About Me

Welcome. Here’s a chance to learn more about me. Who I am. My story. My life in Dunedin.

Not many people get to grow up in a castle but I was lucky enough to be born six weeks after my parents bought Larnach Castle in 1967. Don’t think it was glamorous! The castle was very run down and sheep had been kept in the ballroom. My first memories are of running around with buckets whenever it rained as it leaked like a sieve. We spent decades restoring the castle to its former splendour, eaking out what little money we earned and working hard to attract visitors to Dunedin. I did everything, graduating from clearing tables and incessant dusting to operations and business development managing. I think I’ve done every role in tourism along the way – I’m a great cleaner and can run functions for hundreds of people, as well as wrestle a balance sheet while dressed in Victorian costume…

Prefer to watch? Here’s a 90 minute interview with Sophie and Pat Brittenden – Sept 2022

Growing up in the public eye with visitors every day meant we didn’t have much time to ourselves. But I learnt lots of other useful skills like gardening – here I am as a toddler with my mother in the rock garden. I still remember fighting the blackberry as we cleared off all the terrible mess in the grounds to create something new and wonderful. Mum’s interview of 50 castle years

I went to school at Andersons Bay Primary, walking or biking the mile each day to the bus stop. Then onto Tahuna Intermediate after which I was put into boarding school so I could develop some social skills and make friends. I was a bit of a geek and was allowed 10 books out of the library at a time. Luckily I went home each weekend, where I worked taking around tours, making scones in our tearooms and vacuuming 40,000 square feet of building.

I studied commerce and got a degree in economics at Otago University during the mid 1980s. What a great time to be there with the flourishing Dunedin sound, amazing visiting bands and a vibrant social scene. While I studied I also worked full time at the castle, taking on the marketing, office admin, functions etc. 21st birthday party on TV

After graduating I worked (more than) full time for the family. It was a terrible time for business – we even had a 24% interest rate on our loans as we’d built accommodation, so we had to work extremely hard to keep afloat.

The 1990s were spent with a huge amount of travel as I promoted Dunedin and Larnach Castle in NZ and overseas. While it might sound fun, in reality it was endless planes, buses, conference rooms and drudgery. Once in China we did 90 fifteen minute appointments over three days with about 10 different nationalities of agents – exhausting stuff! We built new accommodation, created new products and restored the castle and gardens. I worked long hours committed to making the castle Dunedin’s number one paid attraction. And we did – with over 100,000 visitors a year. Here’s our family with one of our awards. Unbeknownst to me I had a little secret hiding in that gold dress…

And on to the 2000s.

We celebrated 40 years at Larnach Castle in 2007. Campbell Live story

I welcomed my daughter in 2003, the light in my life.

Of course I had to find a role that was mother friendly so from 2008 -2015 I worked at the DCC at the Economic Development Unit in the role of Business Development Advisor for the Tourism Industry looking after operators, cruise, destination management (signage, loos, wildlife care). Such a great role inside council and I learnt a huge amount, while making sure that Dunedin delivered on the promises we’d made to visitors.

2010/2011 was terribly hard as I was diagnosed with a congenital brain issue and had three operations in 16 months, two of which failed. You bet I marched in the Keep Neurosurgery in Dunedin march! I had amazing support from my friends and made it through those challenging times – it was a long road to recovery, though I still worked full time through it all (apart from the enforced bed rest!)

My mother wasn’t terribly happy when I appeared in the ODT in my pajamas and no makeup, talking about neurosurgery issues at the hospital, but it had to be done. Here’s the link to the photo if you’re curious ODT Neurosurgery Article

In 2015 I was lucky enough to get headhunted by the Otago Peninsula Trust. Who wouldn’t want to work with albatross and penguins? The OPT is NZ’s first private charitable conservation trust; the values of protecting and enhancing Otago Peninsula are very important to me so I felt very privileged to represent the Trust as their marketing manager. ODT Story

Here I learnt a lot about wildlife and how awful the threats to our beloved nature are. I loved those albatross chicks, so seeing them throw up plastic toys was devastating – as is cleaning up people’s rubbish from beaches and seeing the effects on our nesting birds. Sobering stuff that made me want to get more involved with making things better. ODT story on launch care code We built the business and hosted over 200,000 visitors between all our attractions! I got over $17 million in media value for the albatross and Dunedin.

