A Chapter Closes: Working in New Zealand 2010-2025

Sometimes in life a very important shift in one's life sneaks up on you and is only recognized in retrospect. Other times, it approaches slowly and deliberately, like a foretold prophesy. Anzac Day April 25th, 2010 (our arrival in New Zealand) was the former. Pearl Harbor Day Sunday December 7th, 2025 is the latter (our departure).

This blog and this volume of my life began in April, 2010 when Fayne and I headed southwest across the Pacific with the intention of working for six months as a locums in New Zealand, and then circumnavigating the globe for the next six months.

Farewell Greek Easter April 2010, Fort Bragg CA

Almost from the outset, the plans started to evolve.

Practicing medicine in Timaru, New Zealand suited me perfectly: mentoring young doctors and students, minimizing paperwork and computer entry time, working with a bright and multicultural group of like-minded general medicine specialists, etc. The feeling was mutual. The hospital community appreciated my contributions and asked me to stay on a few months longer, to which I agreed. This truncated my 2011 post-work travel to four months (see some of the places we visited below). One thing led to another and after a few years splitting time between here and the USA, by 2014 I decided to work exclusively here. 

When this current time I agreed to come back to Timaru for six weeks and help cover while a colleague was on sabbatical, I knew this would probably the last time I would work in New Zealand. I did not comprehend how much the last six weeks would bookend my entire 15 years working in Aotearoa. It has been a great, rich, rewarding journey but I know it is time in my life to return to friends and family in the USA. Even if I wished to continue hospital work here it would not be the same. Virtually all of the physicians I have worked alongside the longest are also leaving for other pursuits. The economy in NZ has not rebounded to pre-COVID levels and there is a lot of stress on the healthcare sector. (US tariffs are an additional burden.)

There are so many things I will always cherish about my time here, in no particular order:

• Experiencing this spectacularly beautiful country, from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island, for my money the most photogenic place on earth.

  

  Dawn over Lake Matheson, West Coast of the South Island

• The constant singing of the birds on daily walks to work through the well-tended Timaru Botanic Gardens and elsewhere.They ruled this place before the arrival of homo sapiens.

  

  A Royal Spoonbill (kōtuku ngutupapa in Maori) in nearby wetlands

• Mid-morning "tea" (coffee usually) with the ward team and the causal but interesting banter. By the way New Zealand coffee is excellent.
• I have had the privilege of getting to know fascinating, interesting, and friendly people from here and around the world. Due to a somewhat sheltered life, I previously never had much close contact with Germans, South Africans, Muslims, the Irish, etc. It has been a great pleasure and an education, one I will always remember. I don't think people are more friendly here, just they are less stressed, over-worked, and competitive than in the States. 

  

  One of my farewell dinners at Sukhothai, the best local Thai place

  
  
• Quizzing regularly at publican Barney's Sail & Anchor pub, a most generous and supportive host.
  
  
  
• Although I mostly worked in Timaru, I was able to work in seven other hospitals on the North and South Islands, and had an opportunity to work with a large variety of NZ physicians and patients. Remember, the population of NZ is about 5 million, similar to the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Eating lunch with Fayne most days. Also, Fayne has had the time and energy to prepare fresh and varied dinners inspired by My Food Bag, a service that once weekly delivers a box with all the ingredients and recipes.
• Exotic stops on our commute to and from NZ: French Polynesia, Australia, New Caledonia, Bali, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Ecuador and the Galapagos, Dubai, UK, Italy & Sicily, and Southern Africa (every adventure covered in prior blog entries).
•  Our "Wee Cottage" that has been our local residence for 10 years. It has been so cozy for us as our "home away from Home". Despite a deceptively small footprint, it contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms (no waiting). At the back left of the yard, Fayne planted two cherry trees that have been there long enough to bear fruit.

  

  The two cherry trees on the left rear and the west wall of the garage

  
  
  
  
  
• I'm thankful for the many Thanksgiving potlucks over the years, some we hosted. This year one of the newest doctors and family, the Williams, welcomed us all to their lovely home. There are a lot of good memories especially when sharing the foreign holiday with Kiwis.

  

  Dr. Hemlock in her traditional garb (which she wears on Thursday hospital rounds every year) and her fella Frank (2025)

  

  2016 at our house

  
  

  

  A custom-ordered Thanksgiving dinner at the classy Oxford Restaurant, 2019

With so many great things to love and appreciate, one might ask "John, why leave now?". The short answer: It's the right time. We are designated Permanent Residents here, so we can come and go as we please, and I feel sure we will return, but I have no specific plans. We never applied for dual NZ/US citizenship as many of the ex-pats here have done. It just never seemed right to me to pledge fealty to two nations, no matter how convenient. Swearing loyalty to Queen Elizabeth II, let alone to King Charles III, was never on my metaphorical bingo card. I would tell people that I commuted to work in New Zealand, which was more truth than jest. When we bought our house, Fayne always thought of it as buying a rental, then renting to ourselves. Now it is on the market for sale, or Plan B to rent it out. Click here to take a tour.

