London and Spain

After our fabulous trip to Dubai, Bex and I carried onto London, arriving on Sunday lunchtime, just in time to quickly check into the hotel and go straight over to Ben and Clarissa's so we could celebrate Stella's 1st birthday party. Lots of guests, lots of presents and lots of fun. It was lovely to see Patrizia and Claudio again they had flown over from Rome especially for the party too. I think Stella was a little overwhelmed by it all but she certainly loved tucking into her birthday cake and also eating the cake of one of her little friends too!



The next day I picked Mum up and we went off to Stansted and flew off to Spain where we surprised Julie with a visit - she nearly had a heart attack when I walked into her office and asked if she fancied going out for dinner!!!! We had a lovely dinner at the Hyatt in La Manga with Julie, Pedro and Pedro's parents Miguel and Milagritos and his sister Mila. A really wonderful night, delicious food and more presents!!!! Back to the UK the next day and three days with Ben, Clarissa and Stella. On Thursday night we joined up with Kevin who was giving a speech in the New Zealand Rugby Ball which was located under the Eiffel Tower during the World Cup in 2007 and is now under Tower Bridge and being used as publicity for New Zealand and the next World Cup in NZ in 2011. It's a fantastic venue and they showed a 360 degree film in the top of it, it was really amazing, plus Will Martin sang a couple of songs, including one of my favourites "So Far Away". A lovely dinner at Pont de la Tour afterwards with all the family together - a rare occasion. The on our separate ways again, Bex and I back to Auckland and Kevin off up to Grasmere. Just before we left for Heathrow on the Friday night, Stella took her first 4 steps!!!!

Stella standing up and just before she took 4 steps

Fireworks in Dubai

I was a guest, with my wife Rowena and daughter Bex, at the opening of Atlantis-The Palm in Dubai on November 20. Saatchi & Saatchi London and Dubai won the Atlantis Palm account earlier in 2008, this was the big moment. For everyone interested in the future of world commerce, Dubai is inescapable, given its strategic location to China, India, Africa and Europe. Dubai has thought ahead in bold and daring ways, and has created infrastructure that is regionally and globally important. For a start, fly Emirates, to 100 countries. And in a world where tourism is trending local for a year or two, the list of truly spectacular architectural (and engineering) wonders narrows tangentially: among them Dubai, where I first visited and did business in the 1970s when it was a port and fishing town. Now Dubai is a global business and tourism hub. Sol Kerzner, creator of Atlantis, has produced several of the world's best experiences in hotels, vacations, and dream-times. The #1 core value of his company is "blow away the customer." And at the opening of his second Atlantis (the original is in The Bahamas), this is what he did. Rowena takes up the story.

There just aren't enough adjectives to describe our experience at the Grand Opening Celebrations of the Atlantis at The Palm in Dubai.

We arrived on Thursday morning feeling very refreshed after a wonderful journey courtesy of Emirates Airlines. Bex and I flew in from Auckland and Kevin flew in from New York. After checking in at the Atlantis — a masterpiece of towering arches and arabesque domes located at the very tip of The Palm Jumeirah — we were handed a very extensive welcome package. Inside was a beautiful gold, brass, and cord bracelet handcrafted by Taj Taj that turned out to be the most important thing we had been given. It was this bracelet that ensured exclusive access to all the events and activities relating to this "once in a lifetime" three days.

The following night we were privileged to be part of the invitees at the US$20 million Grand Opening. After leaving our room drapes closed as instructed (more on this later!), we met up in the Grand Lobby of the Royal Towers. You could feel the buzz and air of excitement — all the guests were very elegantly attired in black tie or national dress. We were escorted down the red carpeted staircases to the Royal Deck whilst sipping our champagne. From there we mixed and mingled amongst the VIPs of the world, including Charlize Theron, Robert De Niro, Gerard Butler, Janet Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jordan, The Duchess of York, Mary Kate Olsen, Mischa Barton, Wesley Snipes, Agyness Deyn, Lily Allen — the list was endless. All the celebrities were happily mingling with everyone else, there was no special area. In fact, the whole evening was very inclusive — at one point we watched Michael Jordan having a quiet drink by himself at the bar!

