I Am Rotorua – Paul Laing

I Am Rotorua Lifestyle

“I’ve been in Rotorua for 25 years, but I’m originally from Tauranga. It's quite an interesting story.

“I had a good job in Tauranga, got made redundant, but a job came up in Rotorua. My family said, ‘Why do you want to move to Rotorua?’ and I said, ‘But hang on a minute, this is where we go every weekend to play. We go there to boat, we go there to play in the forest, and actually, we like the culture over [in Rotorua] and the vibe of the town. We’ll do it.’ So my wife and I, and our then 2-year-old baby, moved to Rotorua.

“There are so many good things! The forest and the lakes are where I feel at home. So, either of those is perfectly acceptable to me.

“It’s the best work-life balance you can get. Life is for living, it’s not for making money, particularly. You need enough money, but it’s not the meaning in my world, and here you can do it. A day trip to the ski field, an hour to the beach, for me it’s 500m to the forest and it’s eight minutes to the lake, so how good is that?”

~ Paul Laing, commercial manager Red Stag Timber