Margaret Wooffindin has seen more of the world than most.
So it should come as no surprise the Kaikorai Valley College deputy principal plans to continue travelling in her retirement at the end of this year.
The 63-year-old did her teacher training in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at a time when it was particularly unsafe for a London-born and raised woman.
It was amid ''the Troubles'' - the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland.
Mrs Wooffindin said the dangers for her, her husband and three young children were great.
So, in 1988, the couple gave up their jobs, took their children out of school, and travelled by bus around England, Europe and North Africa.
''It was the experience of being in all those different countries that was the most important thing for the kids.
''There was a huge amount of learning to be done by experiencing life in those countries.''
When the young family returned to Belfast after a year on the road, they realised Northern Ireland had become too dangerous a place in which to live - particularly for their children.
''My husband was a teacher and he had short hair.
''The first thing you always mentioned when you met somebody was that we were teachers, otherwise they would just take him for a soldier.
''You just had to be careful where you went.
''You watched everywhere you went - so when you walked down the road, you watched out for car bombs and things like that.
''It was when the kids were growing up to be 10 or 11 and wanting to do things on their own, you couldn't let them.
''Travelling overseas made us realise that, so we sold up [in 1989] and went with five backpacks through America, Hawaii and on to New Zealand [in 1990].''
The family travelled down New Zealand in a van and just happened to like the look of Dunedin. So they stayed.
''As we drove into Dunedin, it felt right. It was a Saturday and there was sports on and there were beaches.''
She said the five of them spent their first three months (during winter) in two small tents at the Dunedin Holiday Park and Motels in Tahuna.
While it was unpleasantly cold, wet and windy, Mrs Wooffindin called the tents home and even managed to find work teaching maths at Kaikorai Valley College.
She said the reason they stayed in the tents for only three months was because the family dog was being sent to Dunedin by a friend, who had been looking after it in Northern Ireland, and the camping ground would not allow dogs on site.
So they bought a house, which felt palatial compared with the tents.
''Otherwise, we would have been there a lot longer.''
Mrs Wooffindin said she would retire at the end of this year, after 42 years in the profession and 26 years at Kaikorai Valley College, including 16 as deputy principal.
Fellow staff said she was a valuable colleague and very popular with pupils.
Not surprisingly, she plans to spend some of her retirement travelling again - this time to visit her children, who are also teachers in other parts of the world.