So I decided to stand for Council.

I was motivated to make a difference. I believe we need strong people who are representing Dunedin well in local government and make sensible decisions.

The 2019 election period was a challenging one – imagine being on a different stage each night with a lot of other people keen to vie for a few positions. Extremely eye opening. New Council Faces

I was honoured to be voted in and I spent the first three years learning a huge amount. Council is extremely complex and it’s hard to make change. Though I’ve succeeded in making more focus on strategy and analysing results. For my first term I was Chair of the Dunedin Heritage Fund, Deputy Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee, an RMA Commissioner, on the Destination Plan Steering Committee, a rep on the Otago Settlers Assn, the Dunedin Gasworks plus all of the Council representative work.

Second Term Councillor and Deputy Mayor.

In 2022 I was honoured to be graded by the ODT at the top rated Councillor at 7.5, then at the election won the most Councillor votes to become the top polling candidate. I also stood as Mayor, coming in third.

I was thrilled to be chosen as Deputy Mayor in 2022 – a position I held until I made a values based decision to resign in September 2023. Here’s a photo from the Council inauguration day with my mother and daughter. I’m currently the Chair of Strategy, Planning and Engagement Committee, Chair of the Dunedin Heritage Fund, an RMA Commissioner, on the Destination Plan Advisory Committee, a rep on the Hereweka Harbour Cone Trust, the Dunedin Gasworks Trust plus all of the Council representative work.

Council takes a lot of hard work. Heaps of preparation goes into each Council meeting. Hours of reading, analysis, speech preparation. Then there’s the challenges of being on recorded livestream for many hours at a time. You can check those out on the DCC Youtube. During Covid we had to work from home, setting up where the light was best – in this case, the kitchen!

When I’m not busy at Council I love spending time with my daughter.

I spent time volunteer hosting at Blue Penguins Pukekura as I love the visitor industry and showing guests the joys of penguin viewing in beautiful surrounds. Plus who doesn’t enjoy seeing penguins waddle up a beach on a lovely evening!

Also I’m a mentor for Business Mentors NZ and offer free help and support to other businesses. Along with a business partner we run a small business Ayrmed Collagen Serum.

In my spare time I love to garden, growing vegetables and flowers in a cottage garden. I compost and worm farm too. I’m also still a bookworm and read a lot – a nice break from all the intensive Council reading. We have three rescue cats.

What a busy life – but then shouldn’t you ask the busiest person you know to get stuff done?

Deputy Mayor from 2022-23
Ranked top DCC Councillor by ODT Sept 2022
Dunedin City Councillor since 2019
Highest polling candidate – Election 2022
Heritage Fund Chair, Chair Strategy, Planning & Environment Committee
Commerce Degree in Economics – 1990
Institute of Director qualification
Wide Business Management Experience
Award Winning Family Business Larnach Castle. 40 year management involvement – marketed to achieve over 100,000 visitors. Managed 65 staff. Top attraction in Dunedin.
Co-Owner Ayrmed Collagen Serum
Business NZ Mentor
Mentor Otago University Ignite students
Vibrant tourism career incl Marketing Manager: Royal Albatross, Blue Penguins Pukekura, Glenfalloch, Fletcher House, Otago Peninsula Trust – Marketed to acheive 200,000+ visitors
Heritage and Environmental Advocate
City Marketer with decades of success achieving multi-million dollars of coverage for Dunedin Media Coverage
7 years Business Advisor DCC Economic Development – destination management and business support, strategy oversight. Implemented successful Cruise Action Plan
Voluntary Governance Roles – Including Chair Otago Chamber Tourism Committee, Chair Visit Dunedin Advisory Group. Board Tourism Dunedin, Trustee NZ Gardens Trust. Trustee Dunedin Midwinter Carnival.
Blue Penguins Pukekura volunteer
RMA Hearings Commissioner qualification and experience
Find out more at my LinkedIn Profile