I arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, in August.

I have been publishing a column for five years in Scoop Media based in Wellington. Scoop is now the fourth highest trafficked news web site in New Zealand, having surpassed older, larger news services.

Thanks to Alastair Thompson, publisher of Scoop, I am staying in a "batch," a seaside cottage in Pukerua Bay outside of Wellington, overlooking the ocean. It was winter when I arrived -- a welcome break from the heat of the US in summertime.

One of my favorite places in Wellington is the Te Papa Museum, which right now has a wonderful exhibit of Constable's paintings.

To get around, we helped Alastair buy a used car on Trade Me --- New Zealand's e-bay. It is cheaper to finance a friend buying a car then to rent a one. The car drove a group of us for an all day drive north to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, and the center of commerce.

B&B's are popular in New Zealand. Thanks to Mary Evan's of Heron's Flight, I knew to stay at Great Ponsonby B&B, a terrific one in Auckland.

I went up to Mary's winery and cafe, Heron's Flight, in Matakana above Auckland, and spent several days meeting and talking with local leaders about sustainable development. If you are ever in this area, a lunch at the cafe at Heron's Flight is a magical experience. If you are not in the area, their superb wines can come to you.

While I was at Heron's Flight, I stayed at one of the most beautiful and restful B&B's I have ever seen, Terra Del Mar.

One of the most knowledgeable (and charming) people that I met was Joe Polaischer who teaches permaculture at his farm near Mary: Rainbow Valley Farm.

Joe impressed upon me the importance of going to the local farmers markets that Saturday. There were two markets for farmers and the quality of the food was simply breathtaking:
Matakana Country Park
Matakana Village Farmers Market

With a few stops to see folks on the way back to Auckland, I then took a ferry out to speak on Waiheke Island where I stayed at The Artstay, the magnificent home of Claude and Gabriella Lewenz.

After a series of meetings in the Auckland area, I drove to Thames where colleagues are working with the Maori people. One of the themes heard again and again is the importance of Maori culture to New Zealanders. A recurring theme in many conversations was the importance of spiritual practice to transforming our world and our economy. That often leads back to the impact of the Maori on New Zealand culture.

One of the most uniformly recommended web sites for information on the New Zealand economy is the government's New Zealand Treasury web site.