The stage was set amongst the palms and swimming pools and we were accompanied by beautiful Middle Eastern music as we made our way to our tables to experience "The Birth of an Icon", the more formal part of the evening. We were absolutely delighted to be sitting on a table with a very eclectic bunch of guests including Karyn McCarthy from The Leading Hotels of the World in New York. This was particularly interesting for me from my earlier days working in corporate travel, and very interesting for Kevin, being such a traveller and supporter of their wonderful hotel portfolio. At the table were Albert Herrera from Virtuoso in New York, Nigel Page from Emirates Airlines, Helen McCabe-Young from Kerzner International, and Sol Kerzner, who was the the visionary behind this amazing resort. Richard Branson and his family were seated at a neighbouring table.

The dinner was a feast of traditional Arabic mezzehs and delicious international cuisine created by celebrity chefs from the world renowned restaurants, Nobu Matsuhisa, Giorgio Locatelli, Michel Rostang, and Santi Santamaria (all four restaurants making up part of the dining choices at Atlantis). It was just one delight after another, all while being accompanied by a magical performance by Lebanese singer, Nawal Al Zoghbi.

Imagine this scene — here we were in a restaurant outside in the balmy desert night, situated amidst the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf, gazing upon the most beautiful piece of architectural excellence — on land that five years ago was all water. It was surreal! And this was only the beginning. Quincy Jones appeared on stage to welcome the star guest of the evening and we were treated to an electric performance by Kylie Minogue in her first appearance in the Middle East, accompanied by her band and dance troupe. This got the younger guests up and dancing between the tables and very much in the party mood.

Then the evening really took off!

Bollywood superstar and former Miss World, Priyanka Chopra, appeared as the Goddess of Atlantis and introduced the largest display of fireworks in history. It was created by the Grucci Family — $6 million worth, seven times larger than the Beijing Olympics ceremony.* The whole story of the search for Atlantis was created using the hotel facade as a screen, complete with amazing sound effects — camels and mythical sea creatures flashed across this "screen" accompanied by music and perfectly in sync with the fireworks. On and on it went, dazzling flashes of color after color, flumes and sprays splashing across the starlit night sky. The whole 43kms of the Palm Jumeirah was illuminated (and apparently visible from space) and the whole of the audience stood mesmerized — in awe. It was incredible and almost impossible to describe. You had to be there to see it. The fireworks, including rhythmical sprays from each guest bedroom (hence the closed drapes) tinkled and swayed in time to the beats. The whole display lasted for about 20 minutes and when it finished there was silence — then rapturous applause. The general consensus was that we had witnessed something, the like of which we would never see again.

As the moon rose higher over the Arabian Gulf, the celebration continued with the Royal Afterglow — DJ spinning sensation Samantha Ronson kept the guests dancing till the early hours.

What a night! Sol Kerzner's team certainly know how to put on a party!

Luckily for us it was still not over. Today we spent hours in the Aquaventure, a water adventure playground in the grounds of the Atlantis — thrilling water slides, awe-inspiring river rides, tidal waves and rapids — and guess what — there was hardly anyone there (obviously still recovering from the Royal Afterglow!). Kevin conquered the Leap of Faith, and with Bex, the Surge and the Shark Attack. Bex also spent 60 minutes in a one on one with Lexi the dolphin in the Dolphin Adventure. It was amazing — surrounded by the blue Gulf waters and the backdrop of the Dubai skyline, camels and a Bedouin tent on the beach — it couldn't have been more perfect.

Tonight we are being hosted by Sol Kerzner's team again. This time to "eat, drink and dance the night away". We are to meet in the Poseidon's Court and we will be given our table at either Nobu, Locatelli, Rostang or Seafire — followed by another high energy party in the Sanctuary Nightclub with Sam Ronson on the turntables.

Bex and I think we've died and gone to heaven!

* For those of you interested in the fireworks statistics:

220 pyrotechnicians produced the display. It was one of the most ambitiously designed and technically advanced computer-controlled fireworks performances ever attempted and was managed by 62 computer systems operated by 1,200 satellite controlled modules, which initiated more than 36,000 circuits.

More than 100,000 specially designed pyrotechnic devices were fired in less than 9 minutes.

Fireworks were launched from 716 locations including 50 points along the 17km crescent of Palm Jumeirah, 226 floating pontoons across 46 kms of water outlining the Palm fronds , 40 locations along the 5.5km monorail on the Palm's trunk and over 400 balconies of Atlantis.