Basically, my priorities have changed over 15 years, as you might expect. I still love and respect my work and know my services can be useful, but work is no longer is near the top of my agenda. I will explore flexible outpatient work options in Fort Bragg, but won't mind stepping away from the demands of acute hospital medicine and night call. Nearly 50 years seems like enough. Also, so many loved ones are no longer with us and I want to more available for the family and dear friends that remain. Both of my parents, my elder brother and sister, Rick and Emma Nestler, June and Betsy Nishikawa, and Buz Graham have all passed in the intervening 15 years and my world is lessened because of that. Plus, a brand new grandson is expected in a few months!

Also, even if I wanted life in Timaru to stay as I remember it, that is not possible. Pictured below are three other physicians and friends I have worked the longest with, all scheduled to retire in 2026.

Clockwise from me: Camille Hemlock, Steve Slagle, and Matthew Hills

I does seem like some cycle for me is being completed. I arrived on ANZAC Day, a sacred WWI-related National Remembrance (lest we forget) and return on Pearl Harbor Day, a WWII-related similar hallowed day. 

On a much more frivolous note, we started pub-quizzing in Auckland, 2012 and our team finally won by one point on our last quiz there, thanks to an image of what we recognized as Caroline Bay in Timaru. We won our final quiz in Timaru December 3, 2025 by one point thanks to this question:

The Answer: Denny's one of Fayne's favorite Fort Bragg restaurants.

Our timing allowed us to join a Timaru-based team, URAMIT (Timaru spelled backwards) for the 2025 national Championship. This was our 4th time participating in Auckland, which gave us an excuse to visit The City of Sails again. In 2016 I was only hoping to represent Timaru and the South Island with a decent upper 50% place so I was delighted when we finished in the top 25% out of 80+ teams.

Auckland CBD with the iconic Sky Tower

 

The first Team URAMIT, 2016 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't participate again until 2019 when were were SHOCKED to win the whole thing by one point, the first South Island team to do so. 

2019 NZ Championship team winners brunch with celebrity guest MC Sean Wallace (3rd on L.) of The Chase UK

This year's NZ Pub Quiz Championship took place November 8th in Auckland at Eden Park, the most famous and largest sporting venue in the country with a capacity of up to 60,000. A bronze statue at the entry memorializes the first ever try from the 1987 inaugural  Rugby World Cup scored by All Black Michael Jones in Eden Park.

In the warm-up to the quiz giant video screens played a loop of prior Champs, including 2019.

81 teams provided stiff competition and we finished in the top 20, similar to 2016: bookends, if you will. (Another example of symmetry was the fact I was humbled that the Kiwi doctor Matthew Hills, my mentor and a legend, asked me to be a reference for him working in Nelson.)

URAMIT scored 77 points, 2nd from the bottom on the first page, but if we managed two more points we would have been 8th equal

After working for three weeks, the last two weeks were allocated for sorting things out including selling or renting the house (as mentioned above) and selling our 2011 hybrid Honda Fit. Generally buying or selling used cars is frequently done and generally quite easy here. However,I had a bit of a snag because on Wednesday December 3 when I shopped the car around, a dealer pointed out there were multiple small "dimples" in the roof from a hailstorm three weeks before. In 2019 there was a much worse storm with golf-ball size and larger hailstones that caused a lot of damage. That time, our car was safely in our garage but the plastic rain gutters were holey like Swiss cheese and needed replacement.

Can you sort the "dimples" from the reflection of the sky?

I had a lot to do in three days to make the claim, get the evaluation and appraisal, and get the final adjudication. The verdict: over $7,000 to repair, car totaled, and a payment of $6,300 and the car turned in on Saturday.

Packing up could have been worse but it was not easy. We were both surprised about how much stuff we accumulated. By far the most cost-efficient approach was to limit ourselves to the maximum of six 23 kg. checked bags for both of us plus two carry-ons each. We had to buy several more large suitcases and make some hard choices, but I think we did alright. Because we weren't sure if we might sell or rent the house furnished, we decided not to strip it bare of furniture, housewares, linens, and appliances. If need be, we will have our agent hire someone to do that for us later.

David N. had to ask brother Mark to borrow his Chevy for the pickup.

I suffer a from an affliction I believe is more frequent in men: I get so involved in sorting the task in front of me that I have a delay in recognizing what my emotions are telling me. I awoke yesterday morning and realized was what I was feeling was sadness. It is the right time to re-immigrate home to the USA for many reasons, but I will always appreciate what a blessing it has been to have an unfamiliar country welcome me with open arms, and how much I have loved my work and the people I never would have met had we not made the leap into the unknown 15 years ago. Part of my heart will be left here and I trust we will return in the future.

However, I have drunk my last ouzo and eaten my last chocolate bunny. It is time to go Home.  

Ka kite anō (until we meet again)

Mā te wā

https://howtosayguide.com/how-to-say-bye-in-maor