Carol was with Bill for this venture as her University degree and training were in Earth Science Geology. In the work arena, she specialised in environmental permitting, compliance and management. Also she specialized in health and safety compliance at the mining operations. “Aspects of dust, noise, air and water quality were all crucial and needed to be highly regulated in the mining industry all across the world. “My job was to help people keep operating in a legal and safe manner,”
At one point in their careers, both Bill and Carol worked in the same company in Reno, Nevada. Carol engaged with the environmental work, while Bill worked in operations.
“I had seen and done most of the work before,” says Bill. “We were both very seasoned and experienced and it was no picnic. We were thinking about retiring, but one day the offer was put, “Do you ever think about working in South Florida?“ We moved to Florida.
Four years after that we left the corporate world,” says Bill. “Through the years, I had learned the skills of carpentry and basic mechanical and electrical work – simply fixing things that needed fixing. I found that as well as fixing things for neighbours, I could fix up rental properties efficiently and I enjoyed it. So that’s what we do when we are not in New Zealand; we fix up our rental properties as well as our home in Southern Florida.
Soon these four will return to their other life in USA for six months. The Informer asked them two questions:
◼︎ What is your perception of living in New Zealand?
– I love the beautiful scenery that is constantly on display. I love the access to fishing and very friendly people are everywhere.
– Compared to the USA, the political scene is very different and more cooperative. Perhaps that’s a good thing.
– The Coromandel is not crowded with its low population density.
– It is safer here. In the 1990s, the students we brought from USA could walk around and not feel threatened.
– It’s a good place to raise kids; our children loved the playgrounds and children in NZ feel safe in the outdoors. The other major consideration is that this there is nothing really hazardous or dangerous in the natural environment.
– “My American friends and I believe New Zealand is ‘A lot in a small package,’
– Here the beauty is concentrated. “We would plan a three-hour drive when we first came, but it would take 10 hours. There was so much to enjoy.”
◼︎ What has changed for you since you have been coming to New Zealand?
– The infrastructure has not kept pace with the population growth.
– We are surprised at how many tourists there are now. However, we can still find many spots which can be just to ourselves. That’s a feature of New Zealand-not crowded.
– The coffee culture has grown a lot.
– The food has changed immensely. Now many cultures contribue to the enjoyment of the whole population. NZ however has still got that air of being very quaint.
– Night life hours are slowly growing. We can remember a postcard that described nightlife in New Zealand – the postcard was totally black.
– The conservation mindset has changed for the better. When I first came, the conservation pressure in USA was tighter than here, but that has changed and the whole country seems in tune with it.
– We worry about sustainable fishing. Scallop beds are gone. I think there were years where people including recreational visitors and residents, took too many.
– I hope we keep coming as long as our health is strong and I hope our daughters and our grandson can come. In Florida, we talk a lot about NZ. Sadly people still think NZ is too far and they know nothing about it. Once someone said to me, ‘NZ? What state is that?’
From Tom – You live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Look after it!
I can remember over at Sovereign Pier, the man cleaning the rentals would say every day, “Another day in Paradise,” and I would say, “Yes”.
