We completed and celebrated our fiftieth shark conservation event this week by speaking at Charles Fleming Ryman’s retirement village in Waikenae, New Zealand. We had high hopes for this event and it was certainly memorable….but perhaps not for the reasons we expected it to be!

The residents at Ryman’s were all very welcoming but unfortunately the area had suffered a power cut all day. We were due to give two talks at the in-house cinema and found out we had no mains electricity and no battery charge left in either of our laptops (that’s old laptops for you!). The residents were in high spirits and we decided to go ahead and give our talks without slides or videos. It was certainly a challenge but we know our subject and gave two fun 1 hour talks.

We had a fantastic time, the audience had many questions and we learned from two adorable ladies that all you need in life is a banana and a good book! I was bowled over by their humour and enthusiasm and we look forward to our other upcoming events at Ryman’s retirement villages.

50 shark conservation events, 4 countries, 4872 people and plenty more to come!