www.DavidRussell.net.nz

Personal Information

DavidRussell.net.nz

My Skills & Work History

Russell Family

Gerrie

Gerrie in Nederland

Gerrie in New Zealand

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I was born in Gisborne, New Zealand, at 6.30 pm on 25 June, 1948. Click here for a map showing where Gisborne is located. (And also a description of one of my adventures)

I was educated at Lytton High School. I was in the second year of the school, so it was a unique educational experience , with only one class ahead of us. Hmmm - that's odd - I just realised, this meant we were the "second" class, with one older class before us. Just like I am the second son, with my brother Neil being 10 years older than me, as the oldest brother.

During my High School years, I spent a lot of my time tramping and canoeing in the wilderness areas around Gisborne. My favourite area was the national park around Lake Waikarimoana , click on this URL to get information about this beautiful wilderness. (That URL takes you to the Government Parks web site .. this one takes you to a commercial web site specific to the lake.) This link takes you to a description of how the lakes in this area were formed.

I left Gisborne when I was seventeen to work in the Big City of Auckland.

At one time, I also spent 6 months living in Dunedin (near the bottom of the South Island). But it was too quiet, and too cold, so I quickly headed back north to Auckland.

In 1977, I left New Zealand when I was 29, to go for a "working holiday" in Europe. The intention was to be there for one or two years ..... but the two years became 27 years !!! Moved back to NZ, arriving here in June 2005. (I had a stay of 7 months with my mother on the Sunshine Coast, in Australia.)

Since arriving in New Zealand, and discovering the Coroglen Tavern, the 24 x 7 life of being a publican has pretty much dominated my life !!! Not much time to do Notes creative work, and not even time to keep my web sites up to date !!!

So, until December, 2004, I was living in the Netherlands, in The Hague (the location of the International Court of Justice, and the city where the Dutch Parliament is located). Another irony ... the climate here was pretty similar to Dunedin !! But there are a lot more people. You can never say that Holland is quiet !! I like The Hague. It is on the coast (I've always lived near the sea) and it is only 40 minutes away from Amsterdam - a really magical city. I would never want to live in Amsterdam, that would make it everyday, and spoil the magic. And The Hague has it's own magic. There are special places that I always take my visitors - but I can't tell you about them, because that will spoil the surprise you'll get when I take you there !

Back in 1983, I took some friends to Amsterdam for a night out ... at the end of the evening, we were in a bar called the Viking - and that's where I met my friend, Gerrie. A relationship of 26 years, and still going strong.

Hobbies and interests ...
When I left New Zealand to move to Holland, I had to give up a "hobby" that was also virtually a small business. I was leader of a collective that produced a monthly gay magazine. We also provided a mail order book shop. For the magazine, I did the editor activities, and also did the layout (this was in the days before computers took over ... everything had to be cut and pasted on big cardboard sheets, that were then photographed to make printing plates). We had a consistent small circulation ... such that it was of commercial interest, and when I left, we sold the magazine activities, and the collective retained the mail order book shop.

In Holland, for about 8 years, I managed various bands ... the first being Gerrie's rock band Arctic Heat, and then later a reggae band called Different Culture, and then another rock band called Prat's the Whoblem.

I have always been interested in science fiction. My older brother got me interested when I was young, I started reading his books and magazines. There was a very famous one called "Analog" ... he subscribed to it, and then later I also took a subscription. This monthly magazine (actually, a paper back book) had leading edge short stories and novels. Here is a link to the Analog web site (yes, it still exists !! ...... Analog Science Fiction and Fact is the longest-running (almost)-continuously published science fiction magazine in the world !! )

I was also interested in science fantasy, and I read the Lord of the Rings and the Narnia Chronicles. (And of course, I have the Lord of the Rings extended DVDs, and the Narnia film ... by the way, the Narnia film "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" was also being made by a New Zealander. Although I was a bit disappointed with the Narnia film, I was hoping for an adult version of the story !!)

And, yes, I am also a Star Trek fan. (And also Blakes Seven ... but most people do not know this series)

//// more to come ////

My favourite Greek Island is Mykonos (the photos are high quality, so the page might take a while to load)

Here's a photo of me at the beach bar, and this is a photo of me in the garden.

In December 2004, Gerrie and I started a big move, that finalised with us running the Coroglen Tavern, in New Zealand.
Somewhere during that move, things went wrong with my credit card, just at the time that I should have been renewing my personal domain name..... so I lost it !!!! Now at last, this web site is back, but with ".nz" on the end. Moral of that story is, NEVER let your domain names expire !!!!!!!!

Click here to leave a message for us !!!