Some series of shells burst at an altitude of 245 metres, and were visible from space.

The largest aerial shell rose 300 metres and displayed its flowery burst the size of two soccer fields.

Fireworks illuminated the entire 69,403 square metre facade of the Royal Towers of Atlantis.

Special effects fireworks were designed and manufactured in China, Spain, Italy and Taiwan in addition to the designers' (Grucci) versions made in the US.

Halloween Down Under

Hi everyone, this is the blog Bex wrote for Kevin's blog and now it's on my blog - it's blogs all round then..................



Halloween is a major festival in North America. You couldn't move around New York City on 31 October without knowing it was Halloween. It was like Mardi Gras. The harvest festival tradition was brought to North America by Irish and Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century. Our family lived in Toronto many years back where we were introduced to the celebration. My daughter Bex has re-created the experience at home in Auckland New Zealand. Here is Bex on her latest Halloween adventure. KR.


Halloween – that special night of the year that all kids love! My first introduction to Halloween was when we lived in Toronto and I was six years old. It’s a huge event in North America and you get to enjoy it for the whole day. All the kids are allowed to go to school in their fancy dress and they have a parade and tea party.

The excitement continues as soon as you come home from school and have the fun of going trick-or-treating. Since it’s autumn in Canada in October, the dark night adds to the excitement. We lived in a really family oriented neighborhood and as well as dressing up, everyone dressed up their houses too. We even had a neighbor who themed the downstairs of her house as a haunted house and allowed all the kids to roam round and “be scared”. Another great thing was the way most of the parents dressed up as well. We always decorated the front of our house with carved, lit pumpkins, skeletons and ghosts, and we also had a music cassette which played ghostly, haunted music just to add to the atmosphere. It was so much fun knocking on the doors as they always got answered, even by families who didn’t have children. By the end of the evening, each of us used to have a pillowcase full of chocolate and sweets!

This year I thought I would relive the fun I had in Canada and host my own Halloween party. I decorated the downstairs of my house with cobwebs, spiders, skeletons, fake blood on the floor, tombstones and bloody handprints on the walls. We also had a table spread with chocolates, candy, marshmallow ghosts, black cats and pumpkins (all helped by the fact Mum had just been to L.A. and raided Target). There were also vodka jelly shots with gummi bears and, of course, a big bowl of punch.

Adam and I dressed up as Wilma and Fred Flintstone (handy as I'm a redhead). All my friends really got into the spirit of the occasion and dressed as Patrick Bateman, Minnie Mouse, Peg and Al Bundy and all the characters from The Wizard of Oz. We also had a couple of vampires, Catwoman, Little Red Riding Hood, Poison Ivy, Hillary Clinton...the list goes on. Although we had no trick-or-treaters, it was so much fun seeing all the effort everyone had put into their costumes. Halloween has never been a big holiday for us in New Zealand so I’ve decided I’m going to make it an annual celebration. I’m looking forward to recycling all the Target decorations and doing it all over again next year!

Disaster at Portland Road

Well, after all that building a few years ago, here's what our house currently looks like now that the stone started falling from the ceiling!!!!

Top- my bathroom, middle- Kevin's bathroom

bottom - lobby

Nice eh!

Update on Stella!

Hi everyone, here's some recent photos of Stella taken last week - please note - two teeth!

Jemima Puddle Duck visits Portland Road!

Being away from home as much as I am, I miss all the fun. Here is a story from my daughter Bex in New Zealand. Enjoy it. KR.

When I arrived home last week I went upstairs to my bedroom and glanced out the window. To my surprise there was a beautiful duck and eleven newly-hatched ducklings paddling about in our swimming pool. I rushed out to see them and phoned my mum, Ro, who turned out to be just coming up the drive. She whipped out her camera and came straight to the garden to join me. The ducks and chicks looked so cute quacking away and following their mum around the pool. We quickly realized, however, that the noise they were making was not about having fun, but because they couldn’t get out. They had obviously been swimming around for the best part of the afternoon and were getting tired and frantic. Mummy duck - whom we named Jemima - swam around to each side of the pool and hopped out with the little ones trying desperately to follow. Unfortunately, their little webbed feet slithered all over the sides of the pool; it was just too steep and they kept flopping back in.

So it was Ro and Bex to the rescue! Ro got a plank of wood and placed it like a ramp in the corner of the pool and gradually we coaxed the ducklings over. By this time, Jemima had already hopped out and was quacking madly at them. We managed to get five of the ducklings out, who huddled together on the side of the pool quacking encouragement to their siblings. One of the ducklings got a wee bit confused and, seeing some of his siblings still in the pool, jumped back in only to be stuck again! A few minutes later four more followed leaving just two on the other side of the pool. Finally they swam over and we helped them out.

Jemima tried to lead them back to the creek at the very bottom of the garden, but they were distressed and tired. They eventually found comfort in my garden though unfortunately for them this was right in view of my cat, Alfie. I had locked him inside so he couldn’t have ducklings for dinner, but he was going mad trying to get out, frantically scratching at his cat door. Meanwhile Jemima had spread her wings and completely enveloped all her little babies to keep them protected, warm and dry.

At this point I wasn’t really sure what to do and was worried about them being eaten by neighborhood cats. While Ro duck-sat, I went and phoned the “bird lady” at the SPCA who told me what to do.

Taking her advice, we managed to get Jemima to move off her babies, who immediately started to scatter round the garden. We rounded up the eleven ducklings and put them into a box and walked back past the pool onto the driveway and back down to the stream. They were screeching away while Jemima followed us, quacking at her babies who she could only hear but not see. After making a few wrong turns, she finally found us in the bush and we were able to gently tip the box so the ducklings could hop out into the stream to join their mum and swim safely away.

And I’m please to say there were no feathers found in Alfie’s mouth that night!

Jo Malone a winner in Auckland

They are celebrating at Jo Malone in The Chancery. Ro’s Lovemark store won New Zealand’s Top Shop award in the Health and Beauty category (I guess by now most of you know that Ro is my wife). Jo Malone also toddled off with the Innovation Excellence in Retail Award.

The store absolutely drips with mystery, sensuality and intimacy and is a theater of dreams for many loyal Jo Malone fans. The Chancery in Auckland is based on Beverly Hills' famed Rodeo Drive, and the store was inspired by Jo Malone’s original Sloane Street store in London (made famous by the patronage of Madonna, Donatella Versace and Elton John!!). The layout inspires trust, faith and confidence which is elevated into the world of Lovemarks through sight, sound, smell and taste. The experience is fabulous, with customers being encouraged to create their own fragrance on the spot, and being treated to a relaxing hand and arm massage by Jo Malone staff.

What I most like is that when you enter the store, you immediately become a friend, not a customer. The experience is second to none. It’s enhanced by beautiful packaging and thoughtful presentation. Today, the Jo Malone box rivals the famous Tiffany blue box in its instant appeal.

At the black-tie Top Shop dinner held at Auckland’s Sky City Convention Centre, Ro, Bex and the Jo Malone team found themselves seated at a table near the back as the Oscar-like award ceremony took place. They figured their table position was a sign that they hadn’t won anything. How wrong could they be. Iloa, Raewyn, Minal, Lisa, Ro and Bex were settling back and enjoying the evening emceed by Mark Ferguson, a New Zealand TV veteran. In true Oscar style, the envelope for Top Shop in the Health and Beauty category was opened by Jennie Ryan, Head of Partner Channels at Telecom. She announced Jo Malone. The table went berserk. Ro and Bex quickly realized that the table placement had been arranged so that they had the longest possible walk up to the stage, and the longest opportunity to walk on air and enjoy the applause. The team were delighted. As they settled in to enjoy the rest of the show they were staggered to hear the Jo Malone name again for the Innovation Award, which was across all categories of all stores in New Zealand. More celebration ensued as the team collected their second award for the night.

These Top Shop awards are international and I think they are a tremendous inspirational tool for driving excellence in customer service. Everyone likes to compete; to test themselves against the very best. And winners are grinners!


Congratulations to the winners of Top Shop in the Health and Beauty Category sponsored by Telecom New Zealand, above Rowena Roberts (left), Jennie Ryan, Head of Partner Channels, Telecom and Bex Roberts.


And...winners of the Top Shop Innovation Excellence in Retail Award sponsored by Westpac. Bex and Ro with Ian Blair, General Manager of Business Banking at Westpac New Zealand.