Happy Days for me as I’ve been trying to sneak to Melbourne for months and finally got here this weekend. No particular requirement or event to get away this time, but any opportunity to be exposed to anything in the wellness or hospitality sector, is an opportunity to learn and apply new knowledge to our evolving tourism business. 

And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Through our experiences wandering the planet we’ve been able to arrive home and apply the magic that we find meaningful at our tiny farm. Fairly fucking fabulous actually. And the formula really seems to be working as we’ve watched the feedback from our visitors to Matakana Retreat become more and more rapturous and positive.

So today heralds the end to our short but fantastic circuit breaker trip to our favourite Antipodean city. Melbourne sometimes feels far more like home to me than Auckland. It is a place I feel very relaxed, curious, and happy, however our karma with the City of Sails has not ended and indeed appears to have a whole new course to run yet. 

We’ve kept a lid on it for the most part, but we will be adding a beautiful building in the CBD to our list of projects this year. It is a four-story commercial/residential split with space for restaurants, commercial offices, and residential options. The plan is to spend the next five years breathing life and love into the building that was built in 1927. 

A lot of our friends and family are curious why we would want to move downtown into Auckland Central rather than the suburbs. Like us they have seen the downtown suffer for years firstly with the investment in the City Rail Link, then Covid, and now apparently with Auckland Transport’s endless desire to change the entire walking and roading configuration of the city’s streets. Our hope however is that Auckland’s time is finally coming, and that the investments that have been made into the city will start to bear fruit and make better sense over the next 12 – 24 months as the CRL comes online and other infrastructure investments bear fruit.

We know from our time in Melbourne that a city can have ups and downs and be dealt trauma and triumph, but if there is a beating heart of creativity, curiosity and inclusiveness and community, that city can be magic.

Rather than pine for the thriving inner city of Auckland that was our haunt in the 90’s and early 2000’s we have decided to, quite literally, invest in and collaborate with others to create the city of the mid to late 2020’s that we can feel safe, proud and welcome in. Things change, it is the only constant in the universe, so we want to be the change we have seen in city’s and towns across the globe that embrace artists, creatives, diversity, joy and curiosity. 

We cannot quite up sticks and move to Melbourne, although we have every intention of soon finding a bolt hole that we can enjoy and add to our growing tourism portfolio. So we will take lessons and learnings from our frequent visits here and other cities we enjoy, and hope to manifest some of the magic in our home town of Auckland.

I also personally believe that women have the power and ability to not only create life, but work together to breath life into places, spaces and communities. As proof of this conviction, we are going to be custom building a third space that provides affordable entertainment, venue space and lively and energizing events designed for women to join in and feel safe, seen and valued. I cannot single handedly steer the city in any direction, but I know that there is an army of incredibly powerful witches who when they work together, will absolutely manifest and bring forth change, growth and actual magic.

In any case the investment we have made in our small piece of the downtown city is our commitment to being part of the journey of making Auckland a more fun and fabulous destination. Applying the same formula as we did on the farm. Building a place we would (and do) love to be and spend time. And really, doesn’t having a building to play with sound kind of fun? I do have so many creative ideas bubbling over to use the space to build and delight communities of difference in Auckland once we get in there. 

It is now nearly time to go and head off into the city for a last look around before welcoming a childhood friend Kory at the arrivals lounge for just long enough to give her a squeeze as she lands around 1pm and I fly out at 3pm. 

We also have a coffee catch up scheduled with my fabulously flamboyant Melbourne based amiga Krissy at the Victoria market this morning. That’s next on the itinerary.

Have a great Tuesday. Keep an eye out for some sneak peaks into our wonderfully witchy new building. I will be sharing our journey sporadically as we roll up our sleeves and get on with the transformation of our little slice of Tamaki Makaurau. 

Thanks for reading.