Introducing your hosts: Graeme and Jill
We moved to the West Coast to take over the lease of the Gables Motor Lodge in September 2004. The decision to buy the business was a result of wanting to work together in a people related industry and to stay in the South Island.
We have grown to love ‘the Coast’ and enjoy telling guests about this stunningly beautiful area, in the hope they will take the time to explore some of it for themselves. And NO it doesn't rain all the time here!!
Between us we have a varied work history with Graeme having spent most of his working life in the farming sector, firstly as a shepherd on a hill country sheep and cattle farm in the North Island, moving to managing a smaller unit and finally spending 17 years as Production Manager for the National Pig Breeding Centre in Palmerston North.
Graeme had the
opportunity to travel to Ecuador whilst employed there.....
as an independent consultant to what used to be a showcase piggery in Ecuador, but at the time of his visit, was going downhill fast! Of course, Jill had to go with him in case he got lost – she wouldn’t have known where to start looking for him and her Spanish was marginally less basic than his!
We were fortunate to be able to also travel extensively around the country...
after the work was done. On the way home from this trip we spent some time in Iowa and Los Angeles. The pig breeding business also took Graeme to Tahiti on delivery and sales trips.
Jill started her working life in administration/secretarial positions and in her late 30’s trained as an Enrolled Nurse, going on to work in the areas of Maternity and Coronary Care. After several years of shift work a change was needed so she started up a Secretarial Services (public typing) business which she built up over 3 years and then sold.
When we decided that our children were no longer needing us quite as much...
(one was married, the other in Tertiary Education), we packed our belongings into storage and went to live in Malvern, Worcestershire in England for 2 years. Every weekend and holiday break was spent exploring as much of the UK as we could.
We spent a month touring Italy and France in sub zero temperatures before heading back to New Zealand.
We both enjoy sailing and own a 32ft Cavalier , which we try to get away to enjoy as much as is practicable...
Memorable sailing trips we have undertaken are: Graeme has crewed on the luxury super yacht Pacific Eagle from Tonga to the Bay of Islands, before the yacht was sold for charter use. We both crewed on a 39ft Ganley Tara from Wellington to Auckland in storm conditions – not our most enjoyable week, and Graeme had a week’s sailing around the Brittany Coast (France) on a 40ft Bavaria with the group that he studied for his Coastal Navigation ticket with in England.
Graeme is an active member of the local Coastguard and is their current President. He recently was part of the crew that brought the new rescue vessel down the east coast from Auckland to Greymouth . On his ‘bucket list’ is sailing around New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Jill enjoys patchwork and quilting and lately has discovered the joys of textile art ...
using many different forms of media to achieve the desired result. She is a member of the Way Out West Textile Art Group and the Grey Valley Patchwork group.
Milly the Seal Point Burmese cat...
is another member of the management team you may meet whilst staying at Gables Motor Lodge. Milly has taken to motel life very well and oversees most of the work done on site. She is particularly fond of high places to watch the world go by from, especially if getting to them involves a ladder! Milly also likes nothing better than going to town or the supermarket in the car – the cat is normal, it’s the owners who are slightly mad!!
