Boarding school taught me how to live alongside, work alongside people that I now have no contact with, so in life, there was that ability to learn to get on with people that we don’t know.

When I left boarding school, I went nursing. I knew from about 10 or 12 that I was going nursing. I registered at the end of ‘75, got married in ‘76 and lived in Mossburn for the first 12 months. And then we lived in Clarence. I have three children, they’re all grown up.

I left the marriage after 20 odd years. Marriage gave me the security and self confidence to go out and become the person I am, and that actually cost me the marriage, because he has no concept or understanding of personal growth and development. And in order to be true to me, I couldn’t stay in that relationship.

It takes a lot of courage to leave a marriage, and now that I have found myself, I’m very clear about what’s important to me. I have made a life, I’ve got my home, it’s my refuge and my sanctuary.

And I have lived here in Christchurch since. I bought my little house in 1999 so I have lived through the earthquakes, seen it all redevelop. I live on the edge of the red zone so it’s really fascinating watching what is coming out of that, you know, they’re starting to build that pathway. You’ve got nature, with all the birds that you can just walk through.

I have realized I still go to water. I might go to the sea now, but I still go to water. The hot pools at New Brighton, that’s my happy place. Christchurch is home. It’s where I come from, where I am, where I feel I belong.”