In May 1988 I went to Europe for 6 months.  All the money I had saved from cleaning classrooms, and working in the library over summers and through the year meant that I could go for a 6 month backpacking and youth hostelling holiday.  I had 4 months of Eurail Train passes, 1 month SwissRail and 1 month Britrail.  I flew into Zürich and went first to Chur, where Brigitte lived.  She had stayed with us the previous Summer in order to learn English.  After getting over the jetlag, it was time to hitch up the pack and get on the road.  I spent most of the time in West Germany, discovering beautiful places and meeting lots of interesting people, who remain close friends today.

I graduated B.A. in May 1990, and Dip. Libr. in May 1992.  I had spent 9 weeks researching libraries in Germany and Switzerland (December 1990-February1991) before attending Victoria University. At Library School I was generally well, although I came down with severe Bronchitis in October.  I think it was working at two part-time jobs and studying until at least 1am every morning, that just wore me out.  I was fortunate enough to get an excellent job with Simpson Grierson (Wellington), one of New Zealand's largest law firms, as Manager, Library and Research Services, in January 1992.  I left Simpson Grierson (Auckland) in April 1998 to become Information Manager at Wang New Zealand Ltd (now gen-i).  While I was in Wellington, I was under the care of Dr. Nigel Stace, although overall responsibility was still with Dr. Alistair Scott.

I returned to Germany for my Christmas Holidays in 1992/93, 1994/95 and 1997/98.  I also started another post-graduate diploma at Auckland University in 1998 - the Graduate Diploma of Business (Information Systems).