❝ We’ve got a really great calibre of people working here
past President of the Tauranga Senior Rugby Club. After spending some time in Auckland, Mr Mackay and his family returned to Tauranga because he wanted to be with a network of family and to have a better quality of life. “With the boys doing their extra-curricular activities it’s so easy to nip down the road and watch a rugby game. That would be virtually impossible in Auckland. “It baffles me why people work in Auckland. I know there’s the stereotype that provincial firms deal with low-level work. It’s a myth. We’ve got a really great calibre of people working here. I can have a nice home and live centrally without having to service a monstrosity of a mortgage. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture. You just look out the window at the beautiful scenery to realise you’ve got it good.”
(top) Holly Hawkins (bottom) Kylie Harper
Tauranga – a home for young professionals Hailing from Kerikeri originally, Family Court lawyer Holly Hawkins decided to study law at an early age after asking her mother how she might go about getting her dream car. Law, her mother said. And so it was, Holly says. “Family law can be emotional at times but I have a personality where it’s easy for me to switch off. I can be supportive and not get upset. I suppose commuting helps too,” she says. After studying at Waikato University, Ms Hawkins and her husband moved to the Bay of Plenty almost five years ago for the lifestyle and the beach, she says. With her husband working in Te Aroha and Ms Hawkins working at Hamertons Lawyers Limited in Whakatane, living and commuting from Papamoa seemed like a natural option, she says.
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