Family formed in Ohakune

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 282, 11 April 1989, Page 8

Family formed in Ohakune

Living in the Waimarino was the best thing that ever happened to Diana and Alastair Mcllwrick - it was where they met and manied, raised two children and made a lot of life-long friends.

Diana and sons Hamish 3, and Andrew 5 leave the area at the end of the month for Wellington - "for a

change of scenery, said Di. Alastair took up a position with Telecom Paging Limited as a financial controller and company secretary last month and has been commuting between Wellington and Ohakune to spend time with his family. The family will rent an apartment for three months while their house in Ohakune is sold and another - possibly an old-style villa - can be bought in the suburb of Karori. Making the move to the city was not an easy decision to make, according to Di. "The people here are fantastic - so friendly. We're leaving behind a lot of friends," she said. Alastair moved to the Waimarino from Auckland eleven years ago. His move coincided with the opening of the brand new Turoa Skifields and he took up the position of company accountant with Alex Harvey Industries. According to Alastair, there have been a lot of changeS to the company and the industry in the past ten years. "The workload increased with the

tourism industry," he said. "In the beginning there were 30,000 skiers a week; now there's more like

130,000. We started off with around 40 staff and now there's over 100 at the peak of the season." During his employment the skifield changed hands several times, from a subsidiary of AHI to a subsidiary of Carter

Holt Harvey, and finally to the public company it is today. "It was never boring," said Alastair. "In fact it was the variety of the job that made it so stimulating." During his time with Turoa he worked with the Turoa Alpine Ski Club and was frequently involved with timing and calculations of races. His expertise was also called upon for the FIS ski races held at Turoa last year. The change from the tourism industry to

communications has meant re-education for Alastair, who is learning the technology involved in his new position. Diana is planning a lower profile upon moving to Wellington, after being very active in community groups in the Waimarino.

She was involved wjth Plunket for four years - one year as president and two as vice-president. "Plunket was the best thing I ever did," she said. Diana was also an active member of the local Cancer Support Group and was on the committee of the Waimarino Community Health Watch Committee for three years, performing as secretary for 18 months. She was practice nurse in the Raetihi Doctor's surgery for four years and during that time got to know a wide cross-section of people from both Raetihi and Ohakune. A state registered and obstetrics nurse, she worked for a year as an obstetrics nurse at the Waiouru Maternity Annex. Both Diana and Alastair were active members of the Waimarino Squash Club and enjoyed skiing Mt Ruapehu. Said Alastair: "We will be coming back to the region to ski as well as taking the opportunity to ski some of the fields in the South Island." "We're leaving behind some good friends," said Diana. "It's our home - we'll miss the Waimarino."