Rarotonga was awesome! I stayed in an awesome resort on the best part of the island. The snorkelling, kayaking, dining and just plain exploring was amazing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering holidaying on an island- and the best part is you can be there in under 4 hours.

When I got back to New Zealand I took the opportunity to spend another week travelling around the North Island, something I have been wanting to do since leaving Christchurch 13 months ago now. I stayed in Rotorua and Tauranga and a few places in between- and of course did all the touristy things there too!
The SMDP gives you a great opportunity to travel- and if given the opportunity I recommend exploring the surrounding areas as much as you can.

I turned 21 in April- over Easter weekend, and as I wasn’t having my party at home until the following weekend, I spent my birthday in Auckland, and got out and about around there also.

I travelled home for my 21st party which I had been planning for most of this year, and it is safe to say it was an awesome party, and I won’t be doing a yardy again for a long time I hope!

I returned to store mid April, and was excited to sink my teeth back into working again as 2 or 3 weeks felt like a life time away from the place.
We have a new Nightfill Team Leader that we have been integrating into the role and store this month. It is great to have a full management team on board and really allows us all to focus on the big rocks now, as well as all the detail that’s important to us.

We are starting to see some good results, for example the last 2 months Cambridge has been first in the business on what we call the people scorecard- a way we measure all processes relating to our people.
With winter sales well and truly under way now we have set our store up to represent the cooler weather- thermals, heaters and wood are selling fast!
In terms of my development I am working on getting my ways of working right. How should I as an ASM be structuring my days, weeks and months to ensure that I get the most from myself, but also my managers and team. We have been working hard in store as a management team to align ourselves with each other, and now have in place regular meetings and catch ups on the same day and (usually) the same time every week.

Some news we got recently was that our store along with 4 others, will be breaking apart from the current region and stores it works with, and will be joining the wider Bay Of Plenty region. It means networking and building relationships with a whole new bunch of people- as well as a new Regional Manager. We now don’t have the luxury of having our meetings in Hamilton- potentially some travel will need to happen when this all takes affect come July.