Seventeen years ago on a "don't leave town till you see the country" commitment and round trip of the South Island, I met Dunedin. It was a rainy old day in April.
The Mosgiel sign stood proud and winked while it made the statement: Mosgiel is here.
The view coming into the city of the harbour knocked us over.
The rain disappeared.
We wandered around the city for the next few days in a daze.
I remember thinking at the time: Why didn't I know about this place? How did all these solid buildings get to be here? What excellent shopping with a real Main Street.
We even forgave the new bricklaying on the pavements, and the cheek from the bricklayers, as we picked our way through it.
But the views! And as the taxi driver backed his way up Baldwin St to give us something else to think about, we did.
A year later, with cat, three teenagers and new life ahead we had moved from Tauranga to our new chosen home.
We found an old building close to the city centre and started again.
There were a few rocks in the way, but 16 years later we are still here and proudly Dunedin. Proud to be operating our business from the city and even prouder to be doing business all over the region and - gosh - in Southland too!
So what's up with Ciaran Keogh? Ciaran, dude, next time you're in the city can I invite you to stop and smell the rhodos! A wee visit to our beautiful Botanic Garden will surely grant you some grace over your fervent jealousy of our city.
Or I would be happy to take you for a visit to Okia Reserve where you can check out 10 years' worth of quiet reclamation and regeneration for penguin purposes - but as this is an active city you will need to do some walking.
Or you can come to a Kuma (Maori Business Network) meeting and meet some of the members involved in hip and groovy businesses that may or may not have a business connection to the university or the hospital, or may or may not have a business connection to Invercargill, or may or may not have a business connection to Shanghai.
You will like them because they are people getting on with their lives and making a living from their own enterprise and creating work for others.
They just choose to do it from Dunedin.
I could also introduce you to a young friend who is contemplating taking over a successful, rural-based family business and moving it from up north to re-establish it in Dunedin.
He is the same rare person who can do carbon credit audits for your council and he also knows a truckload about the sustainable forestry and trees business. And just to show you how diverse an economy we have in Dunedin, I could put you in touch with your inner man by encouraging you to have a session at one of the new spas that are popping up across the city.
You will especially like the ones that offer braz.
From there we could trip about on a Citibus and if you have a Super Gold Card you can get free travel.
We could visit any number of heritage properties and chat with the owners and live the passion they have for heritage and this city.
Following that we can follow the new Port Chalmers heritage walk to Aramoana and call in to chat with the Southern Heritage Trust and discuss all their other projects and plans for economic development for the city and the region.
Projects based on their philosophy of past, present, and future.
Still not convinced that Dunedin is the hub of the South, let's visit Middlemarch, have a great coffee with Kate and her team at Kissing Gate and talk business before we start the rail trail.
On returning to the city we can nip up to Balmacewen, check out all the work that resident golf pro Shelly Duncan is achieving, play that fine heritage golf course which is one of dozens of courses in the city giving Dunedin huge potential to become a golfing destination.
Or you could come ice-skating, gymming, swimming, curling, cricketing, netballing, softballing, mountain biking, tramping, climbing, dancing, singing, bagpiping, sailing, fishing, bird-watching, kapa haka-ing, gallery visiting, museuming, coffee-culturing, reading, movie-watching, air guitaring, dining out, dining out, dining out.
Or you could just sit and be quiet as you contemplate the full past, current and future potential of the Good Ship Enterprise Dunedin and what a special place she has been, is now and will continue to be.
It's awesome to contemplate all the potential and to think about what we could achieve if we worked together across boundary lines on maps to make the lower South stronger and more resilient.
And as for the last comment you made in last week's article ("Stadium outmoded thinking", ODT 5/3/09), Dunedin needs new ideas for a new era and it needs to conserve its economic resources until this strategy for the future is resolved.
You will be pleased to hear, Dunedin does have a strategy for the future and that it includes our neighbours - and their cows.
- Fliss Butcher is a businesswoman and Dunedin City Councillor